All She Wanted (2) (19 page)

Briggs

“I hope you’ll join us today,” Mrs.
Sales—Tori’s mother said after the service.

“Well, let me double check with my
Activities Director, but I think that is still the plan. She seems to be ogling
your grandbaby at the moment,” I said.

She looked toward where Charlie was
standing, “Tori tells me how talented your girlfriend is at the piano, she was
just overjoyed when Charlie agreed to compose her processional,” Mrs. Sales
said.

At the word
girlfriend
my mind sharpened instantly.

Tuesday.
Tuesday. Tuesday.

“Oh…we’re not…uh, it’s not that way
with us. We’re friends,” I smiled awkwardly, but knew if I didn’t address her
error now it would likely come up at lunch in front of the entire family later.

The attractive older woman in front of
me raised her eyebrows and lowered her voice as she said, “Well, you could have
fooled me.”

You and
me both lady—especially on nights when I’m kissing her!

I smiled and told her I would confirm
lunch with Charlie before exiting the conversation. I turned to where Charlie
was standing in a group with Stacie and Tori—talking baby lingo. She was currently
kissing the chubby cheeks of the four-month-old.

I am not
jealous of that baby.

I am not
jealous of that baby.

I am not
jealous of that baby.

“Hey,” I said, breaking my mental rant
as I approached them.

“Hey yourself,” Charlie replied, never diverting
her gaze from the baby.

“Are you still good with going to lunch
at the Sales-,” I started.

“Ha! We were just talking about that. I
figured since she said yes, you were likely on board too—like a package deal,
right?” Stacie asked, her voice surprisingly loud for indoors.

I laughed. “Who wouldn’t want to be
shrink-wrapped next to this cute little pixie?” I said, nudging Charlie who was
now standing at full attention, her face turning a shade of dark pink.

Huh? What
did I say?

Both Stacie and Tori laughed, but
Charlie’s face stayed frozen—mortified at something. Her pink cheeks grew
darker.

Recover!

“Uh, yes, I’m game if you are,
Charlie,” I said.

She nodded, while averting her gaze
back to the baby.

I looked back to Tori, “We’ll meet you
there.”

“Sounds great,” Tori and Stacie said in
unison as they broke away from the pod we’d formed in the lobby.

I couldn’t get a read on Charlie’s face
before she had turned and walked toward the parking lot.

Urgh...Women!

**********

A full five minutes had ticked by without
any talking as we drove.

 
This was not the usual comfortable silence we
shared; this was like breathing in paint fumes—pretty noticeable.

“So,” I began, “Correct me if I’m wrong
here, but am I getting the silent treatment right now?”

“You don’t ask someone who’s giving the
silent treatment if they’re giving the silent treatment. That’s like asking an
opera singer if they are going to use vibrato,” she said flatly.

“Oh…well, I guess you’re talking
now
, so let’s hear it. Why are you
ticked at me? Why did you turn all shades of red back there?”

She turned toward the window, staring
out. I thought I was going to have to come up with another way to crack her,
when she finally opened her mouth and spoke.

“I was embarrassed, Briggs,” she said
softly.

“I gathered that much…but why? I don’t
understand. Did I say something wrong? You reacted like I called you an ugly green
ogre or something.”

She sat quietly, something I wasn’t
used to from her.

I searched the files of my
socially-lacking man brain, desperate for some clues to tell me what I was
missing.
Blank
. That’s what beamed
back at me when I double-checked the folder labeled
Women
.

“Charlie…help me out here,
please
,” I said, trying to control the frustration
that was leaking into my voice.

“Your joke, Briggs—it just made me
feel...young.”
 

What?
Okay, I understand women so much less than I thought I did.

My mouth hung open. I had no words—like
nothing. I blinked several times trying to form a cognitive thought so I could
rebut her statement. It was then I remembered debate class—one of the only classes
I didn’t fail in high school. We would start by reiterating the other team’s
argument. That was the best plan I had—or really the only plan I had.

“Charlie, you’re saying that my joke
about shrink-wrapping you made you feel…
young
?”
I asked, testing the waters cautiously even though everything in me wanted to
laugh at the ridiculous question I had just asked.

“No.”

I took a deep breath, replaying her previous
words in my head again.

“Um…that I agreed we were a packaged
deal?” I tried again.

“No!” she said, looking at me like I
was the crazy one.

But that’s when a light bulb went off.
What had I called her—
a cute little pixie
?

“I embarrassed you by calling you a
cute little pixie?” I asked, watching her shoulder drop in confirmation.
“Charlie, I didn’t mean anything by it. You know I don’t actually think you’re
a pixie, right?”

She turned her head sharply, “I
couldn’t care less if you thought I was a pixie or a sprite or even a zombie,
but I don’t want to be
cute
, Briggs.
I’m a grown woman—I may be shorter than most sixth grade boys, but I don’t want
to be cute. That term is reserved for children with pigtails and missing front
teeth.” She said pointed to her mouth.

