You're Gone (Finding Solid Ground) (14 page)

Jamie was met at the front door by a blinding flash. Big, bright, colorful spots distorted his vision, making him feel wobbly. Caught off guard, he dropped his jacket and briefcase to the floor and put a hand out to steady himself.

“What was that?” He asked, squeezing his eyes tightly shut.

“It was me. Sorry about that,” Charleigh said from somewhere Jamie couldn’t see.

Her voice sounded very close, though, and he reached out for her. His hand closed around Charleigh’s forearm, and Jamie felt her leading him. His vision slowly cleared, well enough that he could see the sofa. Jamie took the last few steps on his own and sat down.

“What were you doing?”

Charleigh plopped down beside him. “I was taking your picture.”

“The bright flash was my first clue, but why?”

“I want to paint you, but you work late, usually. And you’re tired when you get home,” she explained. “Sitting for a long time like that is really boring. It’s time-consuming. Besides, your bottom would start to hurt…”

“So, you decided to ambush me as I came through the door?” Jamie absent-mindedly massaged Charleigh’s thigh.

“Pretty much.” She looked through the viewfinder of the camera and snapped another quick picture.

“Stop that!” Jamie covered his eyes with one hand and snatched the camera away with the other.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’ll stop.” Charleigh kissed him on the lips. “Some of the best photographs I’ve ever taken were when I caught the subject in candid moments.”

“Not in my case. I’ll look like a nerd.”

“No, you won’t,” she assured. “You’ll look like my sexy fiancé, who greatly resembles a GQ model.”

“Yeah,” Jamie laughed, getting up from the sofa. He still held the camera, not wanting any more embarrassing snapshots taken of him.

“Really, you do, but if you’d rather sit for me, I could take some awesome photographs to work by.”

Jamie was halfway toward the dining room when Charleigh made the suggestion. He turned around, expecting to find her smiling. She was serious, he realized.

“What do you have in mind?”

Coming over to take the camera, Charleigh considered the question. She took time to wind the film, studying Jamie with an artist’s eye. She’d worked hard over the years to hone the skill to perfection, and it had paid off.

“I see you in a serious pose. Hands on your hips. Head down. Eyes on the ground. Pretty sexy in my opinion.”

“This is ridiculous,” Jamie said. “I cannot believe I agreed to this.”

“But you did,” Charleigh answered. “Too late to turn back now.”

In the greenhouse that she’d transformed into her studio, Charleigh set up the camera and tripod. Jamie watched as she worked with a few other gadgets he didn’t know the name of until finally she looked up at him.

He saw her smile, knowing what she was thinking.

Shirtless, he stood a few feet away in the pose Charleigh had described. His jeans were slung low on his hips to show off his sculpted lumbar muscles. There was more to it, though,
than what she had bothered to mention.  Like the baby oil she’d smeared all over his torso. It made him feel like a muscle-bound beefcake. Like a piece of eye candy, and not in a good way.

“This is embarrassing. I’m not sure I want to go through with this, now that I’ve thought about it.” 

“Too late to turn back,” Charleigh repeated, adjusting the lens. “Look down.”

             
Though Jamie didn’t want to, he obliged, sighing deeply. She snapped the first photo, then a couple more of the same pose for good measure. Charleigh continued to give him directions, which Jamie followed as if he were a pro.

She stopped to look at him. If she hadn’t known any better, Charleigh would’ve thought he was embarrassed.

He was more aggravated with himself because he’d agreed to do it.

“That’s good. Now strip.”

“What?” Jamie cried.

“Not completely. Just to your boxers.”

“What are people going to think when they see these pictures?” He shook his head. “They’re going to think we’re into some kind of kinky sex rituals, or something.”

“Pish. Nobody’s gonna see them, except for us.”

“What about the photo lab guy at Wal-Mart?”

“Who said anything about Wal-Mart?” Charleigh asked, switching out the film in the camera. “I’ve got all the stuff here at the house to develop them. Like I said, nobody’ll ever see them but us.”

He eyed her doubtfully. “Promise?”

“Scouts honor,” she answered, holding up two fingers.

“Fine, but why do you want a picture of me in my boxers?” Jamie started to undo his fly.

“Blackmail. To post them on the Internet, what else?”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I’m not. However, I am enjoying that look on your face. Classic,” Charleigh laughed. She went through a door into the other half of the greenhouse.

After they’d taken it apart at the clinic and reassembled it in the backyard behind her home, Charleigh added the partition wall that had come with it to make two separate rooms. One half of the glasshouse she still used to grow plants. The other was air-conditioned, where Charleigh had stored all of her easels and painting supplies after redoing the sunroom into a den and another office for Jamie.

Underneath one table, milk crates were neatly stacked. Charleigh grabbed one and headed back to the other space. Jamie was in his shorts, standing behind the camera as he peered through the viewfinder. He was holding a towel, and she noticed that he’d wiped away most of the baby oil. Not that she could blame him. It
was
kind of a cheesy in a
Playgirl
photo spread sort of idea.

