by Ali Dean
I went home alone that night, and spent most of it – all of it – thinking about Charlie. What would have happened if I’d asked her to join me in the shower. It looked like tonight wasn’t going to be much different.
Chapter Fifteen
Charlie
By Wednesday night, I haven’t seen Tanner since I watched him on stage Saturday. I’d slept at Grace’s apartment in Morgan’s bed that night, claiming I wanted to let Tanner have the house to himself if he brought Kathleen home. Grace had given me a funny look.
“What? It’s his first Saturday night as my roommate. I don’t want to make it weird before he even settles in.”
Little did she know, things had already gotten weird when we’d seen each other naked. But she didn’t argue, and we went to yoga at the rec center the next morning. While I didn’t know if they would even sleep at the house or a hotel in the first place, I didn’t want to find out. I definitely didn’t want to hear them having sex in the room next to me, but if he never came home either, I’d know what he was doing, and now that I’d gotten a visual of Tanner Moon, I knew being alone with my imagination all night would suck nearly as much.
Not that sleeping in Morgan’s bed changed much. I still thought about it. Clearly, living with a hot guy in my house even when he was a local wasn’t working for me. I’d showered and changed at my parents’ house the next day before meeting clients to show properties. I’d hoped not being near him would help. But I was hot and bothered all day. Now it was Wednesday and I was still hot and bothered.
Because he’s returned to his morning workouts and evening music practices, we haven’t run into each other and I have to email Tanner about seeing two more properties tomorrow. One is the fourth one with the big house and the other was a new one I suggested we check out. It’s a four-bedroom house that just came on the market today. It only has ten acres, but they’re wooded and it’s private. It also comes in just under the seven-figure mark. Still a lot of money for a young single guy, but significantly less than the others he’s considering.
“What’s on your mind?” Mia asks. We’re at the tavern eating burgers after our weekly five-mile run. It’s the hardest workout of the week for the rest of us but a drop in the bucket for Mia. That was before frisbee though. Frisbee might win now for hardest workout.
“Oh, just thinking about the properties I’ll show Tanner tomorrow.”
While we’d run, I’d filled in Morgan and Mia about my new client and the properties he was looking at. They seemed to think drug dealing was a real possibility, even though I’d been half-joking when I suggested it. Personally, I’ve been spending too much time thinking about him naked to dwell on the source of his wealth. But I didn’t share that tidbit.
“This would be big for you, right? You’d get to split the commission with Peggy, since she’s the listed seller?”
“Sort of. I work for her so she gets a percentage of my cut. But if he decides on the most expensive one we looked at, it would be more than half what I typically make in a year.”
“Why do you seem sort of down then?”
Morgan and Grace have already left and it’s only me and Mia now. It just started pouring outside, but I don’t think that’s the reason neither of us have gotten up. I’m delaying going home to an empty house.
“I’m not down. Tell me about New York.”
“We hung out with his siblings and they took me around to do touristy stuff. The rest of the family was in the Hamptons. I don’t think Jamie wants to subject me to meeting some of his relatives. I’m okay with that.”
“What kind of stuff did you do?”
“I don’t want to talk about me. I want to talk about you.”
I can always count on Mia to be direct and to the point. My eyes wander around the Tavern and find it’s nearly empty. Usually we try to clear out before trivia starts and it gets really busy. “Where is everybody?”
“They never do trivia in August. It’s been like that for ten years.”
“Oh yeah.” They take a break with all the other things going on in town. The last month of summer before school starts back up. Apparently, I’m too preoccupied to remember what month it is.
“Morgan and Gracie said something about yoga on Sunday. Are you still doing that?”
“I guess so. Just on Sundays though.”
“Well, aren’t you going to invite me?”
“I thought we talked about this already. You do long runs on Sunday mornings.”
“And I thought when we discussed this, you were going to start inviting me like you always do.”
“I didn’t say that.” We have a stand-off, and as one second after another ticks on it hits.
She’s fighting for me, for our friendship. And she wants me to do the same.
“Mia, it’s okay if things change between us.”
“I know that. But you’re pushing me away. Forcing it to change more than it has to.”
Is that it?
“I think I’m just being realistic.”
“You’re not. You’re trying to control our friendship. Maybe even my relationship with Jamie. And my life.”
My eyes practically bug out of my head. Mia is never overdramatic. She never says things just to get a reaction. She is one hundred percent real and honest all of the time.
“You really think that?” I shouldn’t have to ask, but damn, it hurts.
“Well, I’m the last one to hear about what’s happening in your life. I feel like you might be going through something big and I don’t know what it is because you aren’t letting me in.”
That’s unusually perceptive for Mia. She’s brilliant, but picking up on emotional subtleties isn’t one of her life skills. Maybe she only feels that way because she senses she’s out of the loop. But the thing is…
“I think you’re right,” I concede. “About something big happening. I don’t really know what it is either. At first I thought it was about you moving out, and maybe that’s what started it, but now I think it’s more than that.” I don’t know if what’s happening inside of me is because of Tanner, or if Tanner himself is what’s happening to me. I do know one thing that will help. “I think I should train with you for the half marathon.”
