by Jenny Hale
“I can’t believe our little Scarlett won!” Gran said when Scarlett and Charlie joined them back at the table.
Scarlett set the box between her and Charlie. “I can’t believe it either,” she said, still in shock that she’d actually figured it out so quickly. What were the odds that she’d win the trip bought with his donated money?
“You haven’t taken a trip in years,” Blue said. “You deserve to have a great time.”
“Want to go with me?” she asked her father, hoping he’d say yes.
Truthfully, Blue was the closest person to her, and he also deserved a trip like this as much as anyone. He’d worked so hard for Gran when Pappy passed away, driving up every weekend the first year, and then making sure White Oaks ran as smoothly as it could in Pappy’s absence until Gran had a handle on things.
“I don’t fly, remember?” Blue had never flown in his life. He was terrified of being in the air. As much as Scarlett had tried to convince him that he was completely safe, he never would. He said God didn’t make people with wings for a reason.
“You’re going to make me go by myself?” she teased. One day she’d get him on a plane. She wasn’t sure how, but she wasn’t going to give up until he faced his fears.
“Take Gran. She could do with a week of cocktails and sun loungers more than I could.”
“For the love of Pete,” Gran said. “I’m too old to be jet-setting around. I’m lucky if I get to the farmers’ market and back on a good day.”
Blue interrupted their banter, standing up and eyeing the line that was forming at the bar. “I’ll go put in the orders for dinner. Are we getting pizza or did you want to do a couple of baskets of wings and fries?”
“Pizza!” Riley called, twirling her little fingers around a curl with one hand and holding the red crayon she’d used on her word-find with the other.
“Sounds like a good choice to me,” Blue said, giving her the thumbs-up. “I’ll get a couple of pizzas. And I’ll grab us a pitcher of beer too.”
“Let’s go up to see what Cappy has on tap,” Scarlett said to Charlie. “He always feels generous on this night and he’ll let you try them all before you get a beer.” Charlie seemed relaxed, and she was glad for that. He was smiling, his shoulders down, playfulness in his eyes. She couldn’t help but notice the effect it had on her: it made her happy. Perhaps she’d been able to take his mind off his troubles for a while.
Charlie went with her to the bar where they found a couple of stools next to Preston. Loretta had already found him, pushing through the crowd to get to him, Sarah in step behind her.
“Preston!” Loretta said, as if it were a surprise to see him there.
“Hello,” he said, and in less than a second his stage presence, which had been bigger than life, shrank back into him, and his shoulders rose just slightly as he offered Loretta a thought-filled smile. He was probably trying to mentally draw up his exit route.
“I thought you’d like to chat with my cousin Sarah,” Loretta said, nearly pushing Sarah forward.
Preston’s eyes lingered on Loretta for a brief moment before he turned to greet the blonde in front of him. Sarah had a gentle manner as she moved, and a shy sort of elegance to her. Loretta hadn’t done too badly with this match. Maybe she’d finally succeeded in finding the right person for Preston. Only time would tell.
“I’m glad you talked me into coming tonight,” Charlie said into Scarlett’s ear, giving her a shiver. She turned away from her view of Preston to find that Charlie had a line of tasting cups in front of them. “I got two of each kind, so we can try them all,” he said.
Scarlett counted them. “Cappy has nine beers on tap. That’s eighteen glasses!” She laughed loudly, covering her mouth. “I hope you and I don’t freeze when we have to walk home, because neither of us will be able to drive after this. That’s more beer than it seems.”
“You said Cappy might let us try them all, so I figured you’d want them. And I wasn’t sure what you liked.”
“You know what?” she said, delighted he had done something like this, considering the state he’d been in lately. “I do want to try them all. Tell me which one is your favorite.”
He pushed the glass with the lightest-colored beer toward her. “This one is a local cinnamon wheat. We’ll start with that first and work our way darker.”
Scarlett tipped hers back and the fragrance of the spices mixed with the wheat exploded on her taste buds. “Oh, I like this one.”
Charlie leaned across the bar to view the tap. “That’s the Smoky Mountain Cinnamon Bomb.” He raised his glass to his nose and then swirled it around a few times before taking a drink. “Not bad,” he said once he’d tried it.
“What’s this one?” She grabbed another.
Preston tapped her shoulder and Charlie excused himself to the restroom, telling her he’d be right back.
“Hey, Preston,” she said.
“Can you do me a favor?” he asked quietly while Loretta and Sarah were chatting to each other. “Will you distract Loretta so I can make a break for it?”
“Why?” Scarlett chuckled, the familiar scenario amusing her. “Sarah seems nice, doesn’t she?”
Preston gritted his teeth, thinking, but clearly not about how nice Sarah was. He looked like he had a million other things on his mind but he didn’t want to say them out loud. She wouldn’t press him on whatever it was that was bothering him. The last thing she wanted to do was to upset Preston on such a festive night.
“Okay, I’ll distract them,” Scarlett said.
“Thank you.”
She leaned in closer. “Why do you always run from the people Loretta finds for you? Why don’t you give them a chance?”
