by Holly Renee
Freckles: Thank you for your help today. You are a lifesaver.
I smiled down at my phone. When I looked through the front of her shop and saw her attempting to move that table, I laughed. She was so small in comparison, but she had a look on her face that told me she wasn’t going to let that table beat her. She was determined if not a bit crazy.
Me: You’re welcome. Are you not going to thank me for being your knight in shining armor for driving your drunk ass home last night?
Those three dots bounced on my screen for what seemed like forever.
Freckles: Thank you, but I wasn’t that drunk.
There it was. My opening.
Me: Are you sure? You seemed pretty drunk when you told me how hot you thought I am.
She didn’t, but I knew it would ruffle her feathers.
Freckles: I did no such thing.
Me: Yes. You did. You said how much you love my tattoos and how you get lost in my eyes.
Freckles: That’s absurd.
Me: You don’t actually think I’m hot. Only drunk Charlie does? Damn. I’m wounded.
Freckles: I didn’t say that.
Her texts started coming in faster than I could read the last one.
Freckles: I didn’t say either.
Freckles: Not that you are hot or that you’re hot not.
Freckles: You know what I mean.
Freckles: This is coming out all wrong.
Me: I’m confused. Am I hot or no?
I grinned down at my phone because I could practically see her freaking out on the other end of it. I bet she was blushing and regretting the moment she ever decided to text me.
Freckles: I plead the fifth.
Me: Well that’s not fair. Plus, I already know your answer.
Freckles: And how do you know that? Arrogant. Just because other women think you’re hot doesn’t mean that I do too.
Me: It’s not that.
Freckles: Then what is it, O wise one?
Me: I don’t typically try to kiss people I’m not attracted to.
After that, my phone went silent.
“Who are you over there texting like a school girl?” Mason asked, but I shut him out.
Maybe I took it too far with her.
Me: Freckles?
When I still didn’t see any dots indicating that she was even considering texting me back, I sent another.
Me: I’m just playing around.
But then they came like a beacon in the night. Those three dots danced and danced across my screen until I thought I was going to scream for her to reply.
Freckles: I was drunk.
Damn. That one hurt.
Me: Ouch.
Freckles: I didn’t mean it like that.
I’m not sure how else she could mean it. I knew from the beginning that I probably wasn’t her type, but hell, I didn’t even know what to say.
Me: Then how did you mean it?
Freckles: I just meant that I was drunk. I’m usually not that forward.
Me: Now I’m really confused. I don’t know if you think I’m hot or not and I sure as hell don’t know whether or not you actually wanted to kiss me.
Freckles: Dear God. You know that you’re hot.
I could just imagine her rolling her eyes.
Me: And the kiss?
It took her three excruciatingly long minutes before she texted back.
Freckles: The kiss was a rash decision I made because you somehow looked even hotter when I was drunk. Happy?
Me: Almost.
Freckles: Almost?
Me: Now we just have to decide on what color icing to use on your tramp stamp.
CHAPTER 15
DOUCHEBAGS
Charlie
I didn’t realize that I was going to make things even more confusing when I decided to text Brandon. All I was thinking about was the look he gave me before he walked out of the bakery, and how badly I wanted to make that look go away.
I just wanted to thank him. He had been a huge help with moving my furniture that I would have never managed to move on my own.
But then he went and opened his big mouth.
Why did I think that he actually wouldn’t bring up the kiss?
This was Brandon we were talking about. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy that backed down from anything. Let alone an embarrassing conversation about an almost kiss.
“Do you have everything you need?” My dad pushed the mashed potatoes toward me.
After the day I had, I decided to make the drive to my parents. They somehow always knew how to make me feel better. Just the smell of this house seemed to calm me.
“I think so.” I plopped a too big of helping on my plate, but I was stress eating.
“Do you need me to come move furniture or anything?” My dad patted his biceps. “I may be getting old, but there is still some muscle in there.”
“There is plenty of muscle in there.” My mom kissed his clean-shaven cheek before sitting down beside him. “If you had any more, I’d be fighting the women off even more than I do now. I only have so much time on my hands.”
My dad smiled at my mom before winking at him, and I chuckled before stuffing some food in my mouth.
“I think I have everything where it goes.”
“You moved all that furniture on your own?” My mom asked the question as if it was the worst possible thing she could imagine.
“No. Brandon came over and moved them for me.” I winced because I knew my mom would be too thrilled with that.
“Who’s Brandon?” my dad asked as he looked between my mom and me.
“He’s one of the owners,” I said simply.
“Well that was awfully nice of him,” my dad said, and I prayed my mom dropped it.
“For sure.” I nodded my head.
“He’s a handsome one, that Brandon.” My mom sighed, and I prepared myself for the interrogation.
“Are you dating him?” My dad turned his questioning eyes to me.
“Dad, when are you going to learn that just because Mom thinks a guy is handsome doesn’t mean I’m going to date him?”
