Chapter 28
chapter twenty-eight
Caleb
“This doesn’t involve you,” the guy says with a dismissive wave of his hand. He wears jeans and a polo shirt which isn’t exactly gala attire. I’m not sure if he’s a vendor or vagrant, but he’s clearly not supposed to be here. “Charlotte and I go way back. We’re good here.”
Rex’s deep growl fills the air. The hair on the back of his neck literally lifts and spreads out, giving him a terrifying mane.
His tail slowly sways back and forth in anticipation.
It would be bad if one of my dogs bit someone on the property.
The insurance rate would go up, and he might even sue me.
Not to mention the repercussions biting someone would have on Rex’s rehabilitation.
He’s not a patrol dog anymore and he doesn’t get to do that stuff now.
Now instead of tracking down and apprehending bad guys, he needs to learn how to be a retired lazy dog who lounges on couches instead of chasing after people.
I need Rex to do the right thing, so that means I have to do the right thing. I have to let this go.
“Get off my property,” I tell him. “Or I’ll have LPD officers here in five minutes to trespass you.”
“Tell him it’s fine,” the guy says to Charlotte. “Tell him you know me.”
“I don’t take orders from you,” she says, glancing back at me. Her expression is darkly serious. Her lips press tight as she grips the leash. “Come on, Rex.”
Rex’s scruff is still raised in defense mode, and she didn’t even use any German commands but he does what she asks of him. They walk toward the kennels and the guy starts to walk with her.
“Come on, Char, don’t be like that.”
I step in front of him and put my hand on his chest. “Leave, now.”
He backs up as if my hand is fire and just burned him. “What if I make a donation? That’s what this is all about, right? Getting money?”
“I don’t take money from shitty people.”
“Do you know who you’re talking to?”
”You’re hassling someone who has asked you to leave. Two people, actually, who want you to leave. That tells me all I need to know about you.”
His nostrils flare. “Don’t ever ask WLB Construction for money again.”
That was unexpected, but years of police work has trained me to look neutral no matter what thoughts are going on in my head.
As he stomps back to his truck, I watch, making sure he actually does leave.
Then I exhale and walk quickly to the kennels.
That wasn’t the CEO who’s pissed at me for not moving the gala date. Who the hell was it?
Charlotte stands next to Rex’s kennel gate, one hand gripped on the fencing while she watches Rex drink water. She’s managed to get him inside the kennel and take his collar off, which may not seem much for a regular dog lover, but for Charlotte it’s a big deal.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” she says back, not looking my way. “I’m so sorry about that. That was… humiliating.”
“It’s not a problem.” I reach out, wanting to touch her, to wrap my arm around her shoulders and give her whatever comfort she needs right now. My hand pauses mid-air. I shove it in my pocket. Maybe she doesn’t want me touching her. “Who was that guy?”
Her head turns down, hair falling in her face as she stares at the grass. “Bobby Bryan. Also known as the heir to WLB construction. Also known as my ex.”
“Ah.” All the pieces fall together now. “William Bryan sent someone to scope out the gala he didn’t get to participate in. Why didn’t you tell me you knew them?”
“It didn't matter,” she says, turning to me. She tucks her hair behind her ears. It’s not often that I see her hair down like this.
Usually it’s pulled up high in a messy bun but today it’s smooth, soft and wavy.
She’s beautiful both ways, but seems more fragile like this.
With her hair pulled back, it’s like she’s ready to take on anything.
“It does matter,” I say. “I don’t want you working with someone you don’t like.”
“It doesn’t matter who or what I like,” she says.
“I’m a professional. I was hired to do a job, even if the biggest donor at the time was the dad of my ex.
I’m still going to do the job.” She shrugs and flashes a little smirk at me.
“And now it’s even better that he has nothing to do with your foundation, so he can’t claim anything when it gets really big and makes a huge impact. ”
“You think the foundation will be successful?”
“I know it will,” she says with a sincerity that goes beyond the satisfaction of seeing her ex’s family drop out. “You’re serious. You’re not chasing fame or easy results. Rex is in the best hands here. You promised that you wouldn’t let him get euthanized and you’re keeping that promise.”
