Chapter One #2
Chess? In all honesty, Charlie had been uncertain when it was decided that Gram would be moving into a retirement home.
You’re far too young, she’d thought. Far too adventurous.
But she also hadn’t bothered to visit these past couple of years, and if she squinted, she could make out the limp in Gram’s gait, the new laugh lines by her eyes and the snowy patches in her gray hair.
Maybe chess wasn’t so bad. With Charlie off avoiding things and her parents traveling more and Tom…
Well, there were fewer people around. And Gram needed people.
“You’ll certainly never be bored,” Erin was saying. “Our activities director is excellent.”
Charlie perked up at the mention of Julian.
“He’s always organizing programming and trips to local events. Speaking of,” Erin said, approaching a door, “this is his office. We’ll see if he’s in and say hello.”
She went to knock, but the door flew open at the same time, revealing a man. They both jumped, Erin giving a little yelp while the man scattered a stack of papers across the hall.
Charlie’s gaze locked on him as recognition bloomed in her mind.
The Julian on the website had been the one she’d remembered.
Youthful, smile brimming with mischief. This Julian was…
different. She swallowed hard, feeling a long dormant thrill surge through her, warming the tips of her ears and the back of her neck and the space beneath her breastbone.
Well, he’d certainly grown up, hadn’t he?
Yeah, grown up gorgeous, some unfamiliar voice inside her said.
“Julian! I’m so sorry,” Erin said, scrambling after the papers on her hands and knees. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Totally my fault for rushing. I was just on my way to a meeting,” he said. “I should have been paying more attention.”
His voice greeted her like a fuzzy recollection, and Charlie’s heart flip-flopped strangely in her chest. It was deeper than it had been, rich in a way—like hot chocolate spiked with booze. A flush of heat rushed through her. It was a feeling she hadn’t expected upon seeing him again.
She didn’t want whatever it was.
It needed to go back into the stupid box and stay there.
Julian hunched over, collecting all the papers in reach.
“Julian Guerrero!” Gram said excitedly. “What a nice surprise.”
Julian looked up for the first time, and Charlie registered the confusion that crossed his face as he clocked Gram and then her. His eyes lingered for an extended beat, widening, his brows arching.
Was he suddenly reliving the same memories Charlie was?
That hot, sweaty summer fling. Days camped out at the river’s edge in very little clothing.
Late nights on Gram’s porch. Staying up to odd hours of the morning just so they could kiss under the stars.
God, she’d been such a romantic back then.
Or at least young. Young and silly and unaware of how fast the world could rip things away from her.
“Sorry,” he said, dragging out the word while he searched their faces. He got to his feet. “Do we know each oth—”
“Charlie?” she cut in before Gram could respond. Was he serious right now? How could he not remember? “Charlene.”
He gave her a slow blink.
“We met the summer between third and fourth year of university… When I came to town to visit?”
He laughed politely. “University? God, that was a lifetime ago. I hardly remember what I had for dinner last night.”
“You and me both,” Gram said, and they chuckled.
“You really don’t remember?” Charlie continued, a spark igniting inside her.
It grew stronger with every passing second, the feeling like a burn that she wanted to wrench away from.
She’d become so good at burying things since the moment she’d learned what grief was, shutting down her feelings and locking them away.
That was how she’d kept herself from being overwhelmed by Gram’s fall and losing the house she’d once loved and having to come back to this town.
Her hands curled at her sides. So what the hell was all this warmth and confusion and affection flooding her?
“You were working at Mackey’s Diner. I came in with some friends, and you asked me out in front of the whole table? ”
She remembered thinking he was rather bold. She could have easily turned him down in front of a crowd, but he’d been cute and funny. She’d fallen for him easily.
Julian gave a wry grin. “I’m sure I asked out a lot of girls like that.”
“A lot of girls,” Charlie said flatly. Really?
“Probably improved my odds.”
“We spent an entire summer together,” she noted.
“So clearly my plan worked. Someone took pity on me.” Gram and Erin laughed at his self-deprecating joke, but Charlie’s blood ran hotter, irritation fanning into exasperation. How had she ever been remotely attracted to this… jackass?
He caught her eye for the briefest moment, and she glared back, hard, stamping down the rush of sensation that sent her heartbeat spiraling. Screw her own traitorous pulse.
And screw Julian Guerrero!
“You know what,” Julian said, rubbing his forehead, “I think I might have a vague recollection of that.”
“Excuse me, vague?”
“Mm-hmm.” His mouth twitched.
Had he just called her forgettable? Someone not worth remembering?
Charlie didn’t know if she should be offended or mortified by his answer.
Maybe both? She couldn’t believe she’d ever thought it might be good to reconnect, even just for Gram’s sake.
Tension coiled like an elastic band around her tongue.
She didn’t think she’d be able to get another word out even if she wanted to, so she simply narrowed her eyes, daring him to keep going.
“I guess there’s no need for introductions then,” Erin said, cutting through the awkwardness that filled the hallway like an avalanche. “That makes my job easy.”
“Yes, we go way back,” Gram agreed. “Though it’s obviously been too long.” She patted Julian’s arm like he was a beloved friend and not an ex-fling from Charlie’s past.
Charlie grimaced at the sight. Hell no! Gram needed to choose any other retirement home where the chances of running into Julian were zero.
“I had no idea you were working here,” Gram continued. “It truly is a wonderful surprise.”
Wonderful isn’t the word I’d use, Charlie thought, considering he was acting like she was a clingy leech he’d accidentally picked up in the river that summer.
Julian might claim to only vaguely remember her, but she certainly remembered him.