Jamie backed away when he saw Charleigh. He didn’t want to mess up any of the fine-tuning she’d made to the camera.

“What’s that for?” He pointed to the crate.

“For you.” Putting the crate where she wanted it, Charleigh patted it as a signal for Jamie to sit.

He did so and began to chew on his cuticles. Charleigh realized this was something her fiancé had just started to do. It annoyed her, but she chose to ignore the urge to snap his hand away from his mouth like she would to a toddler.

“Kind of lean forward and rest your chin on your hands. Like this.” She showed him the
pose. Looking through the viewfinder, Charleigh saw it wasn’t exactly what she was looking for. “Here, stand up and kick that aside. Now, kneel down and look pensive.” She took another look. It wasn’t quite right.

“Look pensive,” Charleigh repeated.

“I’m trying.” Jamie glanced up at her, irritated.

“Well, you look like you’re constipated. Try to relax.”

She came over and knelt down behind Jamie. Massaging his neck, Charleigh felt his body begin to relax under her touch. She leaned forward to kiss the back of his ear. When she did, her breasts pressed against Jamie’s back. The slight pressure of her body next to his own sent a chilly wave down his spine.

***

              Later, in the darkroom Jamie watched in silence as Charleigh worked to develop the photos. He examined the ones hanging from clothespins in a far corner, and he had to admit that Charleigh had a good eye. Expecting to look more like an idiot, he was surprised to see himself in such poses. Jamie thought he looked poised and self-confident. 

He turned around to look at Charleigh, who was busy pouring more fixer into the tray.

He had no idea there was a darkroom in the house. Taking its entrance at the top of the stairs for granted, Jamie could have only assumed that it was a linen closet. Charleigh’d given him the grand tour of her house that day he brought her home from the hospital after a bout of pneumonia but had never shown him this.

It made Jamie wonder if there were any other secret features to the house they now shared. A smile spread across his lips as he came over to stand behind her. He rested his chin on Charleigh’s shoulder as she worked. The photo slowly started to appear, and she turned slightly to smile up at him.

“Wow, you have a great eye.”

“No, I have great taste in good-looking guys,” she replied. “Well, at least one
really
great
-looking guy.”

The corporate jet to take Jamie to New York City landed at Eaker Field right on time. Nervously chewing his cuticles, he sat in the driver’s seat of his Jeep with Charleigh beside him as the Lear rolled toward them on the tarmac.

A few feet away, a black, chauffeured town car was parked. Though he couldn’t see through the dark, tinted windows, Jamie was sure Daniel Crane was waiting patiently inside. They’d exchanged greetings earlier, but then his boss rolled the window back up and left Jamie and Charleigh to their privacy.

When the plane came to a stop, the door lifted and the small steps lowered to the ground. Jenna appeared there a moment later, stepping to the ground with the grace of a ballerina and the attitude of a runway model. Dressed in a tank top, a pair of designer jeans, and flip-flops, she also had the drop-dead gorgeous looks to match.

Jamie got out and pulled his luggage from the backseat. Charleigh did the same and went to meet her friend. A smile spread appeared on both women’s faces as they came together and hugged.

“Wow.” Jenna was left almost breathless with that single word. “I didn’t think it was possible, but you look even more glow-y than you did at the engagement party.”

“Five more days,” Charleigh replied with a smile.

“Oh, yeah. I bet you can‘t wait until the honeymoon.”

Daniel gave them a brief goodbye in passing as he boarded the aircraft. His driver unloaded a single suitcase and a garment bag from the trunk, which the man carried over and handed to the co-pilot.

“I, for one, think that that’s going to be the best part,” Jamie said, coming to stand beside the two women. He put an arm around Charleigh’s middle and kissed his sister’s cheek.

“Bye, Jenn. Be good.”

“Whatever you say. It’s so hot here. I’m going to be wherever it’s air-conditioned,” Jenna replied, stepping toward the Jeep. “I’ll be in the car, in the cool, and give you guys some time to say goodbye.”

Unfortunately, as much as he loved his sister, Jamie wished the plane bringing her there and taking him away would have been even a few minutes late. Just so he could’ve spent a little more time with Charleigh. But when Henry said he was going to be there at noon, Henry meant he would be there at noon.

An eerie feeling settled in Jamie’s gut as he took a few long moments to hold her close. As if something was telling him that they’d never see each other again, which was unfounded because he’d be back on Thursday. With his brother, parents and grandparents in tow.

They’d get married on Saturday, and live ‘happily ever after’ as Charleigh liked to say.

Jamie pressed a soft kiss to Charleigh’s temple. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?”

“I’m sure,” Charleigh replied, shaking her head. “Jenn’s here, and we’ve got some girly stuff planned with Liz and Lauren. Besides that, I couldn’t even if I wanted to. There’s still so many other things that needs to be done before the rehearsal Friday night.”

