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“I know! It’s incredible!” She walked to the dresser and pulled out clean clothes. “We have to go tell Hammer!”
“Ah-ah,” her father said slowly, waving his finger.
Charlie froze and threw her arms up in exasperation. “Dad, what is going on?”
Her father sighed and looked at the floor. “Hammer is a good man, Charlie.”
“Oh God, here we go,” Charlie said, annoyed, sitting back in the desk chair.
“I mean it, Charlie, he’s a good man. I like him.”
Charlie sighed, crossing her arms. “I know, Dad.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes,” she said mockingly. “I do.”
“And what do you think of him?”
Charlie threw her clothes on the dresser and began pacing around the room, staring at the cream wallpaper with golden swirls reaching the ceiling. Instead of forming a response, she began counting the swirls.
“Charlie?” her father asked.
“What, Dad? Why do you want to know?”
“I already know,” her father said, his eyes gleaming.
“Know what?”
“What do you think of him?”
“Then why do you need to ask?”
“Because you need to admit it!”
“Fine!” Charlie exclaimed, her eyes watering. “I love him!”
Her father sat back on the couch, guilt crossing his face from pressing the matter. Charlie stood frozen, shocked at the words that exited her mouth.
“I love him,” she choked out softly.
“Honey,” her father said calmly, standing from the couch. “You have got to drop this defense you put up against love,” he stated as he approached her and put his hands on her shoulders. “If you don’t, you’ll never fully experience love.”
“I did experience love,” she said, taking his hands off her. “I was in love with Randy before he …”
“That wasn’t love,” her father said sternly.
“Oh yeah?” Charlie asked, crossing her arms. “What was it then?”
Her father crossed his arms and looked out the window before turning to Charlie.
“Love is when someone holds onto you with the loosest reins,” he began. Charlie’s face softened as he continued. “When someone doesn’t try tochangeyou, convince you there is something wrong with you. Love is one of the most freeing feelings in the world. Not when you feel trapped, obligated to someone.”
Charlie’s face fell as she took in the statement. She thought of the freedom she felt in her dream earlier as she fell on Hammer’s back while he was shifted. She did feel like she could be completely herself around him, and her father was right; she never felt that way with Randy.
She brushed small locks of hair from her face and remained silent for a minute before speaking up. “You’re right. I do feel that way with Hammer.” She looked at the floor. “And I never felt that for Randy.”
“So go after him,” her father suggested, grabbing her shoulders again. “Don’t waste this because of your fear.”
