You, Me, and Forever (Blushing)

I walked into the Moose Brew that evening, and Charlie waved me over. He was sitting at the bar talking to Benji. I’d become friends with these two over the last few months; Charlie and I had met there to discuss plans for the inn several times.

“There he is. I ordered us a couple of steaks. Though I did wonder if you were going to ditch me and go hang out with Montana.” Charlie took a pull from his beer, and Benji set my old-fashioned down in front of me.

“Please. Have I ever canceled on you?”

“No. But you do seem to hang out with her a lot for a dude who doesn’t do relationships.” Charlie smirked.

We’d talked. He was a single guy, raising his daughter on his own. Benji was single, too, so we’d all been open about it.

“We work together. We’re friends. It’s not serious.”

Benji laughed. “I stopped by the Brown Bear Diner today to get a milkshake to go, and you two were sitting so close, people were staring. Just admit you like the girl.”

“I’m not denying it. She’s great. Of course I like her. But I’m leaving soon. She knows that. We’re just having fun right now.”

I didn’t miss the look they shared, but I shook it off.

I knew what I was doing was selfish, but I couldn’t stop it.

While I was there in Blushing, I wanted to spend time with her. I’d never felt that way before, and I wasn’t going to second-guess it. I’d be gone soon, and I’d go back to normal. We’d discussed things, and we’d both agreed that we wanted to spend these last few weeks together.

“‘Having fun’ together?” Charlie said with a chuckle. “Dude, you just bought the Murphy Ranch for her.”

Benji laughed like the asshole that he was. “You bought that for Montana? Damn, dude. For a noncommittal guy, you sure go all out.”

“You can both just fuck off.” I rolled my eyes and took a sip of my drink. “It was a business decision. She’s a business partner.”

“With an unlimited budget to renovate the space and make it her own?” Charlie raised a brow.

“With a reasonable budget to get it where she wants it. I don’t fucking live here, remember? She’s going to run the place. So, she should be the one to make the decisions.” I shot them both a warning look.

“Man, I’m just trying to remember the last time I bought a mansion for the woman I was casually seeing,” Benji said, tapping his chin.

Charlie covered his mouth to keep from laughing. “Yep. I think I bought my last hookup breakfast, and that felt a little too intimate for me.”

“Well, we’ve established that you’re both dickheads, so there you go.” I shook my glass for a refill because I needed another drink. “And for the record, I’ve never bought anyone I was dating anything before, outside of a meal and a ticket to a Broadway show.”

That only invoked more laughter.

“That’s our point, asshole. This is different. Just own it.” Benji set my drink down.

“How about we just enjoy our drinks and stop talking about this bullshit? She and I are friends. I meet you two dickheads for dinner, and no one is questioning my motives.”

“I’d be willing to put out if you bought me a hotel.” Charlie smirked, and I flipped him the bird.

“Let me go grab your steaks. I’ll be back.” Benji tapped his knuckles on the bar top twice before walking away.

“So when you leave, I’ll be dealing with Connor regarding the construction at both locations, right?”

“Yep. He’ll fly in every other week and keep me updated on the progress. The dude is almost as good as I am,” I said with a laugh. “And he’ll keep me abreast of how things are going. I may come back out in a few months.”

“You like the initial part of the project, huh? Then you pass the baton to Connor?” he asked.

“I do. I like coming up with a plan, and the vision for the project. And then I usually stick around for demolition and make sure things are rolling, and Connor takes it from there so I can move on to the next project.”

Charlie nodded. “That’s cool. I like the daily grind. Seeing things come together over a few weeks or months, depending on the size of the project.”

“Yeah. You need someone for every stage, right? It takes a fucking village, dude.” I paused when Benji set our food down and said he’d be back. The bar was getting busy.

“It does.” He cut into his steak.

“Where’s Harper tonight?” I asked, as he didn’t like leaving his little girl on school nights often.