“Sorry about that. I know I’m leaving you with a million loose ends.”

“It’s fine. You just go do your thing. Who knows, maybe you’ll get done and come home a day or so early.”

Now, that wasn’t very likely. Jamie knew they’d be spending every waking moment of the next few days with their clients, going over every single detail of the contracts and the budget
and the plans with the precision of a fine-tooth comb. No stone would go unturned.

Jamie cupped Charleigh’s face in his hands as he leaned down to kiss her. She stepped up on her tiptoes to bring her arms around his neck. Her fingers instantly tangled in his hair.

He took his arms away from Charleigh’s face and brought them down around her waist, sweeping her up off her feet.

They’d almost forgotten about the scorching heat. About the waiting plane. Jenna. Until the sound of a yelling horn startled the couple. They looked toward the vehicle where Jamie’s sister sat laughing. He shot her a look of displeasure before turning back to Charleigh.

“You got to go,” she sighed.

“I know,” he kissed Charleigh one last time. “I’ll bring you a surprise back from the city.”

“The only thing I want is you. I love you.”

“I love you, too. See ya in three days?” Jamie took a step toward the plane.

“You bet.”

“I’ll call you tonight.”

“I’ll be here waiting.” Charleigh smiled and waved goodbye.

It felt as if she was saying goodbye to her best friend, which she was.
Only for three days
, Charleigh tried to remind herself.
Let them fly by quickly.

“This place is too cool,” Jenna said as she stood in the middle of the kennel with Charleigh.

Aggie, the African-gray sat perched on her forearm, mimicking the sound of a purring cat, as she stroked the bird’s head. She’d never seen anything so amazing.

“Jamie thought the same thing when I first brought him here,” Charleigh told her. “But Aggie didn’t let him hold her. She didn’t want him touching her at all. Actually, besides me, Aggie’s never let anyone hold her.”

Charleigh made a noise with her mouth, and the little bird leapt on to her shoulder. She held up a treat, which Aggie devoured before nuzzling against her owner’s cheek. The sight made Jenna laugh.

              “See ya, Ag,” Charleigh said. The bird jumped to a nearby branch.

The two left the
kennel, walking slowly down the corridor behind a small group of visitors. Dillon, the new vet, was with them.               He looked past the group at Charleigh and smiled.

Leaving the
dogs and cats behind, Charleigh and Jenna ventured out in the heat for the petting zoo. It was a total of thirty-four steps from one building to the other, but they both had started to perspire in the short amount of time it took them. The cool air was greatly welcomed when they stepped inside once again.

The building was bustling with visitors. The biggest attraction of the tour, people liked to linger for hours to pet and feed the animals. Charleigh loved it just as much as everyone else, and by the look of it, so did Jenna.

There was a carousel with real Shetland ponies and sheep for the kids to ride in the far corner. Charleigh’s cousin Brian was stationed there to supervise. Smiling, he saw her coming toward him and waved.

             
“Hey, Bri.”

“What’s up?” The smile faded.

The young man became thunderstruck and his jaw dropped when he saw she had a companion. It was the expression Brian had the first time he saw Jenna at Charleigh and Jamie’s engagement party.

Poor guy
, she thought as they stood there. Though, he was a decent-looking guy, her cousin was not very good with the ladies. He seemed to shut down whenever a pretty girl was around. Whether Brian was interested or not, he became shy, and stumbled over his words on occasion that he did speak.

It was very clear to Charleigh, though, as it had been at the party, that her cousin had a thing for Jamie’s sister.

“You remember Jenna, don’t you?” Charleigh smiled sympathetically.

“Yeah. Uh, hi,” Brian replied. He turned bright red as he began to stutter.

“How’s it going?” Jenna flashed a bright, white, million-dollar smile as she kneeled next to the fence.

Her cousin only nodded. Brian’s eyes shifted from her face to Jenna, who was busy petting one of the little horses. Not knowing what to say, he watched as the young woman cooed the animal.

Charleigh nudged him with her elbow. Startled, Brian looked back at her.

“Talk to her,” she mouthed.

Brian shrugged, holding out his hands.

“Anything.”

She knew what he was feeling. Like they had nothing in common. Charleigh remembered feeling the same way when she first met Jamie. He was probably thinking that Jenna was too good for him. Like she out of his league.
Way out of his league.
But she was a good person. Nice, and so was Brian.

“Oh, shoot. I forgot that Granddad needs me to sign some invoices for the feed store,” Charleigh lied. “Brian would you show Jenna around the rest of the place? You don’t mind, do you, Jenna?”

“I, uh…” His eyes were large, as he frantically shook his head.

Paying him no mind, she added, “We’ve been everywhere but the
clinic, Brian, so… Emmy’s cat came in for an emergency C-section yesterday so there are some new kittens, you know?”

“Oh
, I’d love to see