Under Contract (The GEG Series) (32 page)

“I don’t care what fucking list I’m on, Ceese! Kyle is bringing you home. You are not spending the night here—that’s final!” I put my hand on her back and steer her toward Kyle.

“Charley, are you gonna let him talk to me like this? What happened to ‘chicks before dicks’ or ‘sisters before misters’?”

“Mitch, I’ll take her home,” Charlotte says.

“No you will not.” I grab her hand. “Ride with him or walk, CiCi.”

“I’ll have my dad drive me.”

“Forget it,” Kyle says. “What is wrong with you?” he asks CiCi, his voice laced with annoyance.

“Kyle!” Charlotte gasps. She looks pissed—something I’m well-acquainted with. Her nose does this little scrunched-up flarey sort of thing.
It’s fucking hot.
I look back at CiCi. She just stands there, not saying a word. She seems so un-CiCi-like. When she starts shaking her head slowly, I think she may be trying to stop her eyes from tearing up.

“Please take me home, Charley.” She tries to steady her voice.

“Let’s go in, Charlotte. Let them sort this out.”

“No, Mitch. I’m taking her home.”

“This is ridiculous!” Kyle says. “CiCi, I will take you home and not say a word to you, okay? Just tell me where you live. We’ve all had a crazy night, and we should just put an end to it before everyone starts arguing. Let’s go.” He holds his hand out to her.

“Ugh—fine!” She throws her hands up in the air and walks past him, ignoring his gesture. Kyle shakes his head and follows her.

“Good night, guys! It was fun! Let’s do it again!”

“Shut up, Mitch!” they say in unison, but CiCi extends the courtesy of flipping me off as well.

“C’mon, baby, let’s go in.” I squeeze Charlotte’s hand.

“I don’t like the way you just handled that! I’m never going to hear the end of it!” She pulls her hand away. Deciding it’s best not to say anything, I open the door and allow her to go ahead of me.

“What are you two doing home so early?” Dad asks.
Dad.
I’m still overwhelmed by this. It’s a good overwhelmed, though. Amazing how a few months ago, I didn’t know any of these people, and now it’s like I’ve been around them my whole life. Funny how that happens.

“Not really our scene tonight,” I say.

“Well then, we’re gonna head home if you guys don’t mind.” He stands up and walks over to us. “Mom’s not feeling so hot today,” he adds in a lower voice.

“Anything else happen?” Charlotte keeps her tone low as well.

“No, but I think it’s time for a checkup.” He frowns slightly.

“What’s going on out there?” Mom walks out into the living room. “What’s with all the hushed voices?”

“We were talking about you, Mom, what else?” Charlotte smiles and hugs her. “You and Dad can head home now. We didn’t feel like staying out tonight.”

“You didn’t leave early on account of me, did you? ‘Cause I’m fine, goddamn it.”

“No, Mom. Stop it. Although, I am going to give you a ‘what for’ if Brooky is walking around here tomorrow saying ‘goddamn it’ to everything.” She kisses her mother’s cheek.

“Well, then, I’ll expect that phone call tomorrow.” She giggles, her eyes full of mirth.

“Mom!” Charlotte complains.

“It could be worse! I own ‘goddamn it,’ but CiCi will own anything said after that!”

As much as I’m enjoying this exchange between Charlotte and her parents, I can’t help but wonder if this is going to be another half-hour production. Christ, why can’t they just say goodbye and head out? I’d bet my eyes they’ll see her tomorrow. The O’Briens are lingerers. I’ve never seen anything like it. They stood on the field today—lingering—in a large O’Brien circle, discussing lunch and God knows what. It wasn’t like we were deciding where to go; we knew we were all coming back here. It was so odd. Do all families do this? Do they all just stand around after events like they are figuring out what to do next, even though they know already?

“Mitch?” Charlotte nudges me out of my train of thought.

“Huh? Oh. Sorry. Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad. See you tomorrow?” I ask and go in for a hug.

Dad hesitates. “Eh, I don’t know. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.”

“Jaccckkk.” Mom shakes her head, sounding annoyed.

“Let’s go, Shannon.” He gives her a curt nod.

“Call me tomorrow!” Charlotte says and widens her eyes at her dad.

“Will do.” He kisses her cheek.

I watch Charlotte as she locks the door behind them and sets the alarm. She seems somewhat melancholic. It has been a long, exhausting day for us both. The surrogacy debate. The Josh incident. Her mom’s MS. And for the grand finale, the bar fiasco. I haven’t even discussed Kelly with her. Not tonight. I don’t think either one of us could handle another thing.

“Would you like a glass of wine, baby?” I rub her arms and kiss her hair.

“No. I just want to head up and get into some comfy PJs.” She turns to me and plants a soft peck on my lips.

