Alice looked like Christmas had been moved up a few weeks. “That was fast,” she said, almost to herself.
“Maybe even a record,” Bix said, his face creasing in dozens of wrinkles as he grinned.
“What was fast?” Flannery and Rem asked at the same time.
Their habit of speaking in unison was legendary among their friends, as if they were twins and could read the other’s mind. Rem looked at Flannery and felt his heart sink. “Jinx,” he said.
She didn’t answer. He’d gone too far. Her hurt was evident in the tightness of her mouth and the faint sheen in her eyes. Flannery didn’t yell when she got angry, she cried.
He was a coward. He’d wounded Flannery rather than confess that he didn’t want to live with her. He knew instinctively, before he had even considered the idea completely, that it would be his undoing.
If they were together any more than they already were, Flannery would know without a doubt that he felt more for her than just friendship. If he’d thought for a moment there was a chance for him, he would take it but Rem knew that Flannery was perfectly happy being his friend and nothing more. If she found out, it would become so awkward their friendship would fold under the pressure, and that was something he simply couldn’t bear
***
“I can’t believe it,” Charlie said, fairly skipping down the sidewalk. “It’s really happening. That place is like magic.”
“I’m not sure about this. They seemed pretty upset at each other. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them fight.” Austin had known Rem as long as he could remember. They’d played on the same Little league team, gone to the same camp in the summer, and dealt with the same bullies in school. They’re families celebrated together every Christmas, Easter, Mardi Gras, and All Saints Day. They’d had summer sleepovers at their grandparent’s house since they were old enough to sleep in a tent without getting scared. His cousin didn’t get rattled. The guy was one cool cucumber.
Some people had a good poker face, like his brother Gideon. They looked calm but underneath, they were seething with emotion. Rem was more like Tom, Austin’s other brother. The two oldest Becket men were opposites, and not just because they were adopted as older children. If their personalities were graphed, they’d be kitty corner, which made it even stranger that they were such good friends. Gideon was guarded, and Fr. Tom was open to the point of being gregarious.
Rem was like Tom: straightforward, easy-going, the guy everybody liked to be around. He meant what he said, and said what he meant, but always in the kindest way. They were quick witted but had a gentle nature. Seeing Rem fighting with Flannery had been one of the strangest things Austin had witnessed in years. It was completely out of character for him to be listing her faults like that, and in public, no less.
“I don’t know,” Austin said. “This could get messy.”
Charlie squeezed his hand. “Every road has a few potholes and we have to help them on their way to true love.”
“But I’ve just never seen them fight. Actually, I’ve never seen Rem really fight with anybody.”
“I see how you tactfully didn’t mention whether you’ve seen Flannery fight with anybody,” Charlie said.
“Alice says she’s fiery, but in a good way, like picante sauce.” He opened the umbrella and they stepped out from under the awning. “And she doesn’t go around picking fights. She just doesn’t.”
“I like Flannery. I always have. She’s like St. Catherine of Siena. She pulls no punches. It doesn’t matter who you are, she’ll tell you the truth. But she’s really kind, too. She certainly doesn’t go looking for an argument and I think that’s why Alice likes her,” Charlie said.
Austin wiped a raindrop from the end of his nose. “If she’s usually so calm, then fighting with Rem can’t be a good sign.”
“Mr. Psychologist, you should see this all clearer than anybody. Remember in Leviathan when Deryn starts fighting with Alek? It’s just like that. They were best friends before, but love makes people act all out of sorts.”
“No, I think they fought after Alek discovered she’d lied to him.”
She shrugged. “I remember some fighting before then. But love is a scary thing. You’re a student of the human mind and heart. And I’m telling you, they’re going to be together within the month. Maybe even sooner.”
Austin wished he was as good a psychologist as Charlie thought he was. People were almost always a mystery to him. Not a total mystery, but still a mystery. “I wouldn’t try to put a timeline on it, especially after a start like that. I agreed with you in the store just to tease Alice, but I’m not sure they’re going to have such an easy path back from that conversation. You can’t unsay a hurtful word.”
