Chapter 71
DERRICK
And just like that, we were back on the plane to LA. Sienna and Vanessa stayed on and headed up to Byron Bay to visit their families, but I had to get back to work. Maybe next time I’ll be able to show Charlie my favorite place.
We arrive at my home, and Charlie walks me inside.
“I hate that I’m not going to be here tonight. I’ve loved falling asleep with you.”
“Me too.” An ache forms in my heart knowing that he’s going back to Jackson’s house tonight.
He leans forward and kisses me, and my insides melt. “My hand is going to be getting a workout tonight.”
“Mine too. I hate this.”
“I do, too, but at least we are in the same city.” He sighs, kissing me again. This is true, he could be an airplane’s ride away. “I can come see you tomorrow.”
“I have work.”
“I’ll bring you lunch, even if it’s for ten minutes.”
“I’d like that.”
“And don’t forget this weekend we get to catch up with my parents,” Charlie reminds me.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Charlie cups my face. “This is the start of us, D, we won’t be apart forever. I could never be apart from you.”
“Me either, but I understand why. You and me,” I reassure him.
“I know. It’s just …”
I shake my head. “We have forever. Get Everly set up, and then it’s our turn.”
“Fuck, I love you,” he says, grabbing my face and kissing the hell out of me until my lips turn numb. “How did I get so lucky?”
“We both got lucky. Now go. Everly is probably waiting excitedly for you. I’ll see you tomorrow for lunch, and I can’t wait to officially meet your family.” I kiss him again.
“Night, D,” he says reluctantly as he walks away from me.
I’m a nervous wreck. I’m meeting Charlie’s mum for the first time in person. She’s flown in early to meet up at the studio to go through the items I’ve pulled for the gala she is going to. I really hope she likes what I have for her.
“Derrick, it’s going to be fine,” Rory, my assistant, tells me, trying to calm me down.
“Today has to be perfect.”
“It will be. I won’t let you down. Charlie loves you,” he reassures me.
“Yes, but will his family?”
“How can people not love you. You’re loveable.” He smirks at me.
“I am, aren’t I.” I chuckle, giving myself an internal pep talk. I’ve got this. Parents love me. Charlie’s mum is going to love me. My phone buzzes, I look down and see Charlie’s name. My stomach drops. Oh no, has something happened?
Charlie: We are about to pull up out the front. I wanted to warn you. I know you’re nervous, but you have nothing to worry about. I love you. Mom will love you. Trust me.
“Charlie just messaged that they are about to arrive,” I nervously tell Rory.
“Deep breaths. The champagne is chilled. The clothes are steamed. The studio is tidy and smells delicious. The flowers look perfect,” he says, handing me the bouquet that I got for her. “Lunch is confirmed. Everything is ready to go.”
“Thanks,” I tell him as the door to my studio buzzes.
“I’ll get it.” He smirks, rushing toward the door, while I stand there awkwardly with a bouquet of flowers.
“Welcome to the Derrick Jones studio. Would you like to follow me in?” Rory asks.
I hear the high heels on the wooden floors, my heartbeat goes up a notch, and I see Rory bring in Charlie, Everly, and a gorgeous blonde woman.
Charlie’s eyes light up when he sees me, then widen when he notices the flowers.
“Welcome to my studio. I brought you these.” I smile, handing the flowers to Charlie’s mum.
“Oh, Derrick, aren’t you the sweetest?” She smiles, grabbing the flowers from me and sniffing them. “They are stunning. You didn’t have to get me flowers, but they are appreciated.”
“I can take them and put them into water,” Rory says as she hands him the flowers.
“I can see where your children get their looks from.”
“You charmer.” She grins before turning to her son. “Charlie, he’s so hot.”
“He can hear you.” Charlie chuckles.
“Hey, Derrick. Ignore Mom, she has no filter,” Everly says, hugging me.
“Hush, girl, don’t tell all my secrets,” her mum chastises her.
“I have the same problem,” I tell her, which makes her smile.
“I am so excited to be properly meeting the man who has swept my baby boy off his feet.”
“Mom.”
“Well, he has, hasn’t he?” she asks him.
Charlie turns, looks at me, and gives me a heated stare. “He certainly has.”
“He’s swept me off my feet too,” I confess to her. She looks between the two of us.
“You two are adorable. Come here. Welcome to the family,” she says, rushing over and hugging me. “Thank you for saving my boy,” she whispers into my ear, surprising me.
“He saved me too,” I whisper back, then to break the emotional tension between us she rubs her hands over me.
