Chapter 7
Charlie
I parked as close to the shop doors as I could, just so Steve wouldn’t have to walk across the sun warmed lot. I wasn’t sure if it would actually be too hot for his paws, but I didn’t want to risk my new friend. He seemed fine at the Inn, but then again, he was always in shady spots.
I got ready to leave the SUV when I realized I hadn’t asked about a leash. Steve had a collar with tags on it though.
“Are you the kind of good boy who doesn’t need a leash?” I asked him, considering texting his moms.
He tilted his head at me as if to say I was slowing us down already.
“Okay, then.” I was pretty sure he wouldn’t wander off anyway.
I got out of the car, then opened the door for Steve. He jumped out with surprising grace, and immediately looked around, then up at me.
“Yeah, you’re a good boy.” I patted his head, then my back pocket where I’d just put my wallet to check it was still there, and shrugged. “Okay, let’s go.”
Steve walked next to me as if I had him on a leash, which told me he was either well-trained or just liked to guard the people he thought of as his. Maybe it was both?
As soon as the automatic doors opened and we stepped inside, a young woman behind the cash register squealed, alerting another nearby man in the store’s uniform, and they descended on us. Well, on Steve.
He thwapped his tail against my leg, which made me step away from him, because ouch.
“Steve, how are you here without your mommies?” the woman asked the dog. It took her a few seconds to actually look up at me inquisitively.
“Uh, I’m a friend of Nic and Dana’s. Steve wanted to come with, and Nic said you guys love him here.” I started to feel fidgety, especially with how the man was clearly measuring my worth with his gaze alone.
“Well, we’re all friends of Steve and the ladies here, aren’t we Steve?” she cooed and ruffled the dog’s neck.
“Can I leave him here?”
“Sure, he likes to hang right there by the gumball machines,” the guy piped up.
“Okay, well I’ll just do my thing and be right back.” I gestured vaguely, fighting against the panicky feeling bubbling somewhere deep in my gut.
I grabbed a cart and pushed it into the store proper.
I wasn’t that tall, but I was pretty thin. I knew I had muscle mass, but when people looked at how I was dressed even on the hot summer days, they clocked me as one of two things: either just a bit weird, or, in some cases, a junkie trying to hide track marks.
I never used to think the latter was even a concern, but then David had snapped at me about it, and a cop friend of his had nodded in this annoyingly sage way and told me that’s what junkies did to hide in plain sight. Unsure if they were just joking, I’d left the room and kept myself and my long sleeves out of their view for the rest of that evening.
I’d never told my brother about that. He hadn’t needed more reasons to hate David, after all. Now I wondered if I should’ve told him anyway. It wouldn’t change anything at this point, but I felt weird not having told Blue everything.
I gathered the stuff on my list slowly but surely. The cart filled up, and while I was passing the pet section, I found one of those cooling mats for dogs. It wasn’t really big enough for Steve, but it would be better than nothing, right?
Every now and then, when I was closer to the front of the store, I heard someone exclaim happily when they noticed Steve. Smiling, I wondered if Steve would be my gateway into being liked here.
Finally reaching my last round of “do I need something else I’m forgetting,” I got stuck with indecision at the cereal aisle. On one hand, I didn’t really need any cereal, because I’d been ordered by Dana to come enjoy the continental breakfast she served every day. But on the other hand… I liked cereal. It had always been a comfort food, whether it was Cheerios or Lucky Charms, or hell, even Bran Flakes which were something I enjoyed a lot as an adult.
I was trying to find Cinnamon Toast Crunch when I realized someone was looking at me. The ever so familiar feeling of unease was hard to bear, but I had to do it on the daily if I was around people.
After it continued a moment too long, I finally turned my head a little to look at whomever it was.
The guy was tall. Wide at the shoulders. Kinda handsome. He seemed… stuck? He was clearly puzzling me out, his gaze swiping my stupid clothing and settling back on my face. My heartbeat picked up, he opened his mouth, and then his phone rang.
