Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Finn
Charlie looks breathtakingly beautiful. Earlier, I noticed she wasn’t wearing her usual attire of overalls and sneakers—which I adore because they suit her so well. From the moment my foot stepped into her store, a million thoughts tumbled through my mind. One thing I wasn’t prepared for: how to handle her returning the flirtatious banter I was sending her way. So of course I couldn’t help but tease her a bit.
When I closed the distance between us, I could hear her breath hitch and felt her shiver. Her scent was an intoxicating mix of citrus and lilac, like a warm spring evening, and all I wanted to do was bury myself into her neck and inhale as if it were the last breath I’d ever take.
It took a lot of restraint not to just kiss her right then and there.
After getting the dogs settled in my shop, we venture out into the crisp autumn air. Main Street is illuminated by the glow of the street lamps reflecting off the wet pavement. It rained earlier in the day, giving tonight’s chill a little extra bite.
As we stroll down the sidewalk together, I break the silence by asking an off-the-wall question.
“If you could only eat three things for the rest of your life, what would they be?” I ask, glancing down at her.
Since she doesn’t like small talk, I opt for random questions. Last night, I researched a handful of them, memorized the questions as best I could, and filed them away for this moment.
Her cheeks puff out as she exhales. “Let’s see,” she says, her brows pulling together as she thinks. “Funfetti cake, chocolate ice cream, and gummy bears.”
Wow. My idea of making her a dinner that incorporates all of her favorite foods goes right out the window. This woman has the palate of a sugar-starved child.
I abruptly stop and look down at her. “You wouldn’t survive off of all that. You’d get scurvy.”
Turning to me, her chin tips up defiantly. “I could take a multivitamin!”
“Do you take one now?”
“No.”
I tilt my head and raise one brow at her. “And what makes you think you’ll start taking them during your Candyland feast?”
“I thought this was a judgment free zone?”
“No one said this was judgment free,” I deadpan.
She playfully slaps my arm. “Asshole.”
We both smile at each other and continue our walk. My nose feels about two minutes away from falling off from the cold, but I don’t dare tap out.
I’m not a quitter.
I’ll stand out here all night in a swimsuit and freeze to death if it means I get to know more about Charlie.
“Do you think goldendoodles are programmed by the government?” she asks.
I turn my head away from her and try not to laugh. Where the hell did this question come from?
She continues. “Because if you think about it, they’re hypoallergenic, so lots of families own them. And have you seen their eyes? They’re oddly human-like, Finn. I swear they look like they’re up to something.”
“Charlie, what goes on in that mind of yours?” I say, as I tap the top of her head with my index finger.
“It’s better if you don’t know.”
Nah. I think it’s better if I do know. Her mind seems like an interesting place that I’m eager to explore.
“My neighbor has a goldendoodle. Actually, now that you mention it, his dog does look at me suspiciously. I’ll keep an eye on him. Maybe the IRS found out I didn’t file my taxes two years ago and is checking up on me.” I shrug.
Her laugh is soft, and I look back down at her, noticing her cheeks are pink and eyes are bright. Comfortable silence stretches between us as we make our way to the small park in town.
“All right, I have to know. Why funfetti cake?”
Charlie’s face drops, touched with a sad smile. “My mom used to make the best cakes. Every year for our birthdays, she’d make everyone’s favorite cake. Jackson loves coconut, and Joey loves strawberry. Mine was funfetti.” She sniffles, and I’m not sure whether it’s from the cold or the distant memory. “The sprinkles make it taste better.”
I feel my chest tighten. Not only did she lose her parents, she lost the familial traditions that brought endless happy memories. She sniffles again and I notice her eyes are glassy, with a single tear falling from the corner.
“Wait,” I whisper. We both stop and I pull my hand out of my pocket, wiping away her lone tear with the pad of my thumb. It lingers there for a bit on her cool, smooth cheek. “It’s the superior flavor. You have excellent taste.”
Her eyes close, nodding in agreement. My hands unwillingly drop from her face as we continue our walk.
