Page 1 of Take Two

Chapter 1

Charlie

My sister-in-law, Vickie, whistles when I step into the living room. I spin, and she whistles again and claps. She elbows him in the ribs when my brother snorts and shakes his head.

“Don’t listen to Colt, Charlie. You look great.” She walks over, gets on her tippy toes, and runs her fingers through my hair before she pushes it off my forehead. “And you smell goodtoo,” she says. “This woman doesn’t stand a chance. Women love a good-smelling man.”

“Really?” my brother asks. “I smelled good the night we met and you still wanted nothing to do with me.”

“That’s because, unlike your brother, you’re annoying.” She brushes imaginary lint off my blazer. “Charlie, on the other hand, is charming.”

Of course, that’s what she’d say. She’s the one who insisted I set up a dating profile in the first place. When I kept putting it off, she took my phone and did it for me. Now, I have my first date in years. And charming is an overstatement. I don’t even remember the last time I charmed a woman—or any other human being.

I’m finally in a place where I should be interested in dating again. I want to be interested, but my heart is not really in it. Maybe in time that will change, but right now, I’m only going through the motions. I don’t think in my thirty-four years I’ve ever had a healthy romantic relationship with a woman. The little bits I remember of my last relationship were far from healthy.

There were girls in high school, but after losing my basketball scholarship, I spent almost a decade and a half in a bottle. The women I’ve been with were all drunks too. We were either drinking, drunk, or thinking of ways to get drunk again.

Sobriety has brought me many things. Most are good. I have a relationship with my family now, whereas I didn’t before. My brother had cut me out of his life, but my mother has always been by my side even though I’ve brought her years of grief. Sobriety has shown me all the ways I’ve hurt my family, but most of all, I can see how I’ve hurt myself.

Sobriety has given me the ability to run a successful restaurant in my hometown. I had no idea I had a head for businessuntil then. It’s given me clarity. It’s shed light on all the ways I had ruined my life. It made me look in the mirror and accept that all of my losses were a result of my own actions. There was no one else to blame but me because I had chosen to go down so many bad roads and had made catastrophic decisions. All of that has led me here now.

“I don’t know,” I say to Vickie. “Maybe I can stay home and watch baseball with the boys.”

Right on cue, my six-year-old nephew, Evan, comes running into the kitchen like the hounds of hell are after him. His little brother, Johnny, comes wobbling in on his fourteen-month-old legs.

“Don’t even think about it. You’re going,” Vickie says.

“You heard my wife,” Colt says. He stands, towering behind her, and puts both hands on her shoulders. He makes eye contact with me and mouthsyou don’t have to go.

“You realize I’m the big brother?” I say, pretending to go along with his first statement. Two years younger than me, he’s followed me around his entire life. At least he did until I made the first big mistake. “And this woman lives here. I don’t live in New York,” I remind Vickie. “I live a thousand miles away, and I can’t—"

“You know, Charlie, you can move here. Or you can do the long-distance thing. It’s only a plane ride.” All valid points, but I can easily refute them.

“Yeah, but I own a business in Birmingham, and I came here to spend time with you two and the kids, not meet women,” I tell her.

“We can cross that bridge when we get to it.” I laugh at the ‘we.’

My brother managed to find the perfect woman. He deserves it after his first bad marriage and the death of his first wife.We weren’t on good terms when she died. Or when they got married for that matter. Things only escalated and got worse from there. I found out about Vickie when she started showing up to all his home games. Then our mama came to meet her and couldn’t stop talking about how wonderful she was. Mama was right. Vickie not only fell in love with my brother but with his son too. According to Mama, Colt was reluctant to get with anyone before Vickie because he was skeptical that he could find someone who would love his son unconditionally.

“I’d rather hang out here—” I say. I start to take off my blazer, but Vickie only puts it back on.

“Violet is on her way here for my personal training session. Colt is going to watch baseball with the boys, and you are going to meet a woman. Tomorrow, you will tell me how great it was, and I’ll say I told you so. Don’t argue with me,” she says.

I sigh in defeat. I’m not gonna argue with her. She’s only trying to help. The reality is that I’d love to have a relationship with a woman, but the baggage I carry around weighs about two tons.

“Fine,” I say like a petulant teenager. Before I can say more, there’s a knock on the door and Colt goes to answer it. “I guess I should get goin’. I’m meetin’ her in half an hour. What the heck am I supposed to talk about anyway?” I toss my hands and sigh. This was so much easier when I was drunk.

“Yes. Go. Remember what we talked about last night. Just be yourself. And for the love of God, don’t talk about your mama,” Vickie says, grinning at me. “That is one topic that’s off limits.”

“But Colt talked about Mama the night you met, and you still ended up together,” I remind her.

“Despitethat. Trust me, there is nothing cute about a grown man talking about his mama to a woman he just met,” she says.

I could remind her again that it worked for my brother. Not only that, Vickie and Mama are very close, but I know when to keep my mouth shut. It’s not terrible advice.

Colt comes in with Vickie’s personal trainer beside him. Violet is a pretty black woman with full lips and eyes the color of mahogany. She smiles and gives me a one-hand wave before hugging Vickie.

“Hugs before torture,” Vickie says.

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