by Marika Ray
Charlie nodded ahead of me, pointing out rocks and tree roots for me to watch out for. “Yep. I own four acres, most of which is back here. The guy who owned this place before me sold off that parcel you’re on for some extra cash, but then got mad when they built a house right against the property line. When he sold it to me, I figured I’d be in my workshop more than my house, so I didn’t care.”
We rounded a corner on the trail and there, up on a slight hill, was a round pergola the likes of which I’d never seen before. It was already dusk, so it was hard to make out the details, but even from a distance, you could see the structure was a piece of art. Six sides all held up with large slabs of wood, a lattice peaked roof, and fine details that reminded me of an old Victorian house.
“Oh my God,” I breathed, walking up the stairs to get a closer look at the craftsmanship. Chester curled up under one of the bench seats to snooze like he’d been here on more than one occasion.
Charlie put down the moonshine and wine, then walked over to a small box on the ground, nestled next to the structure. He flipped a switch and the whole pergola lit up with tiny white outdoor lights.
“Oh!” I turned in a circle, taking it all in, forgetting all about the bags in my hands. I turned back to Charlie, making his way up the stairs. “Who made this? It’s gorgeous.”
His head dipped, but I didn’t miss his little smile. “I did.”
“Charlie…I don’t know what to say. I had no idea this is what you made.” I put the bags down on the wood plank floor and had a seat on the built-in benches all around the inside perimeter of the pergola.
He just shrugged like it wasn’t the most beautiful structure I’d ever seen. “I make all kinds of things, but my favorite jobs are when I can make a structure more than just a structure. I want everything I make to be a work of art that can be appreciated for decades.”
I shook my head slowly, seeing him with new eyes. The man was an incredibly talented artist. And I’d just cut his thumb so badly he couldn’t work. Tears filled my eyes, and I forced them back. No need to get all emotional just because I’d carelessly stolen someone’s livelihood. Not even stole. Just put on hold. A temporary pause.
“Ah, you got the good shit,” Charlie announced, having opened all the food containers from the diner. He threw some fried chicken, a biscuit, fried artichokes, and calamari, fresh from the fisherman that morning who supplied Auburn Hill with seafood, on a plate and handed it to me.
I nodded my thanks, happy to see his bandaged hand looked no worse for wear since I’d cleaned and re-bandaged it this morning. Taking a bite of the chicken, I groaned. The juices threatened to spill down my chin, and I tried to mop them up with my hand.
Charlie’s whooping laugh had me looking up, my mouth full. “Aren’t you glad I brought napkins?” He held one out to me and I took it gratefully. “Something hot about a woman chowing down on some fried chicken and groaning.”
“Oh shush,” I said around my bite, wiping my chin and blushing.
He sat down next to me with his own plate of food, the conversation dying out as we dug in. The pine trees around us swayed gently in the light breeze and not a sound could be heard that wasn’t from nature herself. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, which surprised me. Maybe Charlie and I were friends after all.
“Okay, it’s time for the really good stuff.” Charlie put his plate down on the bench and reached for the moonshine with his good hand. “Here. Open this and take a swig. Tell me it’s not the best thing since that fried chicken recipe.”
I took the glass jar and got the lid off, but shook my head. “I’m going to pass. I’m not exactly a moonshine person.”
Charlie scoffed, that damn twinkle in his eye sparkling. “Everybody’s a moonshine person, Doc.” He elbowed me in the side. “I bet you haven’t even tasted moonshine before.”
I sniffed. “You’d be right. I’ll just drink my wine, thank you very much.”
Charlie sat up tall, refusing to take the jar of moonshine. “Nope. I’m not taking no for an answer. Haven’t you ever heard of a ‘no thank you bite’? This here is a ‘no thank you sip’. Come on now, just a sip.” He reached over to nudge the jar closer to my mouth.
I rolled my eyes, no will power against Charlie’s peer pressure. “Okay fine. Just one sip so I can say I tried it.”
