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“I twisted my ankle.” Her eyes dropped shamefully.
Vulnerability looked good on her. Not that I wanted her to get injured to let down her guard.
“Yeah, we can see that,” Drew said as we shimmied between rocks on either side of her to get good footing so she could wrap her arms around our shoulders. Once she did, we lifted her up and carefully made our way over the rocks. The ocean was covering our shins now, indicating she had been running out of time. She was lucky her dog found us.
It was a quiet trek back, aside from painful grunts she released every so often, her dog leading the way to their trailer.
“You can leave me here,” she said, pointing to the single chair on her porch area.
“Are you sure?” I asked hesitantly. I was unconvinced she would be able to make it up the trailer steps by herself with her ankle in such bad shape. Her knees didn’t look much better. Blood seeped through her sweatpants. Even her hands were red and raw.
“Yeah,” she replied shortly, unraveling herself from us, hopping the few steps to the chair and falling into it, releasing an exhausted breath. “Thanks for your help.” She managed a small smile.
Drew and I shared an unsure glance, but her words sounded final, so we didn’t push.
“We are just five trailers down, the Airstream, if you need anything,” Drew offered.
I glanced down at her phone sitting on the little table. “I can give you my number—”
“No, it’s okay,” she cut me off. “I’ll manage.”
And I believed that. She seemed to be managing just fine on her own.
Alone.
“Can we at least get your name?” I asked sheepishly, worried what her answer would be.
“Charlee, two e’s.”
I smiled widely, stifling a laugh. How long had she gone before her introduction went from simply her name to adding how it’s spelled because no one ever got it right? It was one of the many things I wanted to know about her. My curiosity grew with every moment, and I wanted to know more about what made her Charlee with two e’s.
“I’m Levi, and this is Drew.”
“Hey,” Drew added, lifting his hand in a half wave.
“I know who you are.” Her eyes directed straight at me.
She had barely made eye contact with me since we met, but this time it was dead-on with an intensity that made my stomach flip and my heart stop momentarily. Had we met before and she remembered, but I didn’t? Oh, God, what if she was one of my drunken one-night stands? There was a period of time that I was not so proud of now, where I had a lot of them on tour. That would explain why she was so dry to me.
“You’re my stalker,” she continued.
Drew laughed immediately and, after a beat, I joined in awkwardly. Even Charlee smiled and let out a little noise that couldn’t be mistaken for anything else but a moment of enjoyment. Her smile lit up her entire face and her eyes sparkled.
The silence stole the moment and Drew and I exchanged apprehensive glances.
“Okay, well, if you need anything.” I stumbled back a few steps.
“I know where to find you,” she reminded us with less of an edge in her voice. She had relaxed a bit.
“It was nice to meet you,” Drew said.
We spun around and walked away quietly, neither of us wanting to say anything about the odd encounter until we were back at the trailer.
“That was interesting,” Drew announced once we were back at the safety of our campsite where she couldn’t hear us talk.
“Yeah,” I agreed. I stole a glance back toward Charlee, but she was gone already. She must have hobbled her way into the trailer.
“It’s pretty hilarious how she called you out on being a stalker.”
