“I’d like to fix that, but I can’t if you do a runner.”
I snapped back to the present at the sound of Charlie’s voice.
“Thank you for coming, Jules,” he whispered into my ear. “I’ve missed you.”
“Of course.” I pulled back so I could study his face. “Good to see you, Charlie.”
His eyes were tired, but his smile reached them. “It’s so good to see you.”
He held me at arm’s length and studied me. “You look as stunning as always.”
He made me feel warm all over. There was no doubt he was a good-looking guy and we got along famously. Perhaps if I’d never met Leo, things could have been different between us. But I had met Leo, and I had fallen so far in love with him, there was no coming back. I could definitely be Charlie’s friend though, especially if things worked out with Sia and his brother.
“You hungry?” He put his arm around my shoulder and kissed the top of my head. My body tensed. I tried to fight the instinct, but it felt too intimate. “I’m starving.”
“I’m happy to see you too, Charlie, but you know nothing has changed, right?” I stopped walking to make sure he looked at me. He dropped his arm and I didn’t like his reaction.
“So you sorted things out with Leo, then?” He was definitely trying to sound casual.
“I’d rather not talk about Leo with you.” I scrunched up my nose.
“Let’s go inside.” I felt his hand on my lower back as he held the door open for me with the other. He was always the gentleman.
We ordered at the counter then found a free table at the back. I loved this café. It offered wall space to local artists to sell their work. I’d bought a number of them for gifts and for myself. This month, the wall was covered in framed photos, drawings and paintings of frogs. Small bronze frog sculptures were displayed on the counter next to a small sign stating ‘Frogs For Sale’. There was no way I was going to be able to resist buying a few. All the other walls were bookshelves full of second-hand books and various forms of book art.
“Books always remind me of you.”
I nodded, smiling. “You make me sound like a book nerd.”
Charlie laughed. “Don’t worry. Skydiving and canyoning also remind me of you.”
“Phew.” I chuckled. Charlie and Matt had met us every weekend wherever we were in Europe. Fortunately, Matt and Sia always wanted to do the same thing, which usually involved bars, dancing and public displays of affection while Charlie and I shared a love for adrenaline.
“Do you think about our adventures a lot?” he asked.
“Of course I do.”
“If you’d stayed, that could’ve been our life.”
“I was on holidays, Charlie. That wasn’t real life.” I pointed my finger down on the table. “This is my real life, right here in Melbourne with my crazy family and complicated love life.” I bit my lip, wishing I hadn’t said that last bit.
“Why is it complicated?”
“Nothing. I shouldn’t have said that.”
The café owner arrived with my coffee and Charlie’s Pepsi Max. “Here you go. I’ll be back with your tomato soup in a minute, Jules.”
“Thank you, Sammie.” I smiled, grateful for the interruption. “Hey. I love the froggy art.”
She laughed. “Me too. The artist is obsessed by the little buggers.” She glanced at the wall covered in frogs and shook her head. “They’re getting a pretty good reaction.”
“It ain’t easy being green, you know.”
“Thanks, Kermit.” She was still chuckling as she returned to the counter.
She left us to it and I turned back to Charlie who was smiling broadly.
“What?”
“Nothing.” He continued smiling. “I’m just happy to be sitting here with you.”
Sammie placed a bowl of steaming tomato soup with a crusty roll in front of me and a steak sandwich in front of Charlie. It smelled delicious.
“How did your meeting with my father go?” I asked, changing the subject. I lifted a spoonful of the soup to my mouth and blew on it gently.
“Good. We’re looking at some property investments here in Melbourne and his firm is the best to take care of the legal side of things.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He broke eye contact briefly before returning my questioning gaze. “I was worried you’d be angry.” He rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand. “I couldn’t just let you go, Jules. I had the most incredible time with you, and then you just leave as if it was the easiest thing in the world.”
“I loved the time we had together, but you knew it was never going to be more than friendship and that I was coming home to the man I was in love with. I was honest with you.”
He ran his hands through his hair and let out a long breath.
“You showing up here and hiring my father,” I continued. “It all felt a bit manipulative, to be honest.”
Just then my phone rang and I looked down to see Dad’s name on the screen. I gave Charlie an apologetic look.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Juliette. How are you?”
“Fine, thanks. What’s up?”
“Charlie’s not answering his phone and I need him to come back briefly. I have something he needs to sign.”
“How did you know I’d be having lunch with him?”
“He told me. Don’t be so paranoid, Juliette.”
I glanced at Charlie, who was looking at me curiously.
“Fine. Is that all?”
“I know last night was a lot to take on, but I think things are going to get better now. Your mother is trying really hard. She’s worried she’s lost you.”
I put my hand over my phone and turned to Charlie. “Sorry about this.”
He shook his head and waved me off.
“Is she okay at home alone?”
“Jean’s there. She’s fine.”
She could no longer control my life, but I would always be concerned for her wellbeing. She was damaged and I would continue to support her.
I said goodbye to Dad and hung up. “Dad needs your signature on something.”
