Read Online Ethan, Who Loved Carter by Ryan Loveless - Free Book Online Page A

but when she finally spoke it was to say good-bye. “I’ll see you in a few weeks. Just… you guys seem perfect for each other. I know I’m a romantic, but—”
    “Bye, Alice.”
    Carter hung up. He clutched the phone in his sweating hand. He didn’t wipe tears off his face, because there was nothing there. Nope. He took a deep breath. Back to work.
     
     
    “H AVE you shown him your penis?” Andy asked. They were supposed to be doing inventory, but instead they were talking about Carter.
    Ethan shifted miserably on the wooden crate where he’d plopped down. “Mom says I shouldn’t do that anymore.” She’d sat him down a few nights ago and given him another serious talk about “his behavior and his penis” and how he needed to keep it in his pants or he could get in trouble with the police. Elliot had probably told on him because he and Ethan had had another fight about it. Ethan didn’t want to get in trouble with the police, so he was keeping his penis in his pants from now on. Then Mom said that if he was in a private place with someone he was dating, he could take it out, so Ethan felt better because once he and Carter started dating, he wanted to show it to Carter and have Carter touch it, and Ethan wanted to touch Carter’s too.
    “Worked on me,” Andy said. “Works on a lot of guys.”
    “Carter is different.” Ethan rested his head on Andy’s shoulder. He smelled like coffee, same as Ethan, though Ethan rarely noticed it on himself anymore.
    “Why don’t you just talk to him?” Vera asked. She was tending the front, but since there were no customers waiting, she leaned against the doorjamb so she was half in front and half in back of the shop. Pepper lay against the exit door. She’d batted her toy mouse out of reach and given up on it. Andy tried to lure her over with a string he picked up from the floor, but she ignored him.
    “Tried. He only wants to be friends. I have to make him change his mind.” Ethan scuffed his heels against the floor as he attempted to think. What could he give Carter that would be so special Carter would have to see how much Ethan cared about him?
    The bell signaling someone had entered jingled. “Ah, music to my ears,” Vera said. She moved toward the counter.
    “That’s it!” Ethan said.
    “You’re going to give him coffee?”
    “No. I’m going to write him a song.” He’d never had a more perfect idea. He took his apron off and headed for the back door.
    “You’re still on the clock, you know,” Vera said.
    “Oh.” Grinning sheepishly, Ethan turned back around. By the end of the shift, he had decided on the melody. He couldn’t wait to get home and start writing. He hummed in Vera’s car as she drove him.
    “Do you think he’ll like it?” He hummed louder.
    Vera grinned. “He’ll love it. If he doesn’t, he’s an idiot who doesn’t deserve you.”
    “I like him a lot,” Ethan said.
    “I know you do, sweetie.”
    “He’s really nice.”
    “I know.”
    “And smart.”
    “Okay.” She turned to watch the road.
    “And cute,” Ethan said, needing to get the last thing out.
    Vera turned to him again. “Well then, go get him, Tiger.” She pulled into Ethan’s driveway.
    “Thanks!” Ethan bounded out of the car. Remembering at the last second to hold the railing going up the steps to the porch, he burst into the house and went straight to the basement where Dad kept his music books. Most of them were falling apart. They were all thirty years old. Ethan vaguely remembered his dad playing guitar, but the memory was so hazy he wondered if he’d imagined it. He searched the pile for the book that told how to write a song.
    “What are you doing?” Ethan looked up to see Elliot sitting on the steps. He had a black eye.
    “What happened to your eye?” Ethan asked.
    “Don’t worry about it.”
    “El—”
    “I’m going to get in trouble for it later, so I don’t want to talk about it now, okay?”
    “Fine.” Ethan