They nodded in unison and that's when the idea hit her. Charlie knew what she needed to do to fix everything.
✦✧✦✧✦✧
Jules must have recognized the look on her face because she'd never seen him try to usher his mom out of the room so fast in his life. As soon as she was out and the door was shut, he turned to her and grabbed her arm.
"Okay, spill."
Charlie pointed toward the door, "What about the food?"
"Fuck the food. I see a plan brewing in your eyes."
She nodded slowly. She was still trying to work out the kinks in her plan, but she knew he'd be the perfect person to help fill in the blanks. "Not here. I don't want to risk your mom walking in on any part of this conversation."
Not hesitating for a second, he grabbed her hand and dragged her down the hall. "Then off we go to the fro-yo emporium. We need to feed the creature and soothe your hormones. I'm hungry, anyway."
She laughed but it sounded good to her.
"Let's take your truck. I'm almost out of gas and I don't have any money." He held his hand out for her keys.
Charlie swatted his hand away. "We're not taking my truck. I don't want him spotting it somewhere and then showing up. I'll buy you a tank of gas and I guess that means I'm buying the fro-yo, too?" She bore an amused grin.
He simply shrugged as they raced down the stairs toward the front door.
"Hold it. Where are you two off to?" Callie called from the living room. Charlie loved having Callie in her life again, but she was almost twenty. Even if it was something Jules was used to, having to answer to coming and goings at this age was annoying.
"Fro-yo. We'll be back later." He hollered over his shoulder not bothering to stop. Charlie waved her arm in the air and pulled the door closed behind her.
"Doesn't that get annoying?"
"She means well," he answered with a shrug pulling her toward her truck.
Charlie pulled her hand from his and walked to the passenger side of his car. "I'm serious, I'll buy your gas. Why didn't you tell your mom you needed gas money?"
He unlocked the doors with his key fob and they climbed in. "Because she's on me to get a job, but I don't really have a lot of time to get one."
There were a couple weeks left before school started and she knew he had a full course load, but there were plenty of people that worked to support themselves while they went to school. "Okay, so why don't you have time?"
He huffed and pulled out onto the road not liking the subject being on him. "Because, there's this photographer and he's a pretty big deal around here. He’s looking for an assistant-slash-intern, but it's not a paid position."
"And you want it?"
"Yeah, well, me and about a million other people. I've had a few interviews with him so far and he's seen some of my stuff. He says I have a lot of raw potential but I don't know what the hell I'm doing."
Charlie didn't like anyone talking shit to Jules except her. "Fuck him."
Glancing between her and the road, he bit his lip. "You don't get it, Charlie. That's a huge compliment coming from him. He's kind of a dick, yes, but what you don't get in the monetary sense, you get paid with experience. This could be huge for me, but my mom doesn't get it."
She hadn't seen him get this excited or passionate about something...well, ever. He'd always been there for her through everything and never asked for anything in return. He needed something she could easily give him. What was the point of having millions in the bank if she couldn't share it with one of the people she loved the most?
"Well, then it's handled. I'll get you a credit card for your gas and whatever else you need. That way, the bill comes to me and your mom will never know about it. Do you need a special camera or anything?"
The car nearly jerked to a stop, making them fly forward against their seatbelts. Jules looked at her with tears in his eyes. "Seriously? You'd do that for me?"
"Don't be stupid. You know I would. Now stop trying to kill us." She smiled and pointed toward the road and was thankful he had come to an abrupt stop on a residential street.
"Okay, but one question," he persisted as he accelerated a little too hard. The motion threw them back in their seats. "With all the credit card fraud these days, how am I going to use it if it's got your name on it?"
She thought about that for a moment and then smiled. Money talked and she knew her bank was ready to jump through any hoop she wanted at this point to keep her business. "You let me worry about that, but you better keep me in the loop about how everything goes with this dude and all of his shenanigans. Deal?"
A broad, genuine smile spread across his chiseled face. "Deal."
After they filled up at the gas station and filled their yogurt cups full of every desirable topping possible, they found a secluded table outside and sat down.
"So, what's this plan?" He took a bite of peanut butter frozen yogurt with a gummy worm hanging off his spoon.
Charlie stabbed at her toppings with her spoon, afraid to look up at him. "Remember how I found my grandparents a couple weeks ago?"
He frowned with a mouthful and replied, "Yeah. What does that have to do with any of this?"
"Well, I was thinking...what if they had another chance to get it right? What if I went to see them and Sam came with me? What if I tell him about my mom and all of her complications...and then tell him about the baby. Maybe he'd understand why I didn't tell him right away and maybe…." She paused to take a small bite of a strawberry. "Maybe he'll go with me to talk to them. Maybe they’d want another chance at being in this baby's life and to get to know me?"
"Wait—you haven’t told him about them? I thought you did that right after you found them and you called me about it."
A group of girls walked by, doing their best to get Jules' attention. They sat down at the table next to them, talking way too loud for Charlie's sanity. They were so barking up the wrong tree, but with the way he carried himself, no one would ever know. He still relished the attention, no matter whom he was getting it from.
