Page 30 of Falling Slowly
Reaching the doorway of the gift shop, I hesitated. “So, what’s that fridge magnet going to lead to?”
Charlie’s gaze darted around the shop. “I don’t know. Maybe we need to update your fridge, so there’s more room for magnets.” His smile was so mischievous I couldn’t help joining in.
“You’re out of control.”
“You’re right.” He pulled out his credit card and placed it in my hand. “Here. You’re in charge of it now. That’s much safer.”
Rhonda’s words played in my mind.Someone should confiscate his credit cards.
It was probably true, but I felt liberated. He wasn’t tiptoeing around me, trying to pretend we were the same or that he understood my struggle. The more time we spent together, the more Charlie felt like himself—spoilt and spontaneous, with no filter. I couldn’t handle the pity, but I could handle that.
“Okay.” I held up his card. “I will find the most ridiculous thing in this shop and you’ll have to wear it to your next date, to a fancy restaurant. Promise me and then you can buy whatever you want for Celia.”
“Deal. But I also get to buy you something for your next date.”
“Deal.” I’d win this bet. “But only because I don’t date.”
He halted at the doorway. “At all? Ever?”
I shook my head.
He stared at me for a moment until his frown gradually melted away and a confident smile broke through. “We’ll see about that.”
Chapter Fourteen
Charlie
“It’s all so… ordinary.” Bess sighed, browsing the rows of T-shirts and sweaters with the Cozy Creek logo.
The shop had fridge magnets galore, though. I went a little overboard selecting everything that I thought might make her daughter happy. Little rainbows, mountain scenes, a smiling pinecone and a big, fat pumpkin.
What’s up, Charlie?
The uncomfortable question hung in the air as I piled the treasures on the counter, blocking Bess from reaching in and returning them. Her soft chest collided with my forearm. “That’s too much!”
“They’re fridge magnets. Chill.”
Ineeded to chill. What was I trying to do? Buy her child’s affection? Erase the ill feeling I got just thinking about their story and what the future held?
Bess stomped off and eventually returned with a Cozy Creek baseball cap and a lumberjack style flannel shirt. “Here’s your new wardrobe.”
I paid for everything and immediately peeled off my paint-splattered Ralph Lauren henley to change into the flannel. She swiveled to face the display of postcards, waiting for me to get changed. I could have left the T-shirt on, but I was too committed to show her I had no shame.
“It looks a bit small,” I said, holding up the flannel. “But I’ll take the tags off and if it doesn’t fit?—”
“Oh, come on!” She turned to me, her eyes dragging over my naked torso before she grabbed the shirt and turned the tags on the outside. “Try it like this.”
“Thanks.” I smiled, pleased with myself.
She may have thought of me as a privileged idiot, but now she knew I was a privileged idiot with a six-pack, in case that made any difference.
“This is not the true test,” she insisted as I buttoned the shirt. “I’m not used to seeing you like this, but it doesn’t mean you look out of place here. Wait until you’re back in Denver and with someone you’re really trying to impress.”
I added the baseball cap, turning it backwards. “Is this any better?”
I wanted to impress her, but the rules were different. Everything was different with her.
She swallowed. “Very Luke’s Diner.”
