Rewired (The Progress Series) (12 page)

Shit. She knows.
“Me? I’m okay,” Charlie said, attempting reassurance.

“I know that’s a lie. Not only can I hear it in your voice, but I also recently heard about you and Sam.”

Charlie’s shoulders dropped and she covered her face. “Who told you?”

The line was silent for a moment before Karal replied, “That’s not important. The most important thing now is getting the two of you back together.”

“That’s never going to happen, Karal.”

“Don’t be so sure.”

“Oh, I’m sure.” Charlie said, feeling another wave a remorse wash over her. “I completely screwed him over. It’s all my fault.”

“Yeah, I heard that too.” Karal sighed. “Is
he
with you right now?”

“Sam? No, he’s probably at Gabe’s.”

“No, not Sam. Jesse.”

Charlie took a sharp inhale. “What? How? I mean, how do you know?”

“I started putting two and two together. About a month ago, Jesse called the Crimson looking to see if we had any jobs available. I don’t know what he was thinking—that somehow we wouldn’t know about how he lost is job with the company out East? Anyway, that got me thinking that his arrival into town would be sooner than later. But it wasn’t confirmed until Sam showed up at the Crimson yesterday.”

Charlie stopped breathing for a moment and her eyes popped open. “No.” Sitting down at her dining room table, she kept her hand over her eyes. “What did he say?”

“He told me the basics.”

Charlie sniffed and wiped a tear from her cheek. “I’ve messed things up bad, Karal.”

“Yeah, you sure as shit have! I’m trying to be as calm as I can be by not coming over and kicking the shit out of you for what you’ve done.” She paused with a sigh. “But, I kinda get it,” Karal said, calmer.

“How did he look? Was he sad?”

“Oh, Charlie. Cut it out. Of course he was sad! He looked like shit. I didn’t even recognize him right away. He was wearing glasses and he had paint all over him.”

Charlie frowned. “He won’t return my calls or texts.”

“Can you blame the guy?”

Charlie shook her head and her hand covered her chin. “No.”

“Well, the one thing that gives me hope in all this is that
he
searched for
me
.”

“What do you mean?”

“Charlie, Sam came to the Crimson yesterday to speak with me, specifically. He wasn’t there enjoying a family dinner or anything. He walked in, spoke to me, and walked out. It wasn’t random. He sought me out for answers.”

Charlie perked up in the chair and uncovered her face. “Well, what did you tell him?”

“I told him what I know about Jess.”

Charlie nodded slowly, trying to ignore the wave of rippling guilt. “I’m glad you were there to answer some of his questions. Thank you for that.” Charlie’s folded arms guarded her stomach, thinking that somehow it would stop the nausea.

“Give him time, Charlie. I’m sure he has questions that only you can answer. In the meantime, I hope you have a plan when it comes to Jesse. Otherwise that motherfucker is gonna do what he’s always done.”

“Please, don’t say it. I do have a plan, Karal. It won’t be like it was before. I just need your help with it…”

After hanging up with Karal, Charlie changed her clothes, freshened up, and fighting the tears that threatened to fall in her now sullen mood, grabbed the men’s bathroom sign from the box in her closet and some double-sided tape.  Noticing the disheveled closet, she put boxes back into their places, pausing to think about Sam rifling through to find clean clothes.

Returning to Jesse’s apartment, she hung the men’s sign on his bathroom door.

Creeping up behind her, Jesse put his arms around her waist. “You kept that? I didn’t remember it until just now,” he said, sticking his hands in her front jeans pockets.

“I’ve kept everything you’ve given me.” She blinked slowly. “And then some.”

Keep it together, Charlie. Swallow. Breathe. And forget about Sam. That’s all you can do. You have to do this for Jesse and focus on your strength.

“Whatcha thinking about?” he whispered into her ear, nibbling on her earlobe.

She forced a smile. “Nothing,” she said, removing his hands from her pockets. Turning to face him, she leaned in and gave him a kiss on his cheek. “You ready to go?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

*

Charlie pulled into the parking lot with the familiar neon sign in the window flashing
‘Live Music’
as Jesse bit away his grin.

“This is the surprise?” he asked.

“Yes. Is this okay? Last time we were here, it was cut a little short. And that was my fault.” She looked down, fumbling with her fingers. “Since we didn’t get to hear the band play, I thought you might enjoy hearing them tonight.”

“Defused is gonna be here?”

Charlie nodded, still looking to Jess for approval.

A wide smile flooded his cheeks as he hopped out of Charlie’s car.

She gathered her purse and rolled up the windows. Jesse was hopping outside her door, anxious to get inside, and his smile managed to get wider with each second.

“Hurry up!” he said, eagerly waiting to take Charlie’s hand and lead her inside. She fixed a smile and followed Jesse into the bar.

“Hey Barney!” Jess said when they entered.

“Jesse Anders,” said Barney, pronouncing each syllable slowly and grinning. His eyes moved over to Charlie and his bright teeth glistened from the overhead track lighting. “And the same pretty lady you were here with last time. Hello, pretty lady,” he said with his infectious smile.

“Hi, Barney.”

“Gonna be busy tonight. Did you guys order tickets online, ‘cause I’m afraid we’re sold out.”

“Yes, I did. It should be under Charlene Johnson.” Digging into her wallet, she found her credit card. “Here.”

Barney glanced at the clipboard and found her name. “Well then. It looks like we’re all set. Enjoy your evening.” He handed the card back to Charlie with a wink.

Jesse snatched Charlie’s hand and led her farther into the bar. “Good, we’re early. We’ll get a table.” Jesse walked straight for his usual spot and pulled out a chair for Charlie, gesturing for her to take her seat. He pulled another chair around and sat down, scraping its legs against the cement floor to get as close to Charlie as possible.

