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Genesis looked back and sighed. “I think she’s managing. It’s always been hard to tell with her. She’s never been great at sharing, whereas I am what you see is what you get. I don’t hide anything. That’s why Charlee and I had always made the perfect pair.”
It did make a lot of sense. Charlee being friends with an attention grabber was the perfect distraction from herself and it was already very obvious to me that Genesis liked attention.
Genesis’ eyes kept dropping to my bare chest, and any other time I probably would have welcomed the attention, but Charlee was all I could think about, and her friend was making me feel slightly uncomfortable.
“I’m going to go put on some clothes. It was nice to meet you, Genesis.” I was one step up the stairs when she stopped me.
“Do you mind if I just hang out for a bit? Charlee is taking a nap, and it was kind of boring just sitting there.”
Mentally kicking myself for not being able to say no, I said, “Uh, sure. Just give me a minute. Do you want anything to drink?”
“I’m good. Thanks, though.” She dropped her heels in the sand as I made my way into the Airstream.
I had no idea what was happening here, but I could learn a lot about Charlee from Genesis. And that’s all I wanted. To know Charlee. I just had to make sure Genesis didn’t get the wrong impression, in the meantime. She didn’t look much like a girl who took no for an answer.
After I got dressed, I grabbed a beer and headed back out. Genesis had made herself comfortable in one of the chairs. My chair, so I sat in Drew’s chair.
“So, how long have you known Charlee?”
“Forever.” She looked around like she was searching for something. “Two chairs?”
“Yeah. My buddy left this morning.”
She nodded in acknowledgement. “I thought maybe you were taken, and I was about to get jumped by a scrappy young blonde in a bikini.” She laughed.
“Does that happen often?” It sounded like she was talking from experience.
“Maybe once or twice right here on this beach.” She winked and continued, “Charlee and I met in fifth grade. She gave a guy a fat lip for taunting a disabled girl. I instantly fell in love with her.” She batted her eyes. “Charlee is pretty amazing when she wants to be.”
“Sounds like it.” I could totally picture Charlee pouncing on someone for being out of line because she had terrified me the first time I spoke with her. Actually, several times after that, too. She was not a woman you messed with.
“When I heard about Bridger, it gutted me. I had to find her.”
I took a gulp of my beer. “Find?”
“Yeah.” She looked down at her fingernails and picked at them anxiously. “I hadn’t seen or spoken to her in almost twenty years.”
That was a massive bomb she just dropped, although the initial interaction I witnessed between them made sense now. “What happened?”
“My boyfriend was killed in a car accident when I was twenty-one, and I just bailed on her and Bridger. Said goodbye, moved away, and never looked back. She had lost her mom just before that, so it was kind of a dick move all around.”
At least she owned it. “If you were estranged, then how did you hear about her husband?”
She scrolled through her phone and held it up for me. It was a picture of Bridger accompanied by an article about losing his battle to a rare lung disease. I remembered reading that. “Oh,” I acknowledged sadly. Was omission of information lying? I knew the answer to that, but if I told Genesis now that I knew Bridger, then it would lead to knowing Charlee, and this whole conversation would blow up in my face. I chose to omit a lot.
“I met him. I used to travel the circuits. What a weird coincidence.”
She zoomed in on the background of the picture and handed the phone back to me. “I don’t believe in coincidences.”
Looking off to the side was a much younger Charlee smiling widely at something off camera standing next to a tour sign. I shook my head in disbelief. “I was on this tour.” It was before Bridger started mentoring me. How was it possible that I never ran into her, though? I couldn’t remember ever seeing Bridger with her.
“See, fate. Oh my God, I’m always right. You knew Bridger, and now you’re here where Charlee is. It’s fucking fate!” she shouted, startling me.
Racking my brain, I tried to remember if I had ever met Charlee at one of the parties or in passing on the beach, but I couldn’t, and I definitely would have remembered her. She’s too dynamic to go unnoticed, especially those eyes. I leaned forward, fully invested in learning everything I could.
“How long were they married?”
“A few years after I split. She was twenty-four. Bridger was almost a year older than her.”