“Thanks, Charlotte. That means a lot.”
“We should get back to the gala,” she says, waving goodbye to Rex. He finished drinking water and now he’s just chilling on his dog bed. She tucks her hair behind her ears and stands a little straighter. “They’ll be adding up the total donations from the silent auction soon.”
We make the short walk from the kennels back to the barn. The music gets louder as we approach and so does the sounds of people having a good time. It feels really good to know everyone is having a good time.
“Caleb?” she asks softly just before we enter the barn.
There’s a vulnerability in her eyes that I’ve only seen once before, when she showed up at my house the other night.
This woman walks and talks like she’s got it all together, and her work proves that.
But occasionally, she’ll share that underneath the perfect exterior, there are parts of her that still need tending to. I give her my full attention.
“Yes, Charlotte?”
“I appreciate you rescuing me from that conversation with Bobby, but just so you know, I’m not the type of woman who needs rescuing.”
“Trust me, I know. I wasn’t even worried about you.”
“Really?” She smirks, folding her arms over her chest. “You certainly acted all knight in shining armor when you walked out here.”
“Girl, I knew you could handle yourself. I was more worried about Rex taking a bite out of someone.”
She laughs. “I worried about that too. It was nice of you to come to my rescue, even if I didn’t need it. I’m not used to men doing that.”
“You should be around better men.”
She’s looking at me but her gaze feels far away.
“There was a long time in my life where I feared Bobby. I thought I couldn’t do anything on my own, and certainly nothing important without a man there to help me.
” She sticks out her tongue in disgust. “But I made this whole gala happen. I rescued an aggressive dog in the middle of a massive thunderstorm. I’m feeling pretty badass at the moment. ”
“That’s because you are a badass.”
She grins and holds out her elbow in the same silly way I did recently. “Shall we?”
I loop my arm through hers. “We shall.”
The evening goes better than expected. I’m not one for fancy parties or dressing nice, and I don’t know or really care which fork I’m supposed to use at a proper table setting.
But I’m more than happy to put on a nice outfit and enjoy the evening cosplaying as if I am a fancy person.
Whatever it takes to help secure funding to save more retired working dogs.
Our donors sure seem to love everything about tonight.
A few months ago, I had the idea to do this gala all by myself, but my cousin Poppy talked me out of it, urging me to hire an event planner.
She was one hundred percent right. But I can never let her know what happened between the event planner and me.
She wouldn’t shut up about it. In fact, it’s one of life’s greatest blessings that she wasn’t able to make it tonight because she would have taken one look at Charlotte and known that deep down this woman has stolen my heart.
As the night comes to a close, I make sure to give a genuine, heartfelt thank you to every single person as they leave.
Charlotte floats around the barn, talking with vendors and walking people to their cars.
It’s just before midnight when everyone has left, and the barn which was a gorgeous lit up gala venue just an hour ago is now just the old barn from my childhood.
My younger brothers head out for a night at the bar with their friends, and Ethan and Leo head back to the house.
It’s just Charlotte and me.
“We raised thirty percent more than our goal,” she says, tapping the iPad screen in her arms.
“That’s incredible.”
“The caterers packed up the leftover food and Ethan said he’d put it in the freezer. Everything has been cleaned up. Looks like we’re all done here.”
“Awesome,” I say, pulling my face into a smile. Deep down, I’m wondering how the time flew by so fast. Three weeks of spending nearly every day with this woman and now she’s about to walk out of my life.
“There is one problem though,” she says as her bottom lip rolls under her teeth.
Problems are good. Problems mean I’ll need to spend more time with her. Hell, one of the vendors could sue me and I’d be thrilled for the opportunity to spend months next to Charlotte in litigation. “What’s wrong?”
“You remember that kiss?” She peers up at me under the moonlight.
“Of course I remember that kiss,” I say. It has played on a loop in my mind ever since it happened. “What’s the problem?”
“Well, the problem is that it didn’t work.”