10. The Right Decision
10
THE RIGHT DECISION
C harlotte was positive she’d made a huge mistake pushing Foster.
It’d been almost two weeks since they’d talked.
What did she expect? That he’d ask her on a date?
Return the favor for a cup of coffee? Maybe some dinner?
None of that happened.
She’d seen him come and go to work most days and when he was gone, she’d walked down to sit on his bench and take in the nature around her.
But the past few days she hadn’t seen him at all and started to wonder if he was out of town.
It wasn’t any of her business.
She was staying busy with work. Her one day in the office last week was fun and gave her a glimpse of what she was missing, but when she came home, her body almost sighed with relief.
That was a good sign in her eyes that she made the right decision.
She looked at the clock in the corner of her computer, saw it was past lunch, and went to get something to eat.
“Are you hungry, Marco? You normally let me know when it’s time to eat.”
She fed her puppy who seemed to be growing into his paws. At least he was pretty much house-trained. They only had one accident this week when she was stuck on a call and couldn’t get to him.
It wasn’t his fault so she didn’t make a big production about it and only cleaned it up and returned to her desk.
Marco scarfed his food down while she ate a yogurt.
The sun was shining and it looked so inviting. “How about a walk by the water after you fertilize my lawn?”
The dog started to hop around the kitchen as if he understood the word water.
She clipped him and walked him around her yard, but he was tugging her toward Foster’s driveway.
Rather than frustrate them both by telling him no, she headed toward the water.
They found their normal spot on the bench and sat there looking out at the bay.
It was a little rough today, but she was fine with that.
Nature was unpredictable.
Just like her life appeared to be.
But she was settling in and happy with her choices.
If she was lonely, she didn’t let anyone know.
Most of her friends didn’t reach out much because they were too busy with work or going out. She didn’t have a lot of close friends anymore because she always put men before them.
No more.
“No, Marco.”
She turned her head and saw him leaving a huge pile of stinky mess right on the beach.
Dang it. She didn’t bring a bag with her to pick it up either.
She was looking around to see if she could find some sticks or something. Maybe she could cover it in the sand?
No, that would be wrong.
“Come on, Marco. We need to go now that you dirtied Foster’s beach. I’ll come back and clean up after you.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
She turned quickly to see Foster standing at the end of the path.
“I didn’t know you were here,” she said.
“I just pulled in,” he said.
“How did you know I was here?” she said. “Did you hear me talking to Marco?”
She didn’t think she was that loud.
“I saw you on the security cameras.”
“Oh,” she said. She had no idea he could see her coming and going on his property. Which was stupid on her part knowing that he worked with technology and security.
There she went again not thinking things through.
“It’s not a big deal,” he said. “I told you to come down. I’ll take care of the mess. Or better yet, it’s going to rain tonight and will be gone on the beach soon enough.”
“It’s my dog and my mess,” she said. “I don’t need someone to clean up after me.”
She saw he wanted to argue, but then said, “Heard. It’s up to you. I’m not going to fight with you over shit. Literally.”
She laughed. “Good point. We’ll get out of your way.”
She started to walk up the path and he turned to let her through. “You don’t need to leave. I just got home.”
“Have you been gone?”
“You don’t have much of a poker face,” he said. “You’ve said before you can see my vehicle coming and going and probably haven’t seen it for a few days.”
“I don’t watch for you,” she said.
“I didn’t say you did. Just that you could see me coming and going at times.”
There was no reason to dispute that. “So you went away?”
“For work,” he said. “Just a few days. Glad to be back. I should be going into my office, but I can take care of what I need to here and I need to do laundry. Should have done it before I left.”
She smiled. “Are you one of those people who waits until you don’t have any underwear left?”
“Not quite that bad,” he said. “But years of fighting for the washer had me learning to be creative. It’s more a time or laziness thing.”
“I’ve got a schedule for things like that,” she said. “Which makes me sound rigid.”
“You’ve got a lot of names or titles for yourself,” he said. “Not always positive ones either. Why can’t it be that you’re organized or disciplined?”
They’d stopped by his open garage door. The trunk was up and she saw his big duffel bag in there with a few bags of food.
“Why couldn’t I have known you when I was a teen? I think hearing these things would have changed so much in my life.”
He shrugged. “No reason to go back in time and wish for things that wouldn’t have happened.”
He was logical too. Not something anyone would have said she was. Or not often.
“Good point,” she said. “Don’t jump, Marco.”
Foster squatted down and picked up her puppy. “He’s getting so big. I can’t believe how much he’s grown in two weeks.”
So he knew how long it’d been since they’d last talked.
“He’s growing fast. Eats a lot too,” she said.
“I know I’m going to eat a lot tonight. I’m sick of eating out. The worst part of traveling.”
“I used to love to eat out,” she said. “I’m starting to realize the positive quality of eating good food at home.”
“My mother is a good cook,” he said. “Even if it was simple meals for a long time. Had to stretch it for all those mouths.”
She could only imagine how hard it had to be when his mother was a single parent with all those kids.
Looked as if Foster landed on his feet well.
Must have been raised right because he sure was a worker.
He had the money by the looks of it to hire people to do work around his house, yet he was outside mowing his lawn and doing landscaping like she was.
Sort of. He had a lot more to take care of.
“My mother didn’t cook a lot,” she said. “We went out more than not. Or when she did cook, it wasn’t simple fair. I found I like a good burger more than a fancy piece of fish smothered in sauce.”
“I could do without fancy fair but have had my share,” he said. “Just like burgers are on the menu tonight. You’re welcome to join me.”
Her mouth opened and closed.
It was the last thing she expected.
“Just being neighborly?” she asked.
“Sure,” he said. “That’s it.”
He didn’t sound convincing and she wasn’t sure if she was happy about that or not.