Rewired (The Progress Series) Page 9

  Charlie giggled. “That’s fine, Roxanne. I was expecting you to call. Did you get my notes?”

  “Yes! Thank you for these. I just had a question about the carpet cleaning in three-eleven…”

  After clarifying a few things for Roxanne, Charlie scribbled down a note for Jesse to find when he woke, and set it on the kitchen island. She filled a glass of water, added a few salvaged daisies to it, and strolled back to her apartment.

  *

  As she opened the door, the smell of Samuel lingered in the air. For the briefest of moments she thought he was there, somewhere in the apartment. Striking the thought aside, she went to her unopened mail on the counter and found the bonus check for winning Manager of the Year. Typed in her name, the check was in the amount of two thousand dollars.

  She flicked it on her chin twice and stared into the dark and lifeless living room. Shoving the check into her purse, she walked to the blinds and ripped them open. The warm room flooded with light and small dust specks floated in the stale air around her.

  Things so far have fallen into place. God, this has been hard. And that phone incident last night! I could scream! If he would’ve seen the texts I sent to Sam, the shit would’ve hit the fan.

  Last night. Oh that stupid night. I knew if I was going to have to…have sex? Make love? Fuck…Jesse last night, I’d have to keep my eyes closed and get it over with. He would’ve never opened up to me and told me those things he did if I hadn’t.

  I’m such an asshole. First… Sam. She held her stomach and wrapped her hand around her mouth, trying to cast the thoughts of Sam aside and bury them deep, hiding them from herself until she could wrap her conscience around them. And now I’m toying with Jesse. I’m trying to fix a broken man who has clearly stated he doesn’t want to be fixed. But is it so wrong? Am I really that horrible of a person to want to help him? He was the best friend I’ve ever had. I do love him. I really do. Just not the way I love…S—

  She shook her head, and after watering her ficus tree, she sat down at the computer, determined.

  After a half hour of searching, she found what she was looking for. She picked up her phone and dialed the number displayed on her computer screen.

  “Yeah, Rick’s on Main here.”

  “Hi, Rick. My name is Charlie. This is going to be a strange question, but I’d like to know if you have a very specific bicycle there.”

  “I only have one bike here. Do you want me to take a look at what it’s called?”

  “Actually, I wouldn’t know. I need you to try and remember who sold it to you. You see, I’m looking for—”

  “Jesse was his name,” Rick interjected with a grumble.

  Charlie sighed with relief. “Oh god, that’s great! I need it. How much is it?”

  “I can sell it to you for three hundred.”

  “Perfect. Here’s what I need you to do…”

  After making payment arrangements and specific instructions on how to ship it across the country, Charlie hung up the phone with a satisfied grin.

  She retrieved the list from the kitchen and grabbed a pen.

  List

  Research

  John Sanborn.

  Jesse Sanborn

  Mandy Sanborn

  Treatments for bipolar

  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

  Bike

  Drums

  Bank

  Lily

  Call Karalee…

  Charlie had three more errands to run and a few calls to make as she hoped to return before Jesse woke. After throwing on some mascara and lip gloss, she ran out the door.

  Three hours later, Charlie walked into Jesse’s apartment, trying to keep the noise minimal. But the rattling of the snare nestled under her arm gave her presence away. She heard Jesse groan from beyond the hallway and hurried back out to her car to get the rest of her purchase.

  Lucky for her, he was in the shower when she returned. She quickly set up his surprise along the wall in the living room. Just as she was putting the finishing touches on with a bow, he walked out into the hall in a pair of boxers, calling her name. “Charlie?” he said, urgently.

  “I’m here,” she called back.

  Scratching his head with a yawn, he started, “”My god, what time is it? How long was I aslee—” Stopping, he assessed the room.

  Charlie looked bright, alert, and beautiful, her cheeks flushed and her lips shiny. She was grinning from ear to ear and holding out a pair of drumsticks with a white ribbon dangling from them. Behind her was a full drum set, from the bass to the cymbals.

  “Happy Saturday,” she said, widening her smile.

  “What’s all this?” he asked with a pinch in his brow.

