Charlie turns to say something to Aunt May, and does a double-take when he catches me staring at them. “Hey there, beautiful,” he says as he walks over, kisses me on the forehead, slowly trailing his fingertips down my arm, making my skin prickle with desire. “Hungry?”
“Famished.” I push off the wall, and give Aunt May a kiss. “How are you feeling today?”
“Happy to be alive. Your father called me last night, and apparently as of today I’ll have a day nurse, a night nurse, and a few other professionals he’s hired for me.”
My smile is so large it’s hurting my cheeks. “Dad’s different now,” I say.
It’s then, we hear the tractor starting. Aunt May’s face hardens as she tries to stand, but after the stroke, things aren’t as easy for her. She reaches for her walker, but I’m already ahead of her, seeing what’s happening outside.
And Charlie is in front of me. “Stay here,” he says as he puts his arm out protectively in front of me. Charlie opens the front door, and his face changes from blunt and worried, to easy and smiling. The sound of the tractor mutes. “Hey, Murray. What are you doing here?” Charlie calls as the three of us head out to the porch.
“Garden’s looking a bit ragged, so I’m here to get it looking better. Margery, Simon, Mary and Dennis are on their way too.”
“Why?” Aunt May asks, still confused.
“We figured you may need some help. Margery and Simon will be cleaning the inside, and Mary and Dennis will tend to the vegetable garden. Anyway, I’ve got me some work to do around in the yard. Best be at it.” Murray waves, starts the tractor then keeps on going.
Aunt May turns the walker around, and slowly makes her way back into the kitchen. “Wow,” I say when we’re inside. “This town really is something else, isn’t it?”
“You only just figured that out?” Aunt May responds.
This brings my own insecurities into full light. I have a lot to apologize for. “Before we have breakfast, I just need to say how sorry I am about last night.”
Charlie’s pulling plates out of the cupboard, and when he places them on the counter and looks over to me. Aunt May is shaking her head. Shit, have I said something wrong? “Last night was the most real you’ve ever been with me, so don’t you dare apologize. It was refreshing to see you so vulnerable around me.”
I feel my body stiffen. “I don’t like being vulnerable,” I say automatically without even thinking.
“Being vulnerable means you’re letting your walls down, Tabby,” Aunt May says. “And I’m proud of you for doing that.”
Charlie abandons setting the table, and embraces me. Every single thing is screaming at me to back away and not to let anyone see this very public display of affection. And I think Charlie can sense my fragility, so he tightens his arms around me resting his right hand on my ass cheek. “Just give in to me, Pop Rock,” he whispers and kisses me on the cheek. “Just give in to us.”
“Are you two love-birds done? I’m hungry. And I have the morning nurse coming soon.”
“Sure, I’ll set the table,” Charlie says as he pulls away and picks the plates up for breakfast.
Everything is so surreal. Charlie fits in effortlessly in Hope River. I’m starting to like myself more when I’m around him. He manages to push me and make me face things I’ve buried for so long. But I like this change. It’s refreshing and not as exhausting as pushing everyone away. “I have an idea,” I say suddenly.
“What’s that?”
“Aunt May, do you think you’ll be okay here today without me?”
Aunt May gives me a steely glare. “I’ll be seventy soon. I don’t need a babysitter.” Charlie snorts. “Anyway, I’ll have all the people your father hired, so I won’t be alone.”
“Are you working today? Wait, what day is it? I’ve lost track of days,” I say to Charlie.
“Today’s Saturday, and thankfully no. But I’ve got some work to do over at the B&B tomorrow because the slab is going down for the family retreat on Monday or Tuesday. Why do you ask?”
“If it’s okay with you, Aunt May, I’d like to take Charlie out for the day.”
“Oh yes! Good idea. Do that,” she encourages.
“Are you okay with me taking you out on a date?” I ask Charlie.
He sits higher and prouder in his chair. “Not only is it okay, I look forward to it.”