Charlie hopped off the curb, not even caring that she wasn’t under the umbrella. Her red Converse were soaked and she smiled back at him, rain drops clinging to her cheeks like tears. “My mama says you can hide the fire, but what are you gonna do about the smoke? I’m telling you, that fire is burning hot and we’re going to pass out from lack of oxygen.”
“Your mama might be right, but that was some pretty personal stuff. I can imagine what you could say about me. You know me real well, and you could give a long list of faults and shortcomings. There isn’t a man alive that likes to hear them all laid out like that.” Of course Charlie knew more about him than just his annoying faults and shortcomings. She knew his darkest secrets, things no one else knew. And she still loved him.
She slipped her arm through his. “Pshaw. You don’t have a single flaw. I’ve got my love goggles on.” She blinked at him as if she were short-sighted.
“Ah, ye olde rose-colored glasses.” He wished they existed. He’d buy her a pair for a wedding gift.
“Goggles,” she corrected him. “Specifically, World War Two-style flying goggles.”
“They’ll clash with your costume,” he said, just to make her laugh. Ever since the game she’d designed had released through Paul’s company, Charlie’s cosplay go-to costume was her archer heroine, her own creation. “But who cares if you match. I’d be most obliged if you never took them off.”
“Only if we buy a pair for you, too.”
“I don’t really need any,” he said. Even in the beginning when she treated him with suspicion and irritation, he could see her reasoning. When she begrudgingly worked with him on setting up a library at the juvenile justice center, he only saw a girl who didn’t want to get close to anyone. Not flawed, just wary. She’d once told him that she’d been so angry at what had happened to her that she only wanted to light the world on fire and dance in the flames. But as angry as she was then, Charlie was still kinder than most anyone he’d met, and the Charlie walking beside him now had fought back, reclaiming what had been taken from her. She was exuberant, energetic, passionate― she made him glad to be living the life he did, and downright ecstatic to get to live it with her.
He wished he had an ounce of her intuition. Austin felt a surge of dread as he remembered the phone message he’d received earlier that day. One of the teens he’d been counseling in the group home had been missing for two days. His parole officer had wanted to know if Austin had known where Perry Estes had gone. He hadn’t had a clue. Not even a glimmer. A kid he’d counseled for ten hours a week was missing and he didn’t know where to start looking. Now everyone wanted to know how he hadn’t seen it coming. He didn’t have an answer for them.
Charlie pulled him to a stop in front of The Red Hen. “Everything okay?”
“Why?”
“You had a funny expression just now.”
“Funnier than usual?” He was hedging and she knew it. “Just work,” he said, hoping she wouldn’t ask anything more. Charlie had met Perry several times when she’d come to bring new books for the justice center’s library and she’d loved talking to him about what he was reading. He didn’t know how to say he’d lost him. It wasn’t like losing his keys.
Austin wrapped his arms around her and said, “May I say
how beautiful you look today, my future wife.”
She turned her head and let her pale pink hair hide her face for a moment, but he could see how happy she was. Charlie wasn’t one for sappy declarations of love. She was the original gamer girl, tougher and brainier than most people would ever know. And underneath all the smarts and sass, there was a heart that loved with absolute loyalty. It was still incomprehensible that anyone could have thrown that away. The man who had broken Charlie’s heart before she’d met Austin would never know the treasure he’d given up. “I can’t wait to marry you.”
“You’re definitely in a funny mood,” she said softly. “You’re not getting cold feet are you? Are you overcompensating?”
“You’re trying to out-shrink the shrink.” He kissed her, then whispered in her ear. “You have to remember how my heart fell for you like a star. Nobody could have missed it, the way it lit up the sky.” he said. It was what he’d said to her the day he’d told her he loved her. It was a day very much like this one. Cold, rainy, the excitement of Christmas in the air. One of the best days of his life.
