Chapter Twenty #3
Charlie nodded. “I will. I know I’m not like I used to be. You know, comfortable around women and all smooth and stuff.”
He didn’t say it with any self-pity but it caused my heart to twist in my chest all the same.
Back in the day, Charlie could have had any woman he wanted.
He’d had it all—charm, looks, smarts, kindness, money—the women had flocked to him.
Heck, not just the women. Everyone had loved Charlie O’Malley.
“So…um…can I borrow a suit?” Charlie gave me a hopeful glance.
“Is that why you came to see me today?”
Charlie shrugged. “Yeah, I knew you’d have some really good ones.”
I felt a slow smile curve my lips. Borrowing a suit was such a brotherly thing to do. It made me feel ridiculously happy that he’d come to me.
“Of course, you can borrow whatever you want.” I threw my arm around his shoulders and led him up to the house. Between me, Gramps, and Pops—if Hannah was okay with it—Charlie was going to have the best dating wardrobe a guy could want.
Unsurprisingly, Hannah took to the dressing of Charlie as if it were her job. She had him in and out of outfits—casual, formal, sporty—while color-matching his complexion to each shirt and blazer.
Most of our neighbors had gone home to await news of Bebe and the baby, but Zach and Roland joined Julian and me on the couch in the living room as Hannah trotted Charlie through for our opinions.
Not that what we had to say mattered very much.
Hannah and Charlie were in a full-on fashion mind meld.
At one point I heard them laughing together in the bedroom and I was torn between delight that she and my brother were bonding so hard and straight-up jealousy that I wanted it to be me laughing with her.
I shook it off and turned to Julian. “This date, it’s a good thing?”
Julian nodded. “It’s a great thing. Don’t worry. He’s ready.”
“Does my father know?” I had a slight paranoia that my father would try to use Charlie dating as a way to get the courts to give Charlie’s conservatorship to him.
“Not from me and not from Charlie.” Julian met my gaze and said, “You and Lorelei are the only people outside his fellow residents that he’s told about Diana.”
“And what’s her story?” I asked. I didn’t want to sound like a hard-ass but I didn’t want Charlie to get hurt.
“She’s your age, attractive, volunteers at the library and an animal shelter,” Julian said. “But that’s not what you want to know.”
I stared at him and he sighed. “Because she’s not my patient, I can tell you that she has autism.
She manages very well in structured environments, which is why her caregiver and I will be accompanying Diana and Charlie on their dates to help them communicate their needs in a dating situation, at least for now. ”
“Her caregiver, huh?”
Julian glanced away. “It’s purely professional.”
“Right.” I scoffed. Julian ignored me but I could tell by his smile that he was interested in the other caregiver. Good. Julian was a great guy. He deserved to be happy.
“All right, get ready. Here he comes!” Hannah came bounding down the steps with Dude and Frank on her heels. She clapped her hands to get our attention. Roland and Zach looked up from their phones while Julian and I straightened up.
“May I present Charlie O’Malley, wearing the latest in men’s formal apparel…” Hannah moved to the side of the bottom step and we all glanced at the stairs. No one appeared.
“Charlie, that’s your cue,” Hannah hissed up the steps.
“Oh! Okay!”
Charlie, dressed to kill in my navy blue Canali suit with a white dress shirt open at the throat and wearing a pair of my brown Jimmy Choo loafers, strode down the stairs, looking so much like the Charlie of old that the sight of him was like being blasted back in time.
“Dang, you are one sharp-dressed man,” Roland said.
“I’ll say,” Zach agreed. “Your lady’s heart doesn’t stand a chance.”
“You think?” Charlie looked so shy and earnest as he glanced down at the suit that eight years ago wouldn’t have meant anything to him other than another day at work.
My throat constricted into a hard knot and I blinked back the tears in my eyes, not wanting Charlie to misread my emotion and be distressed.
“Oh, wait!” Hannah reached into her pocket and said, “Give me your wrists.”
Charlie did without question. I watched Hannah fasten the mother-of-pearl cuff links that had belonged to her Pops, the same ones that had made her cry, to the cuffs of my brother’s shirt and I felt my heart do a free fall right into her hands. I was so fucked.
I was about to excuse myself to go outside and regroup when the front door burst open and Stephanie stood there with a grin as wide as the sky.
