Page 89 of Guarding My Love

She laughed. “Sort of.”

He shrugged. “You know enough that I wanted to be alone and you wanted to walk around. If you’re okay doing those things on your own and giving me the space and I’m okay with it, then what is the problem? I can’t make heads or tails of what is going on. I’m the same guy as I’ve been most of my life. I just know how to manage it better as an adult and I’m lucky enough to find a woman who understands that and sees the signs so I don’t have to be a jerk and walk away or tell her to get lost.”

Her jaw dropped.

“When you put it that way, I’m the one that’s the idiot.”

30

SHERBET AND MARSHMALLOWS

“We both survived,” he said three days later. “I managed to not insult you or your family, we spent time doing things together and apart. I’ll call it a win.”

His whole life he worried about not being able to be himself. Not just with his family but also with a partner.

Even though he felt Charlotte understood him, there was part of him deep down that worried she didn’t believe him.

Why else keep questioning that he had changed?

He hadn’t. Most times, if left to his own devices, he was pretty laid back.

When he was pushed into doing things that made him too uncomfortable for a longer period of time, his patience blew the top off the meter.

“It was a good time,” she said. “You’re not mad that I went shopping with Amanda in Boston?”

“No,” he said. “I was just as content to spend some time in the casino.”

It worked out well. Charlotte got her girl time in, and bought some things for her niece and nephew. Drew watched the kids and Foster won a few thousand. An even better win in his eyes.

It was ironic in his mind that there was nothing better than a big crowd of strangers to be left alone. That was what a casino was for.

No one bothered you when you were at a blackjack table.

Maybe people watched, but they didn’t talk to him.

Talk about his kind of crowd.

“I bet you were,” she said. “Pun intended. Do you normally win at the casino?”

“No,” he said. “Could just be luck was on my side.”

Considering the whole weekend was better than he expected, he wasn’t complaining.

It gave him time to process Charlotte’s thoughts on him. Some he wasn’t so thrilled about, but he didn’t know how to change it either other than continuing to be who he was.

After they’d unpacked, they’d gone to Drew’s parents’ house for a cookout.

He met the whole family and didn’t have a problem with it.

Charlotte kept looking at him to see if he was ready to go and he told her he was fine.

The Bond family reminded him a bit of his, but on a smaller scale in terms of numbers. At least that group.

He talked when asked questions, volunteered some things, but not much.

No one asked about West or his business ventures. Maybe that helped some.

The most that was brought up was that Scott Bond had talked to West a few times, which he’d known.

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