The cool liquid hit my mouth, and I sputtered as the taste slammed into me. The smell went up my nose and made my eyes water. I swallowed just to get it out of my mouth, coughing violently and nearly spilling the rest. The burn went all the way down my esophagus before hitting my stomach.
Charlie burst out laughing and rescued the jar from my hands. I wanted to hurt him as much as that shit was hurting me. I couldn’t even take a full breath. Everything in my body was on fire like I’d swallowed lit kerosene.
“What…the hell…was that?” I sputtered, pounding my chest to clear it.
Charlie whooped some more and Chester came by my side, whining, sensing I needed comforting. I pet his head and tried to regulate my breathing. Charlie took a large swig of the moonshine and I winced.
“How do you do that?”
He put the jar down and grabbed his phone. “I grew up on it, so it’s not that bad. I hear it’s an acquired taste so you may just have to keep trying it.”
I sputtered, “Oh no, I’m not drinking that ever again. I’ll just stick with my wine.” I unscrewed the top of the bottle I’d bought at the grocery store that afternoon and took a swig since I didn’t have a glass. He could have his moonshine and I’d have the wine.
A song started playing, making me jump. I swung my head around to find the source and saw tiny little speakers up in the rafters of the pergola. Charlie pocketed his phone after selecting a playlist. All the head swinging made me a little dizzy, and I wondered how much alcohol was in that moonshine.
“May I have this dance?” Charlie bowed formally, his palm extended, which looked ridiculous with all the man glitter still in his hair. The guy was a walking, talking contradiction.
“Oh no, I’m good. I don’t really dance.” Time spent pressed against that chest that drove me out of my mind? No way.
“Ah, come on, Finnie,” he whispered, that smirk speaking to the juncture between my thighs. The alcohol flowing through my veins softened my resolve to the point I had none.
“Fine…” I huffed, standing up and taking his hand.
He immediately twirled me into his arms, tossing me off balance. I landed against his chest, my palm landing on one smooth pec muscle beneath the worn cotton. And once I felt the goods, I felt compelled to keep exploring. My hand slid over his shoulder and then up his neck and into his hair. I could grab a fistful in the overgrown strands, so I did.
Charlie growled, more vibration than sound, pulling me in close and putting his hands low on my back. The move pressed him in tight, his obvious erection digging into my belly. My heart thundered in my chest and I wondered if he could feel that too. He shifted left, and I went with him. The beat of the song stayed slow and as we swayed, we stared at each other in silence. His blue eyes were hooded even as he kept the small smile in place. Even the crickets had quieted down amongst all that charged air between us.
Chester barked an alarm and scrambled to his feet, dashing off down the trail. I jumped out of Charlie’s arms, startled and breathing hard. What the hell was I doing? Charlie was my neighbor, and I was only here to doctor his hand, not dirty dance with him under romantic string lights in the middle of the night.
“D-do you think we should see where he went?” I asked, looking anywhere but at Charlie.
From the corner of my eye, he stood, still frozen in place where we’d been dancing. He didn’t even bother to look over to where Chester had darted off.
I didn’t wait for an answer. My hands got busy stuffing our food containers back in the bags and cleaning up our little picnic. Who would have thought the canine would be the most sensible one of the pack, breaking up what should never h
ave happened?
“I’m sure everything’s fine. Probably just a truck passing by or a late delivery. I get a lot of those working out of my home.” Charlie came up behind me and took the bags out of my hands, leaving me nothing to do but clench my fists at my side and demand my body not reach out and touch him like I desperately wanted to.
He went down the stairs and gestured for me to go ahead of him. I did, and when he flicked the pergola lights back off, plunging us into the darkness, my heart plunged too.
What the hell was in that moonshine?
6
Charlie
Finnie didn’t even wait for me to wake up this morning, taking off to who knows where like a coward. I’d bet my entire workshop of expensive machinery I wasn’t the only one feeling the effects of the moonlight and a slow dance with a sexy partner last night. She’d been right there with me, and if Chester, the worst wing man ever, hadn’t dashed off, I would have kissed her. I would have tasted those lips to see if her grumpiness was a flavor or simply a habit.
