10. Charlie
“Bug! Wait!”
I hear Simon’s voice behind me as I do my best to quickly exit our business ethics class.
It’s been a month since we officially met. A month since he started sitting by me. And each day we have class, he asks me my name. And every day I refuse to tell him.
It helps that we have an old school professor who insists on calling us by formal names such as “Miss Bennett” and “Mr. Banks.” When he calls on me, it’s for an answer. When he calls on Simon it’s to get him to quit distracting the class.
Though I must admit that’s hard. Simon Banks is a distraction in every sense of the word.
“Why do you run out on me every day?”
“Why do you insist on stalking me every day?”
He gasps and gently grabs onto my arm to stop me. “Me? Stalking? Bug…I would never.”
The dramatics in his voice make me simultaneously laugh and roll my eyes.
“Simon, what do you want?”
His smirk that runs on the border of cocky, confident, and cute comes peeking through. I hate that it makes me feel butterflies.
“Let’s hang out.”
“Me? Hang out with you?”
“Yes.” He lets go of my elbow, but doesn’t back out of my space. But I don’t feel threatened. Or intimidated. It feels…exciting. Which I know sounds silly, but guys like Simon don’t flirt—or smile, or talk—to girls like me.
“Why?”
“I need a reason? Can’t a guy just want to?”
I shake my head. “In my experience, no.”
“Okay.” He takes a second before responding. “You want a list of reasons we should hang out?”
“Yes. Detailed.”
“All right then. Number one, you fascinate me. I hear your answers in class and I wonder what other ideas and thoughts you have going on in your brain. Second, I think you’re beautiful, and if we hang out then we’ll get to know each other and maybe one day you’ll go on a date with me. And, third, and I think the most important, I’ll be one step closer to finding out your name.”
I feel my walls breaking down, which is not what I was expecting. Simon is a frat boy player. I feel like this is the beginning of some elaborate prank.
Then again, I get the sense he’s being honest. Which I can’t believe solely based on what I know about him and my history with men. So I quickly decide to figure out if he’s for real or not.
“Okay.”
“Okay!?” His eyes light up, and his smile is so big it’s kind of adorable.
I hold up a hand. “Yes. But on one condition.”
“Name it.”
“It’s to study.”
“To study?”
“Yes,” I say. “We have an oral exam in this class on Friday, and it would be best to practice our answers on another person in the class. So if you want to hang out, it’s for us to study.”
There. If he really wants to hang out, he’ll say yes. If he turns it down, then I was right and the man was only after one thing.
“Deal,” he says. “Also it should be noted that I didn’t make a joke about oral exams. I think that should earn me bonus points.”
“Good job, Simon.”
“Thanks,” he says proudly. “Now, should I come to your place tomorrow?”
I hurry and shake my head. “No. Not my place. I’ll come to yours. Or Perks.”
He gives me a curious look but doesn’t press me on it. “Fine. My place. Tomorrow night. I’ll get snacks.”
I shake my head. “Let me take care of the snacks.”
“But you don’t know what I like.”
I smile as I start to walk away. “Trust me. I have snacks down to a science. You won’t be disappointed.”
All I wanted was a lovely nap on my couch that’s only comfortable to me. Instead I’m woken up by a memory of Simon and a twenty-pound furball that just cannonballed on my stomach.
“Dammit, Nuggy!” I say as the dog I barely like starts walking up my chest to lick my face. “In what world does it look like I want you to do this?”
The dog doesn’t understand me—she rarely does—and continues licking my face despite my attempt to stop her.
“Nuggy! Stop! Quit licking Aunt Charlie!”
To the rescue comes my niece, Lila. Also known as the reason there is a baby cocker spaniel who lives in my house. She’s very cute and very persuasive—a deadly combination in a four-year-old.
“Thanks, Sweet Pea,” I say, my face suddenly feeling like it needs to go a few rounds with the cleanser. And just as I think the assault is done, Nuggy jumps back onto my stomach.
Super.
