Chapter 72
CHAPTER 72
CHARLIE
I had been so damn miserable all week and my misery showed no signs of letting up. After everything had gone down with Scarlett, I’d tried reaching out to Olivia to share the truth with her, but it’d been days and she still wouldn’t talk to me.
As far as I could tell, she hadn’t even read my messages. I hated the thought that I could ever have hurt her, let alone betray her so badly, and I detested that Scarlett had used me to do just that. She had made Olivia believe that I’d done things so much worse than even spineless Todd ever had, and then she’d used that belief to trample all over Liv’s heart.
I wanted to make it right so badly that it physically fucking hurt but I couldn’t do anything if she wouldn’t talk to me. A few days ago, I’d even tried calling her office, only to be told that she wasn’t in.
Earlier this week, Dad had caught me climbing into my truck, and when I’d confessed I’d been on my way to Olivia’s house, he’d taken my keys. He’d told me that Nathan had called Liv to tell her that Scarlett had stolen the ring and that the right thing to do was to wait it out.
I was so dang tired of waiting, but I also knew he wasn’t wrong. Pushing people and invading their space was hardly ever — if ever—the answer. If I tried it with her, it was more likely that I’d drive her even further away.
Feeling helpless wasn’t something I was good at though, nor was sitting on my hands. It felt like fire ants were eating through my soul but I did it. I took the punishment even though I had committed no crime, and I was doing my best not to be a baby about it.
As I shoved a spade into the ground with significantly more force than the task required, Dallas finally seemed to have had enough. He stopped digging the trench he and I were busy with for irrigation and shook his head at me.
“Okay, it’s official,” he declared, straightening up and leaning on the handle of his own shovel. “I’m worried about you, man.”
I ignored him, violently dumping the dirt and driving the shovel back into the ground. It felt like if I stopped, I was going to have to deal with the reality that she was gone and I was by no means ready to do that.
“Charlie, I’m serious. Stop.”
“Can’t,” I grunted, swiping at the sweat on my brow with the back of my hand before I kept going. Even though it was late afternoon, spring was fast turning into summer and I’d been out in the sun all damn day. I was boiling. Any other day, I might’ve stripped off my shirt and headed for the creek, but now, I couldn’t imagine going there without Olivia by my side. “We need to get this done.”
“Tomorrow is another day,” he said, feigning calm even if I could hear the tension in his voice. “Just talk to me, man. You can’t keep going like this. You’ve hardly slept all week. You’re out here all hours of the day and night. It’s a wonder you haven’t collapsed yet.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Of course, it fucking matters,” he bit out. “Will you just stop already?”
A low groan came out of me and I finally snapped my gaze up to his. “Will you stop nagging at me if I put the spade down?”
“Yes.”
I let the implement fall to the ground and crossed my arms. “I don’t want to talk about it, bud. I don’t want to cry on your shoulder and I don’t want to mope around while I wait for better days. Is that it? You can go now. I’ll finish this by myself.”
“That’s not what this is about,” he said irritably, sighing as he lifted his hat to drag a hand through his hair. “Look, you and I have been through some pretty tough times together, but I’ve never seen you like this. Neither has your family. I’m worried. They’re worried, so talk to me.”
“I get it. Everybody is worried, but I’m fine. I just can’t lose her, that’s all.” My eyes slammed shut as I said it. “I cannot lose Olivia, Dallas. I can’t do it.”
“You don’t have to,” he reasoned calmly. “None of what she believes right now is true, so just go to her and tell her that.”
“I’ve tried, okay?” I yanked my hat off and squeezed it between my fingers, the urge to stomp all over it and everything else I loved almost overwhelming. “She doesn’t want to talk to me. She’s not taking my calls or answering my texts. It’s driving me nuts, but it is what it is.”
“So go to her,” he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Go to her house and camp out on her porch until she hears you out. I’d take a sleeping bag. It’s still pretty chilly at night and she might not take pity on you on day one.”
I barked out laughter. “She wouldn’t take pity on me on day fourteen at this point, not even if it was snowing outside and I was at risk of literally freezing my balls off.”
He cracked a smile. “Well, I’m not sure she’d go that far, but I hear your concern.”
I jammed my hat back onto my head and shrugged, bending over to grab the shovel again. “Then you know what my problem is.”
“Sure, but I still don’t understand why you don’t just go to her.”
“Dad told me to wait it out,” I finally confessed as I dug into the dirt once more. “After he took my keys the other night, I realized that crowding her wasn’t going to win me any points, so I’m trying to be a gentleman about it and give her some space.”
“You need to throw that theory out the window,” he said. “Jack took your keys the other night because you were agitated and angry. If you had gone to her in a state like that, you probably would’ve made it worse.”
“I can’t just show up at her door, Dallas,” I said. “Dad told me that she knows Scarlett stole the ring and she still isn’t taking my calls. That means she doesn’t want to hear from me, never mind having me show up at her house.”
“That’s only because she thinks you’re a lying scumbag who’s been in love with another woman all this time. You need to tell her the truth, Charlie. Go after her. Who cares about being a gentleman while these lies could ruin your whole relationship?”
“Maybe so, but I can’t force her to listen to me.”
“No, but you can at least try.” He started back in on the trench and I was about to get to work myself when my phone started ringing.
Sighing, I pulled it out of my pocket. My aggravation at yet another interruption faded when I saw Ms. Burl’s name on my screen. I took her call immediately, hoping like hell that nothing was wrong.
“Are you okay?” I asked instead of even greeting her, my heart pounding in my chest. The woman had been through a lot since her husband had passed and I knew she didn’t have anyone else to call.
If there was a problem, I was probably one of the only people she’d reach out to and I adored the woman. I couldn’t take it if something happened to her.
She chuckled and relief spiraled through me at the lighthearted sound. “I’m okay, Charlie. It’s nothing serious. I was just wondering if you’d be able to come help with my oven. I’m sorry to be a bother, but I’m trying to cook supper and the thing won’t start.”
“I’ll be right over,” I promised, as I always did when she called needing help with something. “Let me just grab a quick shower and then I’m on my way.”
“My savior.” She laughed. “Thank you, my dear.”
“See you soon.” I hung up and I was already walking away when I twisted to call back to Dallas. “I’ll be back, but we can pick this up tomorrow. It’ll be dark in a couple hours anyhow.”
“Yes! Go! Go after her!” he yelled, grinning as he dropped his shovel and tossed his arms up in the air. “Hallelujah!”
“I’m going to Ms. Burl’s.” I shot him a grin when I realized he’d gotten the wrong idea.
His face fell, and so did his arms. “Good lord, buddy. Wrong girl! Or whatever you’re into, I suppose.”
For the first time in days, I chuckled as I jogged away from him. I wished it’d been Olivia on the phone instead, but as far as women went to get a call from, at least things with Ms. Burl were never complicated.