“Chester!” I hollered as I walked to the workshop, my favorite coffee mug in hand.
At least she’d left me a pot of coffee before escaping my house to God knows where. Chester ran up from wherever he’d been playing and nuzzled my hand. I wasn’t too happy with him for last night’s disruption, but how could you stay mad at those brown eyes, floppy ears, and a mouth that looked like it was smiling all the time?
“Come on, boy. It’s time to get some work done while the Grumpster is away.” I had to put my coffee down on the step to fumble with the door lock. My thumb didn’t hurt anymore, but it was still mostly useless. Thankfully, this wasn’t my first rodeo, and I’d had to learn how to work while injured before. I had jobs that were due and I wasn’t about to be late simply because a dark-haired doctor moved in next door and disrupted everything.
I spent all day in the workshop, doing as much of the detail work on the pergola for the church as I could before stretching and moving on to my other project. I’d been working on a project for Finnie the night she’d butted in and I’d cut myself. If I continued with this pace, I could still get it done by next week when she moved back to her own place. She may not particularly care for me as a person just yet, but I liked her. Hopefully she’d accept my gift.
“The doctor has arrived to fix whatever you’ve messed up by working when you shouldn’t.”
Finnie’s grumpy voice broke me out of my trance. I got that way sometimes when it was just me and the wood. My brain went elsewhere, and hours could pass without me noticing. I put down the board I was working on and stood up straight to see her standing in the workshop doorway with her medical bag. She looked tired, but beautiful. Like a force of nature restrained into a professional package.
“Nice to see you too, Doc. Have a good day at work?” I’d kill her with kindness until she admitted she liked me.
She nodded and got to work laying out a pad of some sort on the worktable and spreading out her tools of torture. “Sure did. Got the lease signed on the new office space and met with a couple contractors about doing the remodel inside.”
I moved over to join her, sitting down on a stool and putting my injured hand on the pad like a good little patient. “I hope you met with Titus. He does amazing work and won’t rip you off.”
Finnie gently unwrapped my hand, the white bandage looking a little haggard after a full day of sawdust in the air. “I did meet with Titus as he’s the one who put in my new flooring next door before I moved in, as you probably know. And I also got a bid from some guy named Daire, who had his contractor come look at the space for me. The mayor recommended him and he bid fairly low.”
I frowned, alarm bells ringing. Always follow your gut. That’s what my dad had taught me and something I believed in one hundred percent. “I wouldn’t trust anything coming from the mayor and certainly not Daire. He’s been through this town recently and he’s not well liked. Titus, though? He comes from good people. Born and raised here in Auburn Hill. Everybody likes him and you don’t stay in business long in a small town if you’re screwing people over, even if his bids aren’t the lowest of the pack.”
Finnie nodded, pouring some crap on my hand and dabbing at the sutures. “I’ll take that under advisement.”
“See that you do.” My voice came out harsher than I wanted. I just didn’t want her to get mixed up with the wrong people.
Her head popped up, and she scanned my face before returning to cleaning my wound. “It’s healing up nice, Charlie.”
Hearing my name from her lips made me feel like I took a sip of moonshine. “Did you know tonight is a full moon?”
She snorted softly, swiping some ointment on my hand. “Nope, I surely didn’t.”
I nodded, excited about everything the full moon brought with it. “Yep, it’s a time for celebrating completed tasks and looking forward to new beginnings. So, we’re going to eat dinner, burn some sage, get some essential oils going, and then sit outside under the full moon.”
Finnie finished wrapping my hand with fresh white gauze and looked at me with her nose all wrinkled up. “Seriously?”
I winked. “Seriously. It’ll do you some good. Just wait and see.”
I hopped off the stool and helped her pack up her bag.
“I put a lasagna in the oven before I came out here so it should be done shortly,” Finnie said as I closed up the workshop for the day.
