Falling for Her Soldier (19 page)

Charlie felt like he was about to come out of his skin. “She’s with him now? Where are they?”

“I have no idea.”

He closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. “How long ago?”

“You missed her by ten minutes.”

He felt sick.

“Look, you stupid jerkwad, I was on your side.” She got right up in his face. “You better figure out how to fix this, and it better be huge. You really screwed up.”

“I know.” He put both hands over his aching chest, breathing hard. “I just feel…I feel—”

“What? You feel what?”

Heartbroken.

When there was a high-pitched squeal, Jane looked over her shoulder. “I have to teach a class,” she said. “But you better show up at the fund-raiser tomorrow night.”

“I doubt she wants me there.”

“Maybe not, but at least give her the pleasure of throwing you out.” She tossed him his car keys. “Jerkwad,” she muttered.

He climbed into the Impala, adjusted the seat, and reached for his cell, about to call Mackenzie for advice. But she would only yell at him, too. He’d already been called a super-ass and a jerkwad this morning. Mac had a much fouler mouth. He didn’t need that at the moment. What he needed was Ellie.

What he needed was a plan.

He started the car and drove for a while, not sure where he was heading. He couldn’t go to the WS. He couldn’t go see Tess. He didn’t want to go home…the ghost of Ellie was everywhere. When he got to an intersection in the middle of downtown, he idled for a moment, then hung a right, the tires screeching as he picked up speed, racing down the road.

Rick was seated behind his desk when Charlie barged in. “Hey, man, what’s—”

“Do you know what happened?” Charlie asked, out of breath from his sprint from the parking lot.

Rick frowned. “Yeah. Tess told Mac. Sorry, dude. I shouldn’t have had your name in any of the press releases. That was my mistake, I wasn’t thinking—”

“No,” Charlie cut in. “It’s my fault, all of it.”

“You okay? Want to call Mac? She’ll probably just cuss you out, but…” He shrugged. “Sometimes that helps.”

“No,” Charlie said. “I have a question for you. How many local news stations are there?”

“Two.”

“Including Indianapolis?”

Rick tapped his forehead in thought. “Five.”

“Five,” Charlie repeated, rubbing a hand over his chin, while running the ludicrous plan through his head one last time. “Rick,” he said, placing both hands on the desk and leaning forward, “I need a huge favor.”

Chapter Seventeen

Ellie swept her eyes over the room that was now bedazzled floor to ceiling. She and about twenty volunteers had been setting up and decorating since before the sunrise, but finally, the WS was polished and ready.

With less than an hour before the doors would open, she rushed home to shower and change. While standing in a towel and blow-drying her hair, she kept eyeing the two black dresses hanging outside her closet door. She still didn’t know which to wear. Both were appropriate for a black tie event, but the backless halter-top number with the long slit was the show-stopper. It was what she’d planned on wearing before…

She turned off the blow dryer and wandered to the closet, holding up the long black dress by the hanger. So what if she might not do the tango tonight. Did that mean she shouldn’t wear the pretty dress? She didn’t know if she could do it. It felt heavy in her hands. Ellie eyed the other option, the short, classic, safe LBD with spaghetti straps and no flair. Then she sat on the bed and tried not to cry.

Thirty seconds later, she peeled off her towel and grabbed the dress she knew she had to wear.

…

“Is that new?” Jane asked, taking a sip from her long-stemmed flute.

Ellie felt like she should strike a pose, but didn’t. “I’ve had it for a while, just haven’t had the occasion to wear it.”

“Well, it’s stunning. Nice slit.”

“Thanks.” Although she wasn’t completely comfortable in it, Ellie was glad she’d gone with the flashier gown. She owed it to herself. Tonight was about putting on a great event—saving the WS and nothing else.

Chick alerted her that the last table had sold an hour ago. At least they had the money to pay the rent next week. Additional expenses would have to come from other donations. Which worried her, especially after what Rick had said about the future. Luckily, with so much to do tonight, she didn’t have time to stress about the future.

“Where’s Chick?” she asked Jane. “He knows he’s doing all the MC-ing tonight, right?”

“He’s over there.” Jane pointed toward the “stage” area of the room. “Talking to the guy setting up the microphones. He seems really into it. He’s so funny.”

“Yeah, good, good,” Ellie said. “And did you check with the music people? We didn’t have a proper run-through of any of the dances.”

“It’s fine,” Jane said.

Ellie bit her thumbnail. “After dinner, the center tables are getting pushed back to make the dance floor.”

“Ellie, I know. We all know what to do. Don’t worry.”

She exhaled.
Don’t worry. Yeah, right.

Jane drained the rest of her drink. “So, did you see Drew?”

“Yep,” she said, staring down at her manicure.

