Page 81 of For All It's Worth
“I’ll call him first thing.”
“Good. Listen, I’ll try and be around more. Now that you are with Charlie, maybe Carla will come over more.”
I laughed. “I can’t believe that she ever thought that there was something with us.”
He chuckled too. “I know! Love isn’t rational, though.”
Didn’t I know it.
The first thing I did that morning was call Charlie. We were both on shift at Books & Biscuits later so I knew I had to sort things out.
I wondered how long it would take him to answer, or if he’d avoid my call, but he picked up right away like he’d been waiting for my call.
“Max, what’s going on?” he asked immediately.
“I’m sorry. I guess I just freaked after the Henry thing.”
“It was your idea!” Charlie sounded upset.
“I know! But after I kept thinking about how much more he seemed to be into it with you and that he’d be better for you than me.”
“Better? How?”
“Well…he might not have the same hang-ups as me about sex.” My voice was small. I hated admitting how vulnerable the whole thing left me feeling.
“Max…” There was silence on the line while Charlie decided what to say. “Henry isn’t you. I’m not attracted to him whatsoever. The reaction I had to him was because you were there watching. Watching you and him was hot as fuck, but I didn’t think you were going to drop me for him.”
“No?”
“No! As for the sex stuff, I honestly don’t care if we use condoms for the rest of our lives. We do what works for us. I love what we have.”
My heart tripped over the word love. My feelings for Charlie were massive. I was sure that I loved him, but it was too soon to express that. We were too new for that depth of feeling.
“I love it, too. You make me so happy Charlie.”
“So this is done? No more avoiding me or my calls?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I honestly just got caught up at work and then it was too late.”
“Okay, so what’s happening at work?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll sort it out.”
“Max…”
“It’s fine.”
“Okay, well I have to go to therapy, but I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah, I’m on shift with you, see you later.”
We ended the call and I felt marginally better than before but was I concerned I’d stepped in it with Charlie at the end. He’d sounded frustrated.