“That’s true. You’d be a busy woman otherwise.”
My mom rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You two act like I’m some sort of trollop out scouting men for my daughter.”
“If the shoe fits.” I stuffed a giant fork full of mashed potatoes in my mouth.
“She likes the boy,” my mom said directly to my dad. “She was all upset over him the other day. She’s in a bit of a love triangle.”
“Mom!” I set my fork down. “I swear to God, Dad. I am in no such thing.”
I was going to kill my mom.
“Don’t put up this good girl act just because your dad is here. I tell him everything after you’re gone anyways.”
My dad laughed, and I rolled my eyes.
“Fine. I may be in a bit of a love triangle.” I groaned. “But it’s like my own little triangle that’s all in my head.” I tapped my temple with my finger.
“How is it all in your head?” My mom sounded like she might think I was crazy. If I was, I got it from her.
“I’m not sure if either one of them are actually into me.” I shrugged my shoulders.
“Are you still going out with David this Saturday?”
My mom was keeping up with my dating schedule better than I was.
“We’re all going to play laser tag, but yes, David is picking me up.”
My mom was physically biting her tongue to keep herself from saying what she really wanted to say.
“Out with it.” I waved my hand.
“Watch what you wish for.” My dad chuckled but continued eating.
“It’s just…” She hesitated. “Are you sure that’s the best idea? Is Brandon going to be there?”
“Yes.” I stabbed my pork chop with my fork. “But Brandon isn’t interested in me like that.”
“How do you know that?” She didn’t believe me.
“Beca
use.”
“Because how?”
I looked over at my dad. This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have in front of him, but my mom was right. She was just going to tell him everything after.
“I tried to kiss him the other night, and he pushed me away.”
My mom sucked in a dramatic, shocked breath. “No. He did not.”
“Yes. He did.” I scooped up another heaping forkful of food and shoved it in my mouth.
“That makes no sense. Why would he ask for my advice if he was going to push you away?” She was staring down at her plate.
“I knew it was you.” I pointed my fork at her.
“Maggie, you have to quit meddling.”
“Yea, Mom. Listen to Dad.” I smirked at her.
“I wasn’t meddling. He asked me what would win over her forgiveness, so I gave him a few tips. What kind of man would go to all that trouble if he was just going to push her away?”
“The player kind.”
“He’s a player?” My dad perked up at that. “Don’t you waste your time on boys like that.”
My mom put another helping of mashed potatoes on my plate. “What happened exactly?”
Leave it to my mother to know that I was leaving out details.
“I don’t know. I went in to kiss him. He pushed me away. End of story.”
She looked so confused. “What did he say?”
“When?” I asked.
“After he pushed you away?” She was so over me being vague.
“I don’t know. I think he said something like you’re drunk.”
“Charlie Grace,” my mom screeched. “Were you drunk?”
“Define drunk?” I winked at my father, and he laughed.
“No wonder he pushed you away. What a gentleman.”
She was right of course, but it still irritated me that she was on his side. She was my mom. She was supposed to blindly support me.
“I’m with your mom on this one.” My dad pointed his fork at Mom then continued eating.
Not him too.
“You both know that you’re supposed to be on my team, right?”
“We’re on your team.” My dad patted my hand. “That’s why we don’t let you date douchebags.”
CHAPTER 16
DAMN FOOLS
Brandon
When I pulled up outside the bakery, I could see Charlie inside running her hands through her hair. There was a cable company van parked out front and two men who looked like they were barely working inside the bakery.
She looked up at me as soon as I walked in the door.
“What are you doing here?” She picked up plastic off the floor behind the guys installing her internet.
“You told me that you had lots of work to do today. So, here I am.” I shrugged my shoulders like it was no big deal.
“Don’t you have to work?” She looked at the wall to her left as if she could see through it.
“I blocked out my schedule.”
She stood up then and looked me directly in the eye.
“You cleared out your schedule to help me?”
“Yes,” I said hesitantly. “This bakery isn’t going to open itself. Let’s get to work.”
She smiled at me then. A smile that ripped the breath out of my chest.
“Well let’s get to work.”
I wasn’t expecting her to make me work like a slave, but she took full advantage of me. She put my ass to work like she was paying me.
“How many different sprinkles do you have?” I was pulling sprinkles after sprinkles out of a box and stacking them exactly like she wanted them. Trust me. She had given me explicit instructions on how she wanted the colors organized.
“About a hundred I would guess.” She shrugged as she moved a box on the counter that looked like it had about every shape of cookie cutter that you could imagine.
“That’s just excessive.” I shook two different containers of blue sprinkles that I could have sworn were almost identical.
“Oh yeah.” She rolled her eyes. “Because I’m sure that you only have a few different shades of ink for tattoos, right.”
“You make a valid point.” I placed both of the sprinkles on the shelf.
