Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Charlotte
I groaned loudly as I shoved into my apartment and let the door swing closed behind me with a bang, then stumbled over and flopped face-first onto the couch. Normally, I’d take better care not to let the door slam, but the week had utterly exhausted me. The combination of altitude, new job, and learning the ropes of not only a new property but an entirely new management company amounted to a lot.
Another day and I could relax. I’d start weekends right before the holidays, but I wasn’t ready for that yet and thanked my lucky stars I didn’t have to face full ski weekend madness for another month or so. Tomorrow would be busy—Fridays always were—but then I would see Cody.
Just thinking his name made me smile, but my tired face protested and my left eyelid twitched. I’d never realized I could be so full-body tired until I started working hospitality full-time and discovered that when you smile all day, you really do lose the ability to properly manipulate your face after a ten-hour shift.
A knock on the door made me turn slightly to glare at it, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. “Come in,” I yelled half-heartedly.
The knock came again.
“Come innnn.”
There were really only a small handful of people who’d knock and come in without my having to greet them. Family, or Cody. If the person at the door was some kind of serial killer or robber, he probably wouldn’t have bothered knocking.
Thank goodness he didn’t make me answer the door and did actually simply believe my request to enter.
“Are you alive in here?”
I groaned into the couch again.
The breathy sound of his chuckle motivated me to turn my head so I could watch him sit in the armchair perpendicular to the couch.
“So you’re alive, but barely?”
“Mmmhmm.”
“And what brought this near-death existence on? Can working at Silver Ridge be that bad?”
If I hadn’t been so tired, the warmth in his tone would’ve made my stomach curl. “Not bad. Just exhausting. I’m a sissy.”
That deep chuckle came again, and I studied him from my pathetic heap on the couch. Goodness, he was handsome. Cut jaw, a close-trimmed beard, and dark hair a little long, some of which curled over his forehead. I didn’t dare let myself look at those lips in my weakened state.
“Do you need anything? Let me grab you water.”
He didn’t wait for me to respond, but hopped up and bumped around in the kitchen. I heard the water fill a glass and smiled at that detail. No plastic bottled stuff here—the mountain water from the tap tasted amazing and it was a small but true pleasure to drink it from the faucet. When I worked in Munich, they loved bragging that their water was akin to mineral, but it had nothing on Silverton’s.
He returned to the living room and set the glass on the coffee table next to me. I stared at it, willing my arm to reach out and take a sip, but that would also involve sitting up so I didn’t dump it all over myself, and that wasn’t about to happen.
“Thank you. I’ll drink that as soon as I summon the will to move in any significant way.”
“What can I do?” he asked, his words soft.
Something in me ached. Not the sore muscle, exhausted body kind of ache, but a more profound sensation rooted in my gut. Tethered to my soul, maybe. “You’re sweet.”
I’d been gone so long, only visiting Silverton to see my folks and sister and occasionally chat with friends on the whirlwind trips. Of course I’d see him, but it was always so quick. Other than those quick stop-ins, I’d been all over the world, building up a portfolio of experience and living my dreams.
The thing no one tells you about living your dreams is that sometimes, that can be a very lonely road. I’d dated some nice guys, had some adventures, and loved the opportunities that’d come my way, but overall, I’d done it alone. And this quiet, silly moment threw all of that into sharp relief, especially when he reached out and brushed hair out of my eyes. Nothing fancy, just a gentle slide of his fingers to curl around my ear and tuck the strands back into place, but it toppled any stability I’d had.
I crushed my eyes closed.
“Charlie? You okay?”
When I opened my eyes again, his brown ones were waiting. Concern, care, love. It was all there. It always had been. And I’d walked away from him. More than that, I’d stayed away. I’d kept distance between us in more ways than one. As stupid as it made me, I’d been hurt that he’d never tried to stop me from leaving. I wouldn’t have stayed—I knew that with certainty—but I also knew I would’ve asked him to come with me.
He would’ve said no , my helpful, soppy brain reminded me. The reason why I’d never asked, and maybe why he’d never done anything to stop me from leaving. We’d both had our paths, and we’d walked them.
But now here we were. Face to face and together again. And I had no idea what direction my journey would take me next, but right now it felt so obvious. Like all signs pointed to him.
Whoaaaa crazy! I pushed that thought away and blinked over at him. “I’m a mess, but I’m fine. Thanks for checking on me. I think I’m just going to pour myself into the tub and eventually dump myself into bed. I’m not sure you can help me with either.”
He shifted in his seat and mumbled something before running a hand over his mouth.
I sat up, not sure I’d heard what I thought I’d heard but desperate to know. “What?”
“I said, ‘I could help with both, but we don’t have that kind of relationship.’”
My mouth dropped open. “I thought that’s what you said.”
Our eyes locked and my stomach twisted into knots at the intensity in his gaze. Oh my goodness, this man was handsome, and that was part of all this too—Cody was a man now, and I was a woman. What a silly, obvious thing to say, and yet that reality hit me in the chest, right above my wildly beating heart. I searched for the right response. Part of me said, “Let’s do that!” The other part grumbled, “I’m too tired to handle this!”
Before I could say anything, Cody spoke and saved me from my two halves.
“I’ll leave you to it,” he said in a low, gruff kind of voice I couldn’t have imagined him using before today.
Probably for the best, that. If I’d known this was who Cody’d grown into, I doubted I could’ve stayed away so long. If I’d fully registered this was the man I’d been talking to so casually since summer, I might’ve been more reserved.
What the heck are you talking about? I really was tired if I was thinking about Cody as some kind of unavoidable magnet and not my old friend all grown up.
“’kay. See you tomorrow?”
He nodded, and left quietly the way he came.
And I lay there on the couch, mind whirling.
His eyes. Those words. My reaction to him.
I had no idea what to do with all of that, but eventually, I heaved myself off the couch and stumbled into the shower knowing I would never want to exit the tub if I indulged in a bath. After zapping the leftovers from dinner last night and forcing myself to eat them so I wouldn’t wake up starving in the middle of the night, I brushed my teeth and finally went to bed.
And as tired as I was, I could still hear him long after I lay my head on my pillow.
“What can I do?” with so much care and concern. And the other thing, said with grit, caused a twinge that felt a lot like temptation. “I could help with both…”