“Are you okay? You looked troubled by that conversation.”
“It’s my mother.”
“Is she doing better?” I had mentioned her as being one of the major reasons I had left Melbourne when the four of us were travelling through France. I just hadn’t given any details.
“Sort of.” I sighed. “It’s a long story.”
“Well I’m all ears if you want to unload.” He reached across the table and placed his hand over mine. “I want to be here for you, Jules.”
“That’s not necessary, Charlie.”
“I hate that you seem so nervous around me now.”
“I told you from the start we could only be friends. My heart belongs to someone else.”
“You can’t deny this.” He waved his hand between us. “I’ve never felt anything like it before and I’m not giving up without proving I’m all in if you’ll have me. I can give you everything and I can take you away from the drama that seems to surround you here.”
“The drama is temporary and it’s going to get better.”
“Don’t you ever think sometimes that when something is too hard, it isn’t meant to be?”
“Don’t you ever think the best things in life are worth fighting for?” I quipped.
“You just seemed so different in Europe.”
“Different how?”
“Lighter, maybe. You are still the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen in my life, but you appear to have the weight of the world on your shoulders here. In Europe, away from your family and your life here, you were so carefree.”
“I was on holidays, Charlie. Of course I was lighter, but holidays aren’t real life. I have responsibilities here. My mother still needs me and I’m in love with someone else.”
He looked at the ceiling, and when he faced me again, he appeared angry. “On one of our las
t nights together before you left, you told me about how you were done being at your parents’ beck and call and were going to get on with your own life as an independent woman.”
“I am,” I spat back with more venom than I meant. “I am trying to get on with my life, but I still love my parents.” I felt tears welling in my eyes. “They are still my parents.”
I was done with this conversation. I needed to get out of there. Leaving enough cash to cover both our meals on the table, I waved to Sammie then walked out the door.
Charlie followed me out onto the footpath and immediately pulled me into a hug. Despite wanting to push him away, I enjoyed being in his arms, but it felt wrong. I pushed him away.
“I’m sorry, Jules. I didn’t mean to upset you.” He held my face in his hands and kissed my cheek. “I hate seeing you sad. I’m just trying to find a way to make you happy.”
“No. You’re trying to find a way to make me choose you.” I shuffled out of his hold and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Jules.” His soft tone made my heart skip a beat. “I actually had a proposition for you, but you never gave me a chance to tell you about it.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You asking me to marry you?” I smirked, but when his expression remained serious, I froze. He appeared offended by my joke. “What is it, Charlie?” I half smiled.
He exhaled and ran his hands through his hair. “I’m not asking you to marry me, Jules, although I don’t find the idea quite as funny as you obviously do.”
If I hadn’t already known he wanted more than friendship, I knew right then. It was written all over his face from the hurt eyes to the furrowed brow.
“I have a job offer for you.”
Taken aback, I must’ve looked like a deer in headlights. “What? Where? Why? What?” I stuttered.
“Can we go for a walk? All I ask is that you keep an open mind before you shoot me down with all the reasons you can’t possibly leave Melbourne.” He waited ‘til I faced him. “Okay?”
Reluctantly, I nodded my head, but my brain was already in firing squad mode—I was locked and loaded. He was obviously nervous about what he was about to propose, and I couldn’t help feeling flattered that this incredible guy thought so highly of me. This beautiful, normal, stable guy.
“So you know I run the family office, right? Matt and I manage the Quinn family wealth overseeing the global investments and trusts.”
“Yes. I know what a family office is, Charlie. My boss’s best client runs the family office for one of Melbourne’s wealthiest families.”
“Right. Of course. Well we’d like you to join us as the Sydney office manager.”
I was flattered and knew it would be a big step up from what I was currently doing, but there was no way I’d be accepting it. Firing squad at the ready. “Thank you so much for the offer, Charlie, but—”
He cut me off. “I think you’d be perfect. There’ll be plenty of travel involved, and it would really help us out to not have to go through the hiring process.”
“I’m not leaving, Charlie.”
“If you are happy in your job and your life here, just tell me you’re not interested.”
I glanced at him quickly to catch his smug look. “I’m not leaving.”
Charlie moved into my personal space, and for a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me. Instead, he brushed the loose strands of my hair off my face and looked in my eyes. “I think about you all the time. I’ve thought of little else since you left.” His hands were moving up and down my arms and I cursed my traitorous body.
I stepped back so his arms dropped to his sides.
“I have to go back to work now, Charlie. Thank you for the offer, but the life I want is here.”
“I don’t believe you,” he said.
I shrugged. “You don’t have to.”
“I think we were meant to meet in Dublin and there is more than friendship here.”
“I’m sorry. It’s been a really big year and the last thing I need is a friend who isn’t really a friend.”
“What are you running from, Juliette?” Charlie’s whispered voice was soothing and heartbreaking.
I squeezed my eyes shut even tighter and shook my head. Taking a deep breath, I relaxed my face and opened my eyes. I was met with a concerned yet warm expression. “I’m not running.” The corners of my mouth twitched, unsure whether to smile or frown. “When I met you, I was running. I came home to fight for the life I want.”