“Excellent, after breakfast, you’ll need to get your swim trunks, and I’ll do the rest.”
“Swim trunks? We’re going to the beach?”
“Not exactly.” I look over at Aunt May and wink. I think she knows where I’m taking Charlie. By the time breakfast is done, I’ve already made a plan for what we’re going to do today.
I’m choosing to move forward and be more present instead of living in the fears caused by my past.
“I’m feeling a bit guilty that I’m not home with Aunt May,” I say to Charlie as I’m driving.
“Why? May’s in capable hands. She has an entire team of people coming in today. And, I can always ask Hope to stop in if you need peace of mind.”
“You’re right. I have to just take a deep breath and let go a bit.”
“A bit?” Charlie laughs. “You’ve got to learn to relax, Tabitha. You can’t control everything. Just let go, and have some fun.”
“I’m making more of a conscious effort not to dwell on my abandonment issues.”
“What you said the other day about your mom took a lot of courage to admit. It must have cut you deeply. And, given what she said, having those deep-seated worries is more than understandable. But there’s only one way you can move past them, and that’s to just let go and allow me into your life. Allow all of us into your life.”
I concentrate on the road as I drive, but Charlie’s words are stuck on repeat. “You know, you sound like you should be a life coach or something,” I’m trying to lighten the mood.
“Huh. Life coach Charlie. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?” I look over to see him smirking. “I’ll be your life coach, baby,” he says.
“Ew, that sounded so corny.” I wrinkle my nose and we both chuckle. The drive to our destination isn’t long, and when we get there, there are no cars anywhere around.
Charlie gets out of the car, and looks around. “Where are we?”
“Come on, I want to show you something.”
Charlie walks over, and takes my hand in his. “This isn’t where I meet my maker is it? Because I’m not quite prepared for that.”
I laugh out loud. “You’re silly.” I lean in and give him a kiss on the cheek, surprising not only him, but myself too. “I just kissed you on the cheek.”
“I noticed.” He smiles broadly.
“And I did it easily.”
“You sure as hell did.”
Maybe I’m changing for the better. I like that, a lot. “Anyway, down here, my aunt would meet with a boy she loved.” There’s a line of tall trees, with a man-made pathway where people have walked and worn away the grass. “Hope River has ocean on one side, as you already know, but on this side, there’s a river that leads to a lagoon. Legend has it, that the lagoon was the landing site of a meteorite many thousands of years ago. But that’s just what the townspeople say about it; I don’t know if it’s true. Down past the lagoon is a river that flows into and past Mulberry Point. In a drought there’s very little water in it, and in a period of heavy rain, it overflows.”
“Wow, a lagoon that flows out into a river. Now, that’s cool,” he says, looking around. “It’s really secluded here.”
“I think because the ocean is only a few miles that way.” I point to my right. “People would rather go there then come here.” We keep walking through the trail until we find ourselves on the bank of the river screened off from the path by a row of birch trees. “Aunt May told me that among these birch trees, there’s one magnolia tree that Henry planted for the two of them.”
“Henry? As in from Old Roger’s house?”
I turn to look at Charlie, slowly shaking my head. “Yep.”
“May was dating Henry? Wow, was she the one the emeralds were intended for? He was killed when he was young. Um…” He taps his lip trying to remember. “He was twenty-one I think, and it was a freak accident. Didn’t he stumble on train tracks when he was drunk?”
“Yep.”
“Aww, how sad for May.”
“She told me they’d meet here often. And he planted a tree for them. So, I was hoping we could find that tree and have a picnic under it and then go swimming in the lagoon.”
“You brought a picnic?”
I nod. “It’s in the car.”
“Can I have the keys? I’ll go get it.” I give Charlie the keys, and he runs back up the trail toward the car. As I’m looking out over the water, I’m surprised by how clear it is for a river. Usually the water is murky and brown, but this is so clear so you can see the fish swimming along the bottom. It’s weird to me having such a clear river.