“Mom!” Charlie exclaims.
“What? He’s handsome.” She cuddles into my side.
“You can’t touch my boyfriend like that.”
She rolls her eyes at her son. “I was just hugging him.”
“Groping him,” Charlie corrects her.
“Anyway, please tell me all these beautiful dresses are for me?” she asks, changing the subject.
“They are. I have loads of options for the charity gala and some extra items that I thought you might like,” I explain to her.
“You’re a doll. Let’s go shopping.” She grins as she walks over to the racks with Everly.
“I’m so sorry about her,” Charlie says.
“Why? She’s great.”
“She is?”
“She seems like so much fun,” I tell him.
“Fuck, I love you.” He grins, grabbing my neck and pulling me to him as he kisses me.
“Hey, stop distracting Derrick, we have things to do,” His mum calls out to us.
We spent all day trying on looks which she loved.
Charlie’s mum bought everything I suggested, and she swiped her credit card as if she went to Target.
Now, we are at lunch together in Beverley Hills at her favorite restaurant.
As soon as we walked in, the staff started fawning over her and we got one of the best seats in the house.
“So Everly tells me you have found an apartment?” she asks, sipping on her wine.
“We have,” Charlie answers. I didn’t know that. “It’s not far from here.”
“So, you bought something?” she asks.
“No, just a rental for the moment,” Charlie explains.
“But we said we could buy you something,” his mum argues.
“We know, Mom, but we aren’t sure where we want to live. This way we can rent and work out what area suits us,” Everly explains to her.
“That makes sense. And how is the job hunting going, sweetheart?” she asks Everly.
“I have some interviews next week which look promising.”
“You know I can put a call in for you,” her mum tells her.
Everly gives her a face that tells me they have had this conversation many times before, and she’s exhausted by it. “Mom, I told you I wanted to do it myself.”
“I know you can, but I can help if you need.”
“We know you can, and we appreciate it, but we want to do this ourselves,” Everly explains.
“Fine. I’m sure Derrick’s family wanted to help him when he moved to LA,” his mum says.
Charlie stiffens beside me, and he must make a face because I see the panic on his mum’s face as she realizes she might have put her foot in it. I reach out and place my hand on his knee, letting him know I am okay.
“It wasn’t my family, unfortunately, that helped me, it was one of my closest friends, Vanessa Taylor. She’s married to Christian from Dirty Texas. It’s a long story, but she’s the one who got me over here,” I explain to her.
“Did she? I’d love to hear it, if you are okay telling the story?”
I nod. “Sure, it’s a tale as old as time.
It involves my best friend, Sienna Wyld, who is married to Evan from Dirty Texas.
She found her previous husband in a compromising position in the middle of her thirtieth birthday party with his ex.
” Charlie’s mum’s eyes open. “Then she finds out she’s actually pregnant too. ”
“No.” She gasps.
I nod. “It gets worse because they ran away and got married in Vegas, but they didn’t file the paperwork correctly, so they were technically not married. His father used that to take everything from her because her ex didn’t own anything, the family trust did.”
“That’s horrible.”
“It was, but it was also a blessing in disguise. Because of who they were as a couple back home, the media attention was intense. That’s when Vanessa asked us if we wanted to style the Dirty Texas guys for their European tour, and we jumped at it, to get out of Australia and away from the attention. ”
“And that’s where she met her husband?” she asks.
“Yep, and the best thing was, Evan Wyld was her hall pass.” I smirk, taking a sip of my champagne.
“Hall Pass?”
“It’s a celebrity that your partner lets you sleep with,” Charlie explains to his mum.
“You seriously think Dad is going to let me sleep with a celebrity?” She chuckles.
“It’s not like it’s ever going to happen, Mom, it’s just something couples do,” Charlie explains.
“Seems like it worked for your friend Sienna.” She smiles.
“It did, but it was not an easy road to their happy ever after,” I explain.
Charlie’s mum urges me to finish my story, now totally invested.
“Well, her ex came back on the scene after finding out his father and his ex set him up because she was sleeping with his dad, and that the baby was his dad’s, not his.
” The entire table gasps. “And as he was telling her this news, he tried to kiss her. Some photographer took a photo of the kiss, but not the slap that followed, and ran with the story that she was going back to her ex. Evan was devastated, and things between them soured so we packed up and went to Paris, where Sienna was involved in a car accident, and that’s where she found out she was pregnant.
When Evan was told about her accident, he flew to Paris and basically proposed.
