Chapter 5 Bennett
BENNETT
Igathered the blanket-wrapped dog into my arms and walked swiftly toward the front door. We moved quickly past the scandalized dinner party clustered in the hall and entryway.
“You’re going to be okay, buddy,” I murmured to Molly. “No one likes Greg anyway.”
“Bennett,” Charlie scolded lightly. “Take her to my car.”
She jogged ahead to open the back hatch and motioned for me to sit. I held Molly in my lap, and Charlie leaned over me to scratch the dog’s ears. She smelled like coconut and sea salt—two of my very favorite scents.
Molly’s trembling lessened as she nuzzled Charlie’s hand.
“Thank you, Ben.” She glanced up at me with a grateful smile, and I had to resist the urge to boop her adorably freckled nose.
“Anytime.” I eased my hold, and Molly remained curled on my lap, comfortable and calm.
Molly’s trust tugged at my heart. I’d always wanted to have a dog, but I couldn’t with my schedule.
With me going out to sea so many days a week, it would be too hard.
Besides, I wanted to be untethered. I had my siblings, and they were enough.
Getting too attached to any one person or animal would inevitably lead to heartbreak and loss.
“Molly likes you,” Charlie said.
“Well, Molly has proven herself to be a good judge of character. Haven’t you, girl?”
Greg marched down the driveway toward us, his arm wrapped in white gauze, a determined and angry expression on his face. Garrison—the salt-and-pepper version of Greg, down to their matching scowls—strode purposefully at his side. Molly’s back stiffened.
“Charlie, maybe you and Molly should get in the car,” I said.
Her expression was strained as she rushed to the passenger seat and accepted Molly onto her lap. I closed her door and headed Greg off before he got too close.
There were few people I adamantly disliked, and Greg was one of them.
He strutted around like the world owed him something.
At our first meeting, he’d been quick to let me know where four parentless siblings fit in the hierarchy of this town.
But one of Charlie’s best—and most frustrating—qualities was that she always saw the good in everyone. Even when they didn’t deserve it.
“What do you want, Greg?”
“Move.” He tried to walk around me, but I stepped in his path again. I had at least six inches and forty pounds on him. While Greg sat at a desk all day, I was out regularly fishing and working on my boat.
There was nothing I could do about Charlie marrying him. There was nothing I could do about Greg stopping by her house later. But in this moment, I could protect them. So protect them I would.
I wouldn’t lie and pretend I wasn’t getting a whole lot of satisfaction out of blocking him.
“It seems like you need to get that arm looked at,” I said.
“That dog needs to be put down.”
Greg, in some ways, was like the overstimulated dog. If I had a four-thousand-dollar blanket to wrap him in, I would, even if he didn’t deserve it.
I flexed my folded arms, making it very clear I wasn’t budging. “I’ll make sure the dog gets taken care of.” With a treat and a huge medal for doing what I couldn’t do. “If I were you, I’d prioritize getting an antibiotic. You don’t want an oozing arm at your wedding.”
“I need to talk to my fiancée.” He bit off every word, his face red, his scowl deep.
I lazily raised an eyebrow, knowing it would get under his skin. “She’s busy right now.”
We stared at each other in a battle of wills, but I was not moving. I would die in this spot before I let him pass me to harass Charlie and Molly.
After a few tense seconds, Garrison put a hand on Greg’s shoulder. “Let’s get that arm looked at, son, before it scars.”
Greg turned without another word and followed his dad to the garage.
I stayed right where I was, blocking Charlie’s door, until they were gone.
When I opened the driver’s door of Charlie’s SUV and hopped in, she swiped at the tears on her cheeks and looked away, her embarrassment clear. “It’s so stupid to cry, right?”
“Nope, not stupid.” I flipped the visor down and grabbed her keys before they fell. “I’d cry too if I knew I had to marry that tool.”
“Bennett,” she scolded with a sigh.
