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One call from my mother to Linda, the woman who takes care of this place, had the place stocked with food. Of course, when my mother found out I was bringing a woman here, she was all too happy to have me skip Dad’s little bullshit dinner he had tonight. She’d asked me to call him, though. Said he was upset about our fight and mentioned to her how we all needed to sit down and talk.
I had no idea what he planned on talking about. Surely he wasn’t about to admit to my mother he cheated.
“Hey, you’re in deep thought. Everything okay?”
My gaze drifted over to Charlie. Damn did she even have a clue as to how stunning she was?
Not wanting her to know I was thinking of my cheating father, I forced a smile. “Yeah, I was thinking about Sedotto.”
She lifted her finger and waved it back and forth. “Nope, no thinking of work today. I declare today a work-free zone. I’ve already silenced my phone and hid it away in my bag. Today is just about us.”
My dick twitched in my sweats. “I like the way you think, Ms. Monroe.”
I saw my phone sitting on the counter. After sending a text to the managers, I put it on silent. “Anything happens, they can handle it. That’s what I pay them for.”
Her smile was brilliant. “We’re letting go this weekend.”
“That means no fucking fruit smoothie. It’s French toast.”
“With fruit on top!” she added with a sexy grin.
Rolling my eyes, I gave in. “Fine, with fruit on top.”
After breakfast, we both changed and headed into town. It was a short twenty-minute drive, but we spent the entire
day walking around all the shops. I’d forgotten how into antiques Charlie was and her love for old houses. She’d spent nearly an hour talking to a woman who had been outside her house watering her flowers. They talked about the old house the woman had bought with her husband and how they did all the remodeling themselves. After a tour of the whole house, we walked back to my truck, our fingers laced together and Charlie looking the most relaxed I’d seen her in years.
“Are you happy?” I asked.
She stopped and faced me. “Yes. I’m very happy. Thank you for bringing me here, I needed this.”
“Do you still want to buy old places and flip them? I remember you talking about that in college. Your grandfather did it before it was the cool thing to do.”
She giggled and gave a small shrug. “Pappy, my mother’s father. He made a fortune doing it. It’s something I’d still love to do, but with my job …”
Her beautiful smile faded and something else moved over her face. Regret? Sadness? Maybe even a bit of anger was there.
“Um, with my job it’s just hard to find the extra time.”
I wanted to press her for more.
“What about marriage and a family someday? Do you want those things?”
She stopped walking and turned to me. “W-what?”
The way her voice sounded so innocent, almost vulnerable.
“A family and a husband. Do you want that someday?”
Her chin quivered, and she dropped her gaze from mine when she answered. “Yes. I want both of those things.” Lifting her eyes, our gaze locked. “Very much so.”
This wasn’t a part of her little plan. I could see as clear as day that Charlie spoke from her heart.
“Do you … want those things?” she asked in a shy voice that surprised me. Charlie had always been so sure of everything. Vulnerability was not something she showed often, if ever.
Smiling, I took her hands in mine and squeezed them. “Yes, I want them both.”
I was expecting to see relief in her eyes, but it was the opposite. Her eyes filled with tears, and she pulled away from me. Her arms wrapped around her body as she turned away.
