Page 11 of Charlotte
7
THOMAS
Meeting Charlotte may have been by mistake or some grand design, but I know that it's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I never had anyone that I felt I could be my complete self with. So often, with each show, my performance was a part of me that I thought people wanted to see. I didn’t know that I’d be lucky enough to find someone that not only saw me but understood me. I was looking for her, and I didn't even know it, and it turned out that she was the one to find me.
After that first night we spent together, there was this unspoken understanding between us that we were it for the other one. Even when we stopped by my friend’s house to pick up Maddie, she seemed to see the shift between Charlotte and me. She licked Charlotte's hand and nuzzled next to her when Charlotte knelt to pet her.
I should have known that things were going too well and that the other shoe was going to drop.
We stop to pick up breakfast, and I got recognized out on the street by two college girls as I walked out of the restaurant with my order. I could see Charlotte start to shut down the moment she realized what was happening. This would always be an issue for her, and I couldn't blame her. If the roles were reversed, there was no way that I would have been able to handle it, knowing someone's hands that weren't my own were on her.
We talked things over in the car, and I knew what I would do before we even finished the conversation. Charlotte never actually asked me, but I knew that if I wanted to keep her, I would have to give up working at The Velvet Rope.
I thought that maybe I’d feel something other than relief when I made the decision, but it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. For too long, I was holding on to an idea that I had to keep working. I'd already made a lot, enough to cover the expenses I'd need to finish up the house I showed Charlotte and another house down the street that I had my eye on. It was time to let that old chapter of my life go and start a new one with Charlotte.
I’m sitting outside The Story Brew in my truck, waiting for Charlotte. She's meeting with her book club while Maddie is snoozing in the backseat, and I look over the numbers for supplies I just put in for a new order of lumber.
The door opens, and I look up to see the gunmetal gray eyes of the woman I fell in love with.
"Have you been waiting long?" she asks, leaning in for a kiss.
Maddie perks up from the back seat and tries to nuzzle between us. Only now, when she pushes between us, she isn't trying to push Charlotte away from me, but me away from Charlotte. Oh, how quickly loyalties change over a couple of weeks.
“We been here for about fifteen minutes,” I tell her.
“If I’d known, I would have been out here sooner.”
“Don’t worry about it. How was your meeting?”
Charlotte’s face lights up. She tells me all about the new members that are interested in joining—she's eager not to be the new girl anymore. And then tells me about the new book that they are reading.
If I’d known there were books out there that had the sex scenes that Charlotte’s read to me, I think more guys would be into reading romance—or at least more willing to admit it.
“Did you talk to Dominic?” she asks, a look of concern creasing her brow. She’s convinced herself that he would freak out when I told him that I was quitting The Velvet Rope. He wasn’t happy, but he knew that I wasn’t going to be long-term.
"It's fine. I explained my plan, and he wished me luck."
Her shoulders sag in relief, and she reaches out to pull me into a hug. I hold her close, knowing that it's all worth it to have her in my arms.
“Thank you,” she says.
I lean back and kiss her. "Anything for the woman I love."
“Wait, what?”
I smile. “You heard me.”
“I think I heard you, but maybe I need to hear it again.” She laughs.
“You first, this time.”
“I love you.” She shakes her head and laughs, “You big dumb dancing idiot.”
“As long as you love me, you can call me whatever you want.” I kiss her. “Just not Tommy Gunn.”
“Only on special occasions.”
