Textbook Approach: A Small Town Romance

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  I flinched back like I had been slapped, and then I did what I did best. I grabbed his keys and I ran.

  Will

  “Good job, man.” Eric clapped me on the shoulder. “You really told her.”

  “Shut up,” I shrugged him off.

  “Are you really letting her go?”

  “You think I should chase her?” I asked incredulously. “You heard the way she talked to me, like I was a fucking mistake.”

  “Yeah, the same way you talked to her,” he retorted. “It’s like neither of you is an adult.”

  “Kat,” I said, hoping she would see my side of things.

  She cringed. “Yeah, that was brutal, and calling her out like that in front of us, not cool at all.”

  I sighed and threw my hands up in the air. “I don’t fucking believe this. Once again, I’m the asshole.”

  “Well, you did blindside her with the whole moving thing. You could have just asked her about it first,” Kat said hesitantly. “I mean, I would be pretty pissed too if Eric just decided all that stuff for me. And I can understand why she’s hesitant to move into your house. She’s right. It’s not hers at all. She’s already been through that.”

  “So, this is all my fault?”

  Eric snorted. “Hell no. She’s being irrational. We all know that, but you knew it would be like this going in. I know it sucks, but you have to let her get used to the idea of what you two are. You can’t just bulldoze her. Just because she’s ready to take the next step doesn’t mean she won’t freak out. And now she ran and you’re still standing here.”

  “Well, what the hell am I supposed to do?”

  Kat rolled her eyes. “Go after her, of course! You can’t just let her run away. She’ll never come back.”

  “Goddamnit! Give me your keys.”

  Eric handed them over. “Fine, but I’m coming with you.”

  Andrew came bounding down the stairs, frowning when he saw that Charlie was missing. “Where’s Charles?”

  “Who?” I asked, irritated at the new nickname?”

  “Yeah, I came up with that last night. I figured it worked since we all thought she was a he.”

  “She ran off because this idiot yelled at her in front of us. Now we have to go track her down.”

  “Fire,” Andrew grinned. “Let’s go get her back.”

  “You’re not coming,” I growled.

  “I’m offended that you don’t think I can help. I happen to be very good in situations like this. Besides, you need as many vehicles as you can to track her down.”

  “Fine.”

  I ran out the door, getting in the passenger side of Eric’s truck and pulled out my phone. I dialed her number immediately. When she answered, it was deadly quiet on the other end.

  “Charlie, we can work this out. Where are you?”

  “Will, maybe this was all wrong. Maybe we should have never tried to make this work. I’m just not cut out for relationships. You made that pretty clear.”

  “Because I’m an idiot. You know that. I say stupid shit all the time. Hell, I stalked you and let you think a murderer was after you.”

  “Will, doesn’t that just prove that our relationship doesn’t work? We only made it two months. That has to mean something.”

  “It means that we need to work through our problems,” I said, panic lacing my voice. “We just need to talk this through. Tell me where you are.”

  “Will, I think we both need to admit that this isn’t going to work.”

  I could hear the tears in her voice. She didn’t want this to end, but she was scared, because I was an idiot and yelled at her instead of taking her concerns seriously.

  “Baby, just tell me where you are.”

  “Goodbye, Will.”

  She hung up and I slammed my hand on the dashboard.

  “Whoa, don’t beat up my truck just because you’re pissed.”

  “I can’t lose her. She’s walking away because she’s scared.”

  “Well, did she say where she is?”

  “No, she just said goodbye.”

  “Well, you could always just go to her apartment and wait, or…”

  “Or what?” I asked, waiting on pins and needles to hear what he had to say.

  “Or we could call Corduroy and make sure she can’t run away.”

  “You want me to have my girlfriend arrested?” I asked incredulously.

  “Not arrested,” Eric said slowly. “Slowed down from making a getaway.”

  “And what would that get me? She’ll be pissed.”

  “Yeah, but if she gets back to her apartment and she won’t talk to you, she’ll have more time to think, and trust me, it’s never a good thing when a woman has time to think.”

  I shook my head and stared out my window. I must be insane for even considering this. “Fine, get him on the phone.”

  “Oh, no. I’m afraid not, my friend. You’re going to have to make the call yourself.”

  “Christ. Corduroy doesn’t even like me.”

  “Newsflash, he doesn’t like any of us, but since you’re not Robert, I’m sure he’ll help you.”

  I dialed his number reluctantly and waited for him to answer. “Sheriff’s office. Carter Roy speaking.”

  “Corduroy, it’s Will Cortell.”

  “Will, what do I have the pleasure of this call for?” he asked drolly.

  “I need your help. My woman, Charlie, she sort of ran away from me.”

  “Okay,” he said slowly. “And what does that have to do with me.”

  “I need you to put an APB out for her car.”

  “You want me to do what?”

  “I need to stop her. If she runs, I may not get her back.”

  He sighed heavily on the other line. “What is it with you guys? Seriously, do none of you know how to hold onto your women?”

  “Are you gonna help me or not?”

  “Look, I’ll help you, but there’s no way I’m putting an APB out on her car. The last thing you want is half the police departments in the area looking for her.”

