Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Charlie
"What are you doing here?!”
I stare at the man I love with my entire heart and soul. Hayes not only appeared out of thin air, but he marched in and sat down at my booth without any hesitation.
As if he hadn't been out of my life for almost two years.
As if he hadn't left me scared and broken, standing on the sidewalk, begging for him to believe me.
As if he hadn't gone into some war-torn country, and I wasn't here wondering every single day if he was dead or alive—if he still hated me.
His eyes bore into mine with a mix of intensity and vulnerability, causing my heart to race and my breath to catch in my throat.
I hate how different he looks—drained and sad.
I hate that I don't know if something happened on his deployment or if it was me leaving.
Either way, he looks like a shell of himself.
He's leaned out, and the dark shadows under his eyes look haunted.
New creases line his eyes, and his smile doesn't lift as high as it once did.
He looks like he's aged ten years in less than two.
I want to pull him into my arms and reassure him that everything is going to be okay, but I stop myself. There’s a reason we haven’t talked in nearly two years, and that’s because Hayes walked out.
Sandra, my favorite server, stops by the table before he can answer. She looks like she's worked here for fifty years, and probably has. Her gray hair is always pulled into a bun, and her glasses ride low on the bridge of her nose.
"All good here?" She raises her silver eyebrow at me, and I almost laugh. This town has my back through and through.
I nod and give her a warm smile. "This is Hayes." I contemplate adding more, but saying he's my ex-boyfriend might kill me.
Looking back at Hayes, he hasn't taken his eyes off me. "He'll have the same thing as me. No tomatoes, please." He needs the calories, whether he's hungry or not. I haven't seen him this defined in years. He looks like he doesn't have an ounce of fat on him—all muscle and sharp angles.
A corner of his lip lifts in a half-smile as he nods in agreement. Sandra jots down his order and heads back to the kitchen, leaving Hayes and me alone at the table.
I can feel the weight of unspoken words hanging in the air. I lift an eyebrow, waiting for him to answer my question.
"I’m here to apologize.” Knife meets heart. I don’t know what I expected him to say, but leading with that feels cold and distant.
“Okay.” I try to avoid the disappointment I’m feeling by looking out at the restaurant. “How’d you even find me?”
“I had some help. Do you remember Lincoln?" I nod my head in response. "He was sent home early from Iraq. RPG attack. Some shrapnel struck him in the thigh. It ended his career."
"Oh no! But he’s okay?”
The corner of his mouth pulls up a bit, and he's bobbing his head with nervousness. "Yeah, full recovery. So, he's, uh, well, he’s remarkably techy and was able to help me track you down."
My shoulders slump with defeat. I've been so careful to go completely undetected.
I haven't talked to anyone from home except for Connie and Odessa, and only ever through the scrambling app. Not necessarily to keep Hayes away, but definitely Carter. Seeing him look at me the way he did in the courtroom only confirmed that he wasn’t going to let me go easily.
"Where did I mess up?" I ask, my voice filled with disappointment.
Hayes looks at me sympathetically and replies, "It wasn't anything you did wrong. Lincoln just has a gift for finding people, especially those who don't want to be found. The flight you took to Portland. He got the license plate number off the car that picked you up."
I let out a resigned sigh. I'd be a lot more frustrated if it were anyone but Hayes here. The second I saw him, every single feeling I had shoved down came rushing back.
“So, Iraq? That’s where you were?” I still hadn’t asked Connie, too afraid to even know.
I don’t miss the hint of sadness that clouds him when he asks, “You didn’t know?”
“I didn’t want to. It was all too hard.”
He nods, the hurt evident. “Yeah, we spent a long eighteen months there.”
"Right. Wait, I have something for you.” I reach into my purse and pull out his mint tin, sliding it across the table.
“I am so sorry that you didn’t have that with you.
Carter… He had it. By the time I found it, you were already gone and your mom said she wouldn’t be able to send it to you.
She thought I could use some of its ‘good-luck’ juju. ”
His hand reaches out and our fingers brush while he pulls it back to him. He stares at it like he can’t believe it’s really in front of him. He swallows hard once before looking at me with misty eyes. “Did you open it?”
