Summary: As MC (Charlotte) starts making more progress on her book, she hangs out at the bar with Chris and has a surprise encounter with a certain park ranger.
When Charlotte unlocked the front door of the cabin, she could hear her phone singing. Her heart started pounding and she forced herself to walk, not run, to pick it up. When she reached it, her heart sank a little. Charlotte hadn’t really expected James to call, but she still found herself feeling slightly disappointed at having her hopeful fantasy shattered. The warm feeling she’d had in her chest from her hike with Chris was fading and once again, Charlotte wondered what the hell she was doing.
“Hey, Zack,” Charlotte said when she answered the phone.
“What’s wrong? You sound like someone just ran over your dog.”
“Nice analogy,” Charlotte said, rolling her eyes. “It’s nothing, I’m fine. What’s up?”
“I’m calling about your pages,” he said. Charlotte held her breath, desperately hoping for good news. “This story you sent me seems … familiar … to a certain writer I know with her head up her own ass about an ex-boyfriend.”
“Write what you know, right?” Charlotte said weakly, feeling certain everything she’d done would have to be scrapped. I’ve got to get it together.
“Oh, I have no objections,” Zack said. “In fact, everyone here is loving the pages. Naturally, I haven’t filled them in on the inspiration behind it, but they want you to keep rolling with this. I just need you to make sure that none of this is so close to life that James’s mother would have fuel for a defamation suit or something, but that can all be fixed during the editing phase if need be. Really, I just need you to keep going with this.”
“That’s such a relief,” Charlotte said with a heavy sigh, the weight dissipating from her shoulders.
“When can I have more pages?” Zack asked. Charlotte thought of the hike she’d just taken with Chris. If she closed her eyes, she could still feel his lips on hers, could still taste his tongue.
“Soon,” she promised. “You’ll have them soon.”
“I’m almost done with your book,” Chris said as he leaned his elbows on the bar. In the days since their hike, Charlotte had spent a fair amount of time with him, often visiting him while he filled in for his dad at the Hull Hole. However, things hadn’t really romantically progressed past their kiss in the woods. The attraction was still there–she knew he felt it, too–but they were moving slowly. Although this was divergent from Charlotte’s usual modus operandi, she liked that she had the opportunity to get to know him like this. Plus, she didn’t think it was really fair to get too involved with someone else when she had so many loose ends with James. James. God, she really felt like all of her loose ends were fraying. She’d only heard from him once in the last few days, a late night, misspelled text: “hye i miss u” It was so unlike James that she knew he had to have been drunk when he sent it–he never substituted the letter “u” for “you”; he saw it as the death of language. The text had come in at nearly two in the morning while Charlotte was asleep. When she woke up and received the text, she had really wanted to reply, but she’d forced herself not to. Her resolve had lasted for four hours before she finally gave in and texted, “I miss you too, hope you’re doing okay.” James hadn’t replied and that had been nearly two days ago. She hated that she cared so much.
Charlotte forced herself to pull away from thoughts of James and refocus on Chris in front of her.
“Oh, yeah?” she asked. “Hasn’t scared you off yet?”
“Not at all,” Chris said with a grin. “Actually, I really like it. But I have to ask–are the characters based on real people?”
“Yes and no,” Charlotte said. “They’re sort of an amalgam of several people, although not necessarily on purpose.”
“So the main character isn’t you?”
Charlotte hesitated. It was true that most of the characters were inventions or partial representations of people she knew, but there were two that were very true to life: the ones based on her and James. It was part of why James’s mother disliked her so much.
“Yes and no,” she said again. Chris raised an eyebrow at her.
“You’re very cryptic,” he said.
“I can’t reveal all of my secrets,” she said with a smile.
“Are you sure I can’t persuade you?” he asked slyly.
“I suppose that depends on your methods.”
Chris opened his mouth to reply but they were suddenly interrupted by a beautiful blonde woman. The woman glanced sidelong at Charlotte before focusing her attention on Chris.
“I need the keys to your truck,” the woman said.