Instead of being excited like I thought she would, she frowns. “You’re already doing yoga and frisbee and working a ton, Charlie. There are always parties and festivals on the weekends this time of year too,” she points out. “You really don’t need to add one more thing.”
“Well, I’m doing it. If it gets to be too much I can bail. None of us are all that into yoga anyway, so I’ll drop that Sunday mornings and join you for a long run instead. How long are you going these days?”
“Ten to fourteen.”
“Miles?”
“Yes.”
“But a half marathon is 13.1 miles.”
“I’m not training just to complete it. I’m training to run it at a certain pace.”
Mia has never been better than me at anything athletic before. That is, until we started running last spring. At first I thought she was getting into it because she was going through her own breakup, but then I realized Mia truly loved it. And she was really good at it.
“I’m going to have to build up to that. Maybe I’ll just join for part of your long run.” I’d made the mistake once before of trying to run long with her before my body was ready, and I like to think I’d learned my lesson.
“I’ll have Jamie send you a training plan. You should get a GPS watch. That way you can learn to run slow and not go all out every run.”
That sounded entirely counterintuitive and pointless, but I knew Mia wouldn’t bother with anything counterintuitive and pointless so it must serve a purpose.
Mia had walked from her office to meet us earlier, and it’s a total downpour outside. “I can drive you to your car.”
“We can stay and have another drink, if you want?”
“I’m getting kind of cold from being soaked in sweat.”
She’s always found it fascinating how much sweat I produce so she knows it’s a legitimate thing. “But do you want to come over? You can use the shower and borrow some of my clothes and we can have a drink there.”
“You know that’s the first time you’ve invited me over since I moved out almost two months ago?”
“Yeah, and it felt super weird just now asking if you wanted to come over to the house you lived in with me for three years.”
“It sounded weird too.”
When we laugh, the tightness I didn’t even know I’d been carrying around eases. My neck and shoulder muscles relax and my chest opens up so I can breathe better.
“Donut’s really missed you.”
“Can we snuggle on the couch?”
“You and Donut?”
“No, all three of us.”
I don’t even need to answer that because, duh. We used to get cozy on the couch together all the time. I’d watch TV and she’d pretend to watch TV but do work on her computer at the same time or read a book. Those moments were the longest sitting-still time I ever got. I don’t even like watching TV by myself. I think I was born this way.
Since I’ve crossed the bridge already, I figure why not. “You can sleep over too if you want.” I have a king bed, plenty of space. “Just tonight. I promise I’m not actually trying to steal you from Jamie permanently.”
She doesn’t say anything. Not with words, anyway. Mia reaches across the table to try to hug me. But since there’s a table between us, it really doesn’t work. I laugh, but move to the other side of the table to give her the hug she’s looking for.
“You’re so talented at making special moments awkward,” I say into her shoulder.
“I know. But I’m not the one who asked for a sleepover, so you win.”
She does sleep over though, and then asks if we can make it a thing every Wednesday night.
Chapter Sixteen
Tanner
When I heard Charlie talking to someone from her bedroom on Thursday morning, my heart stopped. She’d brought a guy home, and when he eventually came out, I didn’t know if I’d be able to act cool. There was most definitely an angry jealous asshole inside me somewhere because I had the urge to punch the shit out of something.
I paced my room, clenching and unclenching my fist and thinking I should get out of here because if I heard anything else besides talking from that room, I would punch a hole in the wall. I’d swung open the door, ready to race out of there and go somewhere, anywhere, and nearly ran into Mia.
“Oh!” A hand flew to her chest. “Hey Tanner.”
“Mia?” I snuck a glance in Charlie’s bedroom, and quickly averted my eyes as one sexy leg I knew way better than I should slipped out from under the covers to get out of bed.
“I slept over last night,” Mia announced.
I took a long deep breath as the rage inside me left and reason returned.
“Yeah, it was coming down hard, wasn’t it? Good call, it was tough to drive in.”
“That wasn’t really why. I’m an excellent driver in bad conditions.”
“Oh, is everything all right?” The adrenaline that was just coming down with the realization it wasn’t a naked dude in Charlie’s bed shot back up.
“Everything’s great!”
I stood there for a second, waiting for her to tell me why she slept over, but she didn’t add anything.
“Mia, he wants to know why you slept over if it wasn’t for the rain.” Charlie’s voice came closer but I was a little scared to look at her with all these emotions ripping through me. I’d known she slept with guys. I’d known she might have them over while I lived here. Why did I react like that? Like the alpha males I wrote about but didn’t think I could relate to?
“Oh, right. We miss each other,” Mia explained simply. And then she was off to the bathroom.