  Her smile fell flat and she dropped her hands to her sides. “I thought you might want to start playing again,” she said, sparking an unsteady grin.

  “You…” He looked dumbfounded. “You got me a set of drums? Why? I mean, I don’t understand,” he said softly.

  She laughed. “Oh don’t worry, it’s not like it’s an engagement ring,” she said. Shit! Don’t look down, don’t look down. As his eyes flashed toward her ring finger, she quickly continued. “And although last night meant a lot to me, you don’t need to be scared about this.” Shrugging, she added, “I’ve been really selfish for the past year, and I just wanted to make sure I was doing something for someone else for a change.”

  He shook his head and walked toward her. “I wasn’t scared.” He took her hand in his. Charlie’s head slanted appreciatively and she watched his lips descend to the back of her hand. “Thank you. I’m just not used to gifts,” he murmured awkwardly, letting his fingers slip between hers.

  She bit her bottom lip and nodded. “Well, get used to them. There’s more to tell you. Sit down. Can I make you some breakfast?” Her words were rushed from the impatience of her next surprise.

  Inspecting his new drum set, Jesse hadn’t heard Charlie ask him a question. “Huh?” he asked, looking back at her in awe.

  “Never mind,” she laughed. “When you’re done looking at your new toy, I have another surprise,” she said, grabbing a frying pan from the cupboard. “Oh, and it’s one o’clock in the afternoon, by the way. You slept almost twelve hours last night.”

  He exhaled. “I guess I needed it.” Standing from his crouched position, he rose with a cymbal in his hand and studied its bronze finish.

  Finding only a half carton of eggs and two pieces of American cheese in the fridge, Charlie began preparing an omelet. “Sorry if it’s not the best quality set,” she muttered, watching him assemble the stand.

  His shoulders fell and the boyish grin was now gone. “Jesus, Charlie. I’m sorry, I didn’t even say thank you.”

  She gawked. “Whoa. ‘Sorry’ and ‘thank you’ in one sentence? Did you hurt yourself, Jesse Anders?” she asked sarcastically. “Ha! Don’t worry about it. Your reaction was thanks enough.” She beamed. “Now come over here and eat your omelet. I want to tell you what we’re doing today.” Setting the plate down on the island, from across the room she offered him a fork.

  Laughing, he jogged over to her and looked down at the plate. “I had all this in my fridge?”

  “I suppose I could have gone back to my apartment and gotten some vegetables or meat to throw in, but I got lazy.” She winked.

  “So what are we doing today?” he asked after swallowing a mouthful of eggs.

  “First, we’re going to Chap’s Thrift Store. You need a couch, a TV, and maybe a stool or two for this island. After that, we’re going to the grocery store.”

  “Charlie…” He set his fork down. “I don’t have the money for all that stuff.”

  She shrugged. “I didn’t say you had to pay for it.” She flashed a quick smile, winked again, and walked toward the hallway.

  “Red…” he began. But Charlie was already in the bedroom, pulling the sheets over the mattress.

  He ran to her, swallowing another mouthful. “Red. I don’t feel…comfor
table with all this,” he said, grabbing the pillows and fluffing them into place.

  “Tough,” she said with certainty. The comforter flew up into the air and then lay flat against the bed. “Quit being so sensitive,” she added with a wink.

  A devilish smile spread across his face.

  Chapter Two

  “So what are we doing tonight?” Jesse asked, his knee beginning to bounce in the seat of her parents’ truck.

  “Well, after we get all this furniture into your apartment, I have one last itty bitty surprise,” she said, glancing down at his leg.

  He clenched his jaw, trying to disguise his grin of anticipation.

  After hauling the couch, TV, and two bar stools into his apartment, they looked around in satisfaction.

  “It almost looks like someone lives here now.” Standing behind him, Charlie wrapped her arms around his chest and rested her cheek on his shoulder, feeling him tense, then relax.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked after a strange silence.

  He exhaled. “I feel like for the first time, probably ever…that this is my home.” He gripped Charlie’s wrists and pulled her closer to him.