I hear rustling behind me, and when I turn, Charlie’s walking back with the picnic basket I’ve prepared. “Let’s find this magnolia tree.” He takes my hand and we walk down the bank. “The water’s really clear.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.”
“Is this a place you come often?” he asks as we slowly stroll near the edge of the river beneath the large trees.
“You know, I’ve been coming to Aunt May’s ever since I can remember. Whenever my parents said I was causing them trouble, they’d ship me off to Aunt May’s. I hated it at first, but I quickly learned that Aunt May isn’t like other people. Nothing like my mom—her sister. Aunt May is tough, yet fair. She’s dependable, and no matter how much I pushed her, she was always there.” I find myself going off tangent of what he asked. “Sorry, you didn’t ask about that. No, in all the years I’ve been coming to Hope River, I think I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been here.”
“That’s a shame, because it’s perfect.”
“It is.” We walk a few more feet and I see it. “There it is,” I gasp with excitement. We continue ahead to the now massive magnolia tree. “Wow, Henry planted this for him and Aunt May. How pretty.” Charlie and I stand beneath the tree, and look up at its spectacular green foliage. “Wow. Look how big it is.”
“And to think, other than May, you, and me, no one would know why there’s one lonely magnolia among all these birch trees.”
“That makes it even more special.” Dropping Charlie’s hand, I turn slowly looking up. “Do you think we can have our picnic under the tree?”
“I don’t see why not. Although, we may have some unwelcome visitors.” Charlie points directly up to a bird sitting on a branch above us. “Let’s move just a little this way.” He picks the picnic basket up from where he laid it, and moves back.
“Hang on, I’ve brought a rug. And by rug, I mean a sheet. When I was looking for one, Aunt May pointed out that we don’t have a picnic rug. So, a sheet will have to do.” I take it out of the basket, shake it out, then lay it on the ground doubled-over. I sit, and Charlie sits opposite me. “Tell me about your family,” I say.
“Well, you know Hope.” He grins. “Everyone knows Hope. She’s always been one of those people who you can’t help but like.”
“I can see it runs in the family. Because I can’t help but like you too.”
“Hopefully in a different way?” He shakes his head and snickers.
“You’re a dork. But yes, in a different way. What about your parents?”
“Just average people who always worked hard for us, and didn’t have a lot of money to their names. But Hope changed that for them.” He leans on one elbow and looks out to the river. “When Hope and I were younger, we had a stable home, and never went without anything. But I remember one night, it was just before my birthday. God, I think I was turning fourteen, maybe?” He shrugs. “Anyway, I wanted these basketball shoes, and they were like two-hundred dollars. Everyone had them, and I wanted them too. My parents were modest people, who didn’t live an extravagant life. But like I said, we never went without.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Anyway, I heard Mom crying one night when I should’ve been asleep. I snuck out, because hey, I wanted to know what was happening. She was crying because they couldn’t afford the shoes and Mom was going to sell a piece of jewelry my Grandma had left her when she passed away. Mom was devastated she was going to have to part with something that meant so much to her. But she turned to Dad and said, ‘our son means more to me than a piece of gold.’” Charlie’s eyes soften as he looks down at the sheet and sighs. “I knew I couldn’t let her sell it. Not for a stupid pair of shoes. The next morning at breakfast, I made a point of saying how glad I was that I didn’t get those shoes because everyone was complaining about how they were falling apart after wearing them for only a few weeks.” Charlie smiles. “The look on Mom’s face. The relief that washed over her was something I’ll remember ’til the day I die.”
“She was willing to sacrifice something that meant so much to her, because she loved you more than the jewelry.” I place my hand to my heart. I can feel my eyes tearing up. “Now that is beautiful.”
“And once Hope started flipping houses… she really does have a knack for it. I mean, I’ve never met a person who works as hard as Hope. She’ll have several projects going on at one time, and still find a way to give back to the community. When her business took off, which was quite quickly, she paid off our parents’ mortgage, and bought them brand new cars.”