“She’s with my babysitter, Abigail. She’s the older woman who lives next door, and she loves spending time with Harper. But I’ll get home in time to put her down. God forbid I don’t read her Pinkalicious before bed. She won’t let anyone else read it to her.”

I smiled as I thought about how my mom would read to Samuel and me when we were young. It was one of my favorite memories from my childhood.

“Did you always know that you wanted to be a dad?”

“Fuck no.” He answered so fast it made me laugh. “Never thought I’d be a dad, if I’m being honest. I had a fucked-up childhood myself, in and out of foster care, pending my mom getting her shit together every few years. I didn’t see a need to repeat that pattern, you know?”

“Yet, here you are, running home to read Pinkalicious?”

He scrubbed a hand down his face. “That little girl fucking owns me, man. She’s just pure sweetness. So I have no regrets. But it wasn’t planned, that’s for sure. So I’m going to do whatever I can to give her the best life possible. I’m sure I’m messing up every day. Raising her on my own isn’t ideal, and I’m sure she wishes she had a mama. But I can’t change that, so I just do what I can to show up, you know?”

“Trust me, you’re doing a great fucking job, Charlie.”

“And you know that because . . .” He smirked as he popped a french fry in his mouth.

“Because I grew up with a father who was a tyrant. He wasn’t present all that much, and when he was, it wasn’t pleasant. It was not a home where I was waiting for my dad to come read me a book. So, trust me . . . the fact that your little girl only wants you to read her that book before bed—that says it all.”

He thought it over. “Well, thank you. I question myself all the time. Worried I’m fucking up or not giving her everything she needs.”

“The fact that you worry about it means you’re already winning.”

“How do you figure?” he asked.

“Because you give a shit, Charlie. That’s what matters most. You’re invested. You want her to have a good life.”

“Damn. You’re so much less of an asshole than I thought you were the first time we met,” he said over his laughter. “I’m kidding. And I appreciate what you said.”

When I’d first met Charlie, we didn’t have a whole lot to say to one another, but we’d grown friendly, and he definitely felt comfortable enough to give me shit now. And vice versa.noveldrama

“Of course. And I’ll still be calling you to check on progress occasionally,” I said, even though Connor would handle most of the day-to-day. I considered Charlie a friend now, so I’d make an effort to check in with him.

I knew he’d tell me how Montana was doing without making me ask him.

“Of course you will.” He laughed. “Do you normally spend this much time in one place when you’re doing a new project?”

“A lot of the large projects I’ve taken on have been in New York, so that makes it easy. I’ve done a few in other cities, but they weren’t quite this magnitude, where we bulldozed the entire building and rebuilt the structure from the ground up. So I’m usually in and out in a shorter amount of time. But I can’t say I’ve minded it this time. It’s peaceful here, you know? Different. And I’ve been able to work remotely, so it’s been okay. But things will be busy when I get home.”

“Your brother still thinking of coming on board?”

I’d told him about Samuel the last time we’d grabbed a drink together. “Yep. I think he’s pretty serious about it. He’s just working out the timeline and all of that.”

“That’ll take some pressure off of you,” he said, reaching for his beer and taking a pull. “And he’s trying to win his girl back?”

“Yeah. She’ll take him back. She’s great. They’re great together. He just works too damn much.”

Samuel had opened up to me that Brianna had threatened to leave him if things didn’t change. She was tired of being lonely because her partner was never around. My brother took a hard look at his life. Of course my father picked a time when he knew my brother was vulnerable to turn up the pressure at work. My father was the chief of staff, and Samuel was a surgical resident. Dad had all the power, and he was pushing him harder than he pushed anyone else, according to my brother.

And I didn’t doubt it for one minute.

“So how come your brother can have a relationship when he grew up in the same house that you did?”

At the end of the day, we both had parents who had caused a lot of turmoil in our lives.

