Page 62 of The Devil in Blue Jeans
Charly groaned, “I’m already awake.”
“Good. Get up,” Aubrey said, “We’ve made breakfast for you.”
Charly just grumbled in response, pressing the pillow tighter around her head. “Go away. I’m not going anywhere today.”
Thiswasthe right decision. This made sense. Staying clear of him was her only choice.
But why did that feel like the wrong choice? Why did she feel like she was missing something this morning? She thought she’d wake up feeling like finally everything was back in order. She had a plan. She had a vision...and none of it made her feel happy.
When she didn’t move the pillow away, Willowtskedand chided softly, “You can’t hide away in here all day.”
“Oh, yeah?” Charly argued, “Just watch me.”
She felt the bed dip as Willow sat down in exasperation. “Well, you better talk it out, because if you don’t, it’s going to bug you all day.”
“I don’t even know what I’m feeling after last night,” Charly admitted, feeling like her heart and head were torn in opposite directions. She sought peace and contentment, and this was the exact opposite of that. “I did the right thing but why do I feel so miserable?”
“Because you like him,” Aubrey offered without the usual snark to her voice.
Charly huffed against the pillow pressed to her nose. “I don’t want to like him. I want to focus on the bar, making it a huge success and not think about a boyfriend.”
Suddenly the pillow was yanked away, and Aubrey was staring at her with a knowing look. “Hate to break it to you, but you do like him. A lot, even. Because the fact that you didn’t murder him last night tells me that you care about him more than you’re letting yourself believe,” she said sharply.
“Fine,” Charly admitted, squinting her eyes against the bright sun. “I do care about him, but he shouldn’t be so hard to walk away from. He wanted to buy the bar back! He got close to me, knowing that if we didn’t listen, he planned to do what he could to get the bar out of our hands.”
“Yeah, well people change,” Willow commented, taking a seat next to Charly. “Maybe Jaxon isn’t the same person he was when we first arrived here. Maybe he saw something in you that makes him want to do better. Maybe you shouldn’t write him off so fast.”
Aubrey gave a small shrug. “I know we’ve changed a lot since we’ve all been here. I don’t think it’s fair for you to blame him for wanting to protect his bar.”
“I’m not blaming him for wanting to protect his bar,” countered Charly. “It’s just complicated. It’s like when everything happened with Marcel, I felt so embarrassed that I didn’t see it coming or know any better, and I promised myself it would never happen again...then I met Jaxon. Now I just feel foolish all over again. I feel like I’m about to repeat the same mistakes, and I haven’t been single that long. This is all too much, too fast, and I feel like a step away from emotionally unraveling, when I should be focusing on putting all the pieces back together.” She placed the pillow firmly back over her face. “I don’t want to think about it...about a guy.”
“That’s probably not possible now, babe,” Aubrey said. “You’re going to have to deal with this. And, from what I’ve seen of Jaxon, I don’t think he’s just going to let you walk away.”
“He did last night,” she mumbled beneath the pillow.
Willow gave a soft snort, taking the pillow away again and setting it aside. “Did you even give him a chance to do otherwise?”
“No,” Charly said, staring up at her ceiling fan rhythmically spinning. “Should I have?”
“Only you can answer that,” Aubrey said. Then added, “But yes.”
Charly groaned, glancing at her best friends. Everyone needed someone in their corner that told it to them straight, and Charly had always been grateful for her friends. “Is that so?”
Aubrey nodded. “You’ve been really happy with him.”
“And you can’t deny that,” Willow agreed.
Charly glanced between her friends and sighed. “Are you telling me I shouldn’t have ended it, even after all I’ve said this morning?”
“I’m not saying that,” Willow said with a little shrug. “I’m just saying that he’s not the same guy we first met, and maybe you shouldn’t hold it against him. No one is perfect.”
“And,” Aubrey added, “he’s been good to you ever since that day...and yes, he made you unbelievably happy. Happier than I ever saw you with Marcel.”
Charly huffed, glancing up at her ceiling fan again. Was she expecting too much? No, she didn’t think so. What he’d done landed him in the jerk zone and she needed to protect herself. But he had apologized and meant it—she believed that. “Maybe—” Her phone rang on her bedside table. She snatched it up and checked the caller ID. Her heart sank when it was an unknown number, not Jaxon. “Hello?” she said into the phone.
A sweet female voice spoke on the other end of the line. “Hello,” she said, “is this Miss Charly Henwood?”
“Yes,” she replied reluctantly. Great. Now she had to deal with a spam call.