She leaned toward him to draw his eyes back to her. "I was going to, but then I found out about you-know-what and everything went to shit."
"Okay. So when exactly are you planning on telling him about all of this?"
"I don't know. I don't even know how to bring up the part about me finding them. I mean, I've kind of explained about my mom, but never really went into detail about everything."
Jules took a heaping bite and looking like he was thinking things through. She wanted to come clean about everything but saying it aloud made her stomach roll and she suddenly felt sick. Charlie pushed her dessert across the table, no longer hungry.
"I got it," he replied as he licked his spoon clean. "Tell him about your grandparents first and how important it is for you to reconnect with them and how you want him there. Once he says yes, then you need to drop the baby bomb. He will be pissed, but it will give you the opportunity to explain everything about your mom and your reasoning why."
"All right. I guess that's what I'll do. Now, tell me more about this photographer and why I haven't heard anything about it before this."
Jules face lit up like the fourth of July as he dove into every detail about this guy and his work. She couldn't wait to see the pictures he'd been taking and knew as soon as she was done talking to Sam that night, she'd be researching cameras. Jules was going to have the best of the best to hone his craft. He'd never ask for it, and she was going to make sure he'd never have to.
✦✧✦✧✦✧
As soon as they returned to Jules' house, Charlie hopped in her truck and headed home. Thankfully, Joe wasn't home when she pulled in. Charlie was so lost in thought that she hadn't noticed Sam had pulled in the driveway behind her until she got out.
"Hey, can we talk?" he asked walking up to the door of her truck causing her to jump.
She whipped around to face him. The worry in his eyes stirred dread in the pit of her stomach. "Yeah, I was actually goin
g to call you in a few minutes."
His steps faltered and his brow creased as he braced himself against the side of her truck. "Is there something I should be worried about?"
Charlie shook her head and brought her eyes up to meet his. She felt even worse than she had before. It was obvious earlier he'd had an idea something was off but she had no idea it was bothering him that much. "No. There's just something I wanted to talk to you about, but I was planning on going for a swim first."
"Shit," he muttered, running his free hand through his hair.
She reached out and placed her hand over his chest. It always had a calming effect on him. "What's wrong, Sam?"
"If you need to swim before you talk to me, then it's worse than I thought. Are you planning of breaking things off with me? Because if you are, just spare me and do it now."
He knew her on a level she still couldn't comprehend. Of course, she needed to swim before she talked to him, because it was a big deal. Even so, was he out of his fucking mind?
Tears swelled in her eyes as the reality of the situation hit her. "What?"
"You are aren't you?"
"No! Why would you even think that? Because I need to swim…? God, Sam. If you want out, just say so, but don't put this on me." She pushed off his chest and stormed off toward the back door.
They never locked it and she was grateful. The last thing she wanted to do was fumble with her keys to get the door open and away from his dumb ass.
"Babe, I'm sorry," he hollered as he followed her. "Please don't walk away from me."
Her mood shifted from upset to pissed off quickly as she tossed her bag on the kitchen table and grabbed a knife out of the block sitting on the counter. Turning to face him, she pointed it at him. His eyes went wide as he noticed the knife and held his hands up in surrender. "Whoa, what the hell?"
"Look, I have a lot on my mind right now. I don't have time for games, Sam. I'm hormonal and I simply wanted to clear my head before we talked and I told you what was going on with me. I would have thought by now you would have learned your lesson about jumping to conclusions and making assumptions. So, no, I wasn't planning on breaking up with you. But if that's what you want, no one is making you stay so there's the fucking door." She stabbed the knife into the oak table top and stalked off toward her bedroom without another word. Sam just stood there with his mouth agape.
Charlie was pretty sure she'd just scared the shit out of him and she had the sudden urge to burst into tears. She hoped her slip of the tongue didn't catch his attention or he simply thought she was on her period.
Fuck these hormones.
She heard Sam's footsteps in the hallway but didn't care enough to acknowledge him. Her pool was the only thing she wanted to get to. It was her sanctuary in all the chaos and it was exactly where she needed to be.
"I'm sorry," he said as he leaned against her bathroom doorway and watched her change into her bathing suit.
"I don't want to fight and this is going to be hard enough for me to talk about without you." She turned away from him and closed her eyes willing herself not to cry. "Jumping to conclusions is not going to help anything."
"I know. It just makes me crazy that something's wrong and you need to work through it before you feel like you can come to me."
Charlie closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his waist. "It's just my process, I'm sorry. Jules, helps me get out of my own way first and then I swim."
His body stiffened like it always did when he was annoyed about something. She pulled away and looked up at him. "What?"
Sam shook his head and commented, "Nothing."
"Well, it's obviously something." She crossed her arms over her chest, She was starting to get annoyed herself.
"I guess it just bothers me that you need to discuss things with Jules before you can with me...that he's your go to guy and I'm not. I feel like I should be."