“Sorry.” I grimaced. I hated the guy, but we’d all agreed we wouldn’t force Charlie to choose between us and her fiancé. Which meant playing nice. Greg just made it so difficult sometimes. I tried again. “Rosie claims crying is good for the soul.”
The silence in the cab was punctured only by her sniffling as I drove away from the Millers’ house. The adrenaline from my standoff with Greg was fading, replaced with remorse.
Turned out Charlie’s crying was not good for my soul.
I pulled to the side of the road and tugged Charlie into a tight hug, resting my chin on the top of her head and breathing in her familiar scent, one that both steadied my breathing and made my heart race, a paradox I’d never figured out.
“I’m being dumb,” she said.
“No, you’re not.” Was that something Greg made her believe? Logically, I knew not every negative thing came from Greg. But Charlie’s tears were making me very illogical.
She pulled away, swiped her hand purposefully across her cheeks as if to erase her emotions, and straightened her back. “I’m okay. Really.”
Well, I wasn’t. Greg wasn’t getting any playing time at our next softball game. Maybe the next two games. It was a small revenge, but all I could get away with without upsetting Charlie.
“Are you mad at me?” Charlie asked, her voice hesitant. Her stare was on my white knuckles, and I forced my hands to relax.
“Of course not,” I said as gently as I could. “Greg, though…” I couldn’t help but growl.
Since I was already mentally listing all of Greg’s faults, here was one of my most hated ones.
That old tale about putting a frog in cold water and slowly boiling it until it’s cooked without it even realizing?
Yeah, that was Charlie, and Greg had slowly cooked her sense of self-worth over the last several years.
So slowly we didn’t even notice it at first. He was always right which, by default, meant she was always wrong—and paralyzed at the thought of making a decision that could upset him.
It wasn’t until it started to bleed over into her interactions with me and Rosie that we started to notice it.
“I’m sorry he acted like that,” she continued.
“You don’t have to apologize for him.”
“I am the one who rescued the dog,” she said, resigned.
“That’s not what I meant. This isn’t your fault.” Charlie was everything sweet and wonderful, and some people exploited those qualities until they were tattered ends of a flag fluttering listlessly in the wind.
“Then whose is it?”
“Greg’s the one who agitated the dog after you told him to stop,” I told her. Molly whined in agreement.
She dropped her head against the seat with a defeated sigh. “He sure did.”
I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. I wished she’d take a page from Molly’s book and bite back. She took everything on the chin lately. I wanted her to square up. Punch back. Draw some blood and laugh in our faces as she did.
Here was the problem when Charlie bit: so often she was the one left hurt.
I turned the SUV toward the shelter, wishing I could be for Charlie what she was for the dogs she rescued. Helplessness gnawed at me.
“Your car!” She grabbed my arm. “We didn’t drive here together!”
“I’ll pick it up later,” I assured her. My very last thought tonight had been for my car. It would be fine for a few hours, but I could see her getting worked up. What she needed was a distraction. “How’s your mom feeling?”
She blinked a few times. “Um. A lot better. She got her cast off last week, and she’s back to working full time.”
“That’s good.”
Her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. She and her mom were close, always had been. It was just the two of them since Charlie’s dad died when she was young.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
Charlie paused and then nodded slowly. “Mom’s roof started leaking after that storm a couple days ago. She needs some shingles replaced. I know you’re busy too, but…”
“I’m off for the next three days. I’ll come by tomorrow before the game and look at it.”
Her look of gratitude eased the tightness in my chest as we slowed to a stop in the shelter parking lot and took Molly in to get cared for.
Bennett
Are we really going to sit back and do nothing about the Greg Problem?
Rosie
Yes. No. Yes.
Bennett
You’re right. We can’t interfere. He’d make her choose between us and him. She’d be worse off. He’s just so….
Rosie
So Greg.
I hate this.
Bennett
Me too.
Rosie
I just changed my plane ticket. I’ll be there Monday.