She said nothing, resting her hand on his heart, just as she had then.
He leaned back and looked her in the eyes. “Do you really think they belong together?”
She nodded. “I know you want to tell me sa te regard pas, but they’re our friends, and he’s your cousin, and we should never own more than we can carry at a dead run.”
That was Charlie. Creole and Heinlein in one sentence. And they both knew that the best things could never be carried. “For the record, I’d never tell you to mind your own business,” he said.
“You can sure try.” She stretched up and pressed her mouth to his, quick and soft. “Now let’s stop arguing about Rem and Flannery, and go get some lunch. I’m so hungry I could eat the south end of a north-bound―”
“No, I think it’s the north end of a south-bound… whatever you were going to say.”
She rolled her eyes. “You shouldn’t interrupt. Now you’ll never know.”
“Polecat?”
She opened the door to the Red Hen. “Not telling.”
“Goat?” he asked, following her inside. The restaurant was filled with the usual lunch time crowd seeking the best gumbo around.
“I’ll carry it to my grave.”
“Rooster. My aunt always says rooster.”
“I’ll never say it again. Making a vow right now. You’ll spend our whole married life wondering.”
“God willing, that’s gonna be a long, long time,” he said.
Chapter Six
“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”
― William Shakespeare
“What’s going to be a long, long time?” Roxie McBride asked from right inside the doorway of The Red Hen. She was wearing her curly hair twisted up in a bun and a yellow sweatshirt that read ‘Sunshine Bakery’ on the front.
Before Austin could answer, Charlie spoke for him.
“Our marriage,” Charlie said, giving her a hug. “Comment ca va, Cupcake?”
Austin would never call Roxie ‘Cupcake’. It was her childhood nickname and he knew she’d hated it for years. But for some reason Charlie could use it and Roxie didn’t mind a bit. Austin and the rest of Natchitoches was a different story. He’d simply resolved to trying to remember to use her real name whenever he saw her.
“Ca va bien,” she said. “We just had a craving for some good ol’ biscuits and gravy. And by we, I mean me.”
Roxie’s husband, Andy, waved from where he stood near the waiting area. Andy must have taken the day off work since he’d swapped a gray sweatshirt and jeans for his usual suit. Of course, when you were the Vice President of one of the biggest tech companies in the nation, you could really wear whatever you wanted, but Andy was from New York City and he always seemed a little overdressed for Natchitoches.
Andy’s older brother, Mark, sat on the bench with a can of Pringles. Mark’s rhythmic rocking signaled his slight distress at the noisy restaurant. He preferred the comfort of their house on Trudeau Street and the living room couch where he could watch familiar movies. Bix often worried out loud that taking care of Mark would put too much pressure on Roxie and Andy’s marriage, especially since Roxie’s grandmother had started to suffer from dementia and was living with them, too. It was a lot for a newlywed couple to juggle.
“So, nobody getting cold feet?” Roxie asked, fixing Austin with a look.
“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” he said. “I have no qualms marrying Charlie, but maybe everyone thinks she’s going to leave me at the altar. Maybe y’all are trying to get me to clue in to the danger approaching.”
Charlie snorted. “Always so dramatic.”
“Just a few days to go. You two nervous yet? How ‘bout you, Austin?” Andy asked as he walked up to them, Mark following along behind.
He made a “what did I tell you” gesture to the women.
“Not a bit.” Charlie smiled at Austin and took his hand, threading their fingers together. “But I may change my mind if Austin doesn’t help me fix up a certain couple.”
“Oh, no.” Roxie shook a finger. “No fixing. Natchitoches doesn’t need any more busybodies. Leave it to the old ladies. It always seems like such a great idea but then it turns out more Hamlet than Much Ado About Nothing.”
“I agree,” Andy said. “There are no real life Benedicts and Beatrices.”
“Not even, say, Remington Becket and Flannery Beaulieu?” Charlie asked.
Roxie and Andy wore matching expressions of surprise.
