6. Charlie
Charlie
W alking into Gonza Tacos, the mouth-watering smell of Mexican food smacks me in the face. There's not much I like more than a good taco, except maybe an extra-large margarita to go with it.
It’s early and the restaurant isn’t very busy yet. I look around to see if Tess has beat me here. Not seeing her anywhere, I head toward an empty table near the back. Suddenly, Tess pops around the corner. She must have been in the bathroom.
“Well, hello,” I say, surprised, my heartbeat quickening. “You surprised me. Didn’t think you were here yet.”
“Hey. Yeah, I was just in the restroom. How's it going?”
“Really good. I was just about to sit. Is this okay with you?” I motion to the colorful tiled table next to us.
“Yeah, of course.” We each pull out a chair and settle into them, the wooden legs scraping softly against the floor. I glance at her, my eyes meeting hers for a brief moment before we both look away.
I have to tell her what I’ve done, and I'm not sure how to say it. My brain has been looping through this all day long.
I'm still can’t believe I told my dad that Tess and I are dating. I'm just so damn sick of him needling me about when I'm going to settle down, and the little fib just popped out of my mouth. But now I have to admit to Tess what I've done. But first…a drink.
The server approaches and asks what we'd like, and we both order their famous chicken verde tacos and margaritas.
“Thanks for meeting me. So, I just wanted to talk to you about the weddings; when and where they are, the flight times and some other details.”
Tess looks surprised. “Oh, I didn't realize there would be air travel.”
“Yes, for two of the weddings, we’ll have to fly. One is in San Fran and the other’s in San Diego. I own a plane-share with 3 other people, and I’ve already booked the plane for the times we need it. So, it will be a lot easier than flying commercial.”
Her lips curl into a sly smirk, eyes glinting with a mix of amusement and disbelief. "Why doesn't that surprise me?" she says, her voice tinged with a playfulness.
I chuckle. “Once you go private, you never go back.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“And just so you know, I’ll be paying for everything—travel, hotel, meals.”
She nods and I detect a look of relief on her face. Poor girl—worried about keeping her job. The last thing she needs to worry about is the cost of going to these expensive weddings.
“Speaking of expenses, do you already own dresses that you can wear?”
She has a concerned look on her face. “I do have a couple that would work, but I was thinking I would pop down to the mall and see if I can find something else or maybe check online. I haven't been to any weddings recently, so my dresses are probably a bit dated.”
“I've already ordered six dresses for you. They're arriving tomorrow.”
Tess looks at me incredulously. “Six dresses? Really? That's very sweet of you but you really didn't have to do that.”
"I wanted to," I admitted. "I talked you into doing this, and even if you already have perfectly acceptable dresses, I thought it'd be nice for you to have a few more," I continue, trying to explain my intentions. "I'm guessing all six won't work so send back whatever you don't like."
She chews on her bottom lip and gives me a thoughtful look. I can’t tell if she’s excited or irritated that I’m picking out her clothes.
“I asked one of my assistants at work if she could help me pick them out. She’s got great taste in clothes, so I knew she’d do a good job. I had to guess at your size. I landed on a six. Am I close?”
My assistant, Charlotte, is never surprised at the tasks I give her. She’s sent flowers to so many women at this point that she has my order memorized. Always a mixed assortment, never roses.
Tess looks at me and laughs. “You nailed it. I'm almost always a size six. Is this another superpower you have? Guessing a woman’s dress size…”
I chuckle and shake my head. “Not that I know of. Well, anyway, I hope you like them.”
“Yeah, I can't wait to see them. That was very thoughtful of you.” She looks around uncomfortably. I hope I didn’t do something stupid by buying her dresses. I’ve done it many times before for other women and most of them seemed pretty damn happy about it. But Tess is different than other women…
The server returns with the margaritas. “Here’s to some fun this summer,” I toast, raising my glass. She clinks her glass against mine, looking directly into my eyes. Taking a couple of big gulps of liquid courage, I prepare myself for what I have to tell her next.
But before I get a chance to, she asks for some more details about the first wedding.
“So, the first wedding is coming up in two weeks, right?
“Yes, it’s on Whidbey Island. So, we’ll drive and then take the ferry.”
“And, who’s getting married?”
“Daphne and Rence. They’re really more family friends than personal friends. But there will be lots of people there that I know. And Jane and Trey will be there as well.”
“Yes, I talked with Jane earlier and she told me they’re going.”
“Oh, good, you told Jane that you’ll be my date. What did she say?” I feel nervous about asking the question. I wasn’t sure how Jane would feel about all this. Since Tess is her best friend, she might think it’s pretty weird that I would ask her.
“She was thrilled that I’d be at the weddings. She was a little confused about why you asked me though. I explained our “deal” and that made more sense to her.”