“I had her in my room, but she ran fast,” she says.
“It’s okay,” I say. And it really is. I mean, how can I get mad at my adorable niece and the mostly adorable dog? I might be a woman who sees the glass half empty, but I’m not a monster.
“What’s going on out here?”
Connor comes slowly walking into the living room from the kitchen, a towel slung over his shoulder.
“Oh nothing,” I say. “Apparently Nuggy wanted to make sure I didn’t have any crumbs on my face.”
“Sounds about right,” he says. “Dinner’s cooking. My specialty, spaghetti and meatballs. Will be ready in a half hour.”
“Thanks,” I say with a smile as Connor sits in the recliner as Lila turns on some YouTube Kids thing. I feel old saying this, but what happened to the days of Disney Channel?
“Everything okay?”
It takes me a few seconds to realize that Connor is talking to me. “Yeah. Why?”
He pushes off the recliner and signals me to come toward the kitchen, away from the always-present ears of Lila. I follow him, passing Nuggy over to his proper owner, who has found a juice box and is currently curled up on her oversized bean bag chair.
Such a rough life she lives.
“Okay, now for real, is everything okay?”
My instinct is to lie and say “yes, of course,” but then I remember who I’m talking to. My brother might be five years younger than me, but sometimes we share a brain like I’ve heard twins do. We can read each other with just one look. That’s what happens when you’ve been through everything that we have.
Raised by a single mom who had to work multiple jobs to make sure we never went without.
A dad who couldn’t be bothered with, well, anything.
Having to grow up too soon after the only parent you knew was taken too early.
Being there for each other when worlds were flipped upside down.
“I went and saw a restaurant today. And it’s perfect.”
Connor’s eyes light up. “That’s amazing!”
I shake my head. “No, it’s not.”
“Okay…I’m confused,” he says. “Let’s start over. Did you go see a restaurant?”
“Yes.”
“And you liked it?”
“Yes.”
“And you can afford it?”
I laugh, because somehow that part still doesn’t seem real. “Yes.”
“Then help me out, because I’m failing to see the problem.”
I tilt my head and give him a look that I’m hoping he picks up on, because I don’t want to be the one to say it.
“Are you kidding me? You’re going to turn this down because of me and Lila?”
“Of course I am. It’s an hour away from here in Rolling Hills and…well…there are other reasons. But having to move away from you and Lila is the main reason I can’t take it.”
“The fuck you can’t.”
“Daddy! Bad word!”
“Sorry, Beanie!” he yells to Lila before turning back to me, his voice a little lower. “Listen here. You will not—I repeat, will not—put your life on hold again for me and Lila. I won’t let you. You’ve done too much for us already.”
I knew he was going to say that. Which makes me want to stay here even more.
Since Lila was an infant, it’s been the three of us. An unexpected Three Musketeers of sorts. One day Connor was a carefree bachelor in Knoxville, and the next he was opening his front door to a baby in a dilapidated stroller, a baby bag that had one diaper and a single set of pajamas in it, and a note apologizing for leaving her, but that she couldn’t do it anymore. It was shit out of a movie.
When he showed up at my Nashville apartment, scared shitless and holding his crying baby, I knew everything was about to change. And it did, but in the best way possible. So I did what I always do—I stepped up.
I watched Lila for the night so he could go back to Knoxville and get his stuff. I found us a bigger place. I even tried—though unsuccessfully—to contact the mother.
Since then it’s been us. And I don’t regret a thing. I got to see her first steps. I’ve watched her learn new things every day and become a smart as hell little girl. I’ve watched her become a tiny human. Plus, she’s my buddy. Despite getting a dog that likes to terrorize me, which she named after her favorite food, I wouldn’t trade these years for anything. And I can’t imagine not being here for her. Or for Connor.
I just can’t. I’m tearing up just thinking about it.
“Charlie,” Connor says, taking my hands into his. “I will never, and I mean never, be able to repay you for everything you’ve done for us.”
“And I’ll never ask you to.”
