by Cindy DeLong
Scared to Share
By Cindy DeLong
Copyright 2011 Cindy DeLong
Scared to Share
Preview
Charlene had lived a sheltered life. As the youngest in the family, it felt like her whole family had a
secret mission to watch over her and keep her from growing up.
Maxwell was a highly successful businessman too busy with his career to date. This loner is happy with his life and his secrets. He doesn't know that he has a rival that will stop at nothing to see him fail. Regardless of his flaws, with his friendship could Charlene escape her family's thumb and discover the adventure and independence of her dreams? This good girl couldn't take the tight boundaries anymore. She was unprepared for life, but given the chance to break free, would she find happiness and life or would her misguided choices teach her life's lessons the hard way and create the ultimate bad girl?
Table of Contents
The Endless Hallway
Chapter 1 – The Run
Chapter 2 – Tennis
Chapter 3 – The Wait
Chapter 4 – Discrete Diners
Chapter 5 – The Friendship
Chapter 6 – The Wedding
Chapter 7 – The Weekend Apart
Chapter 8 – Another Wedding
The Endless Hall
Charlene ran down the hall trying to find a place to hide, a place to escape the creep who chased her; the stranger with the wandering hands. As she turned another corner in the labyrinth of halls, a shocking realization tore through her brain and caused her to stumble. He knew too much about her. That could only mean one thing: she wasn’t the only one with a secret. She was so disoriented by the twisting hallways that she wasn’t sure if she was getting closer to freedom or back to where she started. She had just turned left down another hall when two hands reached out and grabbed her, one quickly reaching up to cover her mouth and stifle the shocked scream building in her lungs. She was pulled hard to a male body and her mind raced back to when her life had suddenly become this tangled mess…
Chapter 1 – The Run
Charlene tightened the laces on her sneakers and jogged out onto the street not knowing the big surprise that the day held. As she listened to her feet pound the pavement, she thought about how she loved the first day of summer break; actually the first day of anything. The first day of school, the first day of a new year, they all offered her a chance to start over and redefine herself. She could put the old behind her and become the person she wanted to be. So this summer she decided to be Charlene the exerciser, Charlene the confident, and Charlene the perfect. To become this new person, she had gotten up extra early, pulled her hair back in a perfect ponytail, thrown on comfy white cotton shorts and her new white sneakers. She was out there running, the first day of her daily jog. Her mind raced ahead showing her scenes of herself in the months ahead: running quickly with no effort at all, her body toned, her leg muscles taut.
Charlene thoughts returned to the present as her legs fought each movement and her lungs struggled to get enough air. Maybe it was time to walk a little, work up to running the whole circuit. She took in the scene before her of the homes built in the 60’s and 70’s in the Tudor and Ranch styles with the occasional older two-story house popping up between the newer counterparts lining both sides of the quiet street. She relaxed in the familiar neighborhoods as she pushed her legs to walk faster and faster to warm up her muscles for more running. As she rounded a bend, she saw the park ahead of her. The swings, ballpark, creek, and tennis courts brought back many happy memories from her childhood. She was too old for many of the pleasures that the park offered having just finished her freshman year at a nearby university. She had finally reached adulthood and the world was hers to experience. She could be and do whatever she could dream of. Now all she needed was direction. A way to know that she was making the right choices, headed the right way. Some kind of guarantee that she was picking the path that would bring her happiness and fulfillment, but life offered no guarantees.
Ahead Charlene noticed one lone figure on the tennis court. She found it odd, knowing that tennis required at least 2 players. The chain-link fence that surrounded the tennis courts didn’t allow for solo practice. She reminded herself that she was the new confident Charlene, the exercising Charlene. A tennis buddy would help her get extra exercise.
Maxwell looked at his watch as his frustration grew. Where was Jordon?
“I’ll see you at 6,” he remembered Jordon saying the night before as Jordon headed out of the restaurant to sit at the hotel bar.
“In the morning.” he reminded.
“I know, in the morning.” Jordon replied.
“At the tennis courts.”
“I’ll be there Maxwell, relax. You sure you don’t want to head to the bar with me? Have a few drinks and loosen up a bit? You could use some loosening up; you are way too serious, man.”
“No thanks. See ya in the morning.” Maxwell answered as he turned toward the stairs, desiring his hotel room and a comfortable bed, thinking about Ben Franklin’s famous quote, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Good words to live by. They had always proved effective for him.
Further up the road that encircled the little park, Maxwell saw someone walking toward the tennis courts and it definitely wasn’t Jordon. As she got closer he was mesmerized by the swishing of her long ponytail. With each quick step she took her light brown hair alternating between swinging left and right. She was looking at him with a quirky little smile on her face.
“You do realize that you can’t play tennis alone?” Charlene asked in what she hoped was a cocky tone remembering to be the confident Charlene.
“Would you like to join me?” Maxwell surprised himself by asking.