That’s
what she thinks? That I see her as cute?

I turned off the two-lane highway that
led to Middleton, pulling onto the shoulder. She jumped in her seat, looking at
me like I was some kind of crazy ax-murder. I wasn’t. I was just a man on a
mission.

 
“Get
out, please,” I said.

“What? What are you doing, Briggs?” she
asked folding her arms over her chest.

“Get out,
please
,” I said, again.

She huffed, stepping out of the vehicle.
I came around to her side as she tried to find her footing in the gravel, which
proved difficult in those tall cork-like heels she had on.

I stood in front of her.

“Have I ever told you a lie?” I asked
her.

She looked up at me, startled. Her arms
gesturing to the sky as she answered.

“How would I know the answer to that?”

“Do you
think
I have ever lied to you, Charlie?”

“No,” she said, taking a deep breath,
“I don’t think you’ve ever lied to me.”

“I can promise you that I have never told
you a lie—other than my slight misleading about Cody’s birthday party,” I said
firmly.

“Okay?” Her eyes were narrowed, waiting
with confused concentration.

I took one step toward her.

“You are, without a doubt, the most beautiful
woman I have ever known—outside, inside, every side. You’re beautiful when you
laugh, when you cry, when you rage, and when you sleep. You’re beautiful from
sunrise to sunset, and each moment in between,” I said, taking a step closer to
her as she leaned against my truck door, “When I watched you play the piano, I
couldn’t even
define
that kind of
beauty, and it was right in front of me. I have said it a thousand times in my
head Charlie, but I could say it all day long and it still wouldn’t make it any
less true.
You
are beautiful.”

TUESDAY!

TUESDAY!

TUESDAY!

Charlie

I leaned against the cool metal of the
door behind me as if willing it to help me stand—or keep me standing. I wasn’t
sure which. I swallowed hard, searching his face, his eyes,
his
mouth. I could feel the heat flash up through my chest and into my cheeks
again, but embarrassment was no longer at the cause.

Briggs was.

He stood only inches away from me now,
but we both seemed frozen.

“Do you believe me?” His voice was
husky yet soft, breaking the spell between us.

I nodded.

“Good,” he looked down at his feet, “I
think we should probably get up to the house before they send out a search
party.”

I nodded again.

It was the first time in the month I
had known Briggs that he didn’t open my door for me. Instead, he took a step
back, waiting for me to climb in.
Was he
afraid to get close to me?
He walked around the back of his truck, taking his
time before joining me again in the cab.
 
 

Am
I still breathing?

I honestly wasn’t sure.

Briggs

“This can’t be just one house, can it?”
Charlie asked, walking up the driveway.

“Well, I guess that’s completely
relative to how one defines
house
. To
the Prince of Persia, this is a house…yes,” I said, watching Charlie’s eyes
grow wide as she took it all in.

The Sales Estate was massive. They had
something like twenty-plus acres, a driving range, a pool, a spa, and patios on
every side. This was a house built for entertainment, and that was what the
Sales did best: Entertain. I had been to Kai and Tori’s engagement party here,
as well as a fundraising event for some charity or another. Both those events
had been first class—no doubt about it. Before we made it to the front door, Stacie
was there, ushering us in with exuberance.

“Hey ya’ll! Come on in—Briggs, the guys
are out back. Charlie you can come with me to the kitchen, we’re just going
over some last minute details for the wedding before we serve lunch,” Stacie
said, pulling on Charlie’s arm.

I felt like we had just been ambushed
by the paparazzi—only it was just Stacie. Not a single camera to be found. I was
certain now that this woman did not have an
inside
voice. Instinctively, I pulled back on Charlie’s arm, caught off guard by our
forced and immediate separation. Charlie looked at me, shrugging her shoulders and
giving me her most endearing smile.

Reluctantly, I let her go.

“Relax, Briggs, you’ll get her back,” Stacie
said, looking over her shoulder at me. Her arm was already looped through
Charlie’s as they headed to some unknown location, away from where I stood.

“Okay…” I mumbled to myself, before
tuning into my testosterone radar and seeking out the man-hideaway location.

**********

The three men: Tori’s Dad—Richard,
Tori’s brother-in-law—Jack, and Kai, were all outside, standing around a large
stainless steel grill. The outdoor kitchen was massive and I was sure that the grill
could easily handle several hundred pounds of steak at one time. It was
impressive.

“Hey there, Briggs, glad you could join
us today,” Richard said, giving me a hard pat on the arm as I approached them.

“Thanks for the invite. I never pass up
a good steak,” I said.

“You never pass up free food
period
,” Kai laughed.

I shrugged. It was true.