He moved in front of me and held my face with both his hands. “You don’t have to fight for me, Jules. I can make you happy.”
My eyes widened as he moved his face towards mine in slow motion. When I felt his lips on mine, I was startled by his audacity. It was intimate. It was wrong and I pushed him hard against his chest.
“I’m with Leo.” Tears welled in my eyes. “I’m in love with Leo.”
He ran his hands through his hair. “I know.” He shook his head. “But where was he when you spent months overseas, and where is he now?”
“You shouldn’t have kissed me.” I didn’t want to consider that I had kissed him back even for a split second or that his lips had felt nice against mine. He was safe, and a part of me wanted safe. But the bigger part of me wanted Leo.
“I’m not sure I should be telling you this.”
“Then don’t,” I whispered, pleading him with words and my eyes to stop.
“I don’t think I took in a single thing at The Book of Kells other than the fact you twirl a lock of your hair when you seem nervous, you have a freckle right at the edge of your lip that I wanted to touch, your navy eyes sparkle when you see something you are excited about and your nose twitches ever so slightly when you are thinking carefully about something.” He barely drew breath as he continued. “For those following six weeks, I could barely stand to be apart from you. I moved meetings, rescheduled trips and pretty much threw my whole life into chaos to get any snippet of time you were willing to offer me.” His eyes seared me with their intensity. “Tell me you didn’t feel it too.”
When he stopped speaking, I exhaled. I’d been holding my breath for too long and was light headed. “I think you should go.”
“That’s all you have to say?”
I chewed my lip, unsure how I actually felt about his speech. “I’m in love with someone else.” I hated witnessing the pain in his eyes, but his feelings were unrequited. “I’m so sorry, Charlie.”
“That someone let you go. If you were mine, I would never let you go.”
“I left him to go overseas. He let me go because I gave him no choice.” I looked into his pain-filled eyes. “We are friends, Charlie. There will never be anything more. If I’d met you before I met the love of my life, maybe I could have had a future with you. But it’s too late. My heart is taken, and even if it doesn’t work out with Leo, my heart will always belong to him.”
“So I imagined it all?”
“I didn’t lead you on. I was upfront from the beginning.”
I kissed him on the cheek, said goodbye to one of the best guys I’d ever known and walked away.
I half walked, half jogged away with my arms still wrapped around myself. It occurred to me that whilst I had fought against my mother’s tight hold on my life, it had given me some kind of anchor, even if I had constantly been pulling away from it and part of me had relied on its security. I would never go back to that, but it was unreasonable to think I could transition smoothly away from her stronghold. I had to learn to do what was right for me.
When I got back to the office, I collapsed into my chair and sighed, a loud exhale that came from the pit of my stomach.
Heath waltzed out of his office and stood at my desk. “Oh good. You’re back.”
“Yep,” I confirmed, slumping farther into my chair. “I’m back.” I couldn’t hide the complete disillusionment I was feeling.
He dropped a piece of paper on my desk. “I need you to fill in five account opening forms in these entities.
” No please and no thank you. He wasn’t necessarily rude. He just didn’t waste time with pleasantries when he was focused and busy. Come to think of it, he was rude. Arsehole, I thought to myself, scowling. “Mr Voss called while you were out and is in the city.” He was already halfway back to his office. “He’s going to come up to sign the forms. Oh, and can you arrange for some afternoon tea in one of the meeting rooms?”
I groaned when he disappeared into his office. I was done.
I turned to my computer and opened a blank Word document, ready to compose my resignation letter. I didn’t want Charlie’s job, but I didn’t want this one either.
Chapter Twenty
Leo
I headed home to change then rode my bike out to Lilydale to see Nick. If I’d taken anything from the past week and particularly the weekend in Perth, it was that I needed to get my shit together. Coming face to face with my mother had sent me into a tailspin. Nick and Juliette had been there to break my fall, but that was never going to happen again. I didn’t take others down with me.
“Hey, Leo,” Nick called out from across the other side of the club when I entered through the large heavy doors.
I sauntered over to him, skirting the boxing ring. Flashes of Jules in there a few months back made my chest swell with pride. She had been incredible, and the regret at not being able to celebrate with her afterwards still stung. That wasn’t going to happen again.
“Hey, Nick,” I said, stopping next to him. “Whatcha doin’?”
“Boxing for fitness class just finished,” he replied, packing away the last of the equipment. “I imagine all the mums are headed to Bea’s café for their post-class caffeine hit right about now.”
“I wanted to talk about your offer.”
He straightened up. “Oh yeah.”
“It’s really generous of you, considering my dick move in Perth.”
“Well, I’m a schmuck. What can I say?” He shrugged, smiling. “Are you gonna accept or not?”
“I am,” I confirmed. “I want this.”
Nick nodded and slapped me on the back. “We’re gonna take it all the way, you and me,” he said. “I’m in the middle of scheduling, so we can start next week.”
Impact (The Fight for Life #2) Page 12