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I laughed. "You don't look homeless," I said, drawing out the word as I tried to think of a better one to describe him.
He chuckled as he stepped away from me. He looked thin. I took in his lean frame, thinking he had lost a little weight since the last time I saw him.
"You literally screamed out of fear when you saw me, and I wasn't even trying to scare you. I just walked up."
"I did think you were bigfoot at first, but that had nothing to do with how you look."
He laughed, which was what I was hoping for. I reached out and absentmindedly grabbed a branch tearing off a leaf so that I would have something to do with my hands.
I was no longer attracted to Charlie like I used to be, those feelings had turned off the minute I found out he was married. But I still got nervous from running into someone in the woods.
"I'm sure I look terrible," he said. "Which makes it hilarious what you said about Casey."
"Casey's handsome," I said. "Don't you dare tell him I tried to say otherwise."
"It does feel like you were trying to roast him a little bit, comparing him to me in the state I'm in," he said.
I shook my head at him. "You're roasting yourself right now," I said.
Charlie let out an absentminded laugh as he swiped at a branch. "I haven't looked in a mirror in months," he said.
"Why not?" I asked.
I had not planned on pretending to be oblivious. That was just what came out of my mouth in the moment.
"Because my wife died," he said, being brutally honest.
"Yeah, I heard about that," I returned. "And I'm so sorry. I didn't know if I should mention it."
"I bought the ticket," he said.
"What?"
"The ticket. Her ticket. The whole trip. She couldn't have afforded to go without me. I paid for that ticket. I bought it for her."
I glanced at him. "Yeah, but she wanted to go," I said. "It's not like you put a gun to her head. She wanted to go. She was talking about it when I was over here. You can't put that on yourself. What if you bought her a car and she got into an accident while driving it? Would you be blaming yourself for that?"
"Maybe. Probably. I don't know. I haven't thought about that. This is a little different. I surprised her with the trip. She mentioned it to me, but she didn't think she could go, and I surprised her with the ticket."
I stared at him. We were mostly in the shade, but some sunlight filtered through the canopy of trees. I took him in. He didn't seem dirty, but he smelled like he'd been out there working all morning, his clothes were wrinkled, and he hadn't shaved in a long time. The whole thing seemed like Charlie's twin brother, the wild man, who had been out there in the woods.
"Where do you sleep?" I asked at the thought.
"What do you mean, where do I sleep?"
"Where are you staying?" I said, backpedaling. "I mean, where, how long are you staying here? How long have you been in Arkansas?"
He grinned at me. He didn't grow a ton of facial hair, and his beard was patchy, but I stared at the hair that lined his jaw.
"You have a beard," I said.
He rubbed his jaw.
"How long are you in town?" I asked.
"I've been here for five months."
"Five months? What?"
