Chapter 26
CHAPTER 26
S even days. Seven damn days since the confrontation with the man she had now dubbed shit-for-brains. He’d hadn’t called or texted. Another day and she was going to take Kelley’s “let them fly and they’ll come back to you” advice and shove it up the bartender’s backside. Only, she would never do that because she loved Kelley and she was pretty sure in a fight, she would lose. Hard. Her friend could bench press one-fifty and was the captain of her rugby team. Charlie didn’t stand a chance in a fight against her.
Truthfully, she didn’t want to fight. She didn’t even want to rage or scream or any of the other angry filled vents she normally did when things broke off with a guy. No. All she wanted to do was wallow in a tub of mint chocolate chip and cry. For craps sake who had she become? A few months ago, she’d be planning her sweet revenge on Luc for the way he’d dropped her. But she didn’t feel like revenge. She just felt…sad.
A heavy ache sat in her chest, day and night. Weighing her down. Slogging every step, every movement. It hurt. Hurt to know he didn’t feel he could trust her with the problem in his life, couldn’t share the burden. She’d happily take it, all of it. She loved him dammit! Not that she’d told him that, but hadn’t it been obvious?
Men are obtuse, numbnuts. Did you really expect him to know how you feel without telling him?
Okay, so maybe she’d been hedging her bets a little. Playing it safe. Who could blame her? It wasn’t like she was without issues, without baggage. She’d never said those three little words to a member outside her family. Except Puddles. Dammit! She missed the cute little pug now more than ever. Heartbreak would be so much easier if she had an adorable pup to snuggle at night. Then again, Puddles always did have the worst night farts, so maybe it was better the tubby little bundle of squish wasn’t in her bed these days.
As much as it sucked to admit, she had to confess some of the fault lied with herself. She’d never told Luc how she felt, never fully let him in. How was he supposed to know she could handle all the complicated issues with his father? She could. While she’d never had a family member with an addiction, she knew all about supporting loved ones in times of need. After their father died, their mother got…lost for a while. All the Jackson kids rallied around her, each doing their part to drag their mother out of her misery while putting their own aside.
Had it been fair? No. But life wasn’t always fair, and neither was family. Sometimes you just had to do what you had to do. No matter how much it hurt. She could be there for Luc. Support him. Help him. If only the stubborn ass would let her. He’d helped her so much over the past months. All she wanted to do was return the favor.
Not all.
Okay, so she also wanted to jump his bones, but could you blame her?
“Hey, you. How ya feeling?”
She glanced up from the spreadsheets she had laid out on the bar to give Kelley a small grunt. Normally she did her work in her office, but it felt stuffy in there today. She needed air and space. The only people in the bar were a few locals, some of the hospital staff off shift. Happy hour was an hour away, so she had time before Jack’s got too busy.
“I’m feeling like I’m gonna smack the next person who asks me that upside the head.”
Kelley raised a brow, filling a glass with orange juice, and sliding it over. “You’d never smack me. I bite back.”
She gave her friend a half smile before frowning. “Hey, where’s the gin? Can’t be a gin and juice without the gin part? This is just…juice.”
“It’s vitamin C. Proven to improve mood and you’re working.” She nodded to the papers. “No gin until after you finish those. Otherwise, you might make a mistake and forget you all gave me a fifty dollar raise last week.”
She snorted. “We did no such thing. Not that you don’t deserve it, but we’re not doing that well.”
Kelley blew her a kiss. “I know, sweetie. Just trying to cheer you up.”
Warmth filled her chest. She loved her friends. Who needed a man when you had such wonderful friends? Not her. But you’d like one. One in particular. True. But she couldn’t do anything about it. The ball was in his court. Apart from chasing after him like a pathetic lovesick puppy.
You are lovesick.
True, but she didn’t have to advertise it all over Kismet. She’d already been town gossip enough times thank you very much. She just had to wait it out and hope Luc came to his senses. Chasing wasn’t her thing, but damned if she hadn’t stopped herself numerous times these past few days from driving over to Luc’s place and demanding he talk to her in person.
You could have called him or texted.