“You’ve spent way too much money on me today.”

She smiled. “It wasn’t
that
much. That’s why I love thrift stores. We’ve successfully furnished an entire apartment on less than three hundred dollars. Plus, these tickets were less than ten each.”

“But I don’t know when I’ll be able to pay you back,” he said, intertwining their fingers under the table and resting them on his knee.

“You don’t have to pay me back. But, if I could request just a
tiny
favor in return…?” She smiled, raising her eyebrows.

“What?”

Her thumb intimately swept across his knuckle as she leaned in to whisper. “Tell your parents you’re back in Minnesota.” She waited a few seconds for his retort. “I’d love to see your mom again, and I’m sure she’d be so proud of you and your new place.”

He smiled and nodded. “Actually, they already know.”

Charlie’s brow shot up. “When?”

“Yesterday, I think. The golf course opened this weekend and Dad went to play a round. The owner mentioned something about me working there.” He laughed. “You can imagine the earful I got when Mom found out I had been here for a month and hadn’t called. She left me a message but I haven’t called her back yet.”

“Oh, good.” Charlie exhaled. “Call her back tomorrow.”

“I didn’t realize it was so important to you,” he said skeptically.

She shrugged. “I guess I just know the importance of family.”

He laughed. “Liar. Are you planning an intervention?”

“Ha! Right. Because an intervention would work on you?”

They laughed in unison and Charlie rose from her seat, gesturing toward the bar. “Whatcha drinkin’ tonight, babe?” she asked, feeling her stomach hit the floor when the endearment reached her own ears.

His torso perked up at the sound of it. A light flickered briefly in his demeanor before he restrained his enthusiasm. “Beer. Anything dark.”

As Charlie waited for the bartender to pour their beers, she glanced around the blackened room and watched a few band members setting up their equipment. The stage was smaller than she had remembered, but the dance floor was bigger. There were more tables and chairs set out than before, and
she instantly felt the stomachache she’d had during their last visit to this place.

There was nothing safe about it. There was nothing warm or inviting. At that point, things were still good between Sam and me. I hadn’t…lied. God! I’m such an idiot. What am I doing here? The last time I was here I ended up…
Her eyes rested on Jesse’s starstruck gaze at her and she tried to smile.
I ended up selling my soul to the devil himself, and an angel’s wings were clipped.

“That’ll be
nine fifty,” the bartender said, setting the icy mugs on the counter.

She nodded quickly and dug her credit card out of her pocket.

Get Sam out of your fucking head. Concentrate. There’s no going back to Sam. You sealed your fate with him.

Jesse watched Charlie walk back to the table with a quizzical look on his face. She tilted her head to the side after setting down the beers. “What?”

“Dance with me.”

She breathed deeply. “I can’t even hear the music.”

As he chewed the inside of his cheek, his smile emerged. “Never stopped us before. Besides, I have a question to ask you.”

“Then by all means…” She waved her hand toward the dance floor.

Once they reached the edge of the stage, he wrapped his arms around her for a long embrace. He parted their torsos slightly for a glance at her. His finger started at her temple as he swiped a lock of her hair behind her ear; he continued down to the vein in her neck, and traced her collarbone.

“Tell me why you’re here with me. I mean, why you’ve stayed,” he asked.

She swallowed, hesitant in her response. “You know why.”

“Just say it, Charlie.”

“Say what?”

“Say you love me.”

She laughed nervously. “That’s not what you want to hear. You’re much more purposeful than that,” replied Charlie, trying to concentrate, and choosing her words carefully. She lifted her chin, toying with her ambivalence. “You’d much rather hear something like,
‘Because, Jess, I’ve been a good girl all my life and I need a bad boy like you to show me all the fun I’ve been missing.’
” She twirled herself around with a wicked smile, causing Jesse to bite his lip with a smirk.

“Oh, I see! You want to enter into a life of crime, huh?” he joked, thrusting his hips against hers. Slowing to the rhythm of the faint music, he leaned in with a whisper. “It’s a hard life, babydoll. Are you sure you want to?”

Her hard swallow eased into a small smile. With their eyes and torsos locked, he breathed her in, resting his head against the base of her neck, and whispered softly.

“What did you say?” she whispered back.

His head rose and his eyes slowly opened. “I’m feeling a little numb right now. Kind of like I’m floating. It all comes and goes so quickly.” He smiled. “Say you love me.”

She closed her eyes and spoke softly. “No.”

He laughed into her ear. “You’re just gonna cut my legs from under me, eh?”

A sly smile spread across her face as the words slipped before she could catch them. “Why would I do that? You’d just go and find another crutch to keep yourself up.”

His head shot up, and much to Charlie’s surprise, he smiled. “You know me so well.”

Charlie tried to exhale as quietly as possible, but he would’ve been dense not to sense her relief.

After their dance, they returned to the table and began drinking. “All bets are off tonight, ‘kay Jess?”

“What do you mean?” he asked taking a large gulp of his lager.

“No fights. Let’s just be honest and enjoy each other. As it is, I’m going to have to call for a cab to take us home…so let’s not let anything get in the way of us enjoying this night.”

He nodded. “I’ve always been honest with you, I mean…in my own time.” He smirked. “Besides, isn’t that what we always do?”

“Enjoy each other? No, not at all!” She laughed. “Let’s just keep it simple, okay?”

“Okay,” he replied with a smile.

Two beers later, the band announced that they’d begin the show in fifteen minutes—just enough time for Charlie and Jess to step outside for a smoke.

After lighting two cigarettes, Jesse handed one to her.

“So, there’s something I’ve been dying to ask you since we met. But I have no idea how to put it delicately, so just don’t get sensitive on me, okay?” Charlie pleaded.