He realized he couldn’t live without her, and now they are about to pop out their third child. ”
“Aw, how sweet. Babies,” Charlie’s mum coos.
“You’ve done it now, Derrick. Mom has baby fever and is desperate for grandbabies,” Everly warns me.
“I want to be a young grandma.” She pouts. “Derrick, do you want kids?”
“I’d love kids. I’m known as Uncle Derrick to all my friends’ babies. I’m constantly surrounded by them, I babysit frequently. My life is crazy busy right now so I don’t know how a baby would fit into it, but I went to an agency recently to talk about my options.”
Charlie’s mum stares at me. Have I said too much? Damn champagne giving me loose lips. Panic begins to work its way up my spine.
“You did?” she asks hopefully.
“Um, yes.”
“That is so exciting. What did they say?” she asks enthusiastically.
“It’s something Derrick and I have been discussing, together,” Charlie explains as he grabs my hand from under the table and places it above.
“You have?” she asks.
“You’ve done it. Mom is going to be baby shopping now,” Everly teases.
Charlie brings my fingers to his lips. “We have.”
My stomach is doing loop-the-loops at how he’s just bravely declared that to his mum.
“I bet your parents must be excited over the prospect of being grandparents too,” she asks me. Charlie’s hand squeezes mine in reassurance.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have a relationship with my parents.” Charlie’s mum’s face falls. “As soon as I was eighteen, I left home and haven’t seen them since. I sort of grew up in a cult, you could say. As far as I know, they are still living in the bush with the other disciples.”
“Oh, Derrick, I am so sorry. You should be so proud of what you have accomplished without them.” She smiles.
“I couldn’t have done it without Sienna. She found me at my lowest point. Her parents took me in as if I were their own, same as Vanessa’s. Then we met Stacey, and her family were the same. Then I met the Dirty Texas parents, and they welcomed me with open arms. I don’t feel like I’m missing them.”
I shouldn’t be this happy.
It feels illegal. Dangerous. Like the universe is going to realize I stole someone else’s life and come snatch it back.
But Charlie’s mum hugged me like I belonged.
Everly gossiped with me like we were already siblings.
Charlie never stopped touching me under the table.
It was … perfect.
Too perfect.
Charlie’s mum calls for her driver, and they head back to the hotel they’re staying at before Charlie’s dad arrives tomorrow. We’re walking out of the restaurant when Charlie leans in, his lips brushing my ear. “I’m proud of you.”
I blink. “For what?”
“For being yourself. For telling your story. For letting them see you.”
I swallow around the sudden lump in my throat. “I didn’t scare your mum off?”
He snorts. “She’s ready to adopt you. She’s already planning your Christmas pajamas.”
“Oh God.”
He grins. “Matching ones.”
I groan. “Kill me now.”
Everly loops her arm through mine as we step onto the sidewalk. “Ignore him. You were perfect today. Mom is obsessed.”
“I could tell.”
“She only gropes people she likes.”
I laugh because honestly, she’s right.
Toby is waiting for me at the studio when I return, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of a mannequin. He pops up when I come in. “Tell me everything. Did you get the family seal of approval? Tell me you behaved and didn’t say anything, you know … Derrick like.
“Hey.” I’m offended by that comment. I sigh, sinking into my chair. “It was … good. Really good.”
Toby beams. “See? I told you his family would love you. You’re irresistible. You’re like a gay golden retriever.”
“I want to hit you.”
“You love me,” he chirps.
I roll my eyes, but the smile tugging at my lips gives me away.
Toby softens and sits on the edge of my desk. “You look happy, D.”
“I am,” I admit. “I really am.”
It feels good to say it out loud.
Dangerously good.
He nudges my knee. “Then stop waiting for something to go wrong.”
I don’t answer because the truth is, I don’t know how to stop that feeling.
Every time life gets good, something blows it up.
But today?
Today was perfect.
I cling to that for the rest of the afternoon. It feels like the world is finally letting me breathe. It feels like maybe … just maybe … I deserve this.
I grab my phone before leaving the studio, and there’s a text from Charlie waiting for me.
Charlie: Mom loves you, she won’t shut up about you. Fuck I miss you. See you tomorrow. Don’t work too hard.
It hits me right in the chest. Sharp, sweet. Hopeful.
I let myself believe it for one stupid second … that this is it.
That life is finally settling. That nothing can touch us now.
I have no idea that in forty-eight hours, everything will start to crack.
That the first fracture will arrive in the form of a text message.
From Sienna.
And a letter with my name on it.