“They’re mean,” Owen warns. “Don’t get too close.”
“We’ll be fine.”
“Bye!” Libby waves and jogs to keep up with me. I slow once I realize I’m making the poor kid run. The geese hiss and shake their heads at us as soon as we step off the sidewalk. “They are mean. That man was right.”
“Geese usually are. Maybe we can bring bread or something for them next time and try to be friends.”
“Okay!”
I pick up Libby and carry her down the sidewalk, moving fast and instantly regretting it. I’m sweating by the time we get back to Carly and my mom.
“Who were you talking to?” Mom asks, though by the tone of her voice, she clearly knows.
“Just one of the neighbors,” I say and set Libby down.
“Really?”
“Yeah. He lives a few houses down from here, which makes him one.”
Mom and Carly exchange glances, but before either of them can get on me about it, Jack picks up something off the ground and sticks it in his mouth. After a moment of panic, we pull a dried-up worm from the kid’s mouth and decide to call it a day. I help load the kids into the car, and right as Carly gets Jack’s car seat buckled, her phone rings.
“Oh my God,” she says, stepping away from the car. I watch, worried at first that something is wrong. Then I see her smile, and a minute later she comes back.
“You’re never going to believe this!”
“What?” Mom asks.
“Someone just put an offer on the house. Full asking price! And they want to close as soon as possible!”
“That’s amazing!” I give my sister a hug.
She puts her hand to her chest and lets out a big sigh. “I was so panicked about having to pay for two houses if the first didn’t sell. This is such a—oh shit.”
“You said a bad word, Mommy,” Matt points out.
“What’s wrong, honey?” Mom starts Carly’s car so the kids don’t get cooked in there.
“This house won’t be ready for another few months. I know we talked about moving in with you guys to patch the time, but that was with the assumption it would take our house through the summer to sell, not the day after we put it on the market.”
“We’ll make it work.” Mom’s smile doesn’t falter. “It’ll be fun having us all together. And it’s only temporary.”
My smile, however, does falter. My situation was only temporary too, and now I’m cursing this stupid small town and its lack of rentals. My eyes go to Owen once more, and my heart skips a beat in my chest.
“It’ll be fun,” I flat-out lie. My parents’ house is decently sized, but cramming my sister, her husband, three children, and two golden retrievers in along with Mom, Dad, me, and Tulip…we’ll be lucky if we all make it out alive by the end of the summer.Chapter 10OwenMaybe I should get a cat.
Seriously. What the fuck is wrong with me? I shift in the chair, trying to get comfortable. I fell asleep watching reruns of The Office and my dream was about Charlie.
Again.
It’s been a week since I’ve seen her, and it’s not for lack of looking. Eastwood seems like a small town until you try to find someone amongst all the residents…and corn fields…and cows.
I want to fuck her. Feel her pert nipples against the rough palms of my hands as I cup her supple breasts. I want to push my cock into her tight little pussy and feel it contract around me as she comes.
That’s all. Fuck her, and forget about her.
Which is what I should have done tonight. Well, not fuck Charlie. But someone else. I could have, and even got two numbers handed right to me at the bar tonight. Yet those women weren’t doing it for me.
Were they pretty? Yeah.
Would they have been a good time? Yeah.
But were they Charlie? Hell no.
I think it’s time I admit it to myself. After years of denying it, years of pretending it didn’t matter because I liked hooking up with a different girl every night…I think it’s time to—nope.
Not doing it. Not sober, at least. Stretching my arms out in front of me, I get up with a yawn and go into the kitchen, flicking the light on above the sink. I rub my eyes, stare at the dirty dishes on the counter, and then go to the fridge to get a beer.
It’s way too late—or too early, depending on how you look at it—to be drinking, but I have nowhere to go tomorrow and know there’s no way I’ll fall back asleep unless I have something to dull the pain.
Because that’s exactly what I’m feeling: pain.
I fucked up. I’ve missed Charlie all these years and I’ve lived with repressed regret. I broke up with her because I wasn’t what she needed, and I wanted her to go find her own happiness. But I’m not the same guy, not at all.