“When’s your birthday?” I ask.
“November eleventh,” she replies.
In this exact moment, I decide to take up baking as my next hobby. In a few short weeks, Charlie is going to have a funfetti cake waiting at her doorstep if it’s the last thing I do.
“When’s your birthday?” she questions. “Actually, how old are you?”
“Didn’t anyone tell you it’s impolite to ask someone’s age?”
“Oh no. You’re that old? Forty-seven? I always did have a thing for silver foxes.”
I come to a sudden stop, swinging my body toward her. “Whoa. Shots fired. What did I ever do to you?”
She stands there, looking at me with a devious glint in her eye. Her head tips back, and she laughs. It’s the kind of laugh that’s infectious—a deep, genuine laugh that can’t help but make people smile.
With a disbelieving shake of my head, I chuckle. “You’re such a troublemaker.”
Shrugging, she continues to walk ahead of me, leaving me standing there with a goofy smile on my face. With my long stride, it takes no time for me to catch up with her.
“April tenth,” I finally say. “And I’m thirty-five.”
“Ooh. National Hug Your Dog Day! That’s a good date,” she says. “I’m thirty-four, by the way.”
My face twists in confusion. “I have so many questions, mainly how you just randomly knew what national holiday falls on my birthday.”
“I can’t give all my secrets away, West. A lady has to have some mystery to her.” She scoffs as if this is some universally agreed upon fact that I should know.
A hearty laugh escapes me. I’ve traveled all over the world and can confidently say I have never met anyone like her. Charlie is unique, captivating, and impossible to resist.
While we walk, I can’t help but notice how our fingers brush every so often, making my heart beat a little faster with each innocent touch. It’s happened enough times that I’ve realized she doesn’t shy away from these brief touches. Occasionally, I’ll see her glance down at our hands out of the corner of her eye, but she doesn’t notice me looking.
I decide to make a bold move and hope she doesn’t flee like a frightened deer. Our fingers brush again, but this time, I loop my pinky around her pinky. My heart is pounding so hard in my chest that it feels hard to breathe. I hear my racing pulse in my ears. The collar of my shirt feels suffocating, my neck is sweating, and, to top it all off, I can sense my glasses will fog up any minute now.
I’m such a fucking nerd.
Rather than pulling away, she responds by curling her pinky tighter around mine.
Sneaking another glance, I notice Charlie is acting cool, calm, and collected. You could even say she looks unfazed by what’s happening. Meanwhile, my nervous system is misfiring at every corner, and my chest feels ready to burst at any moment.
“So,” she begins, “why Hemlock? I know you said your aunt lives here, but I’m positive that’s not why you came.”
“I’ve moved around a lot. Before moving here, I was working in New York, in finance, specifically?—”
She interrupts. “Ew, a finance bro?”
“Did you eat or drink something different tonight? You’re on a whole new level. Don’t get me wrong, I like my women like I like my cocktails—spicy. And you, Miss Thorne, have some spice in you tonight.”
“What a cheesy line. Does that usually work? Probably not. Good thing you’re cute.” She mutters that last sentence and it’s barely audible, but I hear it clearly. “Anyway, you were saying?” she inquires, looking straight ahead of her.
“I’m going to ignore the fact you called my line cheesy and only acknowledge that you called me cute.” A smile gradually appears on her rosy-cheeked face. “So, as I was saying, I was working in finance and it was soul crushing. I woke up every day anxious and stressed about putting on a tie and heading to work. I knew that lifestyle wasn’t going to be healthy in the long run. My family was getting concerned because every time we talked, I wasn’t myself.” My voice falls with sadness. “They kept saying, ‘We miss the old Finn!’ They were worried I was headed to a dark place. With therapy, I realized I couldn’t keep living my life the way it was going.”
Charlie takes a moment to absorb everything I just said.
It’s quiet between us, the only noises coming from the crunching gravel underneath our boots and the rustling leaves caught in the autumn breeze.