“Okay, they might be a little bit―”
“It’s possible, I guess, if they―”
Charlie laughed. “Color me surprised that you guys see it, too. And now that they’re renting the apartments together, it’s a slam dunk. Tell Austin to stop giving me the side-eye every time I mention them.”
“I just think it’s more complicated than simply falling in love.” Austin didn’t know why he needed to defend himself. Not wanting to interfere with Rem and Flannery’s lives made him seem greedy and petty. He wished the same happiness he felt for his friends, but he also knew too much about the human heart to think it was going to be a smooth road. “They’re not like us. They’ve been friends for a really long time.”
Andy raised an eyebrow. “I sure hope they’re not like us. When Roxie and I met, I was perfectly miserable living in Natchitoches and determined not to show it to anybody because I didn’t want to be rude. She was a dancing around on the corner in that foam cupcake suit and trying to keep her grandmother from burning down the bakery on a daily basis.”
“True. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. Then again, if they wanted to be together, wouldn’t they have started dating by now?” Roxie said thoughtfully.
“Exactly my point,” Austin said.
A harried looking waitress (()) rushed up and scanned the group. “Five? I’m afraid ya’ll might be waiting a while longer. We got a tour come through from LaFayette. Come to see the Christmas lights along the riverfront this weekend.”
“Oh, we’re not all together.” Roxie motioned toward Austin and Charlie. “Anything for two?”
“Yes, m’am. I think there are some stools at the counter, if that’s okay.”
“Y’all were here first―”
Andy refused to listen to Charlie’s protests and waved them toward the counter. “Go eat. Paul will be stalking your office, wondering where his best designer is.”
“I think he’s headed to the bookstore for lunch, but okay.” Charlie smiled at the compliment and followed the waitress. Andy was as much her boss as Paul, but he never took on that role. They both treated her more like a partner than an employee.
“That was nice of them,” Charlie said as they took their seats at the counter. “It was just like them to insister we get served first.”
The waitress filled their water glasses and said she w
ould be right back.
“Yep,” Austin agreed as soon as they were alone. “Bix says Andy’s got enough cash to burn a wet mule, but he never lets it go to his head.”
“Two wet mules, from what I hear,” Charlie said. “But money can’t buy happiness, can it?”
“True, and I know where you’re headed with this.” Austin didn’t want to argue about it, but trying to bring Flannery and Rem together promised zero point zero happiness for everyone involved if it went badly. They were two mature, intelligent adults. Surely they would know if they had feelings for each other. If they did, they’d say something. Nobody was keeping them apart.
Charlie smiled as the waitress returned. “It feels like a chicken pot pie kind of day,” she said, rubbing her hands together.
He ordered the same, mostly because nothing sounded good. He had no appetite, his stomach wrapped up in worry over Perry. Austin wondered if this was what parents felt when their kids were in trouble. The kid had been born into one of the worst family situations he’d ever heard of and been arrested a dozen times before he graduated middle school, but there was still a vulnerability in him. Austin knew he wasn’t completely lost yet. Not even close. He’d been sure that the kid had wanted to change. But now he’d dropped out of sight and Austin felt a cold whisper of doubt. He was supposed to provide stability and a safety net. He’d failed. Perry had slipped through the cracks on his watch.
After the waitress had walked away, Charlie leaned closer to Austin. “So, are you in, or are you out?” she whispered.
He’d just taken a sip of water and started to choke. “Was that a Humphrey Bogart impression?”
“No, it was an ‘undercover Charlie’ impression. I can do shifty eyes, too.” She gave an exaggerated squinty-eyed look. “So, are we gonna help these two wake up and smell the chickens, or what?”
He decided not to quibble over the unromantic phrase. “You’re not going to let this go.”
“No, sir.”
“Then I’ll help you. I just have a sinking feeling about getting involved, sha.”
Until Winter Comes Again: (An Inspirational Contemporary Romance) (Cane River Romance Book 6) Page 5