Waking Charley Vaughan (2 page)

She cocked an eyebrow at me, “O-Kaay,” she said, and then hissed loudly as the alcohol wipes touched her skin. She pulled her leg back again. “OK, thanks, but that hurts.”

She sat straight on the bench, covering her knee with one hand. She gave me a sideways look.

“Here,” I said, shoving the first aid kit back at her. “At least cover it up.”

“That’s what I was
doing
,” she mumbled.

I could tell she didn’t intend for me to hear her, so I asked, “What was that?”

“Nothing,” she said quickly. She sat up straight again, almost like a little kid getting caught talking back.

I couldn’t help laughing at her. “Oh my God,” I said. “Chill out. I was just kidding!”

She looked confused.

“Most people think I’m pushy,” I said. “I’m used to. You can say those things out loud. No need to mumble.

“Okay,” she said, finally cracking a smile.

“So,” I said looking at my watch. “Looks like I’m free for about 45 minutes. Want to grab a coffee?”

CHAPTER 1 - CHARLEY

“Charley, why do you let him talk to you that way?” Sara sounded frustrated, and quickened her pace as we walked side by side through the crowded mall. It was less than a week until Christmas and my best friend, and I were finishing our last bits of shopping. By “finishing” I mean, I had three gifts left to buy and Sara had her entire list.

“Talk to me what way?” I asked her.  I was struggling to keep pace with her as usual, having to take at least two steps to her one. Her long, lean legs always got her everywhere much faster than my short ones could carry me.

Sara gave me a sideways glance, her face full of the exasperation she always felt when I pretended her brother wasn’t an enormous jerk.

“Talk to you like you’re four years old,” she explained. “And don’t try to say he wasn’t. Your phone’s speaker is louder than you think.   And what is this?” she asked. “Something like the fourth time he has broken a date with you this month?”

I shrugged, looking down at my feet. Actually, it had been the sixth. We hadn’t been on a date in two months. He had been going out of town for work at the last minute. I hated to complain because it was his job, and the company he was trying to build was in its very early stages. The last thing he needed was me complaining about not seeing him enough. It just stressed him out more.

“It’s not his fault,” I tried to argue. “He’s busy. Start-ups take a lot of work, and a lot of time has to be invested,” I recited. I was feeding her the same line Matt fed me to explain his constant absence lately. Sara just looked at me. Her expression said everything that her mouth was about to. I waited patiently for what I knew was coming.

“You’re too good for him, Midge,” she said, using the nickname she had given me because of our relative heights.

I shrugged. “I’m not. I just love him.” Really, what choice did I have? We were engaged. Even if I didn’t like the hours, it was too late to back out now. Things were finally lined up, and my future was looking amazing.

I was going to have a great husband whom I loved. So what if he was a bit self-absorbed? There were worse qualities to have. I was also weeks away from getting to start a business of my own. I was opening a bakery, something I’d dreamed of doing my entire life. Matt thought it was a horrible idea, but it was one idea not even he could talk me out of.

“Well,” Sara said, interrupting my thoughts, “If he won’t take you out on a date tonight, then I will.” Her smile was wide, making the skin around her grayish blue eyes crinkle. She called the crinkles her ‘fine lines’ but, in reality, it was just part of what made her beautiful.

“The good news is that we can keep shopping. No need for me to get home to change,” I told her. “Unless you are opposed to this outfit,” I said sarcastically.

“Charley, why were you going to change anyway? You look adorable.” We had slowed to match my pace, for which I was grateful. Keeping up with Sara’s long legs was a workout.

“Thanks, but your brother hates this outfit,” I explained. “He also has no patience for me not wearing a dress on our dates. Skinny jeans and ballet flats aren’t going to cut it.”

“Ugh,” Sara sighed. “He’s such an ass.”

Matt and Sara were twins, but were nothing alike. Sara always joked that the only thing to two of them shared was a birthday; and thanks to Matt’s hatred of Sara’s taste in everything, they rarely shared much of that.

What was strange about their relationship, and their dislike for one another is that they both liked me.  So many of the qualities Matt hated about his sister were qualities that I shared with her. I didn’t know if it was that he didn’t notice the similarities, or if he was just overlooking them. Either way, I found it strange. I never pointed it out to him, but Sara and I laughed about it constantly.

We continued our shopping for about two more hours. By then, we were both pretty exhausted and in need of refueling. “Okay,” Sara said with a sigh, “Let’s get out of here.”

I was glad she was ready. My arms felt as if they were going to fall off. I was carrying bags from six different stores, and I wasn’t sure how much longer my arms would make it before they fell off. Sara noticed my slowed pace, and probably the slight waddle I had developed in an attempt to shuffle all of my bags out of the mall and into Sara’s car.

“Give me some of that, Midge,” she laughed. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

I handed over half of the bags and she took them, effortlessly adding them to her own massive collection.

“Thanks,” I breathed.

“Why don’t you ever just ask for help?” She asked, eyeing me sideways.

“I didn’t think I needed it,” I shrugged. We reached her SUV just in time. It was starting to snow lightly, and the temperature had dropped drastically in the few hours since we entered the mall.

We loaded our bags into the open hatch and Sara began discussing where we should go for dinner.

“I really want Indian, do you want Indian? There is that really good place near downtown. They have the
best
naan. They put this cheese in it that is…Oh my goodness. It’s amazing. Have you been there with me yet?”  This was all said at a sort of rapid-fire, auctioneer on caffeine and acid type of pace. To many, it was confusing when Sara spoke like this. To me, it was a fairly normal occurrence.

