by Sarah Cole
“So are you asking?” she asks, a smile playing at her lips.
“That would be the polite thing to do, but in this situation, I kind of want to demand it.” I laugh.
“Our lease isn’t up until March, and I can’t stick Laney with that kind of rent alone.” She sighs. At least it’s not a no.
“I’ll pay your half. Hell, I’ll pay all of it if you move in.” I say, completely serious.
“Oh stop it! You’re not going to do that. I can pay for it myself. I just don’t want to make this huge move, and then have you get sick of me.” she says playing with the fringe on her scarf.
“Charlie, look at me.” I say, and her green eyes meet mine. I see the uncertainty swimming in them, and I don’t really know what I can say to make her believe that she is my whole world. “There will never be a day that I will be sick of you. You have to believe me when I say that I love you more than anything in this world. When you are ready, I want you to move in with me.” I tell her, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear.
“Ok. It may not be next week or anything, but I want to. I just need to make sure Laney is ok with everything.” She says, and I nearly explode with relief and joy. Now I just have to find the perfect way to get my ring on her finger.
Chapter 20
Charlie:
The rest of our weekend was filled with laughter and fun with a little bit of work sprinkled in. Seeing this family side of Andrew made me love him a million times more. Knowing he was truly genuine and that his family was amazing was a huge reassurance and allowed me to let go of any reservations about our relationship that may have been lingering in the back of my mind. I am head over heels, madly in love with Dr. Andrew Montgomery.
The football game was an absolute blast and Andrew and I even got captured on the kiss cam at half – time. He really went for it, and the stadium erupted with cheers. Cami caught the whole thing on video, and of course gave her brother a hard time about it. Monday was spent helping Cami get settled into her new apartment and negotiating compensation for the summer tour. We finally came to a mutual agreement, and the band was thrilled that I was able to get nearly double the salary that was originally offered. For once, I don’t dread the idea of working, because I’m doing something that I am truly passionate about. I get to live the life I always dreamed of, but still be removed enough that the lifestyle won’t affect me having a family, if that is ever in the cards.
Saying good-bye to Andrew’s parents was difficult. Not only for Andrew, Cami and myself, but also for them. I have become extremely attached to Annie and Charles in just the few short days they were in Chicago. They are truly empty nesters now, and I know Annie was having a hard time coming to grips with that fact alone. Both of her kids were now states away. They made promises to visit again within the next few months, and Annie and I exchanged all information so we could talk whenever we wanted.
Over the next several days, Andrew’s schedule became more structured as he was officially offered an attending surgeon position at the hospital, and we fell into a comfortable routine. I spent my days doing everything from negotiating contracts to helping write songs and edit tracks for the new album. My nights were filled with Andrew, Laney, Cami and the band. I was… happy. It had honestly been far too long since I could say that with such sincerity. Of course, I missed Abby every single day, but Andrew gave some of what I missed back to me. I felt like I could open up and really tell him everything, laugh with him, and he supported me in every way I needed, just as I would support him. Yet I had these nagging insecurities in the back of my mind about why he had yet to open up about Graham. I trusted him with my pain, and all I wanted to do was to be there to share his.
We are having a date night to celebrate three months since the day we met in St. Croix. Andrew wouldn’t tell me where he was taking me, but when I woke up this morning, instead of finding Andrew lying next me, I found a new designer, black dress with a note and a small bag from Cartier on top.
Good morning Beautiful,
I didn’t want to wake you, but I had an early OR booked. It has officially been 3 months since the day you walked into my life and turned my world inside out. I love you more than words could ever express, Charlie. Your meetings for today have been rescheduled, and your new apt. schedule is on your phone. I’ll see you at 6pm.
Always,
A
Inside the bag were two boxes. When I opened the first, it was a simple but beautiful pair of diamond solitaire earrings in a halo platinum setting, and in the second was a gold Love bracelet. Holy shit. I knew to him, it wasn’t but a drop in the bucket, but this was insane. They are beautiful, timeless pieces that I will treasure always, and I’m beyond flattered that he knows me well enough to know exactly what I would choose for myself.