“The invisible kind, right?” I smirk and raise an eyebrow.

“Seriously? You’re not exhausted from today?”

“I’m never too exhausted for sexy time with my lady.” I wrap my arms around her waist, lean down to her neck, and ...

I sniff.

“Sexy time?” She giggles and tries to pull away from my vicious sniffing.

“Yes. Sexy ... very sexy ... time.” I nudge her nose with mine before capturing her lips.

She pulls back. “Mitch?”

“What?”

“I need to tell you something.”

“What?” My hands slide up her legs, bringing her dress with them.

“I love you,” she murmurs against my lips.

“I know, baby.” I kiss her again.

“I know, but I hadn’t actually said it yet. I wanted to. I wanted to shout it out today on the field.” She pulls back again. I lean in. “No. Please, let me just say this.” She looks serious, so I nod. “What you said to Brogan today. How you handled the whole Josh situation. What you said to Josh ... ”

“Hey ... what, baby? Tell me.” I chuck her chin.

“I’ve just never felt so proud, so in love. My heart felt like it was exploding. It’s a wonderful feeling, Mitch. It’s also scary. I’m scared.” She looks away. Her teeth feast on her lower lip in an attempt to control her nerves.

I stare at her. I stare long and hard. I don’t know what to say. She just said it all. I feel how she feels. That’s why I ran. I know this is what I should tell her, but honestly, I can’t handle another emotional topic tonight. Talking about Kelly will possibly take hours—long, emotionally exhausting hours that neither of us has the energy for tonight.

“Charlotte.” I rest my forehead to hers. “I love you, too. You know I do. We still have a lot to discuss, but let’s do it tomorrow. I don’t think we can walk through another topic tonight. We’re both scared. We have so much to gain and so much to lose at the same time. Right now, I can say that not having you in my life is about the scariest it gets for me.”

“But ...” She looks up into my eyes.

“I know, Charlotte. I know. Please, not tonight.” I palm her face. “Tonight, all you need to know is that I am just where I want to be. Where I intend to stay. Okay?”

“Mitch.” She exhales through pursed lips. I can see she’s trying to fight off tears.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Charlotte. I wish I could go back and change what I did. No. Actually, I don’t want to change it. If I didn’t behave like that, I wouldn’t have made it to this point of certainty. I know that none of this makes sense to you now, but it will. I promise it will. I just can’t get into it tonight. We’ve had an exhausting day, baby. We really need to recharge before we pile on more. Trust me. Please?” I plead with my eyes and thumb away the tears she was unsuccessful in keeping at bay.

She finally nods. “Okay.”

“Yeah?” I smile and kiss her.

“Yeah.”

“C’mon, let’s get you into your comfy PJs. We’ll have snuggle time instead of sexy time.” I pull her with me, leading her up the stairs.

“Snuggle time can be sexy,” she says.

“Any time with you is sexy time.”

“Well, now you’re just pushing it.” She shakes her head, then giggles.

I love listening to her breathe. It’s soothing. The way she’s sleeping on my chest, I can feel her heart beating against mine. I bring a fistful of her hair up to my nose and inhale deeply.
Mmm, Charlotte
... my favorite smell. Quickly, I’m realizing, she’s becoming my favorite everything.

Scared?

Scared doesn’t come close. I feel like I’m in the middle of a free fall. I have no control whatsoever. At the end of the day, though, we don’t have much control over anything in life, do we? I thought I did. I thought I could control everything in my life from now on. After losing Kelly, I never wanted to take a chance in obtaining anything I couldn’t control, personally or professionally.

Obtain?

I didn’t
obtain
my feelings for Charlotte. It’s more like they clobbered me over the head. I knew it that first night. I wanted to choose flight over fight. I was scared right then and there.

It’s good to be scared. If you’re scared—you’re alive. If you feel alive—you’re living. I wasn’t living before. I was existing. Hiding. Coping. Lost. I lost so much damn time. I’ve pushed away so many people. If Kelly were here, she’d kick my ass for it. I don’t know why I handled my grief like that. Why does anybody handle grief the way they do? It’s not something that can be expedited. Everyone has to find their own path around the bend and come full circle—some people just get there quicker. Most people, I bet, have gotten there a hell of a lot quicker than me. Maybe my journey was supposed to take this long. Maybe life wasn’t supposed to start making sense again until Charlotte was here to help me make sense of it. So ... did I really waste time? She’s in my arms, breathing her little breathy noises, her heart beating on top of mine. And she loves me. No. No, I didn’t waste time. I was waiting on time. I was waiting for time to bring her to me. To make me scared. To make me feel alive. To bring me full circle.

Clasping Charlotte’s hand, I bring the back of it up to my lips, where I peck it softly and caress my cheek with it. I glance sideways at her and catch her loving smile. I inhale deeply.