“Nothing wrong with friends helping friends, right?”
“Sure,” she says looking at me in a way I can’t decipher.
Okay, it's definitely time to let her know about the other news…the part I haven’t shared yet. I swallow hard and being. “So, there's one more thing that I need to tell you about our situation.”
“What's that?” Tess asks, thumbing her bottom lip.
“You’ll be required to drink coffee every morning with me on our wedding weekends. I can’t have a date who doesn’t drink coffee.” I try desperately to keep a straight face.
She shakes her head laughing. “You and the coffee thing. So pushy…”
“I’m joking obviously…though I will make a coffee drinker out of you before the summer is over.”
“You’ve got a tough road ahead of you, Mr. Coffee.”
“All jokes aside, I do have something to tell you,” I pause for a moment. “I sort of told my dad that you and I are, well, dating. Real dating that is, not fake dating.”
Tess looks at me with wide eyes. “I’m sorry…What did you say?”
“I told Dad that we're dating.” I feel like such an idiot right now.
“Um, okay. I thought that’s what you said.” She furrows her brow. “Why?”
“Dad was on me again about not settling down, and he was thrilled that you were coming with me, but then he mentioned that, of course, we're just friends, and I just need to double down on finding somebody and move forward. I don't know what happened. I just sort of lost it and lied.”
Tess laughs nervously. “Well, this is going to put us in a really interesting position. Have you thought about telling him that you were just kidding or something?” When she says “position”, my brain goes straight to sex. I feel my face flushing and hope that it’s not noticeable.
“I was hoping not to have to tell him that, Tess. I was thinking that maybe we can just pretend, just for these weddings, and then we'll amicably break up and let everyone know that we're still friends. No harm, no foul.”
“That seems pretty complicated. I’m not sure how we would pull that off.” Looking down at her blouse, she picks off a stray hair.
“It shouldn’t be a big deal. Some hand holding, you gazing at me in admiration from time to time…” I laugh while trying to make light of the ridiculous situation I’ve created. But the stunned look on her face tells me she’s not comfortable with this at all.
“If you’re really uncomfortable, I can tell him. I don’t want to put you in a bad spot.” I give her a concerned look, hoping for the best. I can see that she’s considering it, wondering how bad it will be.
“I’m not great at acting, Charlie. I’m afraid I’ll give us away. I tried out for one of the plays in high school and I’m pretty certain the drama teacher was trying not to laugh the whole time I was performing my monologue.”
She’s not lying. I was the lead for three of my four years.
I happened to be at that tryout because the drama teacher asked me to come help him evaluate the students.
Her tryout was ridiculously bad; almost like she was trying to be bad.
But, in this situation, there are no lines to rehearse or spots to hit. I’m fairly certain she’ll be fine.
“You’ll totally be fine. No one will be paying much attention to us anyway…” I know this isn’t really true. My dates for these events have always been fodder for conversation. That’s why the person I choose to bring is so important.
She looks more relaxed and I think I’ve got her. “Okay. Let’s do it. But this changes our deal quite a bit. I think I’m going to need more from you to sweeten the pot.” Her lips are curved into a sly smile.
I wait in anticipation for what she’s about to say next.
“I’d like you to find me a guy at one of these weddings.” She sits back in her chair with a satisfied look on her face.
“Umm, okay. Tell me what you’re looking for.” I don’t like this conversation at all. What does she think I am? Some kind of matchmaker?
“He must live in Seattle, because I’m not moving. An amazing sense of humor, easy on the eyes, a brilliant brain…you know, just the standard stuff.”
I scan my mental rolodex of friends who will most likely be at the upcoming weddings.
There's Mitch, who works as a trauma surgeon, or even my cousin Jacob who just moved back to Seattle after his startup went public.
Both brilliant, good-looking guys who'd probably find Tess interesting.
My stomach tightens at the thought of introducing them.
"Yeah, I can think of a few guys," I say, my voice suddenly strained. I take another swig of my margarita, surprised by the wave of...what is this? Jealousy? I picture Tess laughing with Jacob, his hand casually resting on her lower back, and something primal rises in me.
What the hell is wrong with me? This is Tess—Jane's best friend. My wedding date of convenience. Not someone I should be feeling possessive about.
These weddings are usually full of couples. There’s also a lot of older people there. Family friends and business acquaintances. I don’t know if we’re going to find the type of guy you’re looking for.”
Her eyes are twinkling and I can tell she’s fighting not to laugh. “I’m messing with you, Charlie. And I guess I’m a better actor than I used to be.”
Relief floods through me, followed immediately by confusion about why I'm relieved. “I’m glad you’re not already looking to replace me. What we have is so new and fresh; we just need to give it a chance.” And, with that, I wink and flash her my most charming smile.