After getting up, I followed my appointment alerts around town to a spa appointment, my favorite bakery where they had baked a dozen of my favorite cookies, each with a sweet message written in icing on the top, and then finally to Laney’s salon where she did my hair and makeup and shooed me out the door. I was floating on such a cloud that not even another message from the Cook county correctional facility could bring me down.
I am taking a minute to relax and catch up on some emails before I have to finish getting ready when there is a knock at the door. Assuming it is yet another one of Andrew’s surprises, I open the door without looking. Huge mistake – noted.
“God, you’re like a bad penny that just keeps turning up. When will it be your turn to fall down a sewer vent where you belong?” I ask, rolling my eyes and starting to shut the door when his foot blocks it and it starts to spring back open.
“Ah, Charlotte. I see your sparkling wit hasn’t dulled any; you are as charming as ever.” Tyler says pushing his way through my front door, shoving me harshly out of the way.
“Hello Tyler, so great to see you. Please come in.” I say sarcastically. “Seriously, what the hell are you doing here? You can’t just barge in uninvited.” My heart is pounding rapidly in my chest and I am two point two seconds away from laying him out. Uncertainty of the situation and his intentions have me in fight or flight mode.
“Shhhh relax baby, we used to have some good times here. Remember?” he says with a knowing smile, and it seriously makes me want to gag at the thought I ever let him put his hands on me. I was so stupid. “Anyways, I didn’t come to hurt you, well not physically at least…” his arrogance level reaching an all-time high as he reaches out to hand me a large yellow envelope he’d had tucked beneath his suit clad arm.
“What’s this?” I ask hesitantly taking it from him, and I can see the excitement flash in his eyes and an impending sense of doom starts to flood my body, but I try and not let it show.
“That? That is my gift to you. The truth. You’re welcome.”
“The truth? What are you talking about?” I say as I undo the tabs on the envelope.
“Just as I thought, your precious Dr. Montgomery isn’t as perfect as he seems. That is his criminal and trial records that include a DUI and accident resulting in the death of a Graham Alexander Montgomery, age 21. He killed his brother in a DUI accident, Charlie. Then of course, there is also the fun little list of assault charges in there. Enjoy! It really makes for a gripping read.” He smiles a cruel smile.
The truth is what everyone wants to hear, right? Well that’s what you think until you hear it for yourself. The funny thing about the truth is that it can change everything in an instant. With the truth, your entire world can come crashing down around you, shattering everything in your life that you finally thought you had pieced back together. I feel like I got hit by a freight train of information and my brain is having a hard time processing everything all at once, but hurt and anger begin to win out as the first emotions to surface.
“Where the hell did you get this, Tyler?” I fume gripping the documents so tightly that the envelope begins to crumple at the edge.
“Well it definitely pays to have a fr
iend that owes you a favor. Especially one who’s a PI.” he says strolling towards the door.
“How do I know this isn’t false information?” I ask.
“Why don’t you ask the good doctor? See what he has to say about it all. Here’s to your happily ever after.” He says holding up his hand in a mock toast before he slams the door behind him, my entry mirror crashing down splintering to pieces.
“What an asshole…” I mutter to myself. I am so unsure of what just happened and even more confused asking myself if I should believe Tyler, but my curiosity gets the better of me before I can dissuade myself from sliding the stack of papers out of the envelope. Flipping them over in my hands, I feel like the air has been stolen from me. On top is a mug shot of a young Andrew, with longer hair and tattoo free arms from Baldwin County, Alabama; along with a field report from May 20, 2006.
