Waking Charley Vaughan (15 page)

“It’s no problem,” he said, smiling his one dimpled smile.

The old Charley would have said goodbye sweetly, and ignored the urge inside of her to kiss this adorable boy. I had never initiated a kiss, or a hand hold, or asked a guy out in my life. At that moment, though, all I could think about was how much I wanted to kiss Brennan. I leaned forward and wrapped my good arm around his neck. “Thanks again,” I said in his ear.

He wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me tight. My sling was between us, and the tight hug brought some pain to my arm, but I wouldn’t say anything. I didn’t want him to let go.  When we pulled back from the hug, I kept my arm around his neck. I leaned in and pressed my lips against his. I pulled away quickly. He hadn’t kissed me back. I was an idiot.

“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I just---I’m going to miss seeing you.”

He smiled, and I realized his arms were still around my waist. This time
he
leaned in: pressing his lips against mine, and pulling me closer to him as I returned his kiss.

There was something perfect about that moment. Brennan’s kiss was sweet: subtle and passionate at the same time. I’d never been kissed like that before.

We finally managed to part, after several failed attempts. I walked him to the door of my apartment, my previous exhaustion now nowhere to be found.

Brennan gazed down at me, and for the first time, I allowed myself to stare fully into his bright green eyes, admiring how gorgeous they were, and not feeling any inclination to look away.

“So,” Brennan said, smiling down at me, “Since we’re not engaged anymore, how about a real first date?”

I can only imagine what my face must have looked like to him. I felt it light up from my smile to my eyebrows. I tried to contain it, but couldn’t.

“That’d be great,” I beamed. He was still smiling, but his eyes lit up when I answered.

“Great,” he said, giving me a soft kiss on the forehead. I realized then that it hadn’t been him just playing some role when he’d done that before. It was just him, being sweet. I smiled.

“I’ll call you later. Get some sleep,” he said as he headed down the stairs of my building.

I closed my door, still unable to stop the smile from taking over my whole face.

I let out a squeal, and searched for my phone. I needed to call Sara.

CHAPTER 9 – BRENNAN

I took the stairs from Charley’s apartment two at a time. I hadn’t known what to think when she’d kissed me. I hadn’t completely been thinking when I kissed her back. I just kind of went for it.

Now, I had something else I had to go for. I had to talk to Charley’s father. I knew they had an early flight, so I might be able to catch him before they left. When I got out onto the side walk, I looked at my watch. It was just after 6AM.

I pulled out my phone, and called information for the number of the hotel where Charley’s parents were staying. When I told the front desk I needed to speak to Jackson Vaughan, they, of course, had no record. It hadn’t occurred to me until then that of course, Rebecca would have put the room in her name.

Instead of risking having her answer when I rang through to the room, I decided to just stop by the hotel, and try to catch Jackson in person.

While I was driving over, Adam called.

“I’ve only got a minute,” was my only greeting.

“That’s fine,” he said, “But I need you to come by as soon as you can.”

“OK,” I said quickly. My brother wasn’t usually one for drama. “Is everything cool?”

“I’m not sure. I just need you to stop by as soon as you can.”

“Ok. No problem. I’m going to stop by and talk to Charley’s dad quick. Then I’ll be home.”

“Not home,” he jumped in quickly. “Come to the shop.”

I thought this was the end of the conversation, but then he jumped in.

“Why are you going to talk to Charley’s dad? Aren’t they leaving today?”

“Yeah, but things went downhill last night. Her family found out I wasn’t Matt. The whole thing was shitty.”

“Brennan. Dude. Seriously? You barely know the guy. Do you really think it’s going to help?”

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea, but I’m sure I should do it. Her dad and I got along well. I’m hoping he’ll hear me out.”

“Okay, well, if it makes you feel better, go for it, superman. I need you to hurry your ass up and get here though. This actually pertains to your current project, so I’m hoping that you’ll make it a priority.”

“Charley is not a project,” I corrected. “As a matter of fact, she’s my date for this weekend.” I was bragging.

“That’s nice,” my brother said, dismissively. “I’m just telling you this is about her so if you could hurry your ass over here I’d appreciate it. I think I’m starting to act like you, and it’s not my style, but I think you’ll appreciate this information.”

He was right. That had gotten my attention.

“What does this have to do with--”

He cut me off, “If I wanted to tell you over the phone, I would have done that already, douche. Just get over here.” Before I could respond, he’d already hung up.

He wasn’t mad, that was just how Adam operated. Everyone was a douche, or a dick, or a jackass. They were, strangely, his terms of endearment.

I pushed a little harder on the truck’s accelerator as I drove toward the hotel.

When I arrived, I went straight to the front desk, hoping I could charm my way into finding out what room the Vaughan’s were staying in. As I worked out, I didn’t have to. Charley’s sister Codey was walking toward the elevators, arms full of pastries and coffees. I hustled over to her, hoping this would be my way in.

“Hey…Codey. Let me help you with that,” I said, taking the tray of coffees from her before she had a chance to protest. She just stared at me.

“What on earth are
you
doing here?” she said with a slight drawl. It wasn’t anywhere near as thick as her mothers, but slightly more than Charley’s..

“I’m here to talk to your dad,” I told her. “Is he still here?” She just laughed at me as I stepped onto the elevator with her

“If you’re looking to get anything done, you’re looking in the wrong place. I would have thought even just a week around our family would have shown you that.” Her face was a darker, more bitter looking version of Charley’s face. The eyes weren’t the same though. Codey’s were still brown, but more like mud and less like chocolate. They didn’t have the same light as Charley’s did. I wondered if it was because she was so angry all the time.

