Afterthoughts: A Charity McAdams Novella (The Charity McAdams Novellas) (8 page)

“No, it was really late. I figured he’d be asleep. He did text
though,
he asked if we can talk.”

“Uh-oh,” Ashley says, concern showing in her eyes. “That’s never good.”

“Gee, thanks, Ash.”

“
Sorry. I mean who knows, it could be fi
ne
,
”
she says, not convincingly.

I shake my head, “I don’t know. I don’t know what I want to say. Things are complicated,” my voice trails off.

“Complicated how?” Ashley asks before taking the final sip of her drink.

“Well,
something happened last night. I, uh, saw someone
at the airport.”

“Someone, who?”
Her eyebrow
rises
suspiciously.

“Brandon. Brandon was there.”

“Brandon was there?! You can’t be serious!” she yells.

I shush her and lower my voice, “Would I really joke about something like that? I drove him here and dropped him off at the Beverly Inn, like five blocks
that way!” I hiss, gesturing at the wind
ow
.

Ashley
looks horrified. “You drove him here? Why on earth would you do that?”

I quickly explain the situation, leaving out most of the details of the conversation we had on the drive.
Her expression only changes to become more horrified as I go along. Not a good sign. I mean I know it was bad
,
but was it really this bad?

“You kissed him?!” She shouts.

Apparently
,
it is that bad…

“
Shhh
!”
I pull at her jacket until she sits back down again. “Calm down. It’s not that bad.
He is only here for the next week, then he’
ll go back to LA
and everything will go back to the way it was before.”

I hope.

Ashley
considers me skeptically. “Charity
,
I’ve known you for like
, your whole life. There’
s no way you will just forget
any of
this ever happened and go on like normal.”

I know she’
s right but maybe if I keep telling myself that it will
all be fine I’ll start to believe it
.

Eventually.

“Well I have to try.
What choice do I really have? It’s self-preservation
, trying
to keep my remaining shreds of sanity,
”
I
joke
,
but it falls flat.

“What about James?” She continues, ignoring my question.
“Are you going to tell him?”

“Oh, yeah, sure.
I think now would be a great time to tell him about kissing someone else, immediately after having our first real fight. That would be perfect,” I fling back sarcastically. “Of course not, Ashley, are you out of your mind? What happened with
Brandon was a mistake.
I didn’t even kiss him! He kissed me!”

I hear myself and realize how incredibly lame my rationalization sounds.

“Ugh, I
can’t believe this is happening,” Ashley sighs.

“I know, my life has suddenly turned into a Lifetime movie special of the week,” I agree.

Ashley laughs. “
No kidding!
Well, like you said, it’s only a week. Surely you can avoid seeing him for one week.”

The bell on the door rings again as the
first groups of customers arrive
, I hop up from the table and get them seated before sending Ashley off.

*
**

The r
est of the day passes quickly and
I only end up working for six
hours before my boss lets me go. Luckily, people are pretty generous on Sunday’s so the tips were decent even though it was a short shift.
Before Ashley had left she asked
if I would stop by her house
after work and
take
her dog, Maci, out for a quick walk since she would likely be gone most of the afternoon.

I eat lunch at the café
before leaving and then
start walking in the direction of her house. She is only a few blocks away from my townhouse. She rents a small bungalow style house in an older part of t
own. It’s an older house but it’
s big on vintage charm and she loves it. Even though she could probably afford to buy her own house, she has lived there for the past two years and has never really mentioned moving out.

On the way over, my phone starts to buzz from the pocket of my coat. I fish it out and see James’ name on the screen. I hesitate slightly before pushing the answer button and lifting the phone to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Oh, Charity, thank God,” he exclaims.

“Is something wrong?” I ask, a little panicked by the anxiety in his tone.

“
Yeah, everything’
s fine. I just didn’t think you would answer. When I didn’t hear back from you last night I, well, I kind of thought you were done with me, with us.”

“No, no, I’m sorry, my phone died so I didn’t get the message until really late and I figured you would
be asleep,” I explain quickly.

Of course that doesn’t explain why I didn’t answer him anytime this morning, but I was hoping he would ignore that fact.

He does. “Alright, well, listen, I really want to see you. I want us to work things out. I don’t know what happened the other night but I’m sorry for being such an asshole about everything and for not calling you sooner.”

He is so sincere sounding and a jolt of guilt tingles down my spine.
For a brief moment I consider telling him what happened at the airport and coming clean with everything
,
but I decide against it. If I
ever
decide to tell him everything
, it would be better in person.

I’ve reached Ashley’s front porch, I can hear Maci inside starting to bark and dig at the front door.

“Charity?
Are you still there?” James asks, breaking my train of thought. “
I understand if you’
re still mad and need space, but please talk to me.”

