All She Wanted (2) (9 page)

Charlie

I stared at the first few measures of
Tori’s processional, trying to will my mind to focus. I suppose it was focused,
just on something other than music. Every time I shut my eyes to envision the
melody, I saw Briggs, standing in my kitchen the way he had been only yesterday
morning. The omelets, the pants debate, the compromise…it all ran through my
mind like a movie.

Why had
he cared so much about what I wore? And what had he cared about exactly—my
virtue?

That concept was about as unfamiliar to
me as the inner workings of a microchip. Of course my father had been
protective, but I had been out of his house for nearly three years. A lot had happened
in three years.

Alex had never asked me to change—at
least, not
out
of something sexy
. He’d only ever encouraged me to wear clothing
that showed my body off, clothing that showed him off when we were out together.
I never did live up to his expectations in regard to my attire, but his
approval
, when I had, made me feel good.
I wasn’t exactly daring in the way I dressed, but I was no longer shy about the
attention I received either.

There was no mystery left to uncover.

Alex had seen to that.

Just as I rested my hands on the keys
in an effort to ignore the wanderings in my head, my phone buzzed. I jumped,
the vibration on the piano reverberating through the room.

I laughed as the text surfaced—the name
Briggs gave himself the night he stole my phone, displaying proudly.
 

The
hottie who lives above your garage:
Can
you be ready by 3? Something came up and I need to leave earlier. WEAR NORMAL
CLOTHES!

Me:
What kind of party starts before 9? NORMAL?
I’m confused :-).

The
hottie who lives above your garage:
The
kind that I take you to. Do I seriously need to come in and pick something out
for you? Don’t put it past me, Shortcake.

I smiled.

Me:
You are such a pain!

The
hottie who lives above your garage:
And yet…you love me for it.

My stomach flipped; my breathing
faltered.

I replied, ignoring it all.

Charlie:
3
is
fine.

And that was the end of that.

Briggs

Oh to have seen her face when I sent
that last text. I’m sure it was priceless.

Shock value still had its place in this
world—I made sure of it.

Angie had texted me earlier to ask if I
could take a look at her car, it was acting up again. I figured it was probably
due for a tune-
up,
her next oil change wasn’t too far
off either. I could do both before the party started. Luckily, I already had my
tools here at the house. I had started to put them in the back of my truck when
I noticed the weather.

It was nice out—convertible nice.
 

Charlie would probably be a tad less
furious with me for taking her to Cody’s seventh birthday party if we rode in
her convertible. She came outside a minute later as I laid my tools down near
her car.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

To my very sweet surprise, she was in
jeans—high heels—but in jeans nonetheless.

I decided not to mention the shoes.

“Thought we could take your car today
since it’s so nice out,” I said.

She looked at me like an assassin who
had found her mark, then crossed her arms in front of her before staring down
at my tools.

“I am not going anywhere until you tell
me what this whole charade is about. What do you need those tools for? Unless
they are required to attend the
awesome
party
you told me about,” she mocked.

I smiled, shoving my hands in my
pockets.

She’s
a smart little cookie—this one, although I had tipped her off.

“Tonight is Cody’s birthday party,” I
said, preparing for a volcanic eruption.

She stared at me.

I waited.

She kept staring.

I kept waiting.

Finally, she said, “Maybe this will
come as a shock to you, but I actually
like
birthday parties. You don’t have to trick me into going to one.”

She turned sharply and stalked back toward
the house.

I watched her, speechless.

What
is she saying?

That
she would have wanted to come with me?

“Wait—where are you going?” I yelled
after her.

“I’m getting my keys!”

I smiled.
Unbelievable
.

**********

“I don’t think so, Shortcake.” I shook
my head.

“But it’s
my
car,” she whined.

I was starting to break down. I could
feel it with each pout and whine of her voice.

Call me whatever name that fit the
bill, but I
always
drove. The only
exception to that rule—meaning, the only people who
drove me
—were the ones who had committed to risk their lives for
me.

“Rock-paper-scissors?” I asked.

I knew she would choose rock. She was a
crusher of men—it was her
tell
.

She smiled. So did I.

I
was right.

“You cheated!” she yelled.

“How can you cheat at rock-paper-scissors,
Charlie?”

“I…I
dunno
!
But you did!”

I laughed as she threw her keys at me
before walking to the passenger side door.

“Tell ya what, there’s a nice long
stretch of country road where we’re headed. You can drive then, okay?”

That seemed to satisfy her—temporarily
anyway.

Charlie
:

“So, when does the party start?”

“Think his friends are coming around
six, but I need to work on my sister’s car for a bit before that,” he said.

“Well, I’ll need to run into a store before
we get there.”

“What for?” he asked, puzzled.

“For a birthday present,” I said,
laying my head back against the seat and closing my eyes. The sun felt so nice beating
down on my face, even if the breeze was still a bit chilly. I had thrown a
sweatshirt and a blanket in the back just in case it got too cold for comfort.

“Nah, you don’t need to do that,
Shortcake.”

My head snapped up in attention. “I
am
getting him a present, Briggs. I refuse
to go without one,” I said firmly.

Calm
down…he’s only trying to be nice.

