Chapter Twenty-Five #2
“I lean left politically. I wasn’t raised in any kind of established religion, but I believe in a higher power that guides us all. That gives me a great deal of peace when I’m worried or anxious about something.”
Okay, that was news. Charity lifted her gaze to him. He’d leaned his elbows on the table, fingers threaded together.
“I’ve never been in a long-term, committed relationship, never thought I, well, that it would work out.
I’ve got some responsibilities that haven’t felt were right to share with someone else.
In all honesty, I never thought someone would want to share them, and I didn’t want to burden another person with it all. ”
Her eyes widened. He was talking about his mother’s illness.
“I’ve lived a loner’s life because I never thought someone would want to take on those responsibilities with me.
” He took a breath, his brows rising, then falling before he lit back on her face.
That corner of his mouth lifted again. “I had someone call me a player, and the description isn’t far off. ”
Before she could stop herself, Charity snorted, then blushed so hard her face began to sweat.
Kolby continued as if she hadn’t made a sound.
“I’ve lived in the moment my whole adult life, looking only for fleeting pleasures and nothing else because I never thought I could have anything permanent.
But lately, I’ve realized that’s not what I want my life to look like.
Alone. Lonely. Living only in the moment.
Not thinking anyone could truly love me. Want a life with me.”
Stunned, Charity’s mouth fell open. As quick as lightning, she snapped it shut again.
“I guess I’ve got some issues to work out.” His mouth quirked. Then, Kolby unwound his hands and slid one across the table. Holding it, open-palmed, was an invitation she had no will to shun. She unfurled her arms and placed one of her hands in his without a thought.
The other corner of his mouth lifted now.
“I had someone I trust and respect the hell out of tell me recently that everyone needs and deserves love. Someone who loves you no matter what comes down the pike. Someone who shares the good and the bad and helps you face your fears. Someone you can love without constraint, who accepts you for who you are. I didn’t think that was possible for me.
” He squeezed her hand and drew it across the table.
Lifting it to his lips, he said, “But I do now. I think, with the right girl, it is possible. At least, I’m hopeful it is. ”
His lips grazed over her knuckles, his gaze never wavering from hers. “I think, maybe, I’ve found that girl. Only, there’s a problem.”
Charity’s right brow rose to her hairline.
“She doesn’t trust me.”
Charity found her voice, small and choked though it was. “With due reason. Leopards and spots.”
Kolby shook his head. “She thinks she saw me do something I didn’t.”
"My vision's better than any ol'barn owl's and I know what I saw. An' stop using that dopey third person stuff. It’s annoyin’.”
“That accent.” Another head shake. He drew in a breath and, looking at her again, said, “You have beautiful eyes.” That made her tummy muscles flutter. “But what you saw wasn’t the truth.”
She tried to pull her hand from his, but he held on. “Mandy was waiting for me when I took a quick bathroom break. She was drunk, and she caught me off guard when I came out of the restroom. Before I could stop her, she shoved into me and had me against the wall.”
“You looked like you were enjoying it,” she said, hating the waspishness in her tone, but she was still mad about it.
Kolby shook his head. “Think back, hard, Charity, to the moment you found us. Where were my hands? What was my body doing? Did it really look like I was into it?”
Her mind shot back to the scene. The image was as clear as if it had happened yesterday.
His back had been flat against the wall, his body stiff and still as a block of wood, not leaning into her like he should have been.
One hand had been on his camera, which he held aloft, like he was worried it was going to be damaged, the other on her shoulder.
No, not on it, but like he was pushing against it.
He'd been trying to shove her away. You don’t do that when you’re kissing someone, but when you’re trying to stop kissing them.
Oh, Lordy. He was telling the truth. He hadn’t been kissing Mandy. He’d been trying to get her to break her kiss.
The moment the truth of his words shot through her, he must have realized it because he nodded.
“I was pushing her away from me when you found us. Just like I did last year when she did the same thing at another wedding.” He pressed her hand again.
“I never hooked up with Mandy then, not since, or now. I don’t want her. I don’t want anyone else. I just want—”
The sound of Liv’s voice startled her. She ripped her hand from his and fell back against the chair, her back snapping against it.
“Okay, kids, that’s it,” Liv said. “I’m going to give you all a few minutes to write the numbers of the person you’d like to have a real date with, then hand them back to me.”
She shot up from her chair and grabbed her bag from the floor.
“Charity?”
“I need to...” she didn’t complete the sentence because she didn’t know what she needed. To get away from him? To jump into his arms? So many conflicting emotions tumbled through her at one time she needed to take a break and just run away for a bit.
Pushing through the front doors, she sprinted through the filled parking lot, slid into her car and had the door locks engaged before she let herself take a breath.
Kolby hadn’t been able to finish his thought before Liv ended the session.
What had he been about to say? What did he want? Dear Lord, had he been about to say he wanted... her? And what did that mean? How did that look? The sexual attraction between them was undeniable, but it wasn’t enough to sustain a relationship, this she knew.
When the heat’s cooled to a simmer, Granny Quinlan would say, you gotta have sumthin’ to talk about at th’end of th’day with the person sittin’ across th’table from ya.
What if he hadn’t been about to say it was her he wanted? What if he’d been about to say he wanted a change in his life? That he was thinking of moving to Concord to be with his mother? What if...what if...what if? She was going to give herself a headache.
She pulled out of the lot and out on to the highway ramp.
Her phone buzzed, but she ignored it, letting it go to voicemail. It was Liv, she was sure of it, and Charity was too emotionally jumbled right now to speak to the matchmaker. She’d call her when she was home.
Not a minute later, it rang again. And again she ignored it.
When it chirped again for a third time, she grunted, yanked it from her bag, and pulled off to the shoulder of the road.
Her exasperation flew when she read her father’s name across her screen.
“Daddy?” She gasped when his tear-ravaged face popped up on the screen.
“Charity—” His voice broke as he swiped at his eyes. “You gotta come home, Baby-girl. Right now. Hear? Your granny’s...your granny's...gone.”