“I think growing up in our home, we each had different perspectives. He just always wanted this perfect life, you know? Or at least what he thinks is perfect. A wife that he loves. A family that is happy and healthy. He wants kids, and he’ll be an amazing dad. He used to point it out in movies that we’d watch. You know the ones where everyone in the family is supporting one another, and having a good time. But me, I never longed for that. I wanted to get out of the house. I never longed for a family, because I don’t want to risk fucking up these small humans that are so affected by my decisions. I don’t want to be in a relationship that’s destructive and unhealthy, and that’s all I’ve really known. My mother spent a lot of years loving a man who treated her shitty. I don’t want to fuck anyone up like that, you know?” I took a sip of my drink and waited patiently for him to continue. “So, Samuel was always determined to have this storybook family. But I was different.”

“How so?”

“For the longest time, I thought being a better surgeon than my father would be my way of sticking it to him. But I figured out that doing something that I wasn’t passionate about was only punishing me.”

“So you found something that you were passionate about,” he said.

“Yes. I found my calling, and I fucking love building things. That’s all I need.” I chuckled, trying to make light of it, but nothing about it was light, actually.

“I get that. I felt the same way about being a parent. My dad bailed before I was even born, and my mom was a teenager when she had me, and she couldn’t stay clean long enough to take care of herself, let alone a baby. So, being bounced around in foster care wasn’t easy. And pulling myself out of it took a lot of work. But then Harper came into my life, and my whole perspective changed.”

“How so?” I asked as I sipped my cocktail.

“I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter what you’ve lived through, brother. Everyone has their own shit. Hell, you grew up in a mansion, and I grew up in the system, yet we’re both fucked up in different ways.” He cleared his throat. “So at the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide who you want to be. I’m not my mother and I’m not my father. I’m determined to break that pattern, and that’s up to me to do that.”

“You’re a good man, Charlie Huxley. But if you tell anyone I said that, I’ll deny it.”

He smirked as Benji walked over to see how we were doing. We both said that we were heading out soon, and they gave me shit that I was probably going to run to Montana’s house.

“Nah. That’s where you’re wrong. We’re doing our own thing tonight. She’s going out with friends, and I’m going to go home and catch up on some work.”

We’d talked about it, and we’d agreed that a night apart might be a good thing. We were spending a ridiculous amount of time together.

And now I was regretting that decision because I was ready to leave, and I didn’t want to be alone.

I wanted to hang out with her.

“Well, look who the cat dragged in.” Benji laughed as he motioned to the patio, where live music was playing, and I spotted her.

Montana, Violet, and Blakely were all dancing together, and I didn’t miss the way every fucking dude out there had eyes on Montana.

“All right, we’ve stayed later than I planned. I need to go relieve Abigail and put Harper to sleep. You want to head out?” Charlie asked, arching a brow.

“No. I think I’ll have one more drink,” I said, and he and Benji both chuckled.

Assholes.

Charlie clapped me on the shoulder. “I’ll bet you will. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Benji grabbed me another drink, and I kept my gaze trained on the patio, until hers found mine.

She smiled and then walked into the bar, making her way over to me.

“Hey, I didn’t expect to see you here.” Her words slurred a bit, and I knew she’d had a few drinks.

“Have we met?” I said, my voice low and laced with humor.

Her eyes locked with mine, and she smiled devilishly. “I don’t believe so. My name is Dominique Venezuela.”

“What a great name. What do you do for a living, Dominique?”

“I’m a diamond dealer. I do a lot of importing and exporting.” She chuckled as she sat down on the barstool that Charlie had just abandoned.

“Ahhh . . . that makes sense.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I’m the king of finding a diamond in the rough.”

She roared a full-bodied laugh, and it was my favorite fucking sound.

“That was smooth, Moneybags.”

“I haven’t told you what I do for a living. How do you know I’m not jobless?”

“I wouldn’t care,” she said, her hand moving over mine as it landed on her thigh.

“No? You’re not after my money, Dominique?”

“Nope. It’s your body I’m after.” She chuckled.

“Check, please,” I said as I held my hand up, and she and I both laughed.

And we were out the door within a matter of seconds.