Her inner bitch was being entirely too smart for her own good. Truthfully, she’d been a little scared to contact him. What if he didn’t say what she wanted to hear? No one ever gave good news over the phone. If he wanted to be with her, he would have contacted her. He’d show up, dammit!
She rubbed her chest. The dull ache present since the morning he’d snuck away from her bed only growing with each passing day.
“Hey, Kelley,” Dean said, coming up beside her. “Another round?”
“You got it, dude.”
As Kelley made the drinks, Charlie’s curiosity got the better of her. Going for casual, she swirled the straw in her juice, not making eye contact. “So, Dean. How’s things?”
“Not bad. My nephew Danny swallowed a penny the other day and my brother was freaking out. Rushed him into the ER like the kid lost a leg or something.” Dean shook his head. “Thankfully scans showed it was already heading south. A bar of chocolate laxatives later and Danny boy was one cent richer.”
There was an image she didn’t need in her brain that would now never leave.
“Sooooo.” She glanced over. “How’s things at the hospital?”
The corner of Dean’s mouth ticked up in a half smile. “Good.”
“Good. Good.” She didn’t want to ask, but her mouth seemed to disconnect from her brain. “Um, how’s Luc?”
Dean’s half smile turned full wattage. The man bent over, letting out a brassy laugh. Turning to the table in the back, he called out, “Who had fifteen minutes?”
Hot temper replaced the cool embarrassment. Reaching out, she smacked him on the shoulder. “You all bet on when I’d ask about Luc?”
“Ow! Hey, watch it, I just got off shift. I don’t want to go back for bodily injury.”
She snorted. “Don’t be such a baby.”
Dean’s smile fell. He threw a friendly arm around her shoulder, giving her a squeeze. “Don’t fret, kiddo. Just give the man some time to get his head on straight. He’ll figure it out.”
“It’s been days, Dean. And don’t call me kiddo. You’re only a few years older than me, ass.”
He chuckled, kissing her on the head before grabbing the drinks Kelley had finished and heading back to his table. She hoped he was right about Luc, but each passing day with no contact made her heart crack a little more. Perhaps confronting him, demanding answers was the way to go.
No. That’s what old Charlie would have done. Led with anger. She was different now. Wiser. Or so she’d like to think. Being with Luc had changed her. She’d even contacted a doctor’s office and set up an evaluation for ADHD. Old Charlie never would have done that. She’d like to imagine she had changed him too, but…
As she pondered the thought, the door to Jacks swung open.
“Well, look what the cat drug in.”
At Kelley’s words, she turned to see the object of her desire and recent heartbreak enter the tasting room door, a large crate in his arms.
“Luc?” She hopped off the barstool, making her way across the room to him. “What are you doing here?”
Hesitant smile on his face, he stepped forward, placing the crate on a nearby table.
“I heard from Apple and Kim and basically everyone in town I ran into that you were at work today.”
Small towns. Gotta love ‘em.
“What’s in the box?” Her eyes darted to the small crate. The sides were plastic with tiny slats so small she couldn’t see the contents. The top appeared to be some kind of mesh, but she still couldn’t see what lay inside.
“Well, it’s not Gwyneth Paltrow’s head.” He grinned.
Not in the mood for jokes, she didn’t join in the humor. “What do you want, Luc?”
His smile faded. “To apologize. Charlie, I am so damn sorry I pushed you away like that. I…I don’t have an excuse. At least, not a good one. You were right. About everything. I thought I was saving you from the pain of my family issues, my dad. I didn’t want to drag you into that trauma when you’ve already had so much of your own.”
“But that wasn’t your decision!” Tears welled up in her eyes, chest constricting with each deep breath. She knew every eye on the place was locked on them, but she didn’t care. Not right now. “You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t handle.”
“I know,” he said softly.
“I love you, Luc.” There. She’d said it. Spoken the words. They were out there now, for better or worse. And she felt…lighter. Amazing how speaking a hidden truth could release such a weight. “I don’t care what crap you have to deal with in your life, because I want to be there with you. To help you through it. That’s what you do for someone you love.”