“Indian is fine,” I said as I got in and buckled my seatbelt. “Where ever we go, let’s make it somewhere I can get cocoa. It’s cooold!” I whined, reaching for the button to turn on the seat warmer. Having only moved to Colorado from Mississippi a few years ago, I still wasn’t quite acclimated to the freezing cold winters. Although, I had a feeling that Colorado winter temperatures were not something that one could acclimate to. The only realistic adjustment one could make would be to just go numb.

Sara gave me another sideways look as she put the SUV in reverse. “Of course you’re cold. Where is your coat?”

“In one of my bags,” I said, shivering. “It got hot in the stores.”

“Dork,” she laughed quietly as she drove out of the mall parking lot.

***

We ended up deciding that we needed to stop for coffees before going to dinner. We were both starting to drag. Shopping had taken a lot out of us. We stopped at my favorite coffee shop. It was my favorite, partially because it was just a short distance from my apartment, and mostly because they had the best caramel mocha latte in the world. And no, I didn’t need to travel the world to know this was true.

As we sat in old oversized chairs sipping our drinks of choice, I could almost feel my fingers and toes warming up. It didn’t seem to take much time outside to freeze them, but it took forever to get them warm again.

Sara said this was because I didn’t wear appropriate winter shoes. Matt said it was because I wore “stupid, Tony Hawk shoes”. He referred to anything that resembled beach or skateboard clothing to be “stupid Tony Hawk fill in the blank” Skateboarding was one of the things that Sara and I did together, and one of the things he hated. He said we were immature. It wasn’t like we were out jumping things or trying to do flips. We rolled around on boards that were easily three of four feet long. As far as he knew, the worst injury we ever incurred was a scraped knee. He just didn’t appreciate a fun hobby when he saw one. He preferred pulling stupid pranks of a different variety.

“So,” Sara said, stretching her long legs out in front of her, “why did Matt say he wasn’t going to make it back today?”

“He didn’t really,” I told her. “He just said he got held up longer than planned, and he had to cancel our date again. Said he’d make it up to me later.” I swirled the remaining caramel and chocolate syrup that lingered in the bottom of my cup.

“He’s got a lot of making up to do,” Sara mumbled. “Lucky for you, I’m a much better date!”

She stood up and reached a hand out for my almost empty cup. “Please don’t drink that sludge at the bottom,” she pleaded.

I put the cup to my lips and tilted my head as far back as I could, slurping up as much of the thick, sugary goodness as possible. Things like this were why Sara was constantly telling me I had a problem. I smiled wide and placed the large mug in her hand.

“Thanks,” I said sweetly, and got up from the comfort of the large chair.

***

The Indian restaurant Sara took me to was called Typhoon. It was packed full of people, but the atmosphere still managed to be serene. I instantly loved it. The waitress seated us next to the fireplace at Sara’s insistence.

From the moment we parked in the lot next to the restaurant, Sara seemed distracted. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong, and she kept telling me everything was fine. It was almost an hour before I found out what had changed her mood.

I was looking around the restaurant, trying to spot the bathrooms, and not having any success. Finally, I decided to just go ask someone. When I moved to get up, Sara grabbed at my arm.

“Charley,” she said slowly, looking not at me, but past me, “I think you should sit down.” Her voice was full of concern, but her eyes were furious. She reached across the table and grabbed my arm.  I couldn’t understand what had gotten into her. She had been fine the whole way to the restaurant. I shook her off, turning to walk toward the entrance.

I don’t know how I hadn’t spotted them before. For that matter, I don’t know how they hadn’t seen me. Of course, with the current proximity of their faces, it was a wonder either of them could see anything at all. I stood there for a second, not understanding exactly what I was seeing.

Then, I saw her reach under the table and caress his thigh-- his extreme
upper
thigh—before leaning in and giving him a very long and very sensual kiss. A kiss that was highly inappropriate considering she was my yoga instructor: and he was my fiancé.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t feel the ground beneath me. I could only stare at them, shaking my head slightly for several of the longest moments of my life. I’d always thought the idea of, “all of the color,” leaving someone’s face was more of an exaggeration than an actual possibility. As I stood there, trying to catch my breath, I had a new appreciation for the phrase’s meaning. It felt as if every bit of blood in my body was hastily making its way toward my feet, and rushing out through my toes. I was cold. I was empty.

After what felt like an eternity, I managed to move close enough to be heard. “What are you
doing
?” I asked them both. I wasn’t able to keep the shock or pain from entering my voice.

Kelly pulled away from Matt quickly, wiping her lips with the back of her hand. Matt just sat there with his mouth open. He looked like someone had punched him in the gut, which was funny because it’s exactly what I would have done if I’d been thinking clearly.

“Charley!” He stammered. “What are you doing here?” he got up from his seat and approached me. I slowly backed away from him, not wanting him to get close enough to touch me.

“You told me you weren’t back in town until tomorrow morning,” I choked, trying to force down the lump that was forming in my throat.

I was pretty sure I was still moving backward. This was confirmed when I felt something bump into my back, and a distance part of my brain registered a clattering noise. I turned around to see that I had knocked over some glasses on our waitress’s tray.

“I…I’m so sorry,” I said numbly. By now, Sara was at my side, helping the waitress and apologizing for me. I barely heard her explaining to the waitress that there was a problem, and asking her for our check.

I felt a hand on my shoulder then, and turned to find Matt’s face inches from mine. I lunged backward, not able to stand the closeness of him. Not wanting his breath on my skin, or his face so near to mine.