My stomach let out a rumble. “Good. I’m absolutely starving.”
“What did you eat today?” she asked, her cheeks pink.
Aha! She felt bad for ditching me before the sun was even up. I shrugged. “Coffee?”
She huffed and shook her head. “That’s all you’ve had?”
I smiled at her, though she refused to look at me. Time to lay it on thick with a pout. “Can’t do much with just one hand.”
She stopped walking and looked at me, guilt warring with irritation in her eyes. I couldn’t handle it and burst out laughing. That was such a Finnie look. Always irritation mixed with something else. She oozed irritation from her pores like a pheromone.
“Oh…” she grumbled and smacked me on the chest.
I laughed some more and followed her into the house for dinner. She plated my lasagna and even cut it into bite-sized pieces for me. I was perfectly capable of doing it myself with my left hand, but I liked her waiting on me. It meant she cared about me way, way, way deep inside.
She told me all about her plans for the clinic while we ate and I shared how the pergola was going for the church and what jobs I had after that. Kept quiet about the secret project for her, though. I’d pull that card out of my back pocket when I’d pissed her off something fierce. I helped with dishes, though I think I may have gotten more water on her than she appreciated as she shooed me away rather quickly.
“Come on, Rudolfina. We have moonlight to bask in.” I had a six-pack of beer held in my injured hand and I grabbed Finnie with my good hand. “The rest of the dishes will wait.”
“But the pasta will turn into concrete on those plates,” she whined.
Damned woman was actually arguing to spend more time doing dishes. “Then I’ll throw them away and buy new ones.”
She scoffed at that idea, which only made me smile wider. She did, however, let me lace our fingers together and tug her all the way outside into an open clearing on my property. I had chairs already set up out there as I made it a habit of drinking beer under the full moon each month. Life was too short not to enjoy the little things.
I got her settled in a chair and handed her a beer. “Prepare for enlightenment.”
She rolled her eyes but took the beer, popping the top off using the edge of the chair like a seasoned pro.
“Damn. Rudolfina knows how to drink,” I teased. I grabbed the bundle of sage out of my jeans pocket and lit it with a cigarette lighter, watching the smoke rise in the cool air.
“We’re seriously doing this?” Finnie asked.
&nb
sp; I nodded and had a seat in the chair next to her. “Sage is used for healing purposes and since I’m injured, I figured it would be a good idea, don’t you?”
Finnie spun in her seat to face me, her legs tucked up underneath her. She was still in a blouse and slacks, but she’d ditched the heels for bright pink flip flops.
“You do realize I’m a medical doctor, right? I believe in antibiotics and vaccines and pharmaceuticals to heal the body.”
I also spun to face her, the sage held between us. She could use some stress reducing. She had every single one of her sphincters clenched too fuckin’ tight. Being a messed up bastard, thinking of her sphincters had me wishing my pants were a little looser.
“I do understand that. And do you understand that I’m a hippie in a grown man’s body? I believe in all you believe in, but first, I think you should use all the natural resources our earth has to offer before going your route. Is that so harmful?”
She lifted her nose in the air. “Not if you use these things wisely and seek medical help before it’s too late.”
I nodded. “And as big of a tree hugger as I am, where was I headed when I cut myself the other night?”
Her nose dropped back down. “The ER,” she mumbled.
I leaned closer. “What was that?”
“The ER,” she said louder. “Okay, I get it. You’re a weirdo hippie using your sage and shit responsibly. Sage away. I’ll just sit here and drink a beer while you soak up the moonlight or whatever.”
I winked at her and sat back. “The sage is working already. Look at us getting along. And shit.”
She let out an honest-to-God giggle, and I smiled up at the full moon.
“We would have been here a lot sooner if you hadn’t made me juice all those disgusting vegetables,” Finnie grumbled, pulling her car off the side of the road where I’d directed her.
“Vegetables are not disgusting,” I countered, amazed anyone wouldn’t like a celery-beet-lemon-ginger root juice mix.