When I finally brought myself to look at Charlie, she was smiling in a way I hadn’t seen in a while. “You really missed her, huh?”
“Yeah. I know it’s a little strange we had a sleepover at our age, but it was nice to chill out knowing she didn’t have to go anywhere after. Like when we were roommates.” She started moving around her room, pulling things out of her dresser. “Not that I want her to be my roommate again. But I could go for a sleepover once in a while.”
Honestly, Mia and Charlie’s friendship was cute as hell.
“I’m going to make a smoothie. Do you want one?” I’d already showered and changed after swimming this morning and I was starving.
“Sure. Can you make some for Mia too? She’ll love it.”
Jamie swung by on his way to work as I was pouring smoothies. After saying hello he looked around. “They’re still upstairs?”
“Yeah, they’re awake though.”
“I’ve been meaning to tell you, I feel so much better about Charlie with you living here.”
“You were worried about her?”
“The girls try to tell me there’s no crime around here, but I don’t like her living alone. She doesn’t even lock the doors. I didn’t like it when Mia lived here either, but at least there were two of them.” I’d noticed she left the doors unlocked but I thought she did it for me since I was always still out at the barn when she went to bed.
“I’ve been locking up at night. And they’re right, not much crime around here. But I get your worry.” Jamie was from the city, but he wasn’t totally off to recognize a single woman living in an unlocked house posed some danger. Everyone in town knew she lived alone so if there was someone looking for trouble… well, I was glad I was here.
“Jamie!” Mia’s pleased voice brought our attention to her bounding down the stairs.
“Morning.” His voice dropped and he scooped her up, murmuring something in her ear before kissing her on the lips.
“I have to get to work, I just wanted to stop by for a kiss.”
I spotted Charlie on the stairs watching them with a little smile. Our eyes met and she came down the rest of the way. “Aren’t they nauseating?” she asked with no resentment whatsoever.
“Nah, they’re cute. My parents are like that. So maybe I’m used to it.”
Charlie picked up a glass and made this sweet humming noise when she took a sip. “You might convert me to a breakfast smoothie person after all, Tanner Moon.”
The idea that I could have any impact on how Charlie lived her life, even something this small, made me want to beat my chest like Tarzan. The lovebirds broke apart, and after saying goodbye to Jamie, Mia tried her smoothie.
“You should switch to this instead of Ben and Jerry’s,” she told Charlie, who rolled her eyes.
“Don’t start. You’re not my roommate anymore. You don’t get to hound me about my breakfast habits.”
“That’s my job now,” I said with more pride than was warranted. “I got this, Mia, don’t worry.” I put my fist out for a pound.
After finishing the smoothie, noting all its nutritional value, Mia asked Charlie if she could take her car to run home and change for work.
Charlie checked her watch. “Do you mind if we take your truck, Tanner? We need to head over to the house on Sparrow Hill in a couple minutes.”
“We do?”
“You didn’t get my email yesterday?”
I wasn’t great at checking email. I checked it every day, but not every hour like the rest of the world seemed to expect. I shook my head. “I’m free though.”
She studied me for a second before getting her car keys for Mia. “You can drive it to work and I’ll have Tanner drop me there to get it after.”
I liked having Charlie in my truck. As we drove through town and turned onto a side road, I only wished she could slide over to the middle of the bench seat. Our legs could press together, and I would drop one of my hands from the steering wheel to hold her hand. Or rub the inside of her thigh. Maybe slide up the side underneath one of the dresses she always wore in the summer.
And now I was hard. Damn.
>
“So, what is it about the Stony Brook property that makes it your favorite?” she asked.
I considered going with some half-truths, but decided to answer honestly, if only to allow her to ask what she probably wanted to know. So that I could then outright lie with the story I’d decided on.
“I like that there aren’t any easements through it. It’s got its own long driveway, no trails cutting through with people coming in and out of my yard. I need to stay focused when I’m working and privacy is really important to me.”
“With your music, you mean? So that you know people aren’t listening?”
“That too, but I meant the other job I do during the day.”
“Contract work, you said? What kind?”
“Writing.”
I could feel her looking at me. “That’s really cool. I can see that. What kind of writing?”
And that’s when the lies started.
“Technical writing. It’s highly specialized.”
“How’d you get into it? It must pay really well.”
There it was. “It does pay well. But it’s an unexpected inheritance from a great-aunt that I’m using to buy the property.”
She didn’t make a noise, but I could practically hear the relief whoosh out of her. At least I think that’s what it was. It wasn’t the most creative explanation for someone who was actually making their living off creativity, but it was the one that wasn’t very complicated, and shouldn’t prompt too many questions. My extended family didn’t even live in this state, and no one around here knew them. If I’d said it was from a business of some sort, that would be something you’d expect to find evidence of on the internet.
“Your mom’s family is from Maine, right?”
“Yep.” I didn’t want to get into the details on this fictional great-aunt, and hoped she didn’t ask more.
