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“What is his fucking problem?!”
“I don’t know what he wants with her, but this is starting to sound more of an attempt to badmouth Charlotte, and I don’t understand why.” Agatha’s tone is harsh. “Don’t worry, though. I put my own spin on that, painting him as a weak sniveling fool who couldn’t even hold on to one woman. This is not coming from your team or mine, by the way, it’s coming from another client I have. He was on the talk show after Erik, and I called him up to feed a few lines. I don’t suggest you and Charlotte make a public statement, but it’s time you two make a few appearances so that people know she’s not the skank Erik is trying to portray her as.”
The pen in my hand, that I had just picked up, snaps.
“I was thinking of taking Charlotte out to dinner today, but she didn’t seem very eager,” I mutter to my sister, still furious at Erik’s cowardice.
Agatha hisses, “Well, of course, she wouldn’t. You haven’t exactly taken her out on any sort of date. You just have her holed up in that godforsaken apartment of yours, doing God knows what.”
I blink at her burst of temper, and ask, “You okay, kid?” She sighs.
“Grams is breathing down my neck. She wants to know why she hasn’t been able to see Charlotte yet.”
“She cornered me as well a while back. It wasn’t pleasant.”
I hear a voice in the background and Agatha mutters something to someone, and then speaks to me again.
“Look, I’m serious about taking her out. You want to convince her you love her, which I know you do, by the way, you need to show her you’re not ashamed of taking her out in public. She’s a McCoy now, and hopefully she’ll stay one, if you don’t mess this up. I can bet you’ve just been working since we left.”
“That’s not true,” I try to lie, ineffectively, feeling the guilt mount up.
“Whatever, bro. I know. Don’t screw this up.”
Hearing the phone click as she hangs up on me, I wonder when I became so bad at dating. But Agatha is right; I need to take Charlotte out. I need to show her that I want her at my side.
“When are we leaving?” I hear the familiar voice ask, and when she comes out of my room, she wears a shirt and a pair of pants, making me realize that I haven’t even bothered to buy her a proper wardrobe. The clothes Agatha brought from her apartment are old, and I can tell that money was skimped on them. I pick up my wallet and keys, my mind made up.
“Now. We’re leaving now.”
So, pick up her stuff, and then take her out on a long, romantic date.
That sounds like a plan to me.
Two hours later, however, I watch Charlotte beam at her newly-adjusted kitchen.
“This looks gorgeous! Do you see this, Philip?!”
She is pointing to a huge round thing that is supposed to be an oven, I assume, but it looks weird. I can’t help but smile at her enthusiasm.
I have to admit, I have never seen her this excited over anything. And right now, as she runs her hands over this equipment, her eyes sparkling, I make up my mind to buy her any and every piece of baking equipment she wants, just to see her smile like this.
I glance at my watch.
“We need to hurry it up. Where are your books? I’ll go bring them down.”
“They’re under the bed. Blue bag.” She doesn’t even look at me. I leave her to her devices, making sure that her two bodyguards are outside, each guarding an entrance.
Making my way up the creaky staircase, I enter her dingy room, and try not to let the shabbiness get to me. My chest throbs at Charlotte’s tiny quarters, and it seems to me she’s spent her entire life in uninhabitable places, barely surviving.
A part of me decides then and there that, should she decide not to give me a chance, there is no way in hell that she will return to such a miserable existence. I am going to have a word with my lawyer about renting a fully-paid new apartment for her in a good neighborhood as a divorce clause.
I lean under the bed and drag out a bag. It’s been sewn up over and over again from the looks of it.
I don’t get it. I know she had no savings, but the bakery is making a steady income.
However, when I take out the books from the bag, I realize where her expenses are going. These belong to a very prestigious institute.
I amblown away by this woman.
