Chapter 14

"Carter?" He said a little confused and quickly picked up the call.

"Sorry... are you done at the appointment?" Carter asked, there was something in his voice that made Daniel a little confused. It wasn't as distant as usual, instead it felt a little sad.

"Yeah, I am at the park across the street now, I was just planning on calling a taxi," Daniel explained.

"I see, wait a bit, I will head over and pick you up" Carter said and hung up, it seemed like he was in a hurry. Daniel just stared at his phone a little, he was confused - what was going on exactly?

Daniel sat and played with Andrea as he waited until she eventually fell asleep, then he read over the book the doctor's receptionist had given him, it held all the information surrounding Andrea's growth since birth until this point. It had a lot of interesting tips, so he couldn't help but get pulled into it.

It surprisingly didn't take Carter long to get to the park, which caused Daniel to feel even more confused about everything, their office was at least 30 minutes away on a good day depending on traffic, so seeing that Carter arrived 10 minutes after their call really was unusual.

Carter got out of the car as Daniel was getting up from his seat, which caused Daniel to stand in his spot, he wasn't sure what to do, should he head to the car, or should he wait for Carter?

He decided on waiting for Carter, since it seemed like he was heading towards them, Daniel couldn't help but observe Carter as he walked over to them, something was definitely different, but he couldn't really put his finger on it, especially since it hasn't been that long since they parted ways in the morning.

Once Carter reached Daniel he instantly greeted his friend with a smile which surprised Daniel, he hadn't seen Carter smile in quite a while, so it caught him a bit off guard.

"Let's have a seat" Carter told Daniel, Daniel nodded a little and sat down next to Carter.

"Sorry about how I've been acting, it must've been hard to manage work as well as taking care of Andy, especially with me completely checking out of reality for a bit" Carter started off, he just stared at the ground, he couldn't really find himself to look at Daniel, he felt guilty of how he was acting.

"I get it, a lot happened at once, and it must've been a lot to take in" Daniel said, sure he was upset at how Carter was acting, but he could somewhat understand that things were probably too much to process.

"Didn't you have a shareholder's meeting today?" Daniel asked, still a bit confused as to why Carter was with him and not at work since the meeting was supposed to be starting soon.

"Yeah about that, Lisa called me earlier to tell me my brother returned from his business trip, I was on my way to the office, but I wanted to go say hi first you know?" Carter explained, "And when I got there we talked a bit, Lisa was upset that I let you came to the appointment alone since we are both raising Andrea, and she scolded me for how I was acting, eventually Gavin said he will attend the meeting in my place and I should come meet you instead and apologize" Carter finished off his explanation.

Daniel sat a few seconds, taking in everything that Carter told him, and nodded a little.

"I understand, but eventually you will need to decide what you want to do about all this" Daniel told him, he didn't want Carter to apologize if it would just happen again.

"I already decided, I realized a few things when Lisa scolded me, I was planning on ending my engagement, or well I was thinking about it and because of that finding out what Angela did should just end up being more of a reason to end it" Carter told Daniel, finally meeting his friends eyes.

"I see... When are you planning on telling her? I probably need to hide before you say anything" Daniel said jokingly.

"I mean... true, but I will talk to mom first. Can you send me the audio recording of her talking to that guy? I want to have it on hand and play it for my mom, so she understands the whole situation, I will also be telling her about how Angela's father acted and his words towards Andrea, we may only be friends Danny, but we are both Andrea's parents, and I don't want anyone disrespecting either of you, you are both important people to me" Carter explained, ending with a small smile. 

Daniel could feel a faint flutter in his stomach, but he just ignored it, writing it off as being touched by Carter's words.

"I still have it I will send it over, and I will go with you to tell your mother, and if Angela and her father want to get all up in arms about things then we just release it for all the shareholders to hear" Daniel remarked with a smile, he felt a little vengeful after everything she did to him and all the offhanded comments over the years.

"But Angela aside, what did the doctor say about Andy?" Carter asked, finally feeling at ease.

"Everything looks good, she picked up weight and also grew quite a lot, the doctor also started catching her up on her vaccinations, and gave me the needed things to get her tested for allergies" Daniel told him, Carter nodded a little, he felt even more guilty as he heard everything that happened in the appointment, and Daniel could tell from a glance.

"No feeling guilty! You can come to the next appointment" Daniel said seriously, he finally had his friend back in his usual mood he didn't want Carter to be pulled back into his shell because of guilt.

"Sounds good to me, so she grew, huh? It seems we need to go shopping for some new clothes" Carter said with a big smile and Daniel nodded.

"You know I've been thinking, it might sound odd, but how about we open a joint account for everything related to Andy? I feel bad if you pay for everything and I know you don't mind, but it bothers me, so how about we open an account together, and we add in money whenever we can and build up a fund for her things such as toys, clothes, and so on" Daniel suggested, Carter looked at him, and he could tell his friend wanted to protest the idea immediately.

"I don't like it but if it makes you feel better let's do it, but I will still be paying for the daycare since it is really expensive and whenever I want to buy something for her from my own funds you can't protest okay?" Carter said in a playful tone, and Daniel agreed.

"Sounds good to me, it just feels a little more fair, I know you are rich, but I don't want you to feel like the only reason I agreed to having you help me with Andy was because you have a lot of money" Daniel explained and Carter nodded a little.

It was a bit refreshing to hear those words, Carter was used to people using him for his money, generational wealth had its perks, but it had a lot of downsides as well, Angela's betrayal was just another reminder of it.

"Hmm I get it, let's go in on Friday though lunchtime to get it all sorted" Carter suggested.

"Sounds good to me, I will book it into our schedule" Daniel said with a big smile, "Ah so Gavin's back? You will probably be having a family dinner soon then?" Daniel said as he remembered Carter mentioning that his brother was back.

"Yeah, it's still being discussed but once it's decided I'll tell you, mom already told me she wants you and Andy there" Carter said with a big smile and Daniel couldn't help but mimic it, he wasn't used to having a warm family life like Carters, but he appreciated that the Abbot family treated him like their own flesh and blood.