“I’m sorry, it’
s not you.
I just got to Ashley’s house to walk her dog and was a little distracted.”

I sit down on the front steps and try to tune out
Maci’s
howls.

“Honestly, you don’t have to apologize. It was really my fault. It was just a miscommunication and I way overreacted
and made an idiot of myself. I figure
d
we
both needed some space to think things over and we’ve had that so let’s just drop the whole thing and move forward. Ok?”

“
Ok
,
” James agrees,
sounding
surprised
but relieved
. “I have a work dinner tonight but maybe we could do something after that?
Or tomorrow night?”

“Yeah, I’m free tonight or tomorrow.”

“Ok, I’ll call you when I get done tonight. I’m not sure how late it will be so we can decide then.”

“Alright, I’ll talk to you later,” I say, standing and starting to move toward Ashley’s door.
Maci is still whining but at least she stopped scratching at the door.

“I love you,” James says
after a pause
. It sounds strange as it was only two nights ago that he said it for the fir
st time.

Alarm bells ring in my head at the silence on the line, realizing he is waiting for me to reciprocate the statement. I fling the door open and Maci lunges out, barking and
growling with excitement as she jumps all over me.
“You too!”
I offer in the chaos, hoping the noise is enough to cover the fact that I didn’t,
actually
, say those three little words.

I click off the call and shove the phone back into my
pocket, feeling like the worst
girlfriend
in the world.

Maci and I arrive at the park fifteen minutes later. It’s a small park, the only one in our little town. It has a few
wooden benches and some flower beds. There is
a basketba
ll hoop and a half court layout for the junior high and high school age kids
and a small
playground with a two
seater
swing set for the younger ones
.

My favorite has always been the small pond. I like to come
here and watch the ducks
and geese. It’
s soothing to watch.

Maci also likes the pond, but for entirely different reasons. She usually tries to get
in the water and splash around.

Today, she has spotted a duck and looks like she is
trying to establish some sort of
friendship
. The duck just sits and watches as Maci barks and whines at it, getting close and then backing off and jumping around.
She’s a golden retriever and can’t seem to contain herself from trying to make everyon
e
play
with her, including water fowl.

I guess she doesn’t realize that
in another life she would
have been sent to fetch dead ducks for her master on a hunting trip.

I laugh as I watch her bounce around
but hold tight to her leash. After a few minutes I start to pull her back away from the water’s edge. It’s pretty chilly outside and I want to get home before it starts to gets dark. If I do
end up going out with James I’
ll need time to get out of my work clothes and make myself slightly more presentable.

Part of me doubts I will see him tonight, James often has dinner meetings with the business
partners and they
can go
on for hours, especially if drinking is involved
.

I start to turn away and give a slight tug on the leash but
Maci is on a mission
and keeps pulling. I feel my heel sink into the soft ground at the edge and before I can steady myself she gives an
other pull
and I pitch forward. I
hit the ground, knees first and yelp in p
ain and surprise.
I land halfway in the pond and halfway in the mud.
I guess I didn’
t realize I had a sl
ed dog wannabe
. Maci turns at my despair and starts barking at me and licking my face.

I curse under my breath and push her off me. My
face,
hair
,
hands
,
a
nd arms are covered in pond water
(
that
probably contains things I don’t even want to think about
)
and my
jeans are covered in patches of mud, especially at the knee
s
. I push off the ground and start to stand, slightly wobbly
,
when a pair of arms catches me from behind and hauls me the rest of the way out of the muck.

I gasp and turn my head to
see Brandon standing behind me.

“Brandon! What are you doing here?” I exclaim, as I push away, stabilizing myself. I
make a grab for
Maci’s
leash
and hold it tightly, firmly telling her to sit before
start
ing
to wipe
at my face with my other hand but I only
manage to spread the gunk further.

Brandon laughs softly. “Apparently saving a damsel in distress,” he jokes.
“It seems to be my new gig whenever you’re around.”

I try to think of some witty retort but my mind is
busy
replaying Ashley’s words, “
surely you can
avoid seeing him for one week.”

I guess not.

In one fluid movement, h
e takes off his coat and wraps it around my shoulders before removing his
button-up, flannel shirt, revealing a tight white t-shirt
underneath
. Without saying a word he steps closer and starts to use the shirt to wipe at the mud on my face.

I can feel the heat of his body and
I
feel paralyzed.
I don’t meet his eyes as he tends to me but I don’t move to stop him or back up either. My eyes are glued to his chest and biceps and
I don’t trust myself not to touc
h him so I cross my arms
and
tightly
hold the edges of the coat to
create a barrier between us and to keep the jacket from
slipping
off my shoulders
. He wipes gently and we don’
t speak for a few moments but it
feel
s
like hours.