Page 44 of Reckless Chances
Chapter 16 – Charlie
His raincoat didn’tseem to dry out that week. Every morning, Charlie woke up feeling like it was Groundhog Day. A week after the drywall was finished, he finally had enough time to go home and spend one night in his own bed. He pulled back the curtain in his loft to see the silhouette of the Sugar Peaks Range cloaked in mist. A moat of rain had formed around his house from the drips off the metal roof edge. His daily life had turned into a rerun, wake up, hammer, nail, and paint at the brewpub. Get lunch delivered from the Sugar Peaks Café or the G-Spot, and then head to The Last Chance for his shift, then back to the brewpub to work until his body couldn’t work any longer.
He hopped off his bike and leaned it against the gas hookup in the alley beside the brewpub. He took off his hat and wiped the rain from his brow. A flurry of activity in front of the flower shop caught his eye. A crane was positioned in the street and a crowd of people stood watching as the operator swung the sign into place.
‘Don’t look,’ Charlie thought to himself, but like a car accident, couldn’t stop himself from scanning the crowd for a certain tiny blond. There were three of them, Serena, Jenni, and Emma all stood next to the crane, their gazes trained at the front of the building. Serena was filming the installation on her phone, and beside her, Emma stood, with her hands clasped around a travel mug, her eyes trained on the action in front of her. Before he could look away, her head turned in his direction.
Busted.
He lifted his hand in a half-wave. She pursed her lips and looked away. Charlie’s heart hammered against his chest as he unlocked the front door to the brewpub. His grueling work schedule had been hard on him, but in a way, he was thankful for the distraction. But even through his exhaustion, the last thing he thought of before he went to sleep every night was Emma’s smile. He hadn’t slept in his bed since she was there with him, and he threw the second pillow onto the floor the second he’d smelled Emma’s vanilla scent. It was torture.
He unzipped his raincoat and slipped from his rubber boots into his work boots. His task for the day was installing the trim and baseboard and then meeting with the chef he had hired. He was going to start with a small menu and a small staff and then expand if necessary. Stepping around boxes piled in the middle of the room, he found his clipboard and scanned his to-do list. He crossed off everything he had done and noticed that, for the first time, there were more items crossed off than not. A week earlier, his projected opening date had looked impossible, now his chest puffed with pride and butterflies filled his belly, it was going to happen.
He stacked the boxes of menus in the center of the room and buckled up his tool belt.
“Hello?”
His back was to the door and he froze when he heard the feminine greeting. He set down the clipboard and took a deep breath. He didn’t want to see Emma or talk to her. He needed to stick to his guns. He hadn’t messaged her all week, but he knew that if he was in the same room as her, his body would want to forgive her, to forget what his brain had found out about her. His body didn’t know that she was a bad person, his body knew that she was the softest, sweetest, sexiest thing that it had ever touched. His body missed Emma’s body. His brain missed her too, but there was no way he could get involved with someone when it was only a matter of time before she’d hurt him.
“Hey.” He turned, ready to tell her to go away, but paused when he saw that it was Serena, not Emma. “Oh, hi,” he smiled, the tension instantly released from his body.
“Expecting someone else?” Serena raised her eyebrows.
“Nah, just busy.” Charlie picked up the hammer. “What’s up?”
Serena’s eyes scanned the entire place up and down. I went for a hike with Emma the other day.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah,” Serena said. “Why are you being such an idiot?”
“Me?” Charlie pointed at himself with his pen. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Serena sighed. “Freddie told me that you broke things off with her, but I have yet to hear a good reason from anyone, Freddie or Emma, as to why you did it. So, I decided to come to the source.”
He had to tread lightly, Serena was his best friend’s fiancée, but he didn’t appreciate being accosted in his bar about something that wasn’t anyone’s business. “I’ll tell you what I told Freddie. Look around, I don’t have time for myself, let alone a woman.”
“I don’t believe you.” Serena narrowed her eyes at him. She crossed her arms and leaned against the bar. “Now spill, Chuck. I can see that you have a lot of work to get done, and I’m not leaving until you can give me one good reason as to why you broke that sweet woman’s heart.”
“Broke her heart?” He couldn’t believe Serena’s audacity. “You don’t know the whole story.” He could feel his cheeks burning beneath his beard.
“Why don’t you fill me in?”
“No,” Charlie growled. “Serena. You’re my friend. You’re also my best friend’s girlfriend. So, I need you to leave before I say something that I regret.”
Serena pushed away from the bar. “The best thing that ever happened to you just fell into your lap and you’re going to throw it all away because you’re scared.”
“Is that a question?” Charlie hammered a nail into a piece of trim a little harder than necessary, regretting it when he saw the dent around the nail. He needed to get to work and to get Serena off his back. “I’m not scared of commitment. I’m just not in the habit of getting together with a cheater and a thief.” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he regretted them. As much as he missed Emma and longed for the days when he thought that she was the perfect woman, and as much as he hated the fact that he could never trust her, with his heart, or his money, he didn’t want to ruin her reputation in town.
“What?” Serena slowly unfolded her arms. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ve already said too much.” He hung his head. “Please, Serena. I did what I had to do. Now, I need to get this renovation done and get this pub open.” For the first time since he’d met Serena, her lips were open, and she seemed lost for words. She moved as if to speak, but then closed her mouth.
“You must know something that I don’t. I’m sorry, Charlie.”
“It’s not for me to say, Serena. All you and that nosy fiancé of yours need to know is that I did what I had to do. Emma knows what she did.”
Serena stepped in close to Charlie and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She squeezed him tightly. “Charlie, the place looks great.” She stepped back and adjusted her purse on her shoulder. “I’ll leave you to your work.”