She runs her free hand through her dark, shiny hair. “So, would you say moving to Hemlock is your third life crisis?”
“Bingo.”
It’s quiet again between us. I look up at the inky sky dotted with glittering stars. The cool breeze fans my face, which is now warm after walking her through my life story.
“Well, you’re in good company. Because that makes two of us,” she says, meeting my gaze and flashing me a playful wink.
The way I would drop to my knees for this woman.
It hits me that we’re both in the throes of massive life changes in our thirties—navigating a messy new chapter in our lives, each starting over in some way.
“Look at us, two peas in a pod.” I laugh softly.
“I’m not sure I’m ready to share a pod with you, but sure, you could say that.” She giggles. “And you chose to move to Hemlock because . . . ?”
“Well, I wanted to move back to Oregon because it’s home. Besides my sister, who lives in Hawaii, most of my immediate family lives in Eugene. I didn’t want to be too close, though. I love them, but I need my space. So one night I threw a dart at a map of Oregon, and that’s how I landed in Hemlock. As fate would have it, Aunt Donna also lives here. Strange how the universe works sometimes.”
She gives an approving nod. “Strange, but I like that approach. Let fate handle it.”
My gaze drops down to her as she looks up at me with her big doe eyes. “Yeah, fate,” I say, nearly whispering.
We’re slowly looping back to the coffee shop. As much as I don’t want the night to end and would love to keep holding on to her pinky, I sense a bone-deep exhaustion in Charlie. She seems ready to head home to rest and recover.
“It’s scary, isn’t it? Starting over? Especially at this age when everyone around you seems to have everything figured out—big careers, families, and huge houses.” Charlie sighs. “Yet, here we are, trying our best to keep going and not knowing what the fuck we’re doing day in and day out. Every morning, I encourage myself just to try to make it through the day.”
“It’s terrifying.” I nod in agreement. “I remember asking my mom once if the older you get, the more you know what you’re doing.”
“And what did she say?”
“Every day is a guessing game. You hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and assume it’ll all work itself out in the end.”
“I like your mom already. She seems like a smart woman,” she concludes, her voice tender and quiet.
After a long and chilly walk, we approach my shop and grab the dogs. While we’re making our way to our cars, I’m hit by an idea.
This idea may backfire. But, again, life’s too short to be unhappy, so I’m hoping for the best.
“Charlie, Halloween is a couple of weeks away,” I state.
Her face twists in disgust. “Yep, I’m fully aware. I hate Halloween. I’m too old and jumpy for that nonsense.”
“You sound like you’re eighty years old.”
Her arms cross over her chest. “Well, Griffin, sometimes I feel like it. And by sometimes, I mean most of the time.”
Now I’m the one who rolls my eyes in amusement. “All right, grandma. I was wondering if you and Vera wanted to pass out candy with me? Frank will be dressed up as a burglar.”
“That’s impressive. Solid choice on the costume for your kleptomaniac dog.”
“Oh? That impressed you?” My eyebrows raise to my hairline.
“Don’t get used to it.”
I give her a wink. “Charlie, I have many, many other ways that I can impress you.”
“Are you flirting right now?”
“Is it working?”
Her eyes are wide, her lips part, then close again.
“I think so, actually,” she says, looking surprised with herself.
“Good, then I guess I’ll just have to keep it up.” I smirk, allowing my eyes to drop to her mouth and then slowly move back to her wide brown eyes. “On Halloween, I’ll see you at my house? How about 6 p.m.? You don’t need to bring anything. I just need you and Vera.” I stop, realizing how that last sentence came out. My face heats. Hopefully, the cold masks the red flush spreading across my face and up to my ears.
It’s too late, though, because Charlie cocks one eyebrow in my direction. “Me and Vera it is then.”
As those last words linger with me, I watch Charlie spin on her heel and settle into her car. Frank is now whimpering because he misses Vera. And, just like her mom, Vera looks back at Frank with one last parting glance. I flash Charlie a smile and a wink.
Tonight was a good night.