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“Seriously?” She sounds genuinely surprised. “You think they’re all more attractive than you?”
Does that mean she doesn’t? “The girls certainly did. They’d hang out and laugh and joke with me like they were interested. Then after a while there’d always be the inevitable ‘Does Connor have a girlfriend?’ Or ‘Has Walker broken up with so-and-so?’”
“Is that why you never liked going out to bars and clubs with them?”
“Partly. It’s not a whole lot of fun when someone seems to be enjoying your company but they’re off like a shot as soon as one of the others so much as flexes a bicep.” Charlotte giggles. “But also, I just don’t enjoy being in those loud, showy places. Watching a movie or playing a good game is much more fun.”
“You must have had some girlfriends, though?”
Oh Jesus. I never intended to get into this. But she’s been so open that she deserves the same honesty from me. And we are cocooned in the darkness of the generic hotel of secrets.
“Like you said, the first time anyone showed real interest in me was at MIT. And it”—I blow out a loud breath—“well, it might have gone to my head a bit.”
“Great Scott!” Her use of the exclamation from Back to the Future drips with sarcasm.
She lifts her head a little to peer at me. Her hair’s all flat on one side and needs to be pushed out of her face on the other. The strip of light catches the spark in her eyes and the curve of her mouth. “Don’t tell me the quiet, computery, time travel-loving nerd behaved in an ungentlemanly fashion?”
“He behaved like a total dick.” I shift uncomfortably and curl my arm over my head. “I’m not proud of myself at all. I drifted from girl to girl, like they were as disposable and plentiful as tissues.”
She drops back onto her pillow. “So, no long-term girlfriend? Ever?”
“When we first started the business, I met someone. She worked for the marketing company we used. Lasted about a year, then it fell apart because I was so focused on work and couldn’t spend enough time with her.”
“Sounds familiar,” Charlotte says, almost to herself.
Probably best if I leave out the part where a few weeks after it ended, I met the most amazing woman in Max’s office. It might have been the curve of her ass that first caught my attention, but when she turned around, it was the fire in her eyes and the smile on her lips that sealed the deal.
Those lips now part slightly as Charlotte breathes gently under the covers.
I adjust my legs to release the nerves running to my left foot, which is starting to tingle with pins and needles.
And it’s definitely time to change the subject. “Anyway. How’s Brody now?”
She emits a short, soft laugh. “Swimming in the warm Costa Rican waters on a turtle research project. He’s doing just fine.”
I always knew Charlotte is organized and has a work ethic that would put most people to shame, but in the bed that’s just inches away from me lies a powerhouse that leaves me in awe.
She could have gone to Notre Dame, had a blast, and gotten a degree. But instead, she forfeited her own future to stay home and make sure her brothers had one.
“And what about you? How are you doing now?” It’s more something I wonder out loud than a question for her.
She snuggles farther into the bed.
“I’m fine too.” But her tone says she’s trying to convince herself as much as me.
We lie in silence for a while, the only sound the hum of cars flying by on the highway.
It’s impossible to stop looking at her. At the form of her in the bed and the way her hair splays out on the pillow, but mainly at the tiny part of her face that’s illuminated. God knows how I’ll ever have the will to close my eyes and give up this beautiful sight.
Oh, to lie right next to her, pull her into my arms, and tell her just exactly what type of a remarkable human she is for putting her life on hold for others.
It explains a lot about why she’s so ambitious now. This is her chance to go out there and get what she wants for herself.
Something glistens on her cheek. I squint and just make out a tear.
My hand flies to my chest, which could not ache for her more.
The tear rolls through the shaft of light, across her nose, and drops onto the pillow. She sniffs and dabs at her eyes with the sheet.