  “Then what do you suggest?”

  “You have Facebook and a nosy brother. Use it. I’ll get out there and start looking for you. Do you know which direction she headed?”

  “She left the house about ten minutes ago. She should be driving through town about now.”

  “Alright, I’ll head out now with Colin.”

  “Who’s Colin?”

  “The new sheriff’s deputy. I’m assuming she’ll head back to her apartment?”

  “Yeah, she’d be heading toward Manteno.”

  “Alright. Get your brother to work on the town page. I’ll do what I can.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  “Hey, I’m not doing this out of the goodness of my heart. You’ll owe me for this.”

  “I’d expect nothing less from you, Corduroy.”

  I hung up the phone and sent out a message to Joe, telling him to get on the road and look for Charlie. Then I opened the town Facebook page and put out my own message.

  Will Cortell: Charlie’s on the run. Everybody scatter. Do not let her leave town. Stop her at all costs. Aside from death. I want to marry this woman.

  Charlie

  God, I was such an idiot. Why the hell did I think that I could make it work with Will? I had been right. I fucked it up and now he was hurting because of it. But I wouldn’t back down. No matter how he tried to persuade me, I wouldn’t give in. I knew myself well enough to know that if I let him convince me that we could make this work, I would only end up leaving him devastated in the end.

  I swiped the tears from my face and tried to tell myself that I was stronger than this. I never cried over a man. It wasn’t in my nature. But here I was, driving down the road and bawling like a baby. It was pathetic. I was the woman that didn’t need a man.

  My phone rang again, but this time it was Nathan. “What?” I snapped.

  “What the hell are you doing? I just got a call from Will. He said
you’re running.”

  “I’m not running. I’m leaving because he’s an asshole and I’m a bitch, and it’ll never work between us.”

  “You know that’s all bullshit. You’re scared and you’re running so that you don’t have to face the facts that you want him and you’d do anything to keep him.”

  “That doesn’t even make any sense.”

  “Yes, it does. You’ve never fully handed yourself over to a man, and you want to do that with Will, but it scares you. You can’t run forever, Charlie. He’s the one you’re supposed to be with. He’s your soulmate.”

  I snorted and swiped at my tears. “We don’t believe in soulmates.”

  “I didn’t used to, but seeing him with you, I know that you’re supposed to be with him. I’ve known since the first time you met him. Why do you think I pushed the relationship so hard?”

  “For the baseball tickets,” I laughed.

  “Well, that too, but aside from that, it was that I could see how much you liked him. There was something different about you when you met him. And every time you talked about him, it was like you were this new person. Hell, you even backed out of the bet. The old Charlie never would have done that. But you gave it up for a man.”

  “Because he promised to take me to the theater,” I argued.

  “Tell yourself that all you want, but you know that you gave in because you couldn’t resist him. You didn’t want to. He’s the one for you, Charlie. So stop running away from him and run to him.”

  “I can’t,” I whispered.

  “You know, I knew you were going to do this. You looked happy, you sounded happy, but you just can’t let yourself be happy. You get in your own way. Well, I’m not sitting around to watch it this time. Will is the man for you, and if you can’t see that, this is on you and nobody else.”

  He hung up and I tossed my phone across the car, angry that he was right. I pulled up to the stoplight in town and waited impatiently at the light. I just wanted to get home where I could think. A car pulled up beside me and honked. I turned and gave a wave to the person, though I had no idea who it was. Then, strangely enough, a car pulled up in the oncoming traffic lane, stopping right beside me. What the hell? Was this person trying to cause an accident?

  The light turned green and I hit the gas, trying to get away from this crazy person beside me. But the faster I drove, the more this car stayed right beside me. I flicked on my turn signal to move over into the lane next to me, but the person that was there sped up and refused to let me over. Cars were coming toward me and there was about to be an accident, so I punched the gas and flew ahead of them, moving quickly through the yellow light. I sighed in relief, but then another car pulled out from a side street and almost side-swiped me. What the hell was going on? I drove like a mad woman, weaving in and out of traffic, noticing that a large group of cars was forming behind me, chasing me down.

  Sirens sounded off to my left and I waved madly at the police car, hoping it would pull out and stop all these crazy people behind me. Another police car came flying toward me from the other side of the street, turning at the last second to barricade me in. I screamed as I jerked the wheel and stomped on the brakes. The side road was clear, so I hit the gas and tore out of there. I had no idea what was going on, but the people in this town had all gone insane!

  My hands were shaking as I drove like a crazy person through town, trying to escape all the madness. I made it down one more block before a police car flew off the side street and blocked my path. Mobs of people came rushing at me, blocking my car from moving. I put the car in reverse and started driving backwards, screaming as I attempted to shove people out of my way. Soon, the whole car was mobbed with people and I had nowhere to go. I locked my doors and covered my ears as the shouting got louder and louder. I was going to die in my car and I had no idea why.

  A knock on my window had me looking up. Corduroy was standing out there with a grin on his face. He motioned for me to roll down the window, and I did, despite the fact that I was terrified I was about to be killed by the mob.

  “Charlie, nice to see you again.”