They’d both been about twenty-one. Her gaze dragged up and down his body before she could stop it, her eyes almost too eager to take him in.
Julian hadn’t been the first man she’d ever slept with, but from what she remembered, he was certainly the first man she’d really enjoyed sleeping with.
A hot blush crept across her cheeks, and she scowled, frustrated with herself. She couldn’t be blushing over this man.
“You’re looking well,” Julian finally said to Gram. It was the most neutral thing he could have possibly said.
“Fit as a fiddle,” Gram replied. “Or so I told them when I applied here.”
Julian chuckled. It was so frustratingly polite. His eyes flickered toward her, and Charlie blushed even harder. Her whole damn face was on fire, but she couldn’t tell if it was from annoyance or that tiny wisp of attraction that flared like an ember in her chest.
So tiny it didn’t even count.
Blah!
“Took a bit of a spill the other month and knocked the old hip, but I’m bouncing back,” Gram continued.
“I wouldn’t have known,” Julian assured her.
Gram preened and fluffed her hair as Julian kneeled to collect the rest of his papers.
Charlie bent down to help, giving herself something to do other than stare at him.
She picked up the first paper she could reach, surprised to find sheet music.
She picked up another, studying the Italian words on the page.
It was music she recognized. What was a retirement home doing with an aria from Gianni Schicchi?
“Here,” she said, handing over the papers.
“Thanks.” Julian stood. Up close, the height difference was obvious—and familiar—as he towered over her.
She remembered spending a lot of time pressed up on her toes, entwining her arms around his neck to pull him close enough to reach his lips.
He looked down at her through dark brown curls, his eyes so green Charlie couldn’t stop staring.
He was still boyishly handsome beneath the mask of age, and she remembered that his cheeks dimpled when he smiled.
Those dimples had gotten her into a lot of trouble that summer.
“Are you planning on staging an opera?” she asked, distracting herself from those thoughts.
His face shifted through confusion to amusement. “What?”
“It’s just that I’m surprised to find sheet music for an opera in a retirement home.”
“Is that what this is?” He flipped through the pages in his hands, a smile curling up the side of his face, showing off those dimples she’d been so fond of. Charlie tore her eyes away. “Someone donated a bunch of sheet music the other day, and I finally got around to clearing it off my desk.”
“It’s O Mio Babbino Caro,” she said. “Probably one of the most famous arias out there.”
Julian’s brows arched. “You could tell all that just from a few pages of notes?”
Charlie nodded. If he only knew how many months she’d spent in her dorm room perfecting the octave leaps only to realize she wasn’t in fact meant for opera.
After some soul searching and with Tom’s guidance, she’d let go of a dream she thought she wanted and transitioned into Juilliard’s Drama Division, finding her way back to musical theater, which she’d always loved, and eventually to a Broadway stage.
“Oh, right. Juilliard,” he said, nodding. Charlie tilted her head slightly, studying him. Maybe he remembered her more than he was letting on.
“Does Glendale have a music program?” Gram asked, intrigued.
Charlie knew that the most important thing packed on the moving truck today was Gram’s piano.
The same piano she’d taught Charlie and Tom to play on.
She said it was coming with her whether there was room in her suite or not.
“If you’re getting sheet music as donations—”
“It’s not a full-time program that we offer right now,” Erin cut in.
“I am working on it, though,” Julian said, grinning. “So don’t count it out just yet.”
“We never do,” Erin said. “But we didn’t mean to keep you. Just making the rounds while Doris gets moved in.”
Julian tucked the sheet music under his arm. “Well, I look forward to catching up with you both.”
That was a lie if Charlie had ever heard one, and she was completely fine with that. She didn’t want to catch up with Julian Guerrero. She didn’t want to pass him in the hall. She didn’t want to make small talk. Frankly, she didn’t want to have to think about him ever again.
He checked his watch and started down the hall, lifting his hand in farewell. “It was good bumping into you.”
Another lie. Charlie watched him retreat until he disappeared into the stairwell. She only realized she was staring when Gram took her by the arm, steering her after Erin.
“Julian is great,” Erin said as they passed the common room again. “The residents love him.”
“How long has he been working here?” Gram asked.
“Oh, it has to be six…no, seven years almost? Longer than me at any rate. He really gets to know all the residents and their interests. I think that’s why he’s so good at arranging activities—”
“Lord, he’s even more handsome than that summer you two dated,” Gram said, leaning over to whisper.
“Gram,” Charlie hissed, not in the mood to talk about how handsome Julian was.
She was still too busy being annoyed. And even though Gram wasn’t wrong, the last thing Charlie needed was Doris Bender getting involved in her love life.
Because when Gram wanted something, there was nothing and no one that was going to stop her.
But Charlie wasn’t looking to get reacquainted with Julian, especially after that interaction.
All she wanted to do was get Gram settled, get the house sorted and then get the hell out of here. “Don’t start meddling.”
“I never meddle.”
“Oh please, it’s your middle name.”
Gram tutted. “You can’t just turn down every good thing that comes your way. Especially when he’s practically hand delivering you an opera.”
Charlie scoffed. She had, in fact, made quite the habit of turning down anything that came her way lately, especially when it came to music. It just wasn’t the same without Tom by her side. “It was one aria with a side of couldn’t-be-bothered-to-remember-my-name.”
“We all need a little memory jog every now and then,” Gram said.
“I don’t need anything jogged.” She was perfectly fine letting this blast from the past come and go.
The past only linked her to Tom and the grief she’d been outrunning, and she knew better than to open those floodgates again.
Locking it all away, including her ex-flings, was the only way to keep herself from drowning.