“I’m not running from them,” he said, looking back at Loretta nervously. He didn’t need to worry, however, because Loretta was deep in conversation with Sarah about some sort of decorating idea she had for her living room. “I just don’t want to be put in a situation where I have to say something to Loretta that I don’t want to say.”
“I’m sure she’d understand if you explained that you aren’t comfortable with her setting you up. Just be honest.”
“I don’t think she’d understand,” he said, glancing over to her again, but this time, there was something different on his face. Suddenly, in that one look, it all became clear.
“Oh my gosh,” Scarlett said, and when he turned back to her, it was evident by the fear in his eyes that she’d guessed correctly: Preston didn’t want to be set up with anyone because it wasn’t Loretta’s dates that he wanted. It was Loretta. “Tell her,” Scarlett urged him.
With his cover blown, Preston struggled for his footing. “Look… If she tries to catch me when I leave, just distract her, okay?”
Scarlett wished he’d say something to Loretta, but it wasn’t her place to get involved. “Okay.”
Preston took his beer from the bar and slipped away into the crowd. He was back on the stage before Loretta even knew he’d gone. As he tuned his guitar and readjusted the microphone, Loretta stopped talking and focused on him. She smiled his way, knowing he’d made another one of his escape moves. Preston smirked back at her, his affection for her now so clear that Scarlett couldn’t believe she’d ever missed it. He had stars in his eyes for her.
“I’m back,” Charlie said, as he settled on the stool beside Scarlett again. “Did I miss anything?”
“Oh yes,” Scarlett said. “Yes, you certainly did.”
“What is it?” Charlie’s smile reached his eyes and gave her a flutter.
“Maybe I’ll tell you later,” she said, grabbing the next beer. “What’s this one?”
Scarlett felt something magic in the air right then, and she couldn’t wait to see what the night would hold.
Nine
Blue had generously offered to drive everyone home in shifts. When the bar closed, he was the only one still fit to drive. Due to Esther’s absence, Gran had asked one of the few remaining staff members
to be on call for the hours she was gone, but she didn’t have enough funds to pay him overtime, so she had to get back as soon as possible.
Scarlett’s prize had been the biggest of anyone’s in the family, although Gran got to go home with a new coffee maker and six months’ supply of gourmet coffee, which she was pleased about.
Scarlett and Charlie hung back while Blue took Gran and the kids home first. They waited at the bar for Blue to return. Cappy had poured them each a hot cocoa from his personal warmer in the back, promising them that the cinnamon and willow bark in it would combat any dehydration. With all the music and commotion, this was really the first time she and Charlie had had a chance to talk. Scarlett’s ears were ringing and her eyes were heavy from the beers.
“I had a good time tonight,” Charlie said.
He looked quite different from the man she’d met out in the snow yesterday, and a tiny resemblance to the boy he’d been so many years ago had emerged in his features. He was even more relaxed now that everyone had gone, one arm resting on the bar, his strong hand holding his mug as it sat in front of him.
“Me too,” she said.
The lights were still dimmed, and Cappy and the staff had moved all the tables and chairs to the side so they could mop the floor, but they were all in the back now, leaving just Scarlett and Charlie at the bar. The room was warm and smelled of their cocoa, and one of the staff members had set a radio playing soft tunes on the stage. The quiet music coming from it was a welcome change from tonight’s loud atmosphere.
“May I ask you something?” Scarlett said, her elbow on the bar, leaning on her hand, the slight buzz from the beer giving her courage.
Charlie smiled at her, clearly enjoying the stress-free conversation. “Sure.”
“You can’t clam up,” she warned him, and to her relief, he didn’t move a muscle, his gaze on her, that smile remaining on his lips.
“Okay,” he said.
“What brought you to town?”
His smile faded into a look of contemplation, and he studied his mug for a moment before blowing a quiet breath of frustration through his lips. “I needed a fresh start,” he said.
Scarlett leaned forward. “That doesn’t explain a whole lot.” She locked eyes with him. “Tell me.” When he didn’t say anything more, she sipped her cocoa, allowing the music from the stage to filter between them. “Okay, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but will you at least answer this: Amos was your dad, yes? So how come I never saw you around? I only saw you that one day at the falls.”
His knee bounced up and down as if he needed to expel pent-up energy while he formulated his answer. Then his leg stilled. “My mom passed away when I was eight. It was just my dad and me, like you and Blue.”
There was so much in that one statement. Scarlett knew firsthand what it was like to have lost her mother: the eerie silence that hung in the air for months while she and her dad tried to move on with life, their grief weighing their every move like bags of wet sand, every little moment meaning something because the most important person in their lives wasn’t there anymore to share it. Even at the tender age of eleven, she remembered the jarring weeks right after when it felt like she and her father had lost their compass, neither of them able to navigate the stormy sea of life without her mother. She’d suffered through the sleepless nights, her usual childhood fears of monsters under the bed replaced by the very real panic that her beloved mother wasn’t ever going to be there to wrap her arms around her again. It was a burden too large for any young girl.
