Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Charlie
Hand in hand, I half-dragged Hayes into the Cascadia Winter Festival.
Every year, the town throws a winter festival, and it's one of my favorite events. There are booths with baked goods, food carts, and local beers for sale everywhere. Kids games, hand-carved ice sculptures, and live music fill the streets. My favorite part is the skijoring, though. Our version of a snow rodeo, where skiers are pulled behind horses competing for the fastest time. It’s always chaos, but the participants have a good time and don’t take it too seriously, at least.
I can't wait for Hayes to meet Olivia, Ben, and Ellie.
Along with the rest of Three Sisters. These people welcomed me from the start, embracing me as part of their community.
I knew they would do the same for Hayes.
As we walked through the festival, I pointed out familiar faces and introduced him to everyone I knew.
Despite the frigid air, the sense of belonging and warmth were evident, making me even more excited for Hayes to experience it all.
"Everyone here loves you." He comments with a smile after the tenth person has introduced themselves.
"Looks like they love you too." He's the new hot commodity, and everyone is falling over themselves to meet him. Especially the women. They all stare at him like he's a piece of meat for the grabbing.
He wraps his free arm around me, pulling me in closer. "Forgot how much I like that little jealous streak."
Honestly, I almost forgot I had a jealous streak; however, it was quite severe back then. I was young and willing to throw down with anyone to assert my dominance. Hard not to when you’re dating a guy who looks like Hayes and women have no shame.
“Remember the time that woman gave you her number in front of me?”
He chuckles as we walk. “You mean when I had to physically hold you back from punching her in the face?”
“Yep. Still wish you would’ve let me.”
“And ruin our trip to the Bahamas? No way. I had you in a bikini with unlimited drinks. No way was I giving that up to have to bail you out of jail.”
We walk around a bit more, and finally I spot Olivia and the rest of the family schmoozing it up at the Cascadia Sheriff booth.
Dan is holding Ellie and chatting with another local, while Olivia smiles at everything he says.
She's told me before how much she hates these things, but looking at her, you'd never be able to tell.
She shines just as brightly as Dan does, and she does it all for him.
His goal is to eventually run for Sheriff once his dad retires.
A lot of that is pleasing the town, and Dan is the ultimate people pleaser.
Olivia does everything with a smile, and if it weren't for the exhaustion hidden behind her eyes, I'd never know she was only doing it to be the dutiful wife.
Olivia sees us, and her eyes widen a fracture before a real smile lights up her face and she excuses herself and Ben.
"Hi! It's so nice to officially meet you. I am so sorry that I had to lie to you the other day." She says it with a sheepish grin.
Hayes chuckles. "Don’t worry about it. I’m glad you were looking out for my girl.” Swoon.
Ben looks up at Hayes and then back to his mom, confusion written all over his four year old little face. "Mom, lying's bad."
Olivia smiles easily, letting it roll off her shoulders. "This is one of those gray areas, buddy. Most of the time, lying is bad. But sometimes we have to make tough choices to help the people we care about."
Hayes squats so that he's on Ben's level. "Your mom's right. I'm glad she didn't tell me the truth, because she did it to keep Charlie safe.
I hear a small laugh starting to escape Olivia. "Yep, and my introduction wasn't even as bad as your dad's. Did you know that when he first saw Hayes, he tried to arrest him?"
Ben's little eyes go wide. "You?! But you're huge!"
Dan walks over to give Ellie to Olivia and laughs upon hearing the rest of the conversation. "Hey! He's not that big, and I'm a trained professional."
Then he sticks his hand out to shake Hayes hand as Hayes stands back up. "Sorry again about that. I don't normally rip people out of a booth unprovoked."
Chuckling, I say, "It's really a bummer no one got a picture. I can already see the news headline for the Cascadia Gazette, ''Lieutenant Dan manhandles Navy SEAL to the ground.'"
"Ha, Ha, Char." He gives me a hug and then looks back at Hayes again.
