Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
brOOKS
A LITTLE SPEED BUMP
“ C harlie. Are you ready to go?”
Pulling a sweatshirt over my head, I jog down the stairs to see Charlie laid out on the couch with a mug in his hand.
“I think I’m going to skip it tonight.”
“You don’t want to go paint ornaments together? It’s your night.”
I’m shocked. I know this is Charlie’s favorite night at the Tinsel Tavern. He loves that he can do something fun and at the same time raise money to help others that are down on their luck during the holidays.
Fuck.
Everything between the two of us is all muddled up.
Not being up for this? Charlie is up for everything all the time.
I’ve royally fucked this up .
We’re together, but not. I know Charlie is putting on a happy face for me, and I hate it. I hate that I can tell he’s miserable. Whenever I ask, he tells me he’s fine.
I hate that word. Fine.
He’s so not fine.
“The guys can run it without me.”
“I can stay home with you.”
“No.” Charlie shakes his head, now looking at me. “I want you to go.”
“Are you sure?” Comet brushes by me and hops onto the couch.
“I’m sure. Didn’t you say you needed to talk to Hunter anyway?”
“That can wait until later.”
“No. You go. Have fun.”
I hate the sadness clinging to Charlie. It’s a living, breathing thing that’s hanging between the two of us.
I don’t want to leave. I want to stay here with Charlie and convince him to talk to me. But I don’t think that’s going to happen tonight.
“Okay.”
Charlie grabs the remote and flips to another channel and settles back onto the couch.
“Tell the guys hi for me.” He doesn’t look at me.
“I’ll be home later.”
“See you then.”
I broke my best friend and I’m not quite sure how to fix him.
“Where’s Charlie tonight?” Hunter asks, dipping his paintbrush into the blue paint.
“He’s at home.”
“Why?” Ollie asks, not looking at me but focusing on his own snowman ornament. “He loves ornament night.”
I shrug. “He didn’t feel like coming out.”
Hunter sets his paintbrush down and pushes back into his seat. “What’d you do?”
“Excuse me?” I pierce him with a hard stare. “What did I do? Why do you assume I did something?”
“Charlie’s not here on one of his favorite nights of the year. I’m only assuming you did something to make him stay home.”
“I told him I didn’t want to get married again.”
This draws Ollie’s attention. “Charlie knew that.”
“I—”
“I don’t think he really thought about it before they started hooking up,” Hunter interrupts.
“That.” I point at Hunter. “Charlie has always wanted to get married and I don’t.”
“Ahh.” Ollie adjusts his glasses and sets his paintbrush down. “Now he doesn’t want to force you into staying because you’re on two different paths.”
Even the thought of losing him now is too much to bear. It’s Charlie . The one person in my life I can always count on. Who’s always been there for me.
I…
“I love him.”
“We know.” Ollie has a duh look on his face.
“No, I mean I’m in love with him.”
Hunter is smiling at my confession. “Took ya long enough to get there.”
I roll my eyes at him. “I’ve always loved him, but it’s different now.”
Hunter and Ollie exchange a look. “What’s?—”
“So you love him.” Hunter is quick to interject, changing the subject .
“Yes. He’s the best person I know and I don’t want to lose him. But I don’t know how to keep him.”
“Have you tried telling that to him?” Ollie asks.
I voice my biggest fear to these two. “But what if he doesn’t want to stay in a relationship with me? What if he can’t get past the whole not getting married thing?”
Hunter drops his paintbrush and looks at me. If I weren’t used to him by now, I’d cower under his stare.
“You know what I know about Charlie?” Hunter asks.
“What?”
“It’s not so much the marriage, but the tying two lives together.”
“Isn’t that marriage?” Ollie asks.
Hunter smiles at him before continuing. “It doesn’t have to be. Charlie wants someone to commit to him. To show the world that you two belong to one another. Charlie wants that more than anything.”
“How do you know that?”
And why do I not know this about my best friend.
“Read between the lines, Brooks.”
My gaze flicks to Ollie’s before settling back on Hunter. “Didn’t you need to talk to me about the website?” Hunter asks, changing the subject.
“Oh. Yeah.” I forgot about that. “Can we maybe do it on Monday?”
“Sure. We can talk about some long-term ideas I have then.”
“Really?” I ask. “I thought you only needed me for the website revamp.”
Hunter nods. “I did. But you did a great job. Your ideas are good and I could use someone like you.”
“Wow. Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“Even if Charlie and I break up?”
Hunter shakes his head. “You won’t. ”
“You’re pretty confident about that.”
“I’ve seen the two of you together. This is a little speed bump.”
Staring down at my half-painted ornament, an idea starts to take shape. I have no idea if it will work, but it’s worth a shot.
If it means I get to keep Charlie, I’ll do anything.