“So, is everything confirmed for the
bachelor party this weekend?” Jack asked me.

“Yep, and I have a few more things up
my sleeve, too.” I said, smiling.

“Good…we’ll have to connect on those
later,” Jack said.

Kai was totally in the dark when it
came to the upcoming weekend, which was exactly how I wanted it.

“Why do I have the feeling that I’m
going to regret asking either of you to be in my wedding after this weekend?”
Kai asked, looking at each of us with raised eyebrows.

“Brother, you can
regret
all you want, it won’t change a thing I have planned, though!”
I laughed.

Richard laughed as he poked at the
sizzling meat and Kai smiled, shaking his head as he turned toward the grill.

I could hear the cackling of a sinister
villain inside my head.

Next
weekend will be memorable—no doubt about it.

Charlie

“Do you want to hold her?” Stacie asked
as she took Kailynn out of the travel crib she had been sleeping in.

“Yes, please!” I said, holding out my
arms to take her from Stacie. “I don’t think I’ll want to give her back
though.”

“Oh you will, believe me. That girl has
a hunger-awareness cry like no baby I’ve ever heard. She’ll let everyone in a
three-block radius know when it’s time to eat,” Stacie laughed.

I followed her into the kitchen and
snuggled Kailynn closer to me, wrapping her soft pink blanket around her little
bare legs. Stacie must have taken off her pink tights, but she was still in her
Sunday dress. I smiled at her as she reached her hand toward my mouth, trying
to curl her fingers around my bottom lip. I could have melted right then. I
laughed, kissing her tiny fingers.
 

The women were on some tangent about
the food tent rental, but I was in my own world swinging my hips from side to
side, bouncing slightly to keep the giggles from Kailynn coming. She obviously
loved movement. Every once and a while, Tori’s mom, Lucina, would glance over
at me and ask my thoughts on the matter, but I never offered an opinion. If I said
anything, I would simply reiterate what Tori had already expressed. I knew
better than to go against the bride.

Regardless, Lucina was likely to get
her way in the end. Tori looked up at me, diverting from the tent conversation
entirely.

“So Charlie, Tori told me that you’re
finished with the processional piece, is that correct, darling?” Lucina asked
me.

“Yes, I just finished it a few days
ago,” I said smiling.

“Oh, that’s fantastic! I hope you’ll do
us the honor today and play it for us? We have a piano in the den just off the
dining room.”

I froze, I hadn’t prepared for that—I
hadn’t even played it for Tori yet. But again, Lucina’s face suggested that
no
wasn’t really an option.

“I um, I was hoping I could get Tori’s feedback
first before I played it for anyone else,” I said politely, switching Kailynn
to rest on my other arm.

“Tori you don’t mind, do you dear?”

Tori searched my face as if gauging my
response.

“I would love to hear it today,
Charlie, but if you’re uncomfortable with that then we can wait and do it
privately later this week like we had planned,” Tori suggested.

I smiled at her thoughtfulness, but I
could see the excitement on her face.

“Okay, should I play it after lunch?” I
asked the group.

“Yes, please!” Lucina said, offering me
a shoulder squeeze and a kiss on the cheek.

I flushed at the sudden attention
shift. Though I had performed for hundreds of people, it was the small,
intimate gatherings that sent my anxiety soaring.

**********

Lunch was served outside under a canopy
on one of the many decks that wrapped around the house. I offered to hold
Kailynn so that Stacie and Jack could enjoy their meal. I would rather hold a
baby than eat any day of the week. She had fallen asleep in my arms and Stacie told
me that I was quickly making my way to the top of the babysitter list. I
smiled.

I sat next to Briggs as I continued to
slowly rock the baby in my arms. He kept adding things to my plate even after I
had scolded him to stop. He paid no attention to my pleas, however. As the meal
came to an end, Stacie started to reminisce about some wedding tablecloth
fiasco at her and Jack’s wedding. The table roared with laughter at her
dramatics. She had quite a way of telling stories. Apparently, a few wrongly
marked receipts had nearly meant her island themed wedding reception would have
sported Beeswax yellow tablecloths instead of the Bahaman Blue she had ordered.

I was so caught up listening to Stacie
that I didn’t notice Briggs at my ear until he spoke, goose bumps pricking my
arms immediately.

“You need to eat, Shortcake.”

I looked at him, scrunching up my face in
rebellion. He raised his eyebrows in a silent challenge. Before I knew it, his
arms came underneath mine, scooping Kailynn onto his chest in one smooth
movement. I bit back a smile at the sight.

“Baby thief,” I whispered.

He winked at me, gesturing toward my
plate again with a nod of his head. I picked up my fork and knife, mumbling just
loud enough for him to hear, “And a food pusher, too.”

The quiet rumble of his laugh shot
flames through my chest, and I could not hold back my smile any longer.