Chapter Six
Jake
Officer Daniels and I go way back. We were never best buddies by any definition of the word, but we knew each other all through school, and by the time we reached eighteen, we both went off on the same military path, though he joined the Navy and I went Army.
I roll down my window and nod toward his familiar, rounded face. I’m not an expert at reading people but there’s an upward curve at the corner of his mouth that tells me he knows what’s happening here.
He glances past me toward Charlotte before meeting my eyes. “You want to step out of the truck, buddy?”
Buddy… what the fuck, man? There’s nothing illegal about where I’m parked. We aren’t breaking any laws.
I nod and glance toward Charlotte with a wink before squeezing her thick thigh in comfort. This isn’t how I imagined our first sexual experience going. Hell, now that I know she’s a virgin, I want to make sure I’m taking everything slow, making everything perfect.
I should’ve been more careful. I should’ve taken her home, taken my time. That said, even with perfect hindsight, I know I did what I had to. I’d have crashed the truck if I didn’t get my hands on her right then.
Sliding out of the truck, I crunch into the snow, past the row of trees, and assess the situation. I thought I’d pulled into the woods a little deeper. We’re still pretty exposed to the main road here.
“You, ugh, you doin’ okay, man?” Daniels nods once and hooks his thumb into the side loop of his slacks.
“Good here. Just,” I glance down at the snowbank and back up at him, “pulled over for a second.”
“Right here? Off the main road? You live like two miles away.” He looks away then back again. “Look, I don’t know if me seein’ all this is fate or somethin’, but if you were doin’ what I think you were, you need to stop and get a grip.”
I narrow my gaze toward him and shake my head, thinking maybe I’ve heard him wrong. “I’m sorry?”
“This is a small town, Jake. Everythin’ is on social media. What happens when your parole officer sees that you were ice fishin’ when you were supposed to be workin’, let alone, with a girl nearly half your age? The whole town is already talkin’ about it.”
My brows narrow. “What are you talking about? I haven’t been ice fishing in years. Hell, probably haven’t done it since my dad died.”
He pulls out his phone, types something in, and twists the screen toward me. “Then how do you explain this?”
Sure enough, there’s a photo of Charlotte and I ice fishing. It’s a cute photo, too. She’s bundled up in a furry pink coat and I’m holding up three decent sized pike on a string. I laugh as I say, “I see that just as well as you do but that ain’t me. I don’t know what the hell that is.”
“Right.” Daniels flicks the screen to another photo, this one of the two of us at the lake during the summer months with huge smiles and a picnic laid out before us, “and I suppose this ain’t you either?”
“It’s not me.” I laugh. “I went to work, and I checked in at the halfway house on time every night. They wouldn’t have released me if I hadn’t.”
“Is it possible they didn’t know you were sneakin’ off the worksite?” Daniels clears his throat. “Look, I’m not tryin’ to cause trouble, I’m just saying you should take this shit down before more people see it, and maybe… consider datin’ someone your own age.”
“She’s twenty-six, man. She’s not a baby, and I don’t know where these pictures came from, but they’re not real.”
“Right.” Daniels nods once and tucks his phone back into his pocket. “Well, I know how hard you’ve worked to gain back your reputation, and I thought maybe you could use a little reality check, given you’re parked on the side of the road makin’ out like a teenager. It’s not even dark, man.”
I’ve never had an issue with the guy before, but right now, the urge to knock him flat on his ass is pretty hard to resist.
Who the hell does he think he is?
“Thanks for the advice, man.” I shake my head and turn back toward my truck as he heads for his cop car.
“Everything okay?” Charlotte’s voice shakes as she speaks.
“Yeah, honey. Sorry about that.” I climb up and lean in, kissing her slowly, as though it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“Everything is fine. Gotta love a small-town cop. He’s got nothing better to do on a Friday night than stick his nose where it doesn’t belong.
” I start up the truck and back up out of the woods, my hand resting on Charlotte’s thigh as she snuggles in beside me.
“It’s my fault. I made you pull off. We should’ve just driven back to your place. You wouldn’t have had to talk to the weird cop,” she rubs her tiny hand against my thigh, “and you might be a little more satisfied right now.”
“No, I’m glad things happened the way they did. It was hot as hell.” I glance toward her for a second then back at the road. “You’re hot as hell.”
She smiles sweetly and tucks her head against my shoulder, and for a second, I let myself live in this moment where she’s mine.
I let my mind wander to places it shouldn’t, places where she’s my wife, where we have a family, a home, traditions, a dog or two.
A place where we live outside the norm and no one can say shit about it.
I’ve never wanted those things before. Hell, I’ve never really put much thought into them at all, but there’s something about Charlotte that has me wanting a life I never imagined. That said, deep down I know Daniels is right. A place like that doesn’t exist for me.
Charlotte is young. She’s just starting out.
A life with me and my reputation will make everything harder for her.
She won’t be able to go into town without hearing about some shit I used to do.
She’d be lumped into the same rotten category I’m in, and she doesn’t deserve that.
God forbid our kids were ever judged by my past.
“You okay?” she whispers low, tucking her small and soft hand into mine.
“Yeah, just a little taken aback by Daniels. He showed me this weird social media page where someone is posting pictures of us at the lake. They look real but obviously, they’re not. They could get me into trouble with my parole officer.”
She sits up straight and stares at me as I pull into the long stone driveway that leads to the cabin I’ve been modifying little by little since I was fully released from prison.
“I, ugh…” A visible lump travels down her throat as she opens her mouth to speak.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ll figure out who did it and I’ll get them to take it all down.” I kill the engine and turn toward her, rubbing her bare leg gently as I say, “But… he did say something I should take a little more seriously.”
