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Only with Rick had she felt a shred of such treatment. Her parents, brother, her past boyfriends, and even Matt, treated her as they would if they were to have read it in a manual. If A, do B. If D, do E. Nothing was carried with added care or consideration. They never thought about her outside of obligations, yet she had to go out of her way to cater to their every whim.
Enough was enough.
“If this is a mother-daughter relationship to you, defined by transactions and conditions, then I don’t wantanypart of it. I’m tired of it. I’m done, and I mean it, so please listen.” Charlie stood from her seat, earning Ryan’s shocked gleam and Grace’s agape mouth. “As of today,Mrs. Kim, you and I are no longer on speaking terms. Take back or take away what you want from me. I don’t care. Anything is better than this life of rigid, unforgiving inflexibility.”
“Sis,” Ryan pleaded. “Don’t.”
“From now on, don’t contact me for anything. If your husband one day decides he wants nothing to do with you, don’t call me. I won’t be there to comfort you. If your friends turn on you, I won’t be there. If one day you have no one left, then know that it was all your doing. You drove us all away.” Picking up her purse, Charlie saw the umbrage steaming from her mother’s eyes.
She had expected Charlie to cower under her intimidation. She had a strong hand, no one could deny, but nothing was worth the tyranny, even if it offered a lifetime of financial stability.This was the rich people problem society poked fun at, but nothing about it was funny. For Charlie, she’d lost what she thought was family.
As domineering as Grace was, she was still Charlie’s mother. Her father’s absence became a normality in her world, but Grace’s presence was a constant. Whatever the circumstances, Charlie had to cut off the toxicity holding her back.
Grace’s voice echoed into the vastness of her unnecessarily large living room. The acoustics rumbled toward Charlie when she was already in the foyer. Something about “regretting it” like a real life villain.
Charlie slammed the door and started crying like a toddler. This was a time to call for her mother, but that ship had sailed.
“Charlie,” Rick greeted her, unable to hide the surprise on his face. She hadn’t called before showing up on his doorsteps. It was late, but she knew he’d be up. “Is everything okay?”
He was the first person she wanted to see after the blowup with her mother. Alex and Sarah had been her go-to people whenever Charlie was upset, but Rick had replaced them so quickly over the months.
Unaware that she was mindlessly staring at him until he reached out to touch her, Charlie let him pull her into his house. He didn’t know about her visit to her mother, and they had only made tentative plans to go hiking in the morning, so this was an unexpected visit. But after the night she had, she was so desperate to see his handsome face and feel his warmth on her she didn’t care how she appeared.
“What’s wrong?” he asked again, now placing her gently on the couch as he knelt to the ground. “You look like you lost your best friend. Did something happen?”
That was a funny way of putting it. Her mother was far from a friend, but it felt likeso.
Charlie managed a smile, wrung her arms around his neck. “I haven’t seen you for days,” she whispered. “I miss you.”
The sly grin rewrote his face into harmless arrogance. “I missed you, too.”
They leaned in, met each other in a brief but steamy kiss that felt overdue. Given the considerable breach in their otherwise happy streak, a minor tilt on the axis would feel exaggerated.
Charlie was a natural worrier and over-thinker. For the first time, she was with a man who she could go to for comfort. Just his kiss was enough to ward off the negative voices, and there was nowhere else she’d rather be. Despite the colossal issues she’d have to deal with the next day, having Rick by her side was enough to temper her unstable emotions.
Thirty-One
Despite saying otherwise,the look of despondence on Charlie’s face was distinct. Her sudden arrival was definitive in her transparent mood. As much as the downcast of her eyes conveyed, she was still not being forthcoming.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Rick asked again. Something was up, and he didn’t like it. With everything that transpired, another drawback couldn’t be too far behind because when it rained, it poured. He had plenty of those moments.
It must have something to do with her mother. Knowing her by now, it took a lot to upset the positive and shiny debutante, but her mother was a constant trigger. He didn’t care what the woman did to him, but his protective instincts exploded now when Charlie was affected. He had caused some of her saddest moments in the past, and he couldn’t let that repeat.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m just tired.” Charlie pulled him to sit next to her. “Can I sleep over tonight? I miss you so much. I don’t want to be alone.”
“Of course you can. You don’t have to ask.”
He took in the sight of her. A soft pink dress covered her from shoulders to knees. It was an outfit he hadn’t seen before,and looked very prim with how much it covered, but he couldn’t help thinking of how much he’d like to tear it off. Rick liked to believe he wasn’t that much of an inconsiderate lecher to get a boner while Charlie wasn’t in the best mood. Pushing his legs together to hide his arousal, he decided to push on another subject that had been on his mind.
“Charlie, I have something I wanted to share.” With her attention, he told her about his canceled project, only to receive a potential job offer in England later. He kept his tone casual, as he had made no commitment yet. She listened silently, appearing to absorb his words carefully.
“It’s a unique offer, I’ll admit.” Rick chuckled lightly. “But I’ve said it before, that I don’t think I can ever move over there.”
“You lost a job?” she asked, concern tightening her forehead.
“No, the project was canceled. It’s just a gig,” he said. “I can find others. My main source of income are the photos I sell for royalties, remember?”
“And you were offered a job overseas?”
