Page 58 of Stay With Me

Our server comes over and takes our orders, then brings us both coffee. It’s early evening but I can’t eat breakfast food for dinner and not have coffee with it.

Charlie opens his mouth to say something, but we’re interrupted.

“Hello, Fitz. Long time no see.” The sultry voice sounds vaguely familiar, and I glance up to see a blast from the past, Shelly, with her eyes locked on Charlie. She’s looking him up and down like he’s a piece of meat and I want to claw her eyes out.

I’m immediately irritated and jealousy niggles at the edges of my mind as reminders of the kind of woman Charlie’s attracted to floods my brain. I’m the exact physical opposite of his type. And, that bothers me.

“Shelly.” Charlie’s tone is flat, as he looks away from her and takes a sip of his coffee. It’s petty, but I’m secretly happy at his reaction to her.

A sarcastic chuckle escapes Shelly as she switches her gaze to me. I don’t smile at her. Truthfully, even though I never got to know her well, I didn’t like her much even when Charlie dated her. I didn’t think she was good enough for him.

“I see some things never change, Fitz. Still sniffing around all the wrong trees.” She looks at me the entire time she’s speaking. “Tell me, little Flynn. Has he ever told you?—”

“Shelly, leave. Now.” Charlie’s voice is practically a growl, but not the sexy kind the men in our book club books make. No, this is angry, a warning.

Shelly turns her focus back on Charlie and shakes her head. “You’ll never learn, will you?”

When he ignores her, she huffs and leaves. Thank God, because she was throwing out major bitch vibes.

I look over at Charlie and he’s staring down at his coffee, clearly avoiding eye contact with me.

“Do you want to explain whatthatwas all about?”

He looks up at me and smiles, but it doesn’t meet his eyes. “Nah.” He grins, and I know him well enough to know he’s hoping by making light of it, I’ll drop it.

I tap my fingers on the tabletop. “Hmm. I seem to recall a conversation we just had about not avoiding difficult conversations.” I rest an elbow on the table and then prop my chin up on my hand.

Charlie closes his eyes and lets out a deep sigh. When he opens his eyes again, he fixes them on me. “Shelly and I broke up because she had jealousy issues.”

I think for a second and recall a conversation we had about this when Trina and Charlie picked me up from college. “Oh, yeah. She was jealous of Trina, right?”

Charlie hesitates. “Not exactly.”

I lift a questioning brow at him and wait him out in silence.

“Fine. She wasn’t jealous of Trina. She was jealous of you.”

I don’t need a mirror to know my mouth just dropped wide open.

“Me?” I whisper.

“Yes, you. She wanted me to keep my distance from you and that wasn’t an acceptable request to me. So, I ended things.” He shrugs like he just said, ‘the sky is blue’ or ‘water is wet.’

“Okay. It makes no sense, though. I mean, even these few years later, she’s still gorgeous. Not to mention the boobs. Which she had on full display tonight.” Charlie rolls his eyes. “Seriously. She had nothing to be jealous of. She had you and she’s everything I’m not.”

Charlie’s eyes narrow on me. No hint of jesting on his face. “No, sunshine. You’ve got it all wrong. She never had me, not really. And you’re everything she’s not. Everything. Not the other way around.”

Oh. Oh, my. Hello, mixed signals…

CHAPTER23

EMILY

The children in my kindergarten class are buzzing with excitement as we line-up outside the classroom, ready to go outside for our afternoon activity. Once a month, every spring, we have representatives from different safety related occupations come and talk to the children in kindergarten, first, and second grades about their jobs and safety related topics. We always ask the fire department to present for one of the days.

When the fire department comes for this presentation, it’s always a favorite of the kids. Thankfully, it’s a beautiful day out, so we can hold the entire session outdoors.

Once all the kids are outside and sitting on the ground, I find a good spot behind them where I can monitor them all during the program. Linette, the other kindergarten teacher, and Christine are standing with me. When the fire engine comes into view, the energy among the children is palpable. That’s one reason I love teaching kindergarteners—they haven’t lost the joy and awe about so many things that naturally fade as kids get older.

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