“Yeah?” She pinches her lips together. “What’s that?”
“This town. Gossip sticks to it like maple syrup on the tables at a pancake house. No matter how hard you try, they’re never not sticky again.”
“Okay,” she smiles and narrows her gaze at the same time, “what are you saying?”
“I’m saying it doesn’t look good for you to be hanging around me, and these pictures online are proof that someone is already trying to sabotage us. I can’t let you go down with me. You have your whole life to think about.”
She drags in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “The social media page is mine. I made the pictures of us with Photoshop.”
I stare toward her, my brows knit inward. I don’t know the first thing about what Photoshop is or what it does.
“It was dumb,” she continues, her cheeks red.
“I wanted to make our relationship look as legit as possible to my family, so I created a picture of us doing things together. Well, a few photos. I was planning on taking it down after the wedding.” She sighs.
“I bet it was my mom that shared it. She and my sister were the only ones I let see it that didn’t know it was fake. ”
I’m not sure what to say.
“I’m so sorry.” Her chest is visibly tight. “This is humiliating. I,” she blows out a breath, “should go.” She hops down out of the truck and into the cold, trudging back down the long driveway while the wind blows the snow back onto her.
I scrub my hand down over my beard and hop down out of the truck, heading toward her. “You’re not leaving.”
She turns back, the world a white blur around us.
“But this is crazy. I know this is crazy. I… I’m sure this caused all kinds of issues for you, and I was just trying to get my mom off my back.
I should’ve created some fake guy that didn’t actually exist, but you were right there, and I was thinking about you all the time, fantasizing about this imaginary life we’d have.
” She sighs. “And now, I’ve ruined both our lives.
I need a new job, a new town, and a new life. ”
“Hey.” I reach for her hand warming it in my own.
She’s not wearing enough for this weather.
“Stop. You’re okay. Honestly, I’m glad it was you.
I thought it was some asshole in town out to get us.
It’s no big deal. Just delete the page and I’ll handle the fall out.
I’m sure there’s some way to prove the pictures weren’t real. ”
She tilts her head to the side. “I know you’re trying to be nice, and I appreciate that, I really do, but my mom is right.
I’m a dreamer. I spent years in college trying to get a degree, not because I thought I wanted to help people, but because I was trying to figure myself out.
” Her eyes widen and she turns back into the snow.
“Spoiler alert… it didn’t work, and I still missed my dad’s last breath.
So, yeah, my mother is a jerk, but she’s right.
I’m a mess, and if we’re being honest, you’re totally out of my league.
It’s better to end this now before I go believing we can make this work. ”
The wind whips against the shutters, knocking them gently against the log cabin. “I’m not going to stand here and let you talk shit about yourself, little lamb. You’re beautiful, you’re smart, and truthfully, I’m a little flattered by the social media page.”
“Flattered? I could have messed up your life. And you said it yourself, half the town is probably talking about how you were sneaking off to meet me. What happens if that gets back to the parole officer? I have no idea what’s wrong with me or what the hell I’m doing with my life.”
I grin and cup her cold red cheeks in my hands.
“I kept wanting to find a time to tell you this, but… I used to run into your dad all over town. The first time, he was at the diner with a slice of strawberry rhubarb and the paper. I’d just come home from Iraq, he noticed my hat, and we started talking. ”
“You met my dad?”
“A few times.” I nod. “He loved the diner and so did I. For years, we’d run into each other around town and talk about the missions we’d been on, the weather, or local news.
Nothing major, the kind of stuff I’d talk about with any old timer I ran into.
But the day before I was arrested, we got talking about life, and he said ‘if you don’t know who you are, the world will figure it out for you.
’ I remember the single nod that followed before he told me he’d just said the same thing to his daughter.
That statement has played and replayed in my head for years. ”
A tear streaks down her cheek, and I brush it away before the cold has a chance to freeze it.
“I remember him saying that. A few times actually. The last time, we were out in the blind together eating snacks, watching deer, and I was talking about my last semester of psychology. I’d gone through so much schooling, taken so many tests, worked two side jobs to pay tuition, but at the end of everything, I wasn’t sure if the work was for me.
I felt so guilty about it because I’d started and stopped so many things to that point.
” I wipe away another of her tears. “He told me about a job opening at your company. He said he’d noticed the sign on the way home and he thought it would be good for me, considering how good I am with people. ”
She shrugs and wipes away her own tears, shivering in the cold.
“I was so unsure of myself right then, and he told me I could believe I was a quitter, and the world would treat me as such, or I could believe I was an adventurer, and the world would treat me as such. I chose to believe I was an adventurer that day, but deep down, I knew I was a quitter. I quit everything, including love. I quit love because love was scary and I didn’t want to get hurt, and that caused all this. ”
“Or maybe,” I brush back a strand of her hair as I pull her against my chest in an attempt to warm her, “you took a break. Maybe your dad knew just who you were and what you needed, ‘cause when I look at you, I see the softest, kindest, warmest person I’ve ever met. That’s why you were hired.
Your warmth is infectious, Charlotte.” I land my hand on the side of her face.
“The fake pictures aren’t a big deal, but if the town doesn’t let it go, we’ll leave when my parole is up.
We can start fresh. I don’t want to lose you. ”
She buries her face against my chest, her shoulders shaking as she cries.
I lift her up into my arms and carry her up to the warmth of my little cabin tucked into the pines. I’ve gotten a lot of advice in my life but the bit her dad gave me was the best I ever got.
I won’t let the world choose what happens between Charlotte and I. Today, I’m deciding for myself.