by Brandy Ayers
Charlotte buried her face in her hand, cringing that she had just confessed all that to him. Looking around the living room, she desperately hoped that a hole would magically appear so she could crawl inside and not come out until Trey forgot her name or that she existed. Surely it wouldn’t take long.
“Wow.” Apparently, she had stunned Trey into silence. Something she had a feeling didn’t happen too often. It didn’t last long. “First of all, I’m a little embarrassed you found that damn calendar. I only did it because it was for my favorite charity. But second, why don’t you let me decide if you are enough for me? Who knows, you could get to know me and decide that I’m not enough for you. Everyone has that fear, Charlotte. But I don't let fear get in the way of doing my job, and I’m not going to let it get in the way of finding out why hearing your voice made every hair and muscle on my body stand at attention. Why a sweet assignment editor from WQUZ makes my heart pound harder than running up the stairs in a burning building. Will you just agree to talk to me again? Next time I call, will you pick up on the first ring?”
Somehow, his words gave her confidence she had never really experienced before. Could Trey, this mountain of a man, really be afraid that he wouldn’t be enough for her? The thought was at once ridiculous and heart warming. Fear still thrummed through her like a parasite living inside her, but suddenly, she desperately wanted to be able to put it aside until she could get to know this man a little more. He just wanted her to pick up the phone. She could do that.
“Yes.”
Chapter Six
Somehow, over the next week, Trey managed to find a way to fit himself perfectly in Charlotte’s orderly little world. Seemingly without noticing, he had become such a vital part of her day, it became increasingly difficult to remember what life was like before their twice daily phone calls.
Each morning, as soon as she stepped from the door to the news station, she fired off a text letting him know she was headed home. If he wasn’t working, he immediately called her and they would chat for the entire ride home and through her routine of feeding Weasley and getting ready for bed. Then, she’d crawl into bed, and Trey would read from whatever book he had handy until she fell asleep.
Never in her life had Charlotte been so at ease with another person. Not even her parents, whom she tried to bother as little as possible. Or Kym, who Charlotte always felt like was much too cool to be friends with her.
While she slept, Trey would disconnect their call, but ring back when it was time for her to get ready for work. The one day he had even insisted on staying on the line while she showered. Never in all her life had Charlotte blushed so furiously as when her phone sat two feet away on the vanity while she washed herself under the hot, yet pathetically weak stream of water.
He claimed he’d gotten hard from just the idea of her being naked somewhere in the Pittsburgh City limits. Despite occasional innuendo filled comments, he never pushed for more. Never tried to initiate phone sex or pressured her to meet up face-to-face. Most of her was relieved that he seemed to instinctively know where her boundaries were. But a small part wanted him to push those same boundaries. She also worried that he perhaps didn’t really feel pulled to start something with her, and kept up their conversations over the next week simply because he felt bad for the poor pathetic girl he’d accidentally befriended.
Truth of the matter was, even if he only called out of a sense of obligation, Charlotte would take it. Their conversations had been some of the best of her life, even though they didn’t delve into anything too deep. They talked movies and books. Her love for everything fantasy, his for biographies of little known historical figures. They talked about his job, why he loved it, and why he wanted to someday be captain, maybe even chief. Trey talked about his family a lot. His family was big, him being the oldest of six kids, with foster kids also coming in and out of their custody over the years. His father was a preacher, his mother a librarian, and just the tone of his voice conveyed how deeply her respected them both.
For her part, Charlotte didn’t talk too much about her own family. She gave him the basics: immigrant parents, only child, no extended family nearby. But she only skimmed the surface of things with him.
Charlotte pulled into the parking lot, her stomach somersaulting over itself as Trey described to her the fire they had knocked down the night before. It had been an overturned tractor trailer carrying a shipment of microwave popcorn. His laugh filled the car as he told her about the kernels popping all over the road due to the heat of the fire which quickly overtook not only the cab of the truck, but the trailer too. Thankfully, the driver hadn’t been hurt, but the road had been shut down for hours while the mess got cleaned up. Tears collected at the corners of her eyes as she laughed her own much more subdued laugh.
“I’ll send you some pictures I took last night. They’ll be great for the kicker tonight.” It amused her to no end that he had started picking up some of her news lingo. She had taken to telling him about the kicker videos each day, which normally consisted of either cute animals, or news of the weird from around the country. He was right. The popcorn accident would go over great with viewers. “So, anything crazy happening today in the news world that you’ll have to deal with?”
“I don’t know. That is kind of what I like about news. Any day, things can happen that will send us all into a tizzy, scrambling to mobilize crews, or some days the best story is going to be an overturned truck carrying popcorn from the night before.” Charlotte leaned her head back against the headrest, stalling for every minute she could before having to hang up with Trey.
“Is this what you always wanted to do? Be an assignment editor?” Genuine interest filled his voice, and Charlotte reveled in the attention she didn’t normally receive.