“Bebe had the baby!” she cried. She threw herself into Roland’s arms and he let out a whoop of joy. Zach was next and he peppered her with questions. “Is she all right? Is the baby all right? What did she have? Is Luke okay?”
My gaze shot to Hannah’s. She had her hands pressed to her mouth, as if bracing for any bad news and I was reminded of how fraught this must be for her.
I didn’t think about it. I crossed the room to stand beside her, giving her my unspoken support.
She didn’t look at me but leaned slightly against me.
Stephanie laughed and said, “Bebe’s fine. The baby is perfect and a girl. And, yes, other than crying with joy, Luke is fine. He said Bebe pushed that baby out like a champ.”
Hannah let out a relieved sigh and fell against me, wrapping her arms around my middle in a solid hug. I caught her close and held her tight, reveling in the feel of her body against mine.
A surprising surge of happiness thrummed through me as I thought of our new friends and their bundle of joy. Our friends. It hit me then that Hannah and I were making friends together. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had couple friends or if I’d ever had them. It was…nice.
“How long will they be at the hospital?” Roland asked.
“Overnight.” Stephanie glanced at us.
“Frank is welcome to spend the night with us.” Hannah glanced at me and added, “Or for as long as Bebe, Luke, and the baby need to get settled when they get home.”
“Absolutely,” I agreed. I glanced at Charlie and Julian. “How about you? Are you spending the night?”
“No, we have to get back to the house,” Julian said.
“But we can stay for dinner,” Charlie said. “Can’t we?”
Hannah reached over and squeezed his arm. “We won’t take no for an answer.”
There it was again. “We.” I really loved the sound of that.
Zach, Roland, and Stephanie departed, leaving Charlie and Julian as our sole dinner guests.
Charlie was so excited about his date, we spent most of the meal going over proper date etiquette.
Hannah let him practice pulling her chair out and coached him on how to compliment Diana without being inappropriate.
By unspoken agreement, neither Hannah nor I mentioned the true nature of Gramps and Pops’s relationship or that they co-owned the house. I didn’t think the shared ownership would matter to Charlie, but I didn’t want him to inadvertently mention any of this to my father.
After dinner, I walked Julian and Charlie out to their car.
Roland had updated me on the status of the items from the attic. Charity donations had been taken by Roland and Zach to the local secondhand center. Items that were broken or no longer useful had been set aside for a run to the dump. And keepers, like the tandem bike, had been put away.
“I’ll go start the car.” Julian held out his hand and we shook. “Good to see you, Simon.”
“You, too. And thanks for bringing Charlie for a visit.”
“Anytime.” Julian strode around the car with a wave.
Charlie and I stood silently for a moment. The clothes he was borrowing had already been packed in a box by Hannah and were in the back of the SUV.
“Will you be coming to Raleigh anytime soon?” Charlie asked.
“Not for at least a month,” I said. “I have to deal with selling Gramps’s place and all. But keep me in the loop about your date.”
A faint pink tinged Charlie’s cheeks. “I will. I promise.”
“And if you need anything, you know you can call me or Lor anytime, day or night.” It had been such a nice day with Charlie that I found myself reluctant to let him go.
“I know.” Charlie pulled me in for a quick catch-and-release hug. “Simon, I think if you sell, you might lose more than just a house. It feels more like a home.” He jutted his chin and I turned to see Hannah in the window with Dude.
The dog was standing on his hind legs with his front paws on her shoulders and they were…dancing? Her high ponytail swung in time to the beachy surf music she had playing on the wireless speaker she’d synced to her phone during Charlie’s fashion show. I felt a wide smile curve my lips.
Charlie clapped me on the shoulder and said, “Go dance with your girl, bro.”
It felt like something the old Charlie would have said.
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I strode into the house and paused in the doorway to the living room.
Hannah was singing and Dude leaned his head back and howled in what I assumed was his harmony part.
Frank sat on the couch watching the duo with his tongue hanging out.
I crossed the room driven by the simple need, as primal as the need to breathe, to have this woman in my arms again.
I paused behind Dude and tapped his shoulder. “May I cut in?”
Dude woofed and hopped down, moving onto the couch, where he sat with his buddy, awaiting his next turn. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I was not planning on letting go of this woman anytime soon.