He nods. “I know. But this is how I can do it. I can tell you to go. Quit holding yourself back for me and Lila. It’s not fair to you.”
“I’m not worried about me.”
“But I am,” he says. “You have wanted this our entire lives. You used to make me play restaurant when we were kids. And let’s not forget the promise you made Mom.”
I throw him an evil eye. “You really had to bring Mom into this?”
He shrugs. “Yes. I did. Because if she were here, she’d kick your ass and make you go.”
I push back the wave of tears that threaten at just thinking about my mom. Besides the fact that she left us way too early—cancer can suck a small flaccid dick—she was always the one who knew what to say. Who knew what to do. She’s the reason I want to have a restaurant like Mona’s. She’s the reason for everything.
Hell, I think she’s the reason for this. It’s not lost on me that the restaurant is called Mona’s and my mom’s name was Ramona. The woman who made me promise her before she passed away that no matter what, however long it took me, I’d find a way to live my dream.
And here it is.
Yet I can’t make myself pull the trigger.
“There’s one more problem,” I admit, hating that I have to bring this up.
“What’s that?”
“It’s in Rolling Hills.”
“Yes, you’ve already said that.”
“There’s a problem with Rolling Hills.”
“And that is?”
I take a breath, realizing this is the first time I’m saying these words out loud. “Simon lives there.”
It takes Connor a second to put it together, but once he does, I see it immediately on his face. His face is as red as the tomato sauce simmering on the stove.
“Simon? That fucking douchebag who fucking broke your heart?”
And did other things…
I nod. “Yeah. Small world, huh?”
Connor stands up and starts pacing our tiny kitchen. I figured he was going to have this reaction. Because if Connor ever sees Simon in person, he might kill him.
I might hate Simon for what he did to me all those years ago, but Connor loathes him. And that’s without him knowing about our recent tryst.
I get it. Connor’s my protector. He might be my little brother, but he’s been my person for our entire lives. He saw me cry for weeks over Simon. No brother ever reacts well when he finds out his sister has had her heart shattered. And that was on top of the tears I was crying knowing that we had just days left with my mom. It was the lowest and darkest point of my life.
“You know what?” he says as he turns back to face me. “You’re going to go.”
That wasn’t the answer I was expecting. “Excuse me?”
“You’re going to go to Rolling Hills, head held high, and you’re going to open the best damn restaurant that town has ever seen. You’re going to make him look at you every day, knowing what he did, and watching you fucking thrive. So yeah, you’re going to go to Rolling Hills, and you’re going to fucking kill it.”
Wow. I never thought about it like that. I was so blinded by my hatred—and a little frightened if I’m being honest—that I never thought the best revenge might be success.
I like that. I like that a lot.
“Okay,” I say, letting my mind settle on this. “But what about you and Lila? I really can’t stand the thought of leaving you two.”
“We’ll be fine,” he says, sitting back down at the table. “Has splitting rent helped? Yes. But I can manage. Plus, maybe if you like it down there, Lila and I will move down. The thought of her going to school in a small town rather than metro Nashville has some appeal.”
I smile, the tears now flowing. “I’d love that.”
At that moment, I hear Nuggy running on the kitchen tile, jumping on my lap.
“I might even miss you,” I say to her, nuzzling her nose as she tries to lick me.
“You can do this, you know that, right?”
I nod. “I know. It’s just scary as fuck.”
“I know. But all good things are.”
At that moment, Lila comes into the kitchen and climbs on Connor’s lap. She snuggles into him, and I watch my gruff brother become a puddle as he loves on his baby girl.
He’s right. The good things are hard but worth it. Look at the two of them. Nothing has been harder for him than suddenly becoming a dad. And not only has he stepped up, but he’s the best damn dad I know.
He’s overcome scarier things. Hell, so have I.
So I am going to take that restaurant. And it’s going to be better than anything I’ve ever imagined.
And if it comes with getting some revenge on Simon? That will make success all the more sweeter.