“What’s wrong with your car?” Chris asked as he dug in his pocket for the keyring.
“It’s making a weird noise.”
“And I’m guessing you haven’t taken it in yet.”
“Nope,” the woman said, taking the keys from him.
“Give me your keys, I’ll take it in tomorrow,” Chris said. She handed over her own keys and leaned across the bar to kiss Chris’s cheek.
“Thanks, love you,” the woman said before she turned and left the bar. Charlotte watched the exchange with a sinking feeling in her stomach. The feelings were all too familiar to how she felt when James canceled plans with her for Vanessa. I can’t do this. Charlotte stood up and pulled out her wallet, reaching for the few slightly crumpled bills she had in there and dropping them on the bar.
“Are you leaving?” Chris asked, surprised.
“Yeah, I think I should,” she said. “Look, Chris …”
“Uh-oh,” he said, the smile leaving his face. “Nothing good ever starts with ‘Look, Chris.’”
“I don’t want to get in the middle of something,” she said. He still look confused. “If you’re already with somebody–” she continued, gesturing to where the blonde woman had stood at the bar.
“What?” Chris cut in. “AJ? Oh, god, no, she’s my sister.”
“Your sister?”
“Yeah,” Chris said, looking slightly horrified. “And she’s gay,” he added quickly. “So, you know … lots of layers of ‘no’ there.”
“Oh,” she said, feeling relieved and more than a little silly for jumping to conclusions. Chris still look appalled at the idea of him being with his sister, and Charlotte felt like she had to say something to break the awkwardness. “My twin is gay.” What the fuck, Charlotte? she asked herself. Kaitlyn’s sexuality is not an icebreaker.
“You have a twin?” Chris asked interestedly. “You haven’t mentioned her before.”
“Haven’t I?” Charlotte asked, trying to think back over their conversations. It occurred to her then that she and Chris hadn’t actually shared that many personal details about themselves. Conversation flowed easily between them and it seemed like they talked about every topic under the sun–except, it would seem, themselves.
Chris shook his head. “Not that I can remember,” he said. “Do you have any other siblings?”
“No, just Kaitlyn,” she said. “What about you?”
“Well there’s AJ, who you saw, and I have a brother, Kyle.”
“Does Kyle live in town, too?”
Chris smiled at the thought of his brother. “No, actually he doesn’t. He currently lives in Berlin where he’s in a bluegrass band.”
Charlotte considered this for a moment.
“A bluegrass band? In Germany?”
“I know, it sounds weird,” Chris said. “But he’s always been so into music and he’s really talented–he can listen to a song and figure out how to play it in no time. When he was in college, he got a scholarship for a study abroad program in Germany and he just fell in love with it. While he was there, he befriended a couple guys at school and together they formed a bluegrass trio. Kyle ended up dropping out of school, which my parents hated, but I kind of admire him. He figured out what he loved and he went for it. The band is fairly successful over there and he seems really happy.”
“That’s really cool,” Charlotte said, impressed. “Does he visit very often?”
Chris shrugged. “A few times a year.”
“Have you ever been to visit him?”
Chris laughed a little, although Charlotte thought she detected a note of sadness behind his smile.
“No,” he said. “I’ve never even been out of Maine.”
“Really?” Charlotte asked, surprised. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” Chris said. “It just never seems like the right time. Plus I’ve got the flower shop and I’m helping out my folks … things come up,” he said with a shrug. “Someone’s gotta man the bar.”
Charlotte wanted to press the issue further, but she got the feeling Chris was done talking about the subject so she let it go.
“I’m much more interested in talking about your book,” he said, the easy smile returning to his face. “Especially since you admitted some of this is based on real life. I have questions about a couple scenes.”
“Oh?”
“I believe there’s one where Ana and Jack have sex on an empty stage–”
“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” Charlotte interrupted, her face flushing. She’d forgotten all about that day when she and James had been alone in the auditorium. Everyone else had gone home and they’d taken advantage and gone center stage.
“What’s with the spotlight?” James asked, shielding his eyes as Charlotte hurried back to the stage.