“And?”

“And nothing. I owed it to him to meet, but I’m not interested.” In fact, after being in Drew’s presence for approximately five seconds, she’d been so incredibly not interested, it was laughable. Not that she’d met with him to see if a spark was there; she knew it wasn’t, because she knew that—despite logic—she was in love with someone else.

“Did you tell him about the tango?” Jane asked.

She shook her head. She didn’t want to admit this aloud, but she couldn’t bear the thought of doing that dance with anyone but Charlie. She felt a fist squeeze her throat, longing for the one person she wanted comfort from.

“Have you heard from him?”

Ellie was about to ask who, but didn’t bother. “No.” Well, he’d called her cell a dozen times, but she’d never answered and he’d never left a message.

“He came by the studio yesterday after you left,” Jane said.

Ellie stared straight ahead. “I’m sure he did. He needed his precious car.”

“He came to see you. Seemed pretty torn up.”

“Good.” But saying that made her stomach churn.

“Oh, no.” Jane moaned. “I was afraid this would happen. You’re bitter.”

“Don’t you think I’ve got the right to be bitter?”

“No, you have the right to be ticked off, but you shouldn’t let it sour you. It’s just like your knee.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know you’re still pissed off sometimes about getting injured in your prime. It was totally unfair, but it was an accident. You have to let it go and forgive yourself.”

She’d been trying to do that. She’d even mentioned to Charlie when they were at his apartment that she was thinking of going back to counseling to get over some of the leftover bitterness. Why hadn’t she yet? Was that another fear?

“What does that have to do with Charlie?” she asked.

“Ellie, yeah, you’ve been screwed with by some real losers, and I think that’s part of why you didn’t want to date for a year—I don’t blame you, you were hurt. But this thing with Charlie, don’t point at it and tell the world, ‘See, I told you so!’ That won’t make you happy. Don’t let what happened make you lose faith in people.”

Sadness and confusion burned behind Ellie’s eyes. Jane still sounded like a Hallmark card, but she was dead right, again—she had lost faith. It was a necessary defense mechanism, but it was never meant to go on indefinitely. Her clenched fists were evidence enough that she needed to let go…to open her heart, trust. Maybe even forgive…

“Can we not talk about this, please?” she asked in a teary voice. “My makeup isn’t waterproof.”

Jane opened her mouth to say more, but then nodded and squeezed her arm. “What do you need help with now?”

Ellie sniffed and scanned the room. “Will you check with the wait staff? Make sure they have everything?”

“You got it.” She knocked her hip. “See you later.”

As Ellie turned to chat to a group of guests, Chick appeared. “How ya holding up, kiddo?”

“Wow, handsome, you clean up nice,” she said, regarding his freshly pressed suit. “And I’m doing fine—great.”

Chick pulled back a sympathetic smile. “I heard about what happened. Well, I guess everyone heard, since it was on the news.”

“Yeah.” Ellie rubbed her nose, not wanting to get into it with him.

“No excuses, of course,” Chick said, “but the guy’s working through some heavy stuff, Ellie. A lot happened to him during his last mission. He was in the back office with me all morning.”

“Charlie was here?”

He nodded. “He’s a pretty buttoned-up guy; I think you’re aware of that. Civilians don’t always get what it’s like to be a military leader. There’s a lot of pressure. Charlie feels too much sometimes, takes on too much responsibility for what happens on his missions. Especially that last one. But he talked about it with me, opened up. I know what a huge deal that was for him.” He cocked his head. “I understand he told you about what happened, too.”

Ellie’s chest quaked as she inhaled, remembering that conversation, how shattered Charlie seemed to be. But he’d shared anyway, even though it was clearly painful for him to relive.

“Yes, he told me.” She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to feel the hug they’d shared right after he’d finished his story.

“That’s pretty amazing,” Chick said. “He must trust you more than anyone in the world.”

She put a hand over her mouth, preemptively muffling a sob.

“He even signed up for a group session next week,” Chick added. “I think he hopes this place will be around for a lot of years to come.”

Ellie bit down on her trembling lip and nodded. “So do I.”

They both turned at the sound of a commotion at the entrance. The guests gathered there were parting down the middle. That’s when she noticed the first camera. Then another, each with a team of two or three news-looking people. She counted five different stations, then she spotted Rick Duffy talking to one of the groups, pointing them toward the main stage.

“I’ll go see what that’s about,” Chick said, then disappeared.

Rick caught her eye, waved, and went on directing other news teams. Ellie stood back and stared, not sure what was going on. She knew Rick was coming to write about it for his newspaper, but they’d never talked about another news crew, let alone five.

Well, if she wanted wide coverage, this was about as wide as you could get.