Because of that experience, Scarlett immediately felt a bond with Charlie.
A couple of the staff members had returned and were running large brooms over the floor, but Scarlett barely noticed, all her focus on Charlie as he continued.
“In preschool the teachers noticed that I learned faster than the other children, and they had to work really hard to keep me interested because I mastered the curriculum incredibly fast. My dad got me tutors, and I loved every minute of it. School work was my playground.” He took a drink of his cocoa, fondness for that time showing on his lips. “When I’d finished the entire middle school curriculum in one year, and they were scrambling for something to teach me, it became apparent to my dad that I needed something more, so when he moved here—I was about ten years old—he made what he said was the hardest decision of his life. He sent me away to Heritage Boarding School for Boys. It was the only option to meet my academic needs.”
Scarlett couldn’t have left her father at such a young age, when the grief was still so fresh, the nights she woke in fear and had to run to her dad’s room to curl up with him still frequent. “I can’t imagine how hard that was, to leave Amos.”
Charlie frowned, nodding in agreement. “I struggled at first. Dad came to visit every single weekend, and he spent every holiday at school with me so that I could associate good memories with the school itself. He called me every night. I cried a lot and told him I wanted to go home, and he said he’d come pick me up, but then I’d meet with the counselors and they’d get me through another week. It went on like that for quite a while.”
Gran’s comment about Charlie and Amos being estranged came back to her. This didn’t sound like two people who could drift apart. Charlie’s story was heartbreaking, and unimaginable.
“After a while, I began to trust the people around me. I made friends, and living there started to feel normal. By the time I was about thirteen, I didn’t ever want to leave.”
“Thirteen is still so young,” Scarlett said, her heart aching for Amos and Charlie. What must Amos’s nights have been like, having lost his wife and then sending his son so far away?
“Yes,” Charlie said gravely.
“My gran said that you and your dad weren’t speaking when she knew Amos. What happened?”
Charlie’s eyes glistened. Instinctively, Scarlett’s throat contracted with her emotion and she hadn’t even heard the explanation, but his sadness was palpable.
“The kids who went to Heritage came from wealthy backgrounds. My friends drove sports cars and spent holidays in the Hamptons. Most of them came from a long line of Heritage alumni, and they were raised in privilege. From the age of ten, that was what I was exposed to, and I grew up in this little bubble of wealth, the only line to the life I had being my dad. When I was older, in my late teenage years, I got caught up in all the social aspects of school, my interests and view of life growing further away from my father’s. I chose a week in the Cayman Islands with my best friend over a week at home with my dad. The older I got, the vaster our differences, until I struggled for conversation and opted for other ventures on school holidays.”
Charlie pressed his hands together and put them to his lips, the guilt visibly flooding him. “He still phoned me every night. Even when I’d stopped answering his calls.” His eyes filled with tears.
Scarlett swallowed to try to clear the lump in her throat, her own tears welling up. She thought about Amos dancing with June, the smile he carried every day, and it all felt different knowing what sadness must have been underneath it.
“I wish I could go back and change it,” Charlie said in nearly a whisper. “When you’re that age, you feel like you have forever. You’d think I’d have learned from losing Mom that that’s not the case. But now I know the hard truth: that there are some things you won’t get to do again. I wish I could tell him how much I appreciate him, how much I love him. I ache now to have known him.” He tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling, his chest rising as his lungs filled with air. His pain looked as though it would eat him alive.
Scarlett felt helpless, struggling for a way to comfort him. Then it hit her. “Do you know what your dad used to do every time I saw him?”
Charlie turned toward her, the shame clearly exhausting him.
Scarlett took Charlie’s hands and stood up, walking toward the empty floor where the tables had been. Charlie let her lead him. “He used to take the hands of a w
oman named June—she runs the farmers’ market.” Scarlett placed one of Charlie’s hands on her back, holding the other. “And he used to dance.” With the music playing softly around them, Scarlett began to sway back and forth, her eyes locked with his.
Then, unexpectedly, she felt his arm tighten gently around her as if he were holding on for dear life. He pulled her close until her head was under his chin as they moved to the music. And there, in the empty bar room, they danced. They danced for Amos, for the little boy who’d been lost, and for the man that Charlie had become.
Scarlett didn’t know a lot about Charlie, or what had finally made him return to Silver Falls, but the one thing she did know was that tonight, she didn’t want to let him go. And as she considered the promise she’d made to herself about not getting involved with guys who needed fixing, that feeling was certainly a problem.
Ten
Scarlett awoke to the buzz of her family moving around as they began final preparations for tonight’s big Christmas party, but her mind was still on Charlie. Even a night’s sleep couldn’t keep the memory of his story from bubbling to the surface of her consciousness. She’d carried Charlie’s pain to bed with her and stayed up way too late after they’d gotten home last night, thinking about him and Amos.
Gran, who was slicing fruit to garnish the new batch of cider she’d been steeping since yesterday, eyed her silently from the kitchen table when she padded into the room. The scent of cloves along with the warm, buttery smell of their earlier breakfast made Scarlett’s tummy grumble.