He had hard time looking away from me, which was unsettling as fuck. I couldn’t tell if it was one of those “I want to fuck you” looks I sometimes got from random strangers, or the equally delightful “I’ll fucking kick your queer ass” ones, when some bigot or other read me correctly.
He answered the phone, and I looked away, reaching for the cinnamon goodness. Then, a dangerous rumble of the stranger’s words made everything in me freeze. The way he went from casually answering the call into sounding murderous was chilling.
I grabbed the box and tossed it into my cart, jumping further when he made a genuine threat at whomever he was talking to. Boxes fell from the shelf when I flailed to grab the cart handle so I could flee. Unable to care, my whole being vibrating with anxiety as my lizard brain registered the potential danger; I tried to keep to a walk as I headed to the registers.
As soon as Steve saw me, he seemed to clock how anxious I was. I welcomed his solid weight against my leg as I started to load my stuff on the belt. I was picking up some of the stuff from the bottom of my cart, when I noticed the guy rushing towards me.
I gasped, instinctively stepping back. Steve pushed himself between me and the man, and I realized he was protecting me. That made me able to just stay still and wait as the gangly teenager packed everything for me.
I felt the heebie jeebies, the wheels in my head whirring at full speed as my fight or flight struggled against my common sense.
Fully realizing that I must’ve seemed like a crazy person, I dashed out of the store pushing the cart full of packed purchases and Steve at my heels. I opened the SUV door for him, then pushed half of the stuff in after him once he’d jumped up. The rest, I stashed in the back and then practically ran to put the cart away.
Knowing that I must’ve seemed paranoid to anyone watching, I still kept my eye out for That Guy. Because fuck if I wanted that sort of energy anywhere near me. Hell, even Steve had known he was bad news.
I got into the driver’s seat, then had trouble starting the car with my shaking hands. A frustrated whine rose from my chest. I hadn’t been this close to losing it in a very long time.
Suddenly a very large head dropped onto my shoulder, and Steve sighed hard.
I sob-snorted, reaching back to pet him. “Thanks, bud. You’re a good boy.”
His tail thumped, then he sighed again.
“Yeah, I know. I overreacted, but I… there was an ex. It’s not… I’m not a total wuss, you know. It’s just that certain tone of voice does things to me.” At Steve’s huff, I chuckled. “I know. It is what it is. Now let’s go before the guy comes out, okay?”
He lifted his head off my shoulder, but I could feel him breathing against the back of my neck as I finally managed to start the car and get us out of there.
I stopped the car in front of the Inn and let Steve out. He lumbered into his spot and plopped down. Clearly, he was done with my BS. “Me too, buddy,” I told him as I went past to go take Nic’s treats and the cooling pad inside.
Dana was in the kitchen; I could hear the clanking of pots and pans, so I walked into the dining room and pushed halfway through the door.
“Hey, where’s your shorter half?” I asked her.
Without taking her eyes off whatever she was stirring, she replied, “Should be at our place.”
“Thanks!”
I backed out, retraced my steps to the lobby area, and went to the office. The door to their room was open, likely so that Nic could hear the bell.
“Sweetie?” I called out.
“In the bathroom, gimme a sec!”
I went to put the stuff on their little dining table and looked around.
The bathroom was in the back of the space which felt larger than I would’ve thought two motel rooms combined to be. It was clear to me that Nic had spent a lot of time planning the layout, because there was a queen-sized raised bed with two steps leading to it. There were drawers and doors built into the platform’s sides. It was a clever thing, which I told Nic when she came out of the bathroom.
“Thanks! I went through hours of scouring the internet for all sorts of tiny house stuff—wait, why do you look like you’ve just been upset?”
I groaned and dropped my chin to my chest. “There was a guy at the store.”
“What guy?”
“I don’t know. Big lumberjack dude. Scary as fuck on the phone with someone.”
