Page 26 of Country Road Romance

“Hmph,” Jared said, but Charlie saw the way that he couldn’t help but grin a little.

They got out of the truck and started toward the house, and it suddenly occurred to Jared that he’d never gotten around to calling his parents.

Damn,he thought.Well, this should be fun.

They stepped through the immaculately-manicured lawn–Jared’s dad, Doug, did love to keep his yard nice–and stepped up to the front door.

Here goes nothing,Jared thought.

CHAPTER 8

Charlie hadn’t been sure what to expect when it came to Jared’s parents, but he most certainly had not anticipated being bowled over by a couple of very large chocolate labs and one cocker spaniel, nor did he expect the army of cats that suddenly decided to take up residence on his lap as soon as Jared shepherded him to a small couch.

“I, er, hope you don’t mind pets,” Jared said, as he desperately (and futilely) tried to shoo the cats and dogs away. “As you can see, they’ve got quite a little menagerie here.”

“I love them,” he said, and almost thought he saw something like affection flit across Jared’s face.

Charlie still hasn’t quite forgiven him for the snark about his career at the Romance Network–or for his continued judgment about his choice to leave West Virginia–but he held out hope that Jared would get over his hangups and see him for who he really was rather than what Jared thought he was (or should be).

It wouldn’t kill you to give the guy some grace, even if he’s not always willing to give it to you.

Then it occurred to him to wonder: had Jared even bothered to tell his parents that he was going to be bringing someone along to their house?

“Mom, dad, are you home?” Jared called, wandering away for a moment.

While Jared was trying to find his parents, Charlie took the opportunity to give the house a closer examination. Even though it looked quite small on the outside, it was surprisingly roomy, even though it was also filled with all manner of knick-knacks and trinkets. In fact, it kind of reminded him of the home that he’d grown up in, and he felt a momentary twinge of guilt that he still hadn’t had time to call or text his own mom.

“I can’t believe you’d invite someone here without telling me!” he heard a female voice exclaim from deeper in the house. “Honestly, Jared, I don’t know what gets into you sometimes. I haven’t even had a chance to clean the house properly, and you want me to entertain a guest?”

“Mom, the house looks fine,” he heard Jared say in a voice that somehow managed to be both strained and patient.

At just that moment Jared returned with the woman that Charlie assumed to be his mother.

She looked nothing like what Charlie had been imagining. She was, he guessed, in her late fifties or early sixties, with blonde hair swept up into a bun. There were a few strands of white here and there, and her deep blue eyes radiated kindness.

I wish she was my mom,he thought, and then immediately felt guilty.

As soon as Joyce looked at him, her face seemed to light up like a Christmas tree.

“Oh my goodness,” she said breathlessly, “you’re Charlie Garrett. You’retheCharlie Garrett. I just loved you inA Little Country Romance.You were wonderful!”

It occurred to him too late that she was exactly the kind of person that he would expect to be one of his fans, and that made him a little wary of this whole encounter. Was she going to badger him with a whole series of questions of what it was like tobe on the set of one of his movies? Was she going to ask for his autograph?

“Mom,” Jared said, clearly trying to head this off at the pass.

Joyce, however, just waved him off. “Don’t worry, dear, I’m not going to drown the poor boy with questions. I’m sure he gets enough of that from all of his other fans.”

“I mean, yes, sometimes it does get a bit tiring to get asked all sorts of things by people who don’t really have a recognition of privacy, but I think I can make an exception for you. You don’t seem like the type to ask me what type of underwear I happen to have on at the moment.”

“Clearly you don’t know my wife very well,” a man that Charlie assumed to be Jared’s dad asked as he came into the room. He was about the same height as his wife–both of whom were shorter than either Jared or Charlie–and it was clear that Jared had inherited his looks from his father, because Doug had the same bluffly handsome features and dark hair and piercing blue eyes as his son. They were weathered a bit with age, of course, but he still moved and acted like a much younger man.

“Doug!” Joyce exclaimed, slapping him lightly on the arm. “Behave yourself.”

“What?” he said with a shrug. “I’m just telling the truth.”

“Sometimes I don’t know what I see in you.”

“It’s my natural debonair charm,” Doug said at once. Joyce and Jared both rolled their eyes.

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