“He’s not here,” she said, cutting into my thoughts. The doors opened and she reached out for the coffee tray.

“Do you know--”

“The coffee shop down the street,” she cut me off. “The one with the giant mug on the door.”

“Thanks,” I said as the doors closed on me. Quickly, I pushed the OPEN button. The doors parted, revealing Codey’s unamused face.

“Your sister loves you,” I told her. “She understands why you two are angry with her, she just doesn’t know how to fix it.”

Codey looked at me blank faced.

“I just thought you’d like to know that,” I told her as the elevator doors closed.

The elevator quickly brought me back down to the lobby, and I quickly headed out toward the coffee shop Codey had been talking about. Sure enough, Charley’s dad was sitting in a chair right by the window. I walked in, and sat next to him before he had a chance to speak.

“Mr. Vaughan, I need to talk to you,” I began.

“Son, let’s not--” he started, but I cut him off.

“No, I just need to explain something to you. I just need a minute of your time, and then you can be on your way, and I’ll leave you alone.”

He just looked at me, so I took that as my cue to go ahead.

“Charley made a mistake by lying to you, but she didn’t come up with it, it was Sara and I. We were just trying to help her.”

“I know what Charley was trying to do,” he said quietly. “Rebecca has made up her mind, though.”

‘With all due respect, sir,” I shot back, “this isn’t about Rebecca. It’s about you and your daughters. Not just Charley, but Codey and Casey, too. They need you.”

He gave a sarcastic laugh, “Those girls,” he said sadly. “They don’t even like me anymore. And Charley’s proved they don’t need me for much of anything anymore.”

“That’s just it,” I corrected him, “they DO need you. They all do. They don’t just need you to stand up for them, they need you to stand up for yourself.”

He started to speak, but I cut him off.

“Look, I know I am absolutely one hundred percent out of line here, Mr. Vaughan. And, I apologize for that, but I just couldn’t let you leave without telling you this. Your wife has already lost your daughters. From what I can tell, even the two that still live with you have one foot out the door already. This bakery thing, it seems like a small thing to you, but to Charley, it’s everything. I’ve only known her a couple of weeks and I already know that. I think you know, too, how important this is to her. I hope that she’ll do it without the money and without the recipes, but I do think that she needs your support. Just a call, or a letter or something is all I’m saying. Just let her know that you’re on her side, even if you can’t give her the tangible things—she just needs to know her dad is on her side.”

With that, I stood up, feeling like a total ass, and knowing I had completely overstepped my bounds.

I raised my hands in a defensive gesture, and repeated, “Again, I know, this is not my place. I just know that if I were in your position, I’d want someone to tell me.” He sat there just looking at me.

“Well, it wasn’t what I was expecting, I’ll give you that,” he replied. “The girls don’t understand, but I can’t just override what Rebecca says. It’s not that easy.”

“I think they understand more than you think,” I told him, “They know what she’s like. It doesn’t mean you can’t fix your relationship with them.” He was still looking up at me.

“Sit down, son,” he said sternly. “I’m gonna go ahead and explain something to you.”

I sat back down, waiting for him to elaborate.

“The reason I don’t go against what Rebecca says is because…well, I’m partly to blame for how she is.” He looked at me like he was waiting for me to say something, but I had nothing, so he went on. “Early in our relationship, I did something that hurt her. She stayed with me anyway, but I don’t know that she ever forgave me.  She’s been like this ever since then. It’s not easy to fight against someone when you know that you’ve hurt ‘em. But that woman has punished me every day for what I did.” He looked down at his hands.

“Right now, my girls think I’m pathetic, but if they knew the truth, they would think much worse of me. It’s just so much easier to not make ripples.”

“All I can say, sir--”

“Please, call me Jackson. You were calling me Jackson before, and you still seem like a good young man. And if I’m gonna be sharing all my secrets with you, I see no reason why we can’t still be on a first name basis.” He paused and looked thoughtful. “Which brings me to the fact that I don’t know your actual first name, do I?”

“It’s Brennan.” I told him. “ Brennan O’Conner.”

We sat there for close to an hour talking. I found out that he cheated on Rebecca during the first year of their marriage. She had stayed because she was pregnant with Charley by then. At first, it was hard for me to not see my own father in Jackson. As the conversation went on, though, I realized that he was different. He had made a mistake, but he had loved his wife and his girls so much that he had stuck around to suffer the consequences of that mistake, and he hadn’t made it again.

I hadn’t known if I could ever feel respect for someone who cheated on his wife, but Jackson Vaughan was a respectable man. His sacrifice was so much more than his girls realized. He wasn’t just absorbing the brunt of his wife’s personality out of guilt—he was also doing it to protect his girls, whether he realized it or not.

I eventually had to explain to him how Charley and I had really met, and ended up answering far too many questions relating to my “intentions” with his daughter. I was honest, but not too honest. Skirting around anything that made me sound like some sap in a romance novel.

Parts of the conversation felt like a therapy session. Having been a bartender for several years now, I was used to situations like that. That hadn’t been the part to shock me or make me uncomfortable. That came later, when we were saying goodbye. We shook hands, and I told him for the fifth time that I would not tell Charley what we had talked about—or even that we had talked.

He kind of chuckled and said, “What’s funny is that this isn’t the talk I expected us to be having. I thought for sure you were coming to…” he trailed off. “Ah, never mind.”

“Coming to what?” I asked him.

He laughed again. “Coming to ask for my daughter’s hand in marriage—for real this time.” My face must have been some combination of shock and embarrassment because he quickly added, “The two of you just seemed so comfortable together. You never would have known you only just met.”