“Oh, Glasses.” Before I had time to react, she had her arms around me, squeezing me tight.
“It’s okay now. Steve was a good guardian and therapy dog.” I awkwardly patted her back. “Oh, that reminds me, I got him something.”
“You did?” Nic sounded delighted.
“Yeah, one of these,” I lifted the cooling pad. “I thought he might like it.”
“Ooh, we’ve been thinking about getting one but never remember. Thank you so much!” She hugged me again. “If he doesn’t like it, I’m sure I can slide it on Dana’s side of the bed under the sheet when it gets hot.”
I chuckled. “Never thought it’d be a valid thing for a human to use, but I guess it’d work with anyone’s body weight.”
“Definitely.” She smiled at the little pile of treats and the juice. “Thanks so much, Charlie.”
“Of course.” I cleared my throat. “I’m going to go unload the SUV, but I’ll be back by dinner.”
“Awesome. And you can park it by the cabins, we don’t mind at all.”
“Thanks, that’ll be more convenient.”
I left her and dodged a young couple with huge backpacks who just stepped into the lobby.
“Nic!” I called back, and she peered out, then nodded when she saw the guests.
“Hi, I’m Nicole,” she said brightly through the gap in the glass partition.
I let myself out and patted Steve. “Thanks for today, buddy.”
I got used to my cabin and the silence immediately, somehow. The neighborhood in Phoenix had been pretty quiet as well, but the type of quiet we had here was different, mostly because it wasn’t silent.
There was always the sound of birds, whatever fish were in the pond splashing about, the sniffing sounds of Cricket coming to check on me, and the occasional branch snapping in the woods.
Then, once I went down the hill to the Inn, there were people. Either just Nic and Dana, but more often than not, I’d bump into guests or the couple of professionals Nic hired for plumbing and wiring.
I had my new bedding, I’d put up some photos of Blue and his family, I’d even asked Nic to make me a couple of shelves so I could put my books and a few knickknacks on display. Everything was going really well, and I started to relax and feel settled in.
And then came Sunday.
I was up early and wandered down the hill to get breakfast. I was starving, and I had promised Nic I’d finally sit down with her to agree upon my perks. So far, I’d given in when they told me the cabin and all food was included, but the money side of things was still up in the air. I didn’t want their money when they were giving me more than I ever could’ve expected.
But I also knew that since I’d promised to start working at the front desk on Monday morning while also beginning to figure out their books, I needed to make them happy. If that meant they were going to pay me, I guess doing some paperwork was in order.
Cricket ambled over to me when I got to the parking lot. She wagged her tail, looking happy with morning mist in her fur.
“You’re a silly girl, aren’t you?” I asked, chuckling when she flopped down on the ground, rolled over, and begged for belly rubs. “You’re so soft.”
A truck slowed down and turned to the lot. It rolled into a stop by the front doors.
Cricket made a happy sound and got to her feet with speed I wasn’t expecting. She loped toward the vehicle, and I followed her in a more sedate pace. And then a guy opened the door and got out.
I froze. My heart lurched in my chest. A black shadow dashed around the corner, heading for the car, but then stopped in between me and the stranger.
Steve glanced from me to That Guy, and back. The dog seemed torn, whereas his sister was rubbing herself all over him.
“Steve?” I whispered, not sure what I was expecting to happen.
He came to me slowly, keeping his gaze locked on the guy he clearly knew. I let out a choked-up sound and dropped to a crouch, almost hiding behind the large black frame keeping me safe.
This was definitely not the way to meet the locals.
Dana pushed through the front door, beaming. “Hey, there you are, Teague!” Then she noticed Steve and me and frowned. “What’s going on?”
I couldn’t have started to explain, even if I’d had my words, right then. I pushed my forehead against the back of Steve’s neck and kept on breathing through the situation. I was fine. No, I’d be fine. In just a couple of moments.