The way he shrugged and seemed more hurt than annoyed broke her heart. She knew what he meant but didn't know how to fix it. It was the same argument Jules had about her going to Sam instead of him. She couldn't win. No matter what, one of them was always going to want more from her and the other one was going to feel left out.
"I know," she answered and dropped her eyes to the floor. What the hell was she going to tell him? That he was right? He should be the one she ran to but she was afraid he wouldn't understand and Jules did? There wasn't a right answer, so she did the only thing she could think to do. She kissed him. Soft at first and then a little deeper. Sam groaned and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her firmly against his chest.
It was easy to get lost in their kiss and forget all her worries, but Charlie knew she had a lot to tell him and it was time to come clean. After breaking the kiss, she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the stairs.
He followed her out to the pool without another word. The water danced in the sunlight and she didn't hesitate for a moment to dive into it. When she surfaced, Sam was stripping down to his boxer briefs and she couldn't help but smile. Seeing his body would never get old. The light dusting of hair on his broad, firm chest and the way his chiseled abs dipped into that 'v' she loved made her mouth water.
"See something you like?" he asked with a devilish smile that showed off his dimples.
"Maybe. Why don't you come in here and find out."
"Oh, I intend to," he said as he jumped in right for her. Charlie squealed and tried to her best to get out of his grasp but he caught her as he came up for air. "Where do you think you're going?"
"To swim?" She batted her eyelashes at him and tried to pull away again, but his grip only tightened squishing her to his bare chest.
"Nuh-uh. You got some 'splainin to do." He placed a kiss on her forehead and cupped her face with both hands. Her nerves went on high alert and every part of her body wanted to fight against what she was about to do, but it was necessary. He needed to know…he deserved to know.
Charlie slid out of his grasp and treaded water a few feet from him. She felt as if she needed space or she would suffocate. "Do you remember that conversation we had about my grandparents a while back?"
Sam watched her with confusion and curiosity. "Yeah?"
"Well, I did a lot of research a couple of weeks ago and I found them."
He still didn't seem to know where the conversation was going because the look on his face didn't change. "A few weeks ago? Why didn't you tell me before? I would have helped you look, ya know." His brow creased a bit further and she could tell he was disappointed.
This is gonna be bad.
"I, uh…." she stammered trying to decide if she was going to just come clean about finding out she was pregnant and that messed up her plan about telling him about her grandparents but that wasn't part of her plan in telling him now. No, stick with the plan, Charlie. "Callie was kind of mad I wanted to look for them and then Jules got pissed when I found them and I told him I didn't want him to go with me to meet them."
His face brightened a bit, "Why's that?"
"Well, I told him I wanted to see if maybe you'd go with me to meet them. I want to see if enough time has passed that their bad blood with my dad is over and if they'd want to try to have a relationship with me before it's too late." She shrugged, as she knew she only offered him a partial truth. Baby steps first; she was getting to the rest.
Sam swam over to her and pulled her back into his arms, "Of course I'll go with you, babe. Is that what all this is over? You didn't think I'd go, or are you nervous about meeting them? Is it Jules?"
He said yes. Thank God.
"All of it, really. The biggest part is you and Jules. You guys have this pissing contest going on and I keep getting caught up in the middle. He's my best friend, Sam. I love him like my brother and he's always been there for me, so it's hard to not go to him for things. He's always been my voice of reason and my biggest cheerleader. So, when I started doing everything with you, he felt betrayed like I replaced him as soon as he
got me back. Then you get the same way and get all pissy and I don't know what to do."
He gave her a swift kiss behind her ear. "I'm sorry, babe. I never thought about what kind of position that put you in. I'm sure it's hard on you. I just don't know where I'm supposed to fit into your life sometimes."
Gazing up into his eyes, she placed his hand over her heart right over her scar. "Right here." He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist instantly as he pulled her bottom lip into his mouth. The rest of their talk was going to have to wait.
✦✧✦✧✦✧
Later that night Charlie woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat from a horrible dream. She was all alone, searching frantically for her family, for Sam as she was being rolled into surgery. But no one was there. No one cared. They were tired of being lied to and forced to put up with her medical drama.
She sat up and held her chest while she tried to calm her frazzled nerves. She wanted to tell Sam everything and she knew she should but the more she thought about her dream -the more she realized she couldn’t. Losing him wasn’t worth the risk because she knew he’d walk away if he found out she’d confided in Jules instead of him, once again. She needed an escape and the only thing that seemed logical at the time was to take the trip to see her grandparents on her own. If he went with her, she’d be forced to tell him the truth and he’d be done with her for sure.
CHAPTER SEVEN
She wasn't really sure what to expect when she pulled up in front of the estate that her GPS had taken her to. Over the last month, she'd played the scenario out in her head at least a million times but in the end, they were always happy she'd sought them out. Charlie paused at the end of the half circle driveway. Her heart double thumped in her chest as sweat beads formed on her forehead. Nervous couldn't begin to describe how she felt. Even so, she let out a deep breath, pulled into the driveway, and parked her truck at the furthest end.
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