Wow! Charlene totally wasn’t expecting that response. “Well yes, I’d love to.” She said with a smile.
Amazed at the new experiences her new attitude could introduce. Trying not to let her good mood be dampened by her mother’s voice in her head warning her to be wary of strangers. Being the youngest was not fun. Her whole family treated her like she didn’t know anything. It was as if they had some secret plan to keep her young forever. They always acted surprised when she tried something new and didn’t like her showing any signs of independence. She wondered what it would be like to have a friend that none of them knew about. Someone like this tall friendly guy she just met. He would be fun to keep all to herself. Wait, there she was getting ahead of herself again. Heck, she didn’t even know his name.
Chapter 2 – Tennis
Maxwell smiled back to Charlene, privately congratulating himself on how easily he had rescued his almost lost opportunity to get some much needed exercise. The long sessions of the conference at the hotel left his muscles stiff and him yearning to get out and move; to release his pent-up energy. An intense morning tennis match was a great way to start the day and clear his mind and help him focus better on the material he was scheduled to teach.
Maxwell knew better than to get too close to this young woman, no matter how cute she was. He had learned to keep his distance years ago. When women met the successful Maxwell Harding, they usually had two things on their mind: how much money do you make and how are you going to spoil me with it. He would enjoy the game and move on. It wouldn’t be too difficult with him leaving town soon. He was just here for a few days for a conference and then he would be back home in New York where his coworkers knew that he was not interested in a relationship. He had his demanding job and that was enough to keep anyone busy.
This new girl was the worst tennis player ever, yet she was enjoying every minute of the game
, laughing and giggling and coming back for more. Maxwell had liked his game with her, although she was making him feel old. She wasn’t like the other more sophisticated and serious women he was used to being around. She was silly and blatantly honest. He found this to be a nice change and noticed himself quickly relaxing around her and adopting her frank attitude. It was nice to be down to earth and himself, not needing to hide behind his usual image. He was disappointed when she didn’t immediately return the ball but pulled her cell phone out of her little shorts, looked at it and exclaimed, “ Oh, I didn’t realize that it was so late! Oh my gosh! I need to go! It was nice meeting you, …uh…”
“Maxwell” he supplied. “And your name is?”
“Charlene. Are you going to be here to play tennis again tomorrow morning?”
“Yeah. I should be.” He was sad to see her go and searched his brain for a way to see her longer, after all, he only had this week.
“Good. It will be fun to do this again.” Charlene said as she spun around and started off quickly down the street.
Modeling her spontaneous attitude and forthright manner he found himself yelling, “Would you like to go to supper with me?”
Charlene stopped and whipped around with a bright smile on her face, “Supper would be great! Where and when?”
“I’m not from around here. Where would you suggest?”
“I know I nice place, just over in the next town.” Charlene answered. She did not want to risk the chance of anyone from her family and their wide circle of friends catching her and asking too many questions.
“Ok. Where do you live and I’ll pick you up at 7.” As he pulled out his phone, ready to save the information.
Think fast Charlene, she told herself. She couldn’t risk him coming to her house. Her mom would give him the third degree and then probably run him off anyway. But she also didn’t fully trust this stranger enough to just jump in his car without anyone aware of who she was going with or where.
Maxwell noticed her looking thoughtful and sensed that he had made her uncomfortable with his overzealous desire to see her. She was probably worried that he was some crazy stalker. The usually confident Maxwell was about to recant his statement and tell her that they could get together for a meal another time and that he’d see her for tennis tomorrow morning when she looked up at him with a questioning, almost nervous look on her face and asked if he would be willing to meet her back here at the park and follow her to the restaurant. She didn’t even want to drive together. It was confirmed: she thought he was a clingy psychopath.
Her last action, exchanging cell phone numbers with him, ran through Maxwell’s mind the rest of the day. In between presentations at the conference, he couldn’t get her off his mind. Did she exchange numbers with him because she knew that she already planned to cancel out on their meal tonight? Or was she interested in continuing their friendship evidenced by her reference to texting. He flip-flopped between the two ideas, replaying her last statement before she hustled off down the street, “We should exchange cell phone numbers in case something comes up or you just want to text.”
Charlene hurried through the quiet streets back home, even running part of the way. She knew that her mom would be back from her morning cup of coffee with her mother’s sisters. These women always met on Thursday mornings for coffee and donuts at the local donut shop to catch up on the latest gossip. Unbeknownst to Charlene, she had been the topic of conversation at today’s get-together. Her mother had expressed concern for Charlene’s future or current lack thereof, so the aunts had put their heads together to decide on ways to direct Charlene’s future. Charlene’s life was about to change in some very unpleasant ways.
As Charlene walked into the house, he mother turned from the houseplant she was pruning over the sink.
“Charlene, I didn’t know that you were up already. Where have you been so early?”
“I went for a jog. Remember I told you yesterday that I was going to start running every morning.