His nostrils flared, eyes darkening with emotions. His hand reached out, gripping the back of her neck and pulling her to him. Without a single word, his lips descended on hers, taking, giving, asking for forgiveness in a heart-stopping kiss she gladly returned. When he finally pulled away, still gripping her neck, he placed his forehead against hers.
“I am so damn happy to hear you say that, because I love you too, Charlie. I didn’t plan on it. But I am so unbelievably happy it happened.”
She sucked in a harsh breath. Every cell in her body seemed to pause, every beat of her heart, rush of the blood in her veins stilled as those words registered in her brain.
“You love me?”
“Yes. And I’m so sorry I tried to push you away, but I’m here now. Begging you for another chance. A chance to prove I can be the man you deserve. The man who will devote his life to you.”
She shook her head. “I don’t need devotion. I just need love and someone who is willing to share. Share their life, share the good times and bad.”
He chuckled. “I can do that. If you’ll say you forgive me.”
“Don’t do it, Charlie!” Dean yelled out from the back table. “Make him work for it!”
Luc flipped Dean off before pulling away from her and going to the crate. He flicked a lock on the top, reaching in to grab the contents. “As much as I hate to prove Dean right, I do have something for you to sweeten the deal.”
“Oh!” Tears fell from her eyes, heart clenching, as Luc pulled out the sweetest little ball of squeaking cuteness. “Puddles?”
The fat pug’s legs churned wildly in the air as it tried to run to her, still in the steady grip of Luc’s hands. She held her arms out, grasping the animal as he jumped into her arms and began furiously licking every bit of her face he could reach.
“I don’t…how did you…?” Words failed her. Unfiltered joy filled every inch of her soul at holding her sweet little furbaby again.
Luc smiled. “I know a guy in Animal Control. He did a check for me on Pure Pug Puppies licensing. Turns out they had numerous violations. They went and shut the place down. All the dogs went to rescue homes. I told them Puddles’s mommy missed him, and they sent him home. I thought he deserved to be with someone who loved him. We all do.”
“Well, shit.” Kelley muttered from the bar. “Now she has to forgive him.”
In truth, there was nothing to forgive. Kelley had been right all along. All she had to do was wait. Luc had come back to her. He loved her. And he’d come back with her dog. Her heart felt so full she feared it might burst in her chest.
But what a way to go.
“Hey, I’m pretty sure having a dog in a bar is a health code violation,” Dean called out.
This time, she was the one who flipped Dean off. The guy just chuckled as he shouted, “For shit’s sake woman, kiss him again already.”
Happy to do exactly that, she went up on her toes, tugging Luc down to fuse their lips together as a happy, squeaking pug squirmed between them, licking at their chins.
“Hey, buddy,” Luc pulled away laughing as he stroked Puddles on the head. “You’re cramping my style.”
Puddles responded by licking Luc’s glasses, smudging the right lens completely.
“No.” She tucked the dog into her chest, kissing his soft, furry head. “He’s getting you bonus points.”
Luc pulled off his glasses to clean them on his shirt, replacing them with a smile. “Yeah?”
She bobbed her eyebrows. “So many bonus points.”
“Well then.” He wrapped an arm around her waist. “What do you say we take him back to your place, introduce him to his new home, and see how many more bonus points I can accumulate.”
As she smiled up at him, she heard Dean say to Nina. “Apologizing with a dog is perfect. I need to do that next time I screw up with a woman.”
She wanted to laugh, because life wasn’t perfect. Life was messy and painful. Plans could be changed at the drop of a pin. People left, died. You couldn’t account for all the horrible things life threw your way, but you could make the best of them. By surrounding yourself with people you loved. People who cared about you, people you could depend on.
No. Life wasn’t perfect, but you could take those moments of perfection and hold onto them with fierceness. You could grab every bit of happiness it threw your way and savor it, hold it close to your heart.
She had no idea what the future held for her and Luc. If things went her way it would be forever. But no matter what happened she knew, in this moment, she would take it, take this man and the love he offered and hold it close to her heart. Cherish it. Protect it.
“I’d say that sounds wonderful.”
Luc smiled, tugging her close as he led her and a still happily squirming Puddles from the bar. Life wasn’t perfect, but with someone you loved by your side, it could come pretty damn close.
The End