AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Uh, never mind," Max said in a turned-off tone.
"What?"
"She's seeing some guy, and she's trying to come over here and talk to AJ. I was mistaken about her. I didn't know she was that type of girl."
"She's not. She's not technically seeing that guy. She's just friends with him. They hang out and do rock climbing and stuff."
"Why are you so upset about it?" Max asked.
"I'm not upset about it."
"You looked upset when you were talking about that guy."
"I didn't mean to look upset," Charlie said shaking his head. "Hope's a friend. We were friends a long time ago, and we picked up where we left off."
"Is she seeing AJ or that other guy?"
"I don't know," Charlie said, feeling annoyed. "If she's seeing either of them, it's AJ, but I don't know. All I know is that he called her to see if she wanted to come over here tomorrow."
"And is she coming?" Max asked.
"Yeah, but she was probably planning on stopping by, anyway."
"Why are you trying to tell me you're not into this girl?" Max asked, pulling back to study his son.
"I'm not into her," Charlie said. "If you haven't noticed, I’m still in the middle of nowhere from everything that happened with Savannah."
"Well, just because you're in the middle of nowhere geographically doesn't mean you're in the middle of nowhere emotionally. I've been able to tell you're doing better, and I know she's the one who caused it."
"I'm not trying to deny that," Charlie said shaking his head.
He and his dad were in the kitchen, and Charlie suddenly sprawled and grabbed onto his dad, holding onto his arm and neck in such a way that he knew he wanted to engage in grappling. Max had done this move with his sons throughout their lives, and he fought back, just enough to engage with Charlie, both of them smiling.
"Oh, now you're trying to wrestle your old man? You're coming in here trying to tell me you're not in love, and then you want to wrestle?"
"I'm not in love," Charlie said, still engaging in a controlled arm and neck hold with his dad. He tossed him away, standing up straight and taking a deep breath.
"Well, you're certainly mentioning Paul's daughter a lot. Casey thought that's why you were still over here. He said you were just going to get married and stay here."
"Neither of y'all know what you're talking about. Hope and I are the furthest thing from dating. You can tell when a woman has feelings for you, and I can just tell that she doesn't. The other day, I made her a burrito, and she scarfed it down in about four bites and then burped really loud." Max laughed and Charlie shook his head, imagining other things Hope had done and said in the last few months. "She's with me all the time, but she isnotinterested. I'm telling you, she talks to me about other guys. She's open with me in a way that I can tell she's not trying to impress me at all."
"Plus, she's probably not smart enough for you," Max said. "I don't remember Paul's daughter being all that bright."
Max was baiting his son, but Charlie didn't even realize it. "What? You just said she was sharp when I told you about the flood. We had the whole conversation about her memory. She's bright. She's plenty bright. Brightness has nothing to do with the reason I’m… she's just… we're just friends."
"Okay," Max said, putting his hands up in surrender. "I won't say any more about it."
"She's notnotbright, though. Just so you know. She's really smart."
"She's notnotbright, got it," Max said.
"I just don't want you thinking that because she's really smart. She can remember anything. Eric too. They're both smart people."
Max shook his head, putting his hands into the air again. "Fine," he said. "They're both geniuses. Did Eric ever come back?"
Charlie shook his head. "He's still in Nashville with that girl."
Charlie continued talking to his dad about other things, but his mind kept wandering to Hope.Did he have feelings for her?Charlie thought it would be years before he was ready to love again. He thought he might never love again. He didn't think of loving Hope as an option. He didn't even think of loving anyone as an option. But he caught himself going back to her in his thoughts after his dad brought the whole thing up.