“Not specifically. I knew I wanted to do something in journalism. I like fitting pieces together to make a story. I thought for a while I might be a video editor, but I saw the ad for an assignment editor and decided to just go for it.” The laughter from his popcorn story still lingered, and a little bit huffed out as she thought back on her disastrous interview with the former news director. “Actually, it is kind of a miracle I got this job. I bombed the interview. Could barely get two words out. But I guess because I was willing to work nights, for literal pennies, and the fact that the news director at the time was being investigated for corruption, I somehow squeaked in under the radar.”
“Well, obviously you were a good choice since you’ve been there for, what, three years, right?” When would it stop amazing her that he actually listened to what she said? And remembered too? Knowing one small comment about how long she had worked at her job in one of their other conversations had stuck, warmed something inside her. It made her want to curl up on her driver’s seat and bask in the glow of his attention for a while.
Somehow, the more they talked each day, the more Charlotte found herself wanting to share parts of herself with Trey. It made no sense. The idea of meeting him face to face made her break out in a sweat. Yet, she found herself offering up more and more information without him needing to push for it. “Actually, my boss, Michelle, offered me a promotion last week.”
“Really? That is amazing. Are you going to take it?” God, why had her own mother and father not been able to muster up as much enthusiasm for the news as Trey, a near stranger could?
“I don’t know. It is a big leap for me. The extra money and daylight hours would be nice I guess. But it is a big step outside what I’m used to. What if I take the job, and fail miserably? I couldn’t stand the idea of letting Michelle, or hell, the whole newsroom down.” The usual dread crept up her limbs, weighing them down and making it harder for her to shift her body.
“You can’t think like that.” Trey’s low steady voice seemed to lift some of the heaviness from her psyche, but not enough to make her breaths come any easier. “Listen, you can do anything. I know you can. The captain has this sign in his office that I always stare at when we’re having a
meeting. It says, ‘Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.’ Were you scared the first time you went to work?”
“Terrified. I threw up three times while getting ready.”
“But you still went, because you knew you had to. So you wouldn’t live with your parents for the rest of your life, so that you could support yourself. And maybe because something inside, under the fear, knew that doing this job was going to fill something inside of you.” Trey paused for a second, and Charlotte held her breath waiting to hear what he would say next. “The things you do despite the fear say more about the person you are then the fears themselves.” A loud burst of laughter from Trey broke the silent contemplation they had both lapsed into. “Damn, I sound like a self-help book.”
“No, you’re right. I always look at the things I don’t do because of being so afraid and anxious all the time. But I do a lot despite all that too.” A weird sense of pride took place of the near constant dread that had been there a moment before. She’d never thought of herself as someone who overcame her fears. Rather, she thought she laid down to them. But if that were true, she wouldn’t be working at WQUZ. She wouldn’t have a back full of beautiful artwork. She wouldn’t be talking on the phone with a sexy as hell fireman.
“Charlotte.” Her name on his lips sent arousal plummeting into her core, heating the space between her legs. “I know meeting me scares you. We live in a time when a person can literally swipe left on their phone and be having sex thirty minutes later. We’ve been talking on the phone for over a week, and I’ve yet to ask you out because I don’t want to scare you off. But I want to push you a little bit out of your comfort zone. Because I do want to meet you in person. Maybe even get to touch you someday. Would you think about letting me take you out on a date, please?”
That new found pride swiftly left, shame taking up residence instead. “I’m sorry, Trey, I know I’m a mess. I want to meet you too, but I have a feeling you will be disappointed in what you find when we do. I’m nothing special. But you’re this hero who saves people and poses shirtless in calendars for women to drool over.”
A low rumble rose up from the phone, almost like the growl of a wolf. “Never say you aren’t special again. In only a week, you’ve become so special to me. I look forward to hearing your voice more than anything else in my day. And I know, I know, that is only going to grow. I’m the oldest of six kids, Charlotte. I have endless amounts of patience, and I will wait longer if you need me to. Don’t answer now. Think about it.”
“I’ll think about it.”
***
For maybe the first time in the four years Charlotte had worked at WQUZ, it was too quiet. All night, she kept waiting for something to happen, someone to walk in the door and take her mind off the swirling thoughts Trey had stirred up. But the ten hours stretched on, with her tying herself into knots. Guilt, fear, hope, anxiety, they all mixed together to make her second guess every decision she had ever made.
By the time morning came, and with it the crew filtering in to start their shifts, Charlotte thought she might start crying at the first word someone said to her.
The door to the newsroom flung open, crash against the wall behind it. Charlotte had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts, the sudden noise almost made her fall from her chair.
“Mira, you know this is going to happen; just give in to it already.” Chris Noble came trailing in after his girlfriend, Mira, who looked just a little annoyed with her hotter than was fair to the human race boyfriend. “Don’t make me come home with a judge some night and trick you into marrying me. I tricked you into dating me; I’m not afraid to trick you into spending the rest of your life with me.”