Unable to keep myself upright, I stumble backwards, folder in hand and sink into the couch. I know I shouldn’t do this to myself and I know I need to just talk to Andrew face to face, but call me a glutton for punishment. As I keep digging through the material, scanning its contents I find my heart breaking more and more. A few things stand out to me beyond the DUI charge and the report of deceased victim Graham Montgomery, and they are conveniently flagged with tabs and highlighter. How thoughtful of you, Tyler. One being Andrew was charged with three counts of assault within a year resulting in medical treatment and hospital admittance of two of the three victims, and the other major one being that all of this was somehow erased from any sort of permanent record. I flip a few more pages to find records of the court appointments that were held and it states that Andrew was represented by C.S. Montgomery & Associates. So good old Dad had it covered up? Would he do that? This is seriously messed up.
I try to calm my racing pulse and the urge to expel my lunch, but in the end I just can’t. Barely making it to the bathroom in time, I lay on the floor sobbing and trying to reconcile the Andrew I love with all of the evidence I have been given that he was quite opposite of everything I thought I knew. My chest is splitting in two and I can’t find enough air. I heave into the toilet again.
Why didn’t he tell me? Do I know him at all? What else is he hiding? Is he really a good person, or a terrible person? How can I be so fucking stupid? I was so wrong about Tyler, so it shouldn’t be such a freaking surprise that Andrew may be a violent person? Right? I was so sure of him, of us. I would have eloped with him today if it meant I could have spent the rest of my life by his side, loving him. Now I have absolutely zero clue what is going on. I don’t have any answers, but I can’t stop the questions from filling my mind. The one and only answer I have is I need time to figure everything out.
I don’t really know if its minutes or hours later when I hear the front door smash open, and hear feet crunching on broken glass.
“CHARLIE!!! Charlie baby… Where are you?” Andrew’s voice echoes throughout my apartment in clear distress, and I can’t even find the energy to pull myself up off the floor.
“Charlie sweetheart, are you alright?” he asks rushing through the bathroom door dropping to his knees and trying to pull my body to his. I struggle to break free from him as I finally try to get to my feet.
“Don’t. Please don’t.” I rasp out my throat raw.
“Baby, did he hurt you. What did that fucker do to you?” he pleads still trying to touch me, and it kills me that I want to do nothing more than let him at this moment.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Andrew, but right now all I know is the only person who hurt me is you.”
“Charlie… What are you talking about? I got a cryptic text from a blocked number, basically telling me that something happened to you. I finally figured out it was Tyler. Fucker seemed pretty smug with whatever he did. What’d he do baby? So help me if I get my hands on him…” he trails off, still trying to search me for physical evidence of anything Tyler could have done.
“You’ll what? Assault them? Add another charge to your rap sheet? Oh, wait… I’m sorry. I forgot that’s been miraculously expunged.” I yell, my temper snapping like a cold rubber band. I know it’s a low blow, but right now I have so much rage that I need to let it out somehow. I need someone else to hurt with me.
At my words the color drains from his face when he registers that I know about that. “How do you know about that Charlie?” he asks.
I walk out of the bathroom and into the living room, and he follows hot on my heels.
“Does it matter, Andrew? Does it really fucking matter how I know about that? Does it matter that I know about the DUI, the accident, about Graham?”
With the mention of the latter, he flinches. “Yes Charlie… it matters.”
“Were you ever going to tell me, or were you just hoping that we could play the avoidance game?” I ask trying to put as much distance as I can between us. “You didn’t think it would matter to me that you had a physical violence record and a DUI? That scares the absolute shit out of me. Do you not realize I almost died in an accident like that? That my best friend died? You were there, remember?!” I scream. I’m feeling particularly out of control, like my last thread of sanity has finally been snipped.
“Charlie, I tried to tell you the night I figured out your story. I did.” He says with such despair that I struggle not to console him. “Then I tried over and over to tell you everything, but no time ever seemed like the right time to tell you something like that. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I just couldn’t blurt it out. I was so fucking terrified of having you look at me the way you’re looking at me right now. Fuck!” he says running his hands through his hair.