“That’s what I’m here for.” She bowed dramatically, and I noticed a smattering of freckles on the back of her neck that I was dying to taste with my tongue.
Think about anything that didn’t involve licking her. I reminded myself over and over in my head. “Are your parents going to be here for the opening?”
“Yeah. They wouldn’t miss it.” She glanced up at me, and I could see that she was dying to ask a question.
“Go ahead.” I nodded my head at her.
She blushed and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Are you close with your parents?”
“Not as close as you and yours.” I chuckled. “But yeah. We’re close. They live a few hours from here in my hometown. Right outside of Nashville.”
“What made you move here?” She didn’t even look up as she continued to stack cookie cutters in a drawer.
“A tattoo apprenticeship.” She looked up and I nodded my head. “Parker and I were actually apprentices at the same place. I had planned on moving home when I was finished, but Parker asked me if I wanted to open our own place together and the rest is history.”
“Best friends and business partners, huh?” She cocked an eyebrow and waited for some juicy gossip.
“For sure.” I put the last of the sprinkles on the shelf and broke down the box. “Even if we weren’t best friends, I would have opened the place with him. He’s crazy talented. He was better than the guys we were apprenticing for from the very beginning.”
He was too. Parker’s talent was rare. Anyone who ever saw it knew it too.
“Is he better than you?” She handed me another box and pointed to the cabinet next to the sprinkles. This one contained almost every color of food coloring you could imagine.
“I know that you think I’m an arrogant bastard.”
She scoffed.
“But I can openly admit that Parker is by far the most talented tattoo artist in that shop.”
“Oh.” She rubbed her hands together. “Even better than Staci?”
I waved her off. “Please, I’m better than Staci.”
“Mr. Modest, ladies and gentlemen.” Charlie waved her hands in my direction like she was Vanna White.
We both settled back into our tasks at hand, but it only took her another minute before she was asking more questions. “Any siblings?”
“Only child.” I shook my head. “It must have contributed to that cocky thing.”
“Not true. I’m an only child, and I’m perfect.”
“Yes,” I nodded my head in agreement, “and clearly not arrogant.”
She laughed, an easy-going laugh, that I had rarely heard from her since meeting her that first day. She always seemed so calculated. So under control.
“You are gorgeous when you laugh like that.”
I could see her tense. Me putting her on the spot making her uncomfortable. “Thank you. If you really want a show, just wait until I snort.”
I rubbed my stomach as I laughed. “You snort?”
“Only when something is really, really funny.”
I put my hand over my chest, completely offended. “Are you telling me that I’m not really, really funny?”
She held up her hands in defense. “Maybe you just haven’t been on you’re a game in front of me.”
“I am offended, Freckles.”
“It’s not my fault.” She pushed off the counter and grabbed another box. “Some people just aren’t that funny.”
I made a choking noise. “You’re killing me here. I thought girls were attracted to me for my humor.”
She snorted then. The most unladylike sound I had ever heard her make. “Now that right there. That was funny.”
…
It was five o’clock by the time we finally got everything in its plac
e. I could tell that some stress had been lifted off Charlie’s shoulders by having everything done and moving a few appointments around to be able to give her that was worth it.
There was a stack of empty boxes as tall as I was behind the building, and I was still trying to wrap my mind around how Charlie was going to be able to run this all by herself. I couldn’t even imagine it.
We had just sat down at the little Asian restaurant down the block from our shops. I was absolutely starving after all the work she had me do, and when we finally got to a stopping point, she told me that she owed me dinner.
There was no way in hell that I was going to object.
Even if I wasn’t hungry.
I was famished when it came to her.
“If I order sushi, will you share it with me?” Her eyes scanned over the menu.
“Of course.” I kept myself from telling her that I would have agreed to anything she asked me.
“What do you like?”
“Whatever you like.” Please don’t order raw fish.
The server came to the table, and we ordered our food.
“My mom wants to come get a tattoo from you by the way.” Charlie rolled her eyes.
“Does your mom have any tattoos?” I didn’t like to make assumptions, but I couldn’t imagine that she did.
“No.” She sounded exasperated. She just wants to get one from you because she thinks you’re so handsome.”
I was flattered. “She’s a smart woman.”
“She’s a bit crazy. It’s okay. You can say it.” Charlie crossed her eyes.
“I’m not going to bite the hand that feeds me.”
Charlie scoffed and took a sip of her drink. “How hard is it to get scheduled in with you? I told her I would ask, and I know she won’t leave me alone until I do.”
“For your mom, it won’t be hard at all. I am booked out a couple months though. I think I have a few hours blocked out before our trip though.” I pulled out my phone to look at my schedule.
“What trip?” She looked down and twisted a thin gold ring around her pointer finger.
“We’re going on a weekend camping trip next weekend that Livy planned.” And just like that everything fell together. “You should come.”
“No way.” She shook her head and a few curls fell out of her ponytail.