“A good performance deserves to be well lit,” she said. “And I heard this is the greatest show on Earth.”
James laughed. “That’s the circus.”
Charlotte smiled coyly. “Maybe you could be my ringmaster.”
“Okay, but we’re not done discussing your book,” Chris teased. Charlotte rolled her eyes and shook her head good naturedly as she headed towards the hallway that led to the bathrooms. No sooner had she turned the corner when she smacked right into someone and lost her balance, but strong hands caught her arms and managed to keep her upright.
“Oh, sorry!” Charlotte exclaimed. She looked up at the person she’d run into and found herself face to face with the sexy park ranger.
“No, it’s my fault,” Zig said. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, very aware of his hands still on her arms. Charlotte couldn’t understand why, but being this close to him was both sobering and intoxicating. Her skin felt electric where his fingertips rested and she was having a hard time focusing her thoughts. “I didn’t step on your foot or something, did I?”
“My feet will live,” Zig said with a grin. He seemed to notice that he was still holding her arms and he let go. Charlotte felt a little disappointed at the loss, but she found she could think a little more clearly when they weren’t touching. “Can I buy you a drink to apologize?”
“No, um, that’s okay,” she said quickly. Charlotte wanted to say yes, but she felt so overwhelmed already that she wasn’t sure she could handle actually having a beer with him, not yet anyway. There was also Chris to consider, although Charlotte had no idea where they actually stood. But she reminded herself that they hadn’t made any sort of promises to each other, and one kiss did not an exclusive relationship make. Then there was James … Charlotte pushed him from her mind. She didn’t want to think of James right now, not when Zig was standing so close to her. “I think I’m actually going to head home soon.”
“Oh, okay,” Zig said. Charlotte wasn’t sure if he actually looked a little disappointed or she just wanted him to be disappointed. “Maybe another time.”
“Yes, definitely,” she said. Zig grinned at her.
“Good,” he said. “See you around, Charlotte.”
Zig headed out into the bar and as soon as he was out of the hallway, Charlotte slumped against the wall and exhaled the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Good lord, what was wrong with her? She never behaved this way about any guy, never had this kind of visceral reaction. She’d never even felt like this with James, so completely out of control.
Completely forgetting about her need to pee, Charlotte took a deep, steadying breath and headed back to the bar.
“Hey, I think I’m gonna take off,” she said. Chris immediately looked concerned.
“Was it because of the stage thing? I’m sorry, if that made you uncomfortable–”
“No, no, it’s not that,” Charlotte assured him with a smile. “If I was uncomfortable with that scene, I wouldn’t have written for all four of my readers to see. I’m just tired, it all kind of hit me at once.”
“You do look a little off,” Chris said, furrowing his brow. “Are you okay to drive? I can call AJ and have her fill in while I take you home.”
“Yes, I’m fine,” Charlotte assured him. She hadn’t even finished her first beer and she knew the way she felt had nothing to do with alcohol. “I promise.”
“Okay, well if you start driving and then you change your mind, call me and I’ll come get you.”
“Thanks, that’s very sweet of you,” Charlotte said, feeling touched. “I’ll see you soon?”
“Yes, definitely,” Chris said, echoing the words she’d said to Zig only minutes before.
Charlotte said goodbye and left the bar. The cool evening air cleared her head a little as she walked down the street, but she still felt out of sorts, like she was being pulled in several different directions at once. When she reached her car, Charlotte climbed in and rested her head against the steering wheel as she pulled out her phone.
“Hey, twin!” Kaitlyn’s cheerful voice said over the speaker. “What’s up?”
“Tell me a joke,” Charlotte said.
“Your face.”
Charlotte burst out laughing. “We have the same face.”
“Well, then, the joke’s on me,” Kaitlyn said. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Charlotte said, not entirely sure that was true.
“Want to talk about it?”
Charlotte shook her head before remembering she was on a phone call.
“Not yet.”
“Call me when you do, day or night,” Kaitlyn said.
“I love you, twin.”
“I love you, too, twin.”