“Whoa…easy there, if you really want to
get him something I’ll take you to a store. Please just put the gun down and
back away,” he said, but there was little teasing to be found in his tone.

I felt the tension in my body relax
after he complied, and again, I closed my eyes.

Okay, so maybe that was a bit of an
over-reaction, but I wasn’t going to be the one without something to
give—especially to a child in a single-parent home. That just hit a little too
close to home for me.

I could reason that Angie was certainly
not like my mama had been, but still…raising a son on her own had to be hard.

“Will you tell me about your move to
Dallas?” I asked quietly.

I heard him take a deep breath—even over
the noise of the road.

Briggs

A
driving distraction?

Yeah, that didn’t even begin to sum it
up.

Driving Charlie in her convertible was a
new sort of torture. We had been talking for the last thirty minutes, nothing too
deep, but the conversation certainly hadn’t lacked for content. She asked a lot
of questions regarding Angie and Cody, a subject I tended to tread lightly
through. As I opened my mouth with a question of my own, I stopped short as I
saw her.
 

I tried to pull my eyes away from her
face, away from the stray hairs blowing around it, but the sun was a temptress,
illuminating her beauty in its concentrated rays.

And I was a sucker for Charlie’s beauty.

Her reaction to my gift comment had felt
off—defensive even, but she had melted into the sunlight before I’d had a
chance to press her on it.

There would be plenty of moments to debate
with Charlie, but how many moments would be equal to this?

Charlie

After stopping at the store and
standing in the toy aisle for nearly ten minutes, I made my final selections. Being
an only child—and a girl—I hardly felt qualified to be choosing a birthday present
for a seven year-old boy, but I did it. I had assured Briggs that he should
just wait in the car, and I was very glad that he had.

“I’ll
only be a minute,” I had told him.

I didn’t need him rushing me.

As I headed back to the car, I couldn’t
help but notice the disapproval on his face when he saw me.
 

“Please tell me that’s not all for
Cody,” he said.

“Uh…it’s not all for Cody,” I repeated,
smiling.

He furrowed his brows at me.

“What? There’s a pack of gum for me
somewhere in here,” I said, pointing to the bags in my hand.

“You are unbelievable,” he laughed.

“So I’ve been told.”

He handed me the keys as it was apparently
my turn to drive. After putting on my seatbelt and sunglasses, I re-tuned the
radio. I could feel his eyes on me—just as I had felt them on me earlier, but I
didn’t turn my head.

The country road that Briggs had mentioned
earlier was a twelve-mile stretch of nothingness. It was just a two-lane
highway with open fields on either side. It was a perfect road for driving—especially
perfect for driving a convertible. I could feel my hair slipping from the clip
that secured it, but I didn’t care. I loved the freedom that came with the
wind—even if it meant tangled hair.

I turned the music up louder, mouthing
the words to my favorite song as I drove. Briggs laughed and shook his head. As
it ended, I looked over at him and turned it down again.

“What, you don’t like my taste in music
or something?” I asked.

“It’s not that, but no, I don’t,” he laughed.

“What’s so funny, then?”

“You don’t do anything halfway, do you?
You’re-all-or-nothing.”

I scrunched my face up as I pondered
his remark. I had never thought of myself like that, but it seemed pretty
accurate.

“Ten points to you, Manny.”

“Ooh observation points, huh? Well, I’ve
got more where that came from.”

“Oh, do you? Well I’ve got a few about you,
too,” I said, without thinking.

“Well, by all means, lay ‘
em
out, Shortcake.”

My stomach twisted with nerves.

What
am I doing?
 

“Uh…” I began, going nowhere fast.

“You got nothing.”

As if hearing a challenge in those
three simple words, I blurted out my unfiltered thoughts.

“You’re a poser,” I said.

“A…
poser
?
How so?” he asked, a hint of mock defensiveness in his tone.

I swallowed hard.

“You let the guys at the station think that
you’re some kind of playboy—some kind of carefree joker, but that’s not who you
are. You
care
about people: Kai,
Tori, Angie, Cody. You’re better than you let people believe you are.”

I did not look at him as I said it. I
was exposing too much to risk getting trapped inside those deep brown eyes of
his.

He was quiet for longer than felt comfortable,
and then I felt a touch on my arm.

“Pull over,” he said softly.

I did, no questions asked.

Briggs

As she pulled over, I could feel the
truth of her words driving into my heart like a knife. I
did
care about people, but that didn’t mean that I was a
good
man.

Kai
was a good man.

She opened her door and looked nervous
as she stepped out, like she was thinking about apologizing for her statement.
I narrowed the gap between us, giving her my best attempt at a smile.

“You’re right, Charlie. I am a poser, but
you’ve got it reversed. I’m not a guy who’s posing to appear bad…I’m just a guy
who’s trying for the first time in his life to do better—to be better.”

That was just the simple truth; my past
was not nearly that simple.

Charlie pressed the keys into my hand
lightly and looked up at my face. “But it’s not the bad guys who care enough to
try.”

As we got into the car, the playful
mood from minutes earlier had vanished.

 
Though
I knew my future would be different because of the changes I’d made, my past would
always be my past. And just like a nail could be pulled out of a two by four, there
would always be a hole left in its place.

I had many, many holes.