“Yes dear, but I didn’t think that you were actually serious. You can’t just go wandering off all alone like that. Someone needs to know where you.” Her mother was getting more agitated the more she talked.
“But no one was here to tell.” Charlene defended herself by saying.
“You could have left a note. Anyway, Bergman’s called and they want you to come in today.”
Bergman was a small local accounting firm where Charlene worked on an as-needed basis helping answer phones, type, etc. Why did they want her to come in today? She had finished everything on her desk yesterday afternoon. Great! What happened? She could hear her mom lecturing on and on about her need to put her job first or she wouldn’t have one and how hard jobs were to find, etc. She loved her mother and respected her opinion, but she didn’t have time for this! She needed to get moving if she wanted to arrive at Bergman’s on time. She still needed a shower and to pick out something to wear, yet here she stood listening to advice she already knew. She wanted to walk away but she was the good daughter, always doing what she should. When her mother ran out of things to say, Charlene quietly left the room and bounded up the stairs two at a time. She flew through her shower and dressing and barely made it in to work on time.
Charlene soon learned that the company had acquired a new client, ABC Rex. Everyone would be on mandatory overtime until Bergman’s had organized and completed this large company’s financial records. College might have ended classes for the summer, but it was quickly looking like Charlene wasn’t going to be getting a break this summer. Her last thoughts as she dove into the mess of financial paperwork that dwarfed her desk was that hopefully she would be able to leave Bergman’s in time for supper with Maxwell.
Chapter 3 – The Wait
Maxwell looked at his cell phone once again, seeing no new messages and finding the time to be 7:10. He had convinced himself during the day that Charlene did want to see him again and had even begun to expect a friendly text from her. Being stood up had never entered his mind. He had at least expected her to notify him of her change of plans. The world was full of disrespectful, careless, irresponsible people. He knew this all too well.
Maxwell had suffered through the day covering for his coworker Jordon who always seemed to be either, late, missing, or unprepared for his presentations. Maxwell hadn’t spent countless hours planning and preparing for this conference to arrive and find that the week would be a confused, hectic mess with him looking lazy and unprofessional. Even some of the bad team members he had had in different professor assigned groups in several of his college classes weren’t this bad. And he was even including the kid that didn’t even show up for the group meetings. At least with that kid he knew what to expect and the group was prepared to cover for him. Additionally, the kid showed up on time for the group’s presentation and followed the team’s notes that were prepared for him well enough that the whole group earned an ‘A.’ Jordon could take notes from that kid who eventually flunked out of college without the group’s shirttail to ride. How did Jordon ever finish college? How did he rise to the top of one of Buffalo’s most successful companies? How did he maintain his position within the company?
Maxwell had survived the day but he was quickly becoming impatient with waiting for Charlene. He had definitely read her wrong. This was a new concept for Maxwell. He could read people like a book. He would give her five more minutes and then he was leaving. He hated being idle and wasting time, but he had really wanted to see her.
Maxwell felt his phone vibrate and he looked down to find that he had a new text message. Being sure that she was texting to let him know that she obviously wasn’t coming, he was surprised to see the words on his screen.
Charlene looked at the mess surrounding her as she tried to stretch the kinks out of her neck. ABC Rex’s records were in the worse mess she had ever seen. Why management at that company had let an incompetent bookkeeper continue when she was obviously not doing her job and not qualified
to handle her responsibilities. As the company grew, if nothing else, it should have been obvious that the workload would require a whole department instead of a single person. Unfortunately, it took being notified by the IRS to bring the huge problem to ABC Rex’s management’s attention. Now they were paying Bergman’s a colossal amount of money to fix this avalanche of unfiled and unorganized mess.
The clock said 5:30 and Charlene had noticed a few of her coworkers had already left. She figured that if she could leave now, she would have time to run home and change into something casual and still be able to meet Maxwell at the park at 7:00.
Charlene knocked quietly on Mr. Bergman’s slightly opened door. “Uh, Mr. Bergman, would it be ok if I headed out now?” She asked in a low voice.
“Charlene, did you not understand when I said, ‘mandatory overtime?’ That means everyone in the company needs to work extra hours, coming in early and working late until ABC Rex’s problem with the IRS is gone. Have you finished all the filing?”
“No, sir. I haven’t”
“Then you need to stay late and come in early until you are caught up. Do you understand Charlene?”
“Yes, Mr. Bergman. Sorry I interrupted you. I’ll get back to work.” She said as she slipped out the door and back to her desk.
Ugh! Charlene did not want to miss supper with Maxwell. She did not want to miss another chance to talk with him. He was so easy to talk to and he had wonderful insight into lots of things yet hadn’t treated her like she needed to be told what to do. It was so nice to talk to someone who didn’t talk down to her. He treated her like an adult, an equal. She snapped her thoughts out of the clouds and back to the stacks of papers surrounding her. She didn’t need Mr. Bergman to find her daydreaming.