Katie didn't miss the exchange. "Are you two having an affair?" she asked tersely.
"Katie!" Carmen gasped.
Alex shook his head. "No, Katie. I can't even get on her shopping list."
Carmen and Katie stared at him. Did he want on her list? Was this fling with Lori a ploy? One thing was sure, her list only contained one name - and he was on it. He seemed to be waiting for a response, so she shrugged.
"You'd better be careful making that kind of remark. Some love struck girl is likely to take you up on it."
He was watching her intently. That wasn't the response he wanted.
"I was on one of those lists once," he said in a monotone. "I even got to the top. The trouble was, she forgot to scratch off the other name."
Carmen could feel her face getting hot. Was he telling her to scratch Josh's name off her list? Didn't he know it had already been erased? She shrugged again.
"I thought you had put that in the past."
He smiled sourly. "The affair, not the experience. Completely forgetting about the past is tossing away a valuable lesson."
"Now Alex," Katie began in a scolding tone, "You can't keep throwing your past in Carmen's face. All women aren't alike, you know, and . . ."
He pointed his fork at her plate. "Eat your lunch."
Katie glanced at Carmen for support, but Carmen continued to stare at her plate. She wasn't about to say anything.
Katie picked at her food. "I heard she has a number fourteen record."
Alex attacked his food as if it were to blame for the havoc he had created at the table.
"Then I guess she married the right man," he commented casually.
Carmen pushed the beans around on her plate a little more and wished she were anywhere but here. Obviously Alex wasn't ready for marriage because he was still involved - with a woman who didn't love him. Her stomach was churning and her eyes burned with unshed tears. The kitchen clock ticked off thirty seconds before she put down her fork and pushed away from the table.
"I think I forgot to turn the water off when I filled the trough."
From the corner of her eye she saw Katie give Alex a poisonous look, but Carmen walked out without looking in his direction. He'd made it plain enough how he felt.
Once she was outside she viciously kicked at a stone. Why couldn't things work out - even one time? And why did she always have to make such a fool of herself? No wonder he wasn't interested - not in marriage, anyway. Was that what he was trying to tell her? If she were willing to take that tumble in the hay, he'd hang around a while longer? She kicked the stone again, sending it flying across the yard.