AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Jesus,” Rush said. “The guy can’t catch a break.”
“No kidding.”
“Okay. Our mission for tonight is to make him forget about last night, and re-forget about Jim, using any means necessary.”
“Absolutely.”
When we got back out to the bar, Nathan was also walking in through the front doors, looking frazzled. “Oh, thank God,” he said when he saw Charlie hunched over the bar. “I was hoping he came here.”
“Were you guys at the office?” I asked.
“Yes. One minute we were going over CAD designs on the computer, the next he was gone.” Nathan dropped his voice lower. “I’m pretty sure he was drinking in the office, Shawn. I found an empty bottle of whiskey at the bottom drawer of one of the desks.”
“Fuck,” I whispered, looking from Nathan to Charlie and back again. “That’s bad.”
“Yeah,” Nathan said, sadness in his eyes. “I know TV shows make drinking in the office look cool, but for Charlie, I really don’t think it is. I’m supposed to go pick up Maddy right now, too.”
“We’ve got him here,” Rush said, waving a hand. “We’ll take good care of him, Nathan. Go be with your daughter.”
“You sure you’re all good here?” Nathan asked. “I don’t want him making a scene.”
“You’re Maddy’s father, not Charlie’s,” I said. “Go ahead, Nathan.”
My heart squeezed in my chest. Nathan really was in Dad Mode so often. He tried to take care of everyone around him, and always put himself last. But I could step up, too. I felt more confident in that than I ever had before.
I had lost so much time being afraid of being myself earlier in life. But now I was out in the open. I was confident. And I had someone who loved me for who I actually was. And he could be there for every part of my life, not just in bed.
Like right now, when I had a friend and coworker who was spiraling, ranting endlessly at Jax across the bar.
“You wouldn’t do that to someone, would you?” Charlie was saying to Jax, his eyes bleary and a little red. “Make them blow you after you’d just secretly fucked someone else in the ass, without protection, hours earlier?”
“Uh—I—” Jax stammered, having no clue what to do with that question.
“Holy fuck,” I said, furrowing my brow as I sat down at the stool next to Charlie. “You didn’t tell me Jim did that. That’s abusive, Charlie.”
“No kidding,” he said. “I didn’t tell you at the time, because I was so ashamed of him. I’ve been tested for infectious diseases every month for the last six months after he did that, and I’m clean, but it was terrifying.”
“How did you stay with Jim after he did something so awful?” Rush asked.
“Because he always told me he’d change,” Charlie said. “And I was stupid enough to keep giving him chances.”
“You’re not stupid,” Rush said. “None of this—and I mean none—is your fault.”
Charlie nodded slowly. “I think I’m finally willing to accept that. I don’t want to be a mess anymore, guys.”
He broke down crying and I put my arm around him. “There you go. Just let it out, Charlie. I think you’ve needed this for a long time.”
I glanced up at Rush, who mouthed the words I love you to me, sending a flutter through me even in the unfortunate current circumstances. I had always been supportive of the people around me, but knowing that Rush had all of the support in the world for me, too, made everything feel weightless.
Over the next few hours, Rush and I were there for Charlie. As the bar picked up and people started flooding in, Rush had to do more work, but I stayed by Charlie’s side as Jax and Rush kept giving him new, fun non-alcoholic cocktails that had plenty of water in them.
By the time Rush’s shift was over, much later into the night, Charlie had gone from frenetic and wasted to just exhausted and sluggish. We helped him out to Rush’s car, and he took the passenger seat as I crammed into the back. We got him home safe, tucked into his bed with plenty of water and aspirin on the table next to him for the next morning.
Rush drove us back over to his house and I let out a long exhale as we got inside.
“So much for a dreamy, romantic night after we told each other we’re in love,” I said. I looked all around at the state of his house, too, which was the ultimate work-in-progress, with unfinished sections of the remodel all over the place, exposed wires in some walls, and stacks of lumber in random corners.
He came up behind me in the hallway and wrapped his arms around my waist from behind, leaning his chin on my shoulder. “It’s okay that nothing’s perfect, you know.”
