Page 17 of Of Course, Cutie

Matteo smiled and tucked my hair behind my ears. “Honey, this is the first time you’ve ever even wanted to go for it. If you don’t, I will disown you.” He grabbed my hand. “Come in the kitchen and meet my new friends.”

I groaned but followed him. “I thought I could leave now that things with Jonah are going well!”

Matteo shot me a dirty look over his shoulder. “Just meet people! It won’t kill you!” he snapped.

“Fine, Mattie.”

I spent the rest of the night chatting with random people that Matteo put in my path, but my mind was on Burke and his deep green eyes.

8

Burke

I quickly fell into my new routine. I had Tess every other weekend, and when I didn’t have her, I worked at the bar. That was my life, and it was fine. I’d never had the world at my fingertips, and I didn’t need it.

I didn’t need much of anything, but sometimes, a certain someone had me wanting things — things I shouldn’t want. She was just so damn cute and smart.

I found Charlie sitting on the steps behind ’69 when I took my breaks on most weeknights. She told me her house made her sad this time of year because it reminded her so painfully that her dad wasn’t there anymore. So Charlie went other places. Her best friend worked at a coffee shop most evenings, and Evan didn’t let her hang out inside the bar unless it was a special occasion or an emergency, so she picked the steps behind the bar.

It almost seemed like she sat there and waited for me, but that was wishful thinking.

Tonight, she was wrapped in a plaid blanket and wearing her purple beanie. She had her headphones on and her notebook in her lap.

I sat beside her, and she met me with her pretty smile. Charlie slid her headphones off and scooted a little closer. Or maybe she didn’t. Maybe I imagined it. “How many napkins with MILF phone numbers have you collected tonight?”

I laughed and shook my head. Three different women had flirted and left me their phone numbers tonight. I pulled a receipt and two napkins from my jacket pocket and handed them to Charlie. She held them in her hand and raised both eyebrows. “Seriously? Fuck. I was kidding!” She tucked them into her notebook and shook her head. “Fucking desperate, Burke. You can do better.”

“Can I get those back, cutie?” I grinned at Charlie and nodded toward her notebook.

“No.”

I rubbed my beard and laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous.”

“I don’t get jealous. Jealousy is for children. I just think you need to set your sights a little higher.” She turned back to her notebook and scribbled a few lines.

Her reference to our text exchange on Halloween did not escape my notice. It was fucked up how much I wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss that pretty little mouth. “What are you writing in there?”

Charlie looked over at me, considered me for a moment, and then passed her notebook to me.

I raised both eyebrows. “You sure?”

She nodded. “It’s light stuff tonight. If you flipped back like twenty pages, you’d send me to therapy.”

“I doubt that, cutie. I’m sure even your darkest thoughts wouldn’t scare me.” I looked down at the notebook on my lap. The phone numbers were sticking out of the back. I could have easily retrieved them, but I didn’t want them. I’d never been a fan of thoughtless hook-ups, and that was all that awaited me. Instead, I read the first line of wisdom on the page:

I wonder how incredible we would all be if we weren’t weighed down by worry and fear.

Yep. I knew there was a deep and beautiful mind in there. I glanced over at Charlie as she played with the fringe on her blanket. “What worries are weighing you down, Charlie?”

“The usual. I worry too much about what other people think, even if I don’t like them. And I worry about losing more people that I love because I don’t know if I’m strong enough to survive it again.” Charlie tipped her head up to look at the crescent moon. “What’s weighing you down, Burke?”

“Everything but Tess.”

Charlie rested her hand on my arm and gazed into my eyes. “You should let some of it go or find someone to help you carry the load.”

I liked the feel of her hands on me. “It’s not that heavy.” I smiled at cute little Charlie, at the sweet earnestness in her words, like she gave a damn about me.

“Even small things can be heavy if you try to lift them alone.” Her hand was still on my arm. “Do you have any family or friends close by?”

---