I shake my head. “No, to be honest, I could barely look at it.”
He pockets it and then looks back toward me. When he doesn’t say anything else, I try to fill the silence. “So, how long are you here for? Are you still on leave or is this a long weekend?”
His index finger rubs against his bottom lip before he mumbles. "I got out."
My heart skips a beat at his words. A mix of emotions washes over me—relief, sadness, but mostly guilt that he's given up the thing he loves the most to come find me.
"Hayes… You didn't have to do that for me."
He shakes his head and swallows hard. "My contract was up. I couldn't willingly sign on for more." Okay, maybe he’s not doing it for me? I feel like I can’t get a read on him anymore.
"What about Drew?" I can't even begin to imagine how upset Drew is with me. Running away and hiding. We were raised to be fighters, and the first sign of trouble has me moving across the country and concealing myself from the entire world.
"He's still in. He had already signed another contract while we were deployed. I was dragging my feet, and I hadn't even known why at the time."
My brows draw together as I stare at my plate of food that I haven't touched since he got here.
"Anyway, he was moved to a different team and is going back out again soon." Another deployment. Color me surprised.There is an endless cycle of training and deployments for these guys. The only constant for them is that they are always on the move.
I bite the edge of my nail, trying to process the information.
"So, you left the Navy, and now you're here, looking for me? To apologize?" I asked, my voice tinged with disbelief.
He nods solemnly, his eyes never leaving mine. "Yeah. You thought once I knew the whole story, I wouldn't be here..? On my hands and knees, begging for you to forgive me? For you to give me another chance?”
Thank the good lord. Tears well in my eyes. “You couldn’t have led with that?” Grabbing my napkin, I dab at my eyes while trying to blink away the tears.
Sandra chooses that moment to pop back over with Hayes' food and set it down. "Anything else, you two?"
I shake my head and avoid eye contact with both of them. I need a minute to compose myself. A minute to figure out how, even after all this time, Hayes still has me wrapped around his stupid finger.
"Thank you. It looks great." Hayes responds in his typical chivalrous-sounding way.
She leaves, but Hayes hasn't moved an inch. I can feel his gaze burning holes into me, but I stare at the same spot on my plate.
"Sunshine. You okay?" His gruff voice comes out, sounding pained.
I look up into those brown eyes and almost lose it again.
"Dammit, Hayes. You can't just waltz in here and say all the right things, looking the way you do!
" I should be making him suffer. I thought I'd want him to suffer.
Make him beg a little, do a little dance, or something.
But, no. All I want to do is drag him back to my house and never let him out of my sight again.
His returning grin sends all the butterflies in my stomach fluttering.
"I've been driving for the last seventeen hours. I was in no way, shape, or form prepared to see you here," he says, his voice filled with genuine surprise. There’s exhaustion in his eyes and weariness etched into every line on his face, but he’s still as attractive as he’s always been.
"I'm so sorry, Char. I shouldn't have left you that way. I should've listened to what you were saying instead of letting my emotions control me. I don't know if I will ever be able to forgive myself, or if you'll ever be able to forgive me, but I need you to know how sorry I am."
The last of my resolve snaps, just like I knew it would. I can tell the guilt has been eating him alive since he found out.
I reach across the table and grab his hand, intertwining our fingers together.
“No, you shouldn’t have. But I also shouldn’t have had a crazy stalker break into my apartment.
This isn’t your fault. My leaving South Carolina wasn’t your fault either.
I needed to be on my own to know I could make it. ”
His head nods, but I can tell he isn’t ready to believe that yet. “What made you choose here?”
Smiling, I squeeze his hand. “The mountains. This town. The people. I love it here. I’ve made this place home.”
The furrow of his eyebrows and lips pressed thin is a guarantee he doesn’t like that answer. He was probably hoping to whisk me back to South Carolina.
“Does that mean you won’t leave with me?” Called it.
I shake my head. “I don’t want to leave Three Sisters.”
I watch as his shoulders droop low and he hangs his head.
“But you’re more than welcome to stay.”
His gaze snaps to mine as he gives me one of those huge, knock-me-on-my-ass smiles.