"I know she's got a big brother who's probably already given you the speech, but in case you forgot, don't hurt her again. Or else, I really will manhandle you and throw you in a cell.”
My cheeks feel hotter than normal at all this attention, but I’m so grateful for the Turners and all they’ve done for me.
Dan’s taken on that big brother role without even blinking.
He’s got a heart of gold and doesn’t even realize he changed my life with the simple action of sending me to my best friend.
Hayes wraps his arm around me and kisses my forehead.
Hayes
Still holding on to Charlie, I look at Dan. "I appreciate you looking out for her when I wasn’t. I’m mad as hell that she felt like she had to leave, but I’m glad she found y’all. If there’s one good thing to come out of all this, at least it’s that."
Dan looks at me, assessing me one more time, and then smiles. “Olivia and I had no doubt that you’d be here groveling the second you found out. Glad to see you proved us right.”
“Thanks, man. Appreciate the vote of confidence.”
Olivia pats Ellies back while slightly rocking her. "I'm going to walk over to the office and grab her stroller so she can nap."
Charlie smiles and says, "I'll go with you!" Then she kisses my cheek. "Grab a beer for me?"
They walk away, taking Ben with them, and Dan loses all sense of ease—the smile slipping from his face.
"Let's get in line for that beer." He motions toward the beer tent, which has at least thirty people in line.
Nodding, I follow him, unease hitting me like a sixth sense.
"What's up? You look like you're about to tell me you ran over my cat."
His cheeks puff out as he lets a breath out.
"We haven't told Charlie yet, because we don't have any proof that it's her stalker but.
.." My heart rate picking up is the only sign of the panic overtaking my body and I haven't even heard the entirety of what he has to say.
The visceral need to want to run away and hide with her hits me hard. Now I know how Charlie felt.
"Olivia has received a handful of calls over the last few weeks, from random numbers asking for Charlotte Reynolds.
One of them was you, but that's all we know.
Every time she's sent me the information, I've tried to trace the calls but they're deadends—burner phones and location scramblers.
Olivia did a good job of deflecting but my gut is telling me it isn't a coincidence. "
"Fuck. I'll let Detective Paul know. He was the one on the case and might be able to check into more. He’s a good guy and seems to care a lot about Charlie and my mom.”
"That's a good idea. Mind sending me his info? Not that I hold more weight than you, but I can give him all the details I have."
"Yeah, I'll text you his contact information. I've got a friend who is pretty good at digging as well. He, uh, doesn’t exactly go by the book, though.”
He lifts his hand in surrender and smirks. “Best to pretend that I didn’t hear any of that.” His face grows a little more serious when he says, “Do what you need to do to make sure she stays safe.”
After we exchange numbers, the guilt of Charlie being unaware starts to fester. "I think we should tell Charlie. It's going to scare the hell out of her, but if she finds out she’s being kept in the dark, she will go nuclear."
Dan chuckles. "I agree. We were only keeping it quiet because we didn't have much to go on and we were afraid she would leave again. Now that you're here, I feel a hell of a lot better about her safety.”
We both agreed it'd be better to wait until after the festival and let her live in the moment a little longer. This is going to send her on an emotional rollercoaster, but it's better she knows the truth sooner rather than later.
How Charlie stumbled upon such a good family in Oregon is beyond me, but they really are amazing.
We spent the rest of the day with them, enjoying the festival and sharing stories about her.
Everything they’ve told me brings a little relief to the guilt I’ve been feeling.
She took an incredibly traumatic event and turned it into an opportunity to become a better version of herself.
The tenacity of this woman isn’t just admirable; it’s awe-inspiring.
She created an entire new life here—new family, new friends, new job—and never gave up on me in the process.
I don’t know where I’ll fit in her world anymore or what I'll do for work around here but I’m not about to let that stop me from doing everything I can to be with her.
Being here has only proven what I already knew. I'm madly in love with Charlie, and no matter what, I'll be fighting tooth and nail to give her the life she wants. If that means spending the rest of my life in a small Oregon town, then so be it. For Charlie, I'd live in a tent in the woods.