Mira stopped dead in her tracks, rolled her eyes at Charlotte with a little wink at the end, then spun around so fast Chris didn’t have time to stop and plowed into her. “Chris, you don’t have to trick me into spending the rest of my life with you.” Just seeing the couple look at each other made Charlotte uncomfortable. Like she was intruding on something too intimate, despite the fact they were having this little argument out in the open for everyone to see. “I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we’ll be together well into old age. You getting me riled up still when we’re grey and stooped, just so we can have hot make-up sex.”
Chris chuckled, running his hands from her shoulders, down her back and gripping her hips. “Absolutely.”
“But I want to wait just a little longer before we get engaged, okay?”
“Okay.” Chris leaned in, giving her a kiss that made Charlotte blush uncontrollably. “But I’m still going to propose every day until you say yes. I just love seeing you get all worked up.”
“You’re impossible.”
Chris slapped Mira on the butt as he passed by, winking at Charlotte.
“Hey, hands to yourself in the workplace, buddy.” Michelle called out from her office, even though everyone knew she didn’t mean it. Her husband came in quite regularly to visit. Those ‘visits’ were the only time Michelle’s door ever got locked.
Mira climbed up the circular platform to the assignment desk, a genuine smile on her face that Charlotte kind of envied. “Hey sweetie, get any sleep today?”
Just the mention of sleep had Charlotte yawning widely. “Yeah, I slept for two hours in the break room last night while Cory covered the scanners.”
Charlotte focused on her screen, the long night behind her having made her exhausted and edgy. The thought of looking Mira in the eye and faking her way through another conversation felt like too much at that moment.
“Anything good overnight?” Mira lapsed into shop talk, somewhat letting Charlotte off the hook.
“Not really, a few trashcan and dumpster fires again, but still nothing I think we should be covering. This guy is definitely upping his game, but at this point, reporting on him would just fuel his obsession.” While trying to keep her mind occupied overnight, she had done a little research on fire bugs, and discovered that they sometimes see the product of their fires on media sites and get even more excited about their next attempt. That reason alone was enough to make Charlotte extra careful about how they approached the story. “Plus, as far as I can tell, no one else has connected the dots that we have a budding arsonist on our hands. So, I think it is safe to hold off for a while. My contact in the fire department is starting to worry that the frequency is getting higher, though.”
Mira tilted her head, taking in all the assignment editor had said. “Okay, sounds good. Let me know when we should roll with the story, though. Hey, since when do you have contacts in the fire department?”
Heat rushed Charlotte’s cheeks, and her eyes darted down to her fingers resting on the keyboard. “Ummm, just a couple of weeks, actually.”
Mira leaned forward, suddenly even more interested. “Oh really? And why would a contact make you light up like a Christmas tree, young lady? Is there something you aren’t telling me?”
“Yes.” The exhaustion and confusion Charlotte had been battling for weeks unleashed in the form of words spewing from her mouth like they never had before, seemingly not under any direction of hers. “His name is Trey. We started talking one night when he filled in at the dispatch center, but really, he’s a firefighter. But we’ve been talking almost every night since. And he isn’t even at the dispatch center anymore. I gave him my cell phone number. The only person that calls that number is my mother. And now him. And he wants to meet, but I have no idea what to do. I’ve never been on a date; I’m a freaking virgin, for God’s sake. And I’m freaking out, because I like him. A lot. More than is logical considering I’ve only ever heard his voice.”
Charlotte stopped the flow of words abruptly, slapping her hand over her mouth. Mira’s jaw fell in a shocked gape that Charlotte had never seen from the normally collected reporter.
Before she could stop them, tears swelling in Charlotte’s eyes, threatening to unleash in a storm of embarrassing sobs in the middle of the newsroom. “I can’t believe I told you all
that. Please don’t laugh at me.” Her voice warbled with emotion.
“Honey, why would I laugh at you?” Mira rolled her chair closer, placing a hand on Charlotte’s slim arm.
“Because I’m a twenty-four-year-old virgin with her first crush on a boy.”
Before Mira could respond, the scanners lining the ledge above them crackled to life.
“All fire units in zone seven please respond to the corner of Murray and Braddock Streets. Reports of a multi-structure fire with entrapment.” The dispatcher repeated the message twice more before the scanner went quiet again.
“Mira, that’s the location of one of the dumpster fires last night.” Charlotte snapped to attention, pulling up new windows on her screen. “Shit, that’s a low-income neighborhood with lots of row homes. If there are already multiple buildings involved, this could get bad.”
No further urging was required from Mira. She jumped to her feet, seamlessly transitioning into the badass news reporter she projected on a daily basis. Even through the chaos, Charlotte felt a pang of jealousy that her coworker could so completely embody that person in the span of mere seconds. “I saw Rufus loading up in the back. We’re on our way.” Clearing the two stairs to the main floor in one step, Mira raced across the newsroom. “Send me everything you have on the suspected firebug and the trash fires. I’ll call the fire marshal; you get a hold of your contact.”
Mira stopped, whirled around and took a giant step back towards Charlotte. “And this conversation isn’t over. Saturday night, girls’ night, we’re doing this. Deal with it.”