Page 107 of Falling Slowly
“So, that was your grand plan? For me to jump teams to save my skin when everyone else gets fired?”
“Well, yeah.”
Everyone I worked with, gone. And me, hooking up with the Creative Director, securely employed by his side. I shuddered at the image.
“That’s not who I am, Charlie. I know I’m screwed financially, but I wouldn’t do that. I don’t want to win like that.”
“Well, it was the best I could think of, at the time. I can’t save everyone.”
“So, you decided to just save me?” A terrifying thought bubbled up. “Is that why I’m here? The retreat at Rubie Ridge… it was you, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, it was me. But I think you deserved it. I think your work is outstanding. And you have so much more to offer. You’re smart and strategic… you have great ideas. I wanted you to see that. I wanted everyone to see that.”
I sighed, thoroughly exasperated. “You can’t fix me or my life, Charlie. I’m not your project! If you want to be with me, you have to be honest with me. I want a partnership. I want open communication. Not this.” I shook my head, tears streaming down.
“I know I messed up. Trust me. But by then it was too late. I couldn’t go back in time. I couldn’t change anything. And I was going to tell you.”
“When? You had all week.”
“I know! I was going to tell you now. That’s why I asked you to go for a drive.”
“Well, we’re driving now,” I said. “What else is there? What else have you kept from me?”
He slowed down, turning onto a gravel road until we came to a mailbox. Charlie parked in the driveway, helping me out of the car. “Let’s start with this.”
He led me around an old wooden villa, on to an overgrown backyard. He gestured at a shoddy-looking treehouse with a hanging ladder. “This is my motel room. I couldn’t find anything else.”
“Seriously?” I limped closer, examining the worn-out rope ladder moving in the breeze.
“You might have trouble getting up there with your leg, but I wanted to show you, anyway. So that I don’t leave anything out.”
Feeling more than a little stubborn, I positioned my healthy leg on the first rung, using every ounce of my strength to pullmyself up. Charlie didn’t try to stop me, but stood underneath, spotting me as I slowly climbed up—foot, knee, foot, knee—until I reached the small doorway. As I crawled in, I felt him behind me, trapping me inside.
Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to come up here. I couldn’t storm out. I had no exit strategy. But Charlie had been good to me. I’d had the best and worst week of my life, and he was inseparably wrapped up in all of it. There was still a chance I was carrying Charlie’s baby. I had to hear him out.
I perched myself on the edge of the mattress and I waited for him to look at me. “What did you say to my mom? Why was she pushing me to go for a drive with you?”
He sat back, looking away. “I talked to her a bit earlier. I told her I’m in love with you and…”
“And what?”
He drew a sharp breath and met my gaze. The afternoon light pouring through the window reflected off his eyes, turning them into liquid pools. “I told her about your job, and how I was trying to fix it. What I was going to do.”
I blinked twice, as if to dispel the image. “What? You told her before you told me?”
“I needed her help.”
A flash of fury rose to my chest. “So this is all some elaborate kidnapping plan you cooked up with my mother? That’s why I’m here?” I sat up on the bed, hitting my head on the low ceiling. “Ouch!”
How had Charlie spent a night in this tiny space?
His voice brimmed with desperation. “I’m not trying to manipulate you or make you feel anything. If you want to go, go. I won’t stop you. I’ll drive you back. I only brought you here because I needed you to hear the whole story. I couldn’t let you walk away thinking the worst.”
“Thinking what? That you brought me here on false pretenses, that you’ve been playing with my feelings all week, trying to win me over, get me to help you with a campaign that you’re failing at by appealing to my sense of duty over a job I’ve already lost. Then sleeping with me and asking me not to worry about a broken condom because you might want a baby… I still haven’t taken that pill, by the way.” I filled my lungs, my whole body shaking. “Is that the worst, or am I leaving something out?”
He reached for his pocket and pulled out my phone, handing it over with hands that shook as much as mine. “I also took this so you wouldn’t hear about the job stuff before I could tell you.”
“Seriously? You stole my phone?” I stared at it, still as dead as it had been in the forest.