A few minutes later, Rick weaved through the crowd. “They’re going to shoot footage for a while,” he said as he was breezing by. Ellie picked up the bottom of her skirt so she could walk along with him, but in her long dress and high heels, she couldn’t keep up. “We all go live for the ten o’clock news,” he threw over his shoulder. Then he glanced her way while shaking the hand of one of the guests he passed. “If that’s okay with you.”

“Yes,” she said, a bit bewildered. “That’s wonderful. Thanks.”

“Don’t thank
me
,” Rick said just as the crowd was swallowing him up.

Ellie stared after him, still blinking in confusion.

But wow. Five news channels and a live broadcast. This was insanely huge. Suddenly, it was like the mood in the room elevated into Super-Glam level. Camera lights were on, the chatting and laughing seemed to expand. It was exactly what the event needed, what the WS needed. She felt saved, but then she felt lost, wishing she could tell Charlie about it.

For the next hour, she chatted with guests and smiled, but after a while, she grew plain old tired…exhausted, mentally and physically. Like the pro he was, Chick made a wonderful, heartfelt speech, and Ellie even got a standing ovation for planning the event, although she’d rather have blended into the background.

Everything was going great, better then great, and before she knew it, the tables were being pushed back and Chick was announcing the first part of the entertainment. Well, the
only
part now, since the tango was off.

Jane and two other teachers from the studio did a modern dance to the theme song from
Band of Brothers
. It was beautiful and moving, and Ellie was enraptured as she watched. She’d been standing all day and felt her legs shake every time Jane rose up on her toes.

It was probably a good thing she wasn’t going to tango. She’d most likely fall flat on her face; no partner was strong enough to hold up her tired body tonight. Charlie was strong enough, of course, she knew that. But Charlie wasn’t there.

“Hey.”

She turned from watching Jane to see her brother dressed in the dark green suit she’d picked out a few years ago—very Army.

“Do you have a minute?”

“I don’t wanna talk to you,” she muttered through her teeth.

“You’re mad, I get that, and I’m sorry about what happened.”

“Sorry?” She dropped her voice lower, ready to continue on about the lies and the broken trust, but she didn’t have it in her.

“Can I tell you what happened?” Sam broke in before she had a chance to say anything.

“Sam, this isn’t the time or place. You can see I’m in the middle of running an event for two hundred people, right?”

“Yeah, I know, but I owe Charlie.”

She stared at the ceiling. “You guys and your back-and-forth favors. When does it end?”

“Look, we did lie to you;
I
lied to you, and I’m really sorry. It was a heat of the moment kind of thing, nothing
planned
. He told me about e-mailing you.”

“
I
told you first.”

“Yeah, well, it was different coming from him. The way he talked about you, I knew something was different, but I didn’t want to believe it.” He ran a hand over his shaved head, the short red hairs getting longer. “We both changed after that last mission.”

Ellie nodded, thinking about what Chick said, and also remembering what Charlie had told her right after she’d found out the truth—that he wasn’t the same man he used to be. He wasn’t Hunter.

“He told me you guys had a real connection online but then he stepped back because you’re my sister.”

“The
code
,” Ellie said mockingly.

“He’s serious about it, Ellie. That’s when I knew it was different with you, because he wanted to tell you the truth, he wanted to be with you even if that meant pissing me off.”

“What do you mean?”

“After you told me about the e-mails, I confronted him. The guy was pretty desperate and I could tell the guilt was eating him up, but I wouldn’t let him come clean with you.”

“Why?” she snapped, then glanced around and hushed her voice. “Why would you ask him to do that?”

Sam pulled at the knot of his tie. “Those other guys you told me about, the ones you dated. I didn’t want you to get hurt like that again, and I guess I didn’t believe he’d really changed. I figured he would hit on you one too many times and it’d be over, especially after all the stories I told you about him—”

“Which were true,” she cut in.

“Even the best, most honorable people make mistakes, Ellie. Charlie, he’s one of the very best.”

The words cut into her heart. “Everything he said was a lie,” she forced herself to say, but both the hurt and her desire to stay angry were melting.

“He was only dishonest about one thing.”

She rolled her eyes. “You sound like Jane.”

“I’m not telling you this so you’ll forgive him; I just want you to know what really went down.”

Her throat was too tight to say anything, and finally Sam walked away.

It was fine for Sam and Jane and Chick to explain Charlie’s actions, but shouldn’t Charlie be doing that himself? Okay, so maybe he’d tried to explain yesterday after the on-air interview, and yeah, maybe she hadn’t answered when he’d called her cell. She’d been mad. She was still mad, and she wanted to yell at him and shake him by the shoulders until he explained everything, until he held her tight and
made
her forgive him.