“I think you should go.” I say hanging my head not wanting to meet his eyes, because I know the hurt there matches my own.
“Go? Charlie, we need to talk about this. Babe, you may have cold hard facts, but you don’t know everything. Please just talk to me. I take full responsibility for everything that happened. Believe me Charlie. It eats at me every day, but I’m not just some violent meathead that goes around assaulting people for no reason. You know that… you know me…” He says rounding the couch reaching for me and I hold my hand up to keep him away.
“Honestly right now I don’t think I do know you. I just need my space and time away from you to think.” I say, trying to add steel to my words.
“Space? Charlie. What are you saying? Baby, please don’t do this…” he says, his voice shaking with emotion.
“Do what? I didn’t do anything to us… you did.” I say my tenacity wavering as the tears begin to run freely down my face again. “Please just leave me alone; I really can’t look at you right now.” and that truly wasn’t a lie. If I allowed myself to look, I would cave and right now I needed to listen to myself and figure it out instead of letting anyone else influence me.
Andrew walks around the couch and I start to back up again only to realize I don’t really have anywhere to go. He drops to his knees in front of me as he wraps his arms around my waist and looks up with tears running down his face.
“Please Charlie…” he begs, “Don’t let this be the end of us. I love you more than anything. I would never hurt you; don’t shut me out. Please say you love me. I know you do, you have to. I know you feel it. Don’t tell me goodbye.”
If I thought I was hurting before, I am falling apart watching this strong, beautiful man come undone in front of me, and a sob escapes. “The only thing I know right now is I am confused and hurt. I don’t know if this is goodbye, I don’t know what I want right now. Please just go…” I say unwrapping his arms from around my waist.
Standing up Andrew doesn’t even bother to wipe the tears from his face when he says, “Charlie, I’ll give you anything as long as you’re happy, but I know we make each other happy. I’m not giving you up. Not now. Not ever. You don’t give up on people you love, especially when you love someone the way I love you.”
He bends to place a kiss on my cheek before swiftl
y leaving the room. As soon as I hear the front door latch behind me, my knees give way and I cry until I am numb from the pain.
Charlie:
“Charlie! Oh my God! Sweetie, are you ok?!” I hear Laney’s voice, but I can’t lift my head. I honestly don’t know how long I have been laying here, my face buried in the rug, but I do know it’s dark now.
I feel cool hands brush the hair out of my face, and feel my forehead before the table lamp turns on, bathing the room in a dim glow. It still makes my head throb.
“Charlie, talk to me… what the hell happened. Why is the mirror busted, and why are you laying here on the floor when you should be on a romantic date with a hunky, tattooed doctor?”
At the mention of Andrew, my body is overtaken with another round of sobs, but unfortunately there are no more tears left to cry so I just bury my face further into the rug.
“What the hell is this, Charlie?” Laney asks plopping down on the rug with the file in her lap.
“Exactly what it looks like.” I say my voice so hoarse it comes out in a scratchy whisper.
“Where’d you get this?” she asks, thumbing through the pages, stopping at the tabbed parts, eyes bulging.
“Holy shit! There’s no way Charlie… this has got to be wrong somehow.”
“No, it’s not. I talked to Andrew, and it’s true. I don’t know particulars, but it’s all true. Tyler’s gift to me.”
She wraps me in a hairspray scented hug. “Hun, first of all, I don’t even want to know how Tyler got this, or why he gave it to you. Secondly, I know this is super shitty, especially with it being true, but maybe there’s more to this. Andrew is a solid, successful guy that loves the hell out of you, and this just doesn’t add up.”
“I just don’t understand, Laney. How could I be so wrong about him? He never talked about what happened to his brother, but now I realize why…it was his fault he died.”
“Girl, I know what happened to you and Abby was beyond shitty. My heart hurts too, and it hurts for you even more, but somewhere deep in my gut I feel like there is more to this than we know. Don’t dismiss something wonderful because of a mistake. Especially one that will follow him forever.”