  “What the hell is going on? Why are all these people after me.”

  “Charlie, I’m going to have to ask you to step out of the car.”

  “What?” I screeched. “There are people trying to kill me!”

  “Not kill,” he clarified. “They’re trying to stop you from leaving town.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Please, just step out of the vehicle.”

  Not knowing what else to do, I unlocked the door and shoved it open, staying firmly planted against my car. I was terrified. It was like I was a superstar or something and they were all here to get my signature.

  “Can you please tell me what’s going on? This is insane!”

  “We’re just here to stop you from leaving town.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I asked them to.” I jerked my head to the side as the crowd parted and the noise died down. Will emerged, looking me over like he thought I would be maimed.

  “You did what?”

  “I…I sort of put out a call to the town to stop you from leaving.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  He walked up to me, standing right in front of me as he brushed a wild lock of hair from my face. “Because I couldn’t risk losing you again.”

  The crowd all gasped and sighed, whispering to each other as they watched us.

  “Charlie, I know you come with baggage and you’re terrified that we’re going to screw this up.”

  “I know we will. I will. It’s what I do.”

  His bright eyes smiled at me as he shook his head slightly. “No, you don’t. You’re perfect. I know for a fact that neither of us will mess this up. We’ll fight and we’ll get mad at each other, but we’ll make it through all that. Do you know how I know that?”

  I shook my head slowly, dying to know how he could be so sure about all of it.

  “Because I feel you in here,” he said, taking my hand and placing it over his heart. “You are part of me, down deep in my soul. And I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s been different from the start. I’ve never chased after a woman like I’ve chased you. I’ve never stalked a woman to get her to notice me. I’ve never felt so low as the day you told me it was over. And I never felt so complete as the day you sang to me on that stage. I knew you were mine, and you always would be. So, yeah, I’m pretty fucking sure this thing is forever. And when you doubt, you come to me and I’ll set you straight, because I’m sure enough for the both of us.”

  I sniffed, tears filling my eyes as I stared at him. I loved him so much, and everything he just said to me was exactly how I was feeling. And now I could finally admit that to myself. This wasn’t one-sided. This was the real thing. He was right all along. I was meant to be with him from the start. Kyle was never supposed to be my first husband.

  “So, are you gonna leave me standing here with all these people staring, or are you going to tell me you love me and kiss me?”

  I laughed and launched myself at him, pressing my lips to his. “I love you.”

  “Good, because I’m pretty sure I might have ended up in jail otherwise.”

  “Yeah, I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that whole thing about stalking,” Corduroy said, staring out at the crowd.

  I laughed, swiping at my face again. “How did you get everyone to stop me from leaving?”

  “How else?” he grinned. “The town Facebook page.”

  Will

  “Do you think we’ll get to meet any of the players?” Oliver asked excitedly from the backseat.

  “Yeah, do you think we will?” Nathan asked from beside me. He was bouncing around just as much as Oliver. It was a little insane. I looked in the rearview mirror at Charlie and shook my head. She was grinning. She knew this was going to be hell. Well, it would be a lot of fun, but still, with both Nathan and Oliver, I wasn’t sure I would actually get to enjoy the ga
me. However, I had a little surprise in store for them after the game.

  The traffic was crazy as we made our way into the city. We had to park ten blocks away and then run for it across the city to Wrigley Field. When I got to the entrance of the stadium, I had to stop and take a breath. Standing in front of that big, red sign always took my breath away.

  “Do you miss it?” Charlie wrapped her arm through mine and leaned her head on my shoulder.

  “Of course,” I sighed. “I would have given anything to get to play just one game here.”

  I still got choked up when I thought about it, all I had missed out on over the years. I could still smell the grass on the field and feel the ball in my hand as I twisted it, preparing to throw out the first pitch. I closed my eyes and I was brought back to that last game I played in college.

  I took a deep breath and stared down Jones, the guy coming up to bat. He was good, but I knew I could beat him. I adjusted my hat, wiping the sweat from my forehead as I watched him move. He seemed to get a little slower as the innings went on. It had already been five innings, way too soon for him to show so much fatigue. His hand absentmindedly went to his shoulder and I saw him wince. He was injured.

  I watched his practice swings, looking for any sign that his shoulder was going to be a hindrance. Shorty, the catcher, wanted me to walk the guy. I shook my head slightly. I could take this guy out. But injured or not, I knew I needed a curveball to take him out. He always misjudged them.

  I scraped my shoe against the sandy mixture before taking my place at the mound. I adjusted my shirt, making sure I was ready for the first pitch. Taking another deep breath, I wound up and let it fly. The pitch was perfect, but as my arm extended, a pain unlike anything I’d felt before pulled through my elbow and I practically collapsed on the ground.

  I stared at the ground, my heart heavy as I realized what had just happened. I didn’t need a doctor to tell me that my career was over. I cradled my arm with my other hand and looked up at the stands, staring at all the fans as they stared back at me. There was a silence all over the stadium, as if they could hear the tear from where they sat. Finally, pain creased my face as my coach ran out to the pitcher’s mound. As he led me off the field, I glanced back one last time at the mound. That was the last time I would ever stand there.