“Your sister is inspirational,” I say after carefully choosing the right word.
“And you know what? She never seeks to be the center of attention. It just naturally falls in her lap. People gravitate toward her, and want to help her. She has a way with everything she does. But, she’s also a pain in the butt. My God, I can’t count how many times have we gotten into screaming matches. She’s very headstrong. But now I’ve learned how to deal with Hope. And that is to accept that she’s right ninety-nine percent of the time, so I have her back regardless of the situation.”
“You two are really close. I like that. I used to wish I had a sister or a brother, but then I think about how toxic it was growing up at home, and I’m thankful I didn’t.”
“Because you wouldn’t want them going through what you did?”
I shake my head, embarrassed to admit it. “Because if they were treated better, I would’ve resented them for it.” I sigh. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”
“You need to learn that when you’re around me, you don’t need to wear your armor, Tabitha. You don’t have to apologize for saying what you feel.”
I look down at my crossed ankles and slightly nod. “What about you? Have you ever been in a serious relationship?”
“Once, a long time ago. I thought I was in love. But in hindsight, I was merely infatuated with her. It ended badly before it really could begin. I was so young.” Charlie shrugs. “She made me bitter, though, because I was ready to get down on one knee, and she told me she was seeing someone else and had been for some time while she was seeing me.”
“I see. That’s why when you and I first met, you were fine with the friends with benefits arrangement.”
“Yep,” Charlie nods as he clicks his tongue.
“You have your own barriers to deal with.”
“Not anymore.” He looks over at me, his amazing steel gray eyes piercing my very soul. Jesus, he’s so damned sexy. The stubble on his ordinarily clean-shaven face makes me want to run my hand over it. “You’re looking at me like you want to jump me.”
“I do,” I shamelessly admit.
“Well, I’m available for your pleasure. All you have to do is kiss me.”
My skin erupts with goosebumps, because that’s the one thing I can’t do. Not yet. “I know,” I reply. “Hungry?” I ask as I start lifting the containers out of the picnic basket trying to change the direction in which this is heading.<
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“I sure am,” he says and I breathe a silent sigh of relief. He knows that by me kissing him, it will cement to me that we’re a couple. And I’m still not sure I’m ready for such commitment. Not because of Charlie; he’s been wonderful. Because of me. I’m scared I’ll screw it all up. “So, what’s the deal with all these festivals Hope River keeps putting on? Where did that tradition start from?”
“Aunt May said it started from before she was a child. The entire town would get together once a week as a way to swap vegetables and fruit. Apparently, there were no more than fifty families in Hope River then. Each would grow certain fruit or vegetables. Then the town would come together, at the town square with a meal prepared from what they grew or raised, and they’d bring enough to swap with the other families.”
“Wow, that’s actually pretty cool.”
“And it kind of changed with the times, so now, once every six weeks or so, the town comes together with each family bringing a dish or two and sharing it. It keeps everyone in contact with each other. Mostly, I think people come to speak or see my aunt.”
“She’s like the matriarch of Hope River,” Charlie says, laughing. “I think May rules Hope River.”
“She’s very well respected, and adored. People eagerly listen when she has something to say.”
“May’s a good person. And I particularly like how she says whatever she thinks. Hope doesn’t have a filter most times, either.”
“Really? I haven’t much noticed,” I joke.
“The more comfortable she is with someone, the more she’ll say whatever she thinks.” He chews on some of the food he dished himself up. “I think she’s really stressed about the wedding though. She’s not actually admitting it; she’s disguising it. I think that’s because she doesn’t want River to see how stressed she is. You know, out of all the years we’ve been flipping houses, I’ve never really seen her so bothered about something like she is their wedding.”
Healing Hearts: A friends with benefits, small town romance (Hope River Book 3) Page 18