  Charlie’s smile danced and she felt a shiver up her arms. “All right. I’m going to get ready. We have a date tonight.” She released his grip and walked toward the front door. “I’ll be back in a half hour or so, I’m just going to freshen up. Oh! And your car is in the parking lot—I had Mark tow it this morning.”

  “Where are we going?” he asked eagerly.

  “It’s a surprise.” She winked and closed the door.

  Walking back to her apartment, Charlie felt her energy increasing. She had a confident stride as all of the plans she had been making were starting to fall into place.

  It’s so easy to get caught up in his contagious moods. Things are better than I thought they’d be. It might not be so bad spending a lifetime with Jesse. She flinched outwardly at the thought and sighed. If this is God’s cruel fate in pairing the two of us together, then I’ll be damned if I fail him again. I just hope I’m able to pull this off. He’s still seeing what he wants to see, even though I’m not very good at this acting thing.

  As she entered her apartment, her phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi honey, it’s Karalee.”

  “Hi! Thanks for returning my call. How are you?”

  “I, ah…well, I’m a little concerned.”

  “Concerned? What’s going on? Is everything all right? Is Angie okay?”

  “Yeah, we’re fine. But I’m concerned about you,” Karal said.

  Shit. She knows. “Me? I’m okay,” Charlie said, attempting reassurance.

  “I know that’s a lie. Not only can I hear it in your voice, but I also recently heard about you and Sam.”

  Charlie’s shoulders dropped and she covered her face. “Who told you?”

  The line was silent for a moment before Karal replied, “That’s not important. The most important thing now is getting the two of you back together.”

  “That’s never going to happen, Karal.”

  “Don’t be so sure.”

  “Oh, I’m sure.” Charlie said, feeling another wave a remorse wash over her. “I completely screwed him over. It’s all my fault.”

  “Yeah, I heard that too.” Karal sighed. “Is he with you right now?”

  “Sam? No, he’s probably at Gabe’s.”

  “No, not Sam. Jesse.”

  Charlie took a sharp inhale. “What? How? I mean, how do you know?”

  “I started putting two and two together. About a month ago, Jesse called the Crimson looking to see if we had any jobs available. I don’t know what he was thinking—that somehow we wouldn’t know about how he lost is job with the company out East? Anyway, that got me thinking that his arrival into town would be sooner than later. But it wasn’t confirmed until Sam showed up at the Crimson yesterday.”

  Charlie stopped breathing for a moment and her eyes popped open. “No.” Sitting down at her dining room table, she kept her hand over her eyes. “What did he say?”

  “He told me the basics.”

  Charlie sniffed and wiped a tear from her cheek. “I’ve messed things up bad, Karal.”

  “Yeah, you sure as shit have! I’m trying to be as calm as I can be by not coming over and kicking the shit out of you for what you’ve done.” She paused with a sigh. “But, I kinda get it,” Karal said, calmer.

  “How did he look? Was he sad?”

  “Oh, Charlie. Cut it out. Of course he was sad! He looked like shit. I didn’t even recognize him right away. He was wearing glasses and he had paint all over him.”

  Charlie frowned. “He won’t return my calls or texts.”

  “Can you blame the guy?”

  Charlie shook her head and her hand covered her chin. “No.”

  “Well, the one thing that gives me hope in all this is that he searched for me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Charlie, Sam came to the Crimson yesterday to speak with me, specifically. He wasn’t there enjoying a family dinner or anything. He walked in, spoke to me, and walked out. It wasn’t random. He sought me out for answers.”

  Charlie perked up in the chair and uncovered her face. “Well, what did you tell him?”

  “I told him what I know about Jess.”

  Charlie nodded slowly, trying to ignore the wave of rippling guilt. “I’m glad you were there to answer some of his questions. Thank you for that.” Charlie’s folded arms guarded her stomach, thinking that somehow it would stop the nausea.

  “Give him time, Charlie. I’m sure he has questions that only you can answer. In the meantime, I hope you have a plan when it comes to Jesse. Otherwise that motherfucker is gonna do what he’s always done.”

  “Please, don’t say it. I do have a plan, Karal. It won’t be like it was before. I just need your help with it…”

  After hanging up with Karal, Charlie changed her clothes, freshened up, and fighting the tears that threatened to fall in her now sullen mood, grabbed the men’s bathroom sign from the box in her closet and some double-sided tape. Noticing the disheveled closet, she put boxes back into their places, pausing to think about Sam rifling through to find clean clothes.

  Returning to Jesse’s apartment, she hung the men’s sign on his bathroom door.

  Creeping up behind her, Jesse put his arms around her waist. “You kept that? I didn’t remember it until just now,” he said, sticking his hands in her front jeans pockets.

  “I’ve kept everything you’ve given me.” She blinked slowly. “And then some.”

  Keep it together, Charlie. Swallow. Breathe. And forget about Sam. That’s all you can do. You have to do this for Jesse and focus on your strength.

  “Whatcha thinking about?” he whispered into her ear, nibbling on her earlobe.

  She forced a smile. “Nothing,” she said, removing his hands from her pockets. Turning to face him, she leaned in and gave him a kiss on his cheek. “You ready to go?”

  He nodded. “Yeah.”

  *

  Charlie pulled into the parking lot with the familiar neon sign in the window flashing ‘Live Music’ as Jesse bit away his grin.

  “This is the surprise?” he asked.

  “Yes. Is this okay? Last time we were here, it was cut a little short. And that was my fault.” She looked down, fumbling with her fingers. “Since we didn’t get to hear the band play, I thought you might enjoy hearing them tonight.”

  “Defused is gonna be here?”

  Charlie nodded, still looking to Jess for approval.

  A wide smile flooded his cheeks as he hopped out of Charlie’s car.

  She gathered her purse and rolled up the windows. Jesse was hopping outside her door, anxious to get inside, and his smile managed to get wider with each second.

  “Hurry up!” he said, eagerly waiting to take Charlie’s hand and lead her inside. She fixed a smile and followed Jesse into the bar.


  “Hey Barney!” Jess said when they entered.

  “Jesse Anders,” said Barney, pronouncing each syllable slowly and grinning. His eyes moved over to Charlie and his bright teeth glistened from the overhead track lighting. “And the same pretty lady you were here with last time. Hello, pretty lady,” he said with his infectious smile.

  “Hi, Barney.”

  “Gonna be busy tonight. Did you guys order tickets online, ‘cause I’m afraid we’re sold out.”

  “Yes, I did. It should be under Charlene Johnson.” Digging into her wallet, she found her credit card. “Here.”

  Barney glanced at the clipboard and found her name. “Well then. It looks like we’re all set. Enjoy your evening.” He handed the card back to Charlie with a wink.

  Jesse snatched Charlie’s hand and led her farther into the bar. “Good, we’re early. We’ll get a table.” Jesse walked straight for his usual spot and pulled out a chair for Charlie, gesturing for her to take her seat. He pulled another chair around and sat down, scraping its legs against the cement floor to get as close to Charlie as possible.

  “You’ve spent way too much money on me today.”

  She smiled. “It wasn’t that much. That’s why I love thrift stores. We’ve successfully furnished an entire apartment on less than three hundred dollars. Plus, these tickets were less than ten each.”

  “But I don’t know when I’ll be able to pay you back,” he said, intertwining their fingers under the table and resting them on his knee.

  “You don’t have to pay me back. But, if I could request just a tiny favor in return…?” She smiled, raising her eyebrows.

  “What?”

  Her thumb intimately swept across his knuckle as she leaned in to whisper. “Tell your parents you’re back in Minnesota.” She waited a few seconds for his retort. “I’d love to see your mom again, and I’m sure she’d be so proud of you and your new place.”

  He smiled and nodded. “Actually, they already know.”

  Charlie’s brow shot up. “When?”

  “Yesterday, I think. The golf course opened this weekend and Dad went to play a round. The owner mentioned something about me working there.” He laughed. “You can imagine the earful I got when Mom found out I had been here for a month and hadn’t called. She left me a message but I haven’t called her back yet.”