“I want to hear your explanation. I think I’m owed that much.”
I swallow before I answer. “You’re right. I realized I had feelings for you years ago. Big feelings. I didn’t know what to do with them. I was scared that if I acted on them, you wouldn’t reciprocate, and it would ruin our friendship. You’re my stability.” I steady my stance now and push off the car. “I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you,so I decided that if having you as my best friend was the best I could get, then so be it. I’d deal with it. And it worked for a while.”
He nods slowly to get me to continue. “Until I got together with someone else,” he finishes.
“I thought lying about it would keep the peace. Keep you in my life if things got serious between you and some other woman.”
“Beth Ann, I’ll always be in your life.” Charlie smiles. “You can’t get rid of me. You should know that by now.”
“I know,” I say, smiling slightly. I glance down at our connected hands. “I just get anxious sometimes.”
Thunder claps in the distance and we both glance up at the darkening sky.
"Losing Caroline and everything going on with Thea, and hell, even Judith has been on me about it. It’s just all shown me that life really is short and that I truly do love you. Look, Charlie, you’ve been my best friend since college. You are one of the most important people in my life. I don’t want to do anything that jeopardizes that. I don’t think I could survive without you.”
“That will never happen,” he mutters as he reaches up and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “Besides, it was never going to work out with someone else.”
“Why’s that?” I ask. I look up to meet his gaze, and our eyes lock.
“Because I love you, too, Beth Ann.”
Relief washes over me at the sound of those words and for a moment, I don’t believe I’ve heard him correctly.
My heart flutters in my chest and I can’t stop the smile that starts spreading across my face. For so long, I’ve wanted to hear those words hang from his lips, to know that my feelings are reciprocated.
“It was never going to work with anyone else, because it’s always been you. Even though you’ve been stubborn enough to not let me love you all these years. Won’t you let me?”
The sky above us starts weeping. Raindrops plummet to the ground, splattering all around. I feel my hair start to dampen and droplets cling to my eyelashes.
“I’m scared, Charlie,” I say.
“Scared of what?” he pleads. “Let yourself be happy.”
“What if it doesn’t work out?” My voice is small. “I’m not sure we could survive going back to just being friends.”
“But what if it does?” He grips my hand tighter now. “I have looked for fragments of you in every woman I’ve dated since I met you. I’ve loved you for over three decades. Let me.”
I open my mouth for a rebuttal but then his lips are on mine and the line that’s separated us for thirty-five years dissolves in the rain splattering around us. My heart is in my throat and I feel like I’m going to combust now that these emotions are out in the open. We pull apart, staring at each other with hungry expressions as the rain continues to fall.
“I love you,” he repeats. The words hang heavily in the air, unable to be retrieved. “And I’m sorry that it took me this long to say it.”
He leans his forehead against mine as I laugh, tears of joy spilling over my eyes.
“I think we owe it to ourselves to give it a shot and see this through, don’t you? What we could make of this,” he pulls away and motions between us, “of us.” Gently, he reaches for my face and his thumbs wipe away my tears.
“I’m sorry for lying to you,” I whisper.
“I understand why you did.” The radio on his hip goes off, startling me.
“Meet me at Regiano’s tonight at eight, if you’re committed to giving us a chance. I’ll be there. Will you?”
I nod, unable to speak.
He leans forward and gently presses his lips to my forehead. He gives my forearms a comforting squeeze before he opens his car door and gets back in the car. I give him a little wave as I watch him flip the police lights on and drive away.
My fingertips graze my lips, still tingling from Charlie’s kiss. I feel like a teenager again, excited about tonight and relieved that it didn’t blow up in my face.
I wipe at my eyes and blink a few times before I get back in my car. I lean my head back, gripping the steering wheel with both hands while I wait for Thea. My mind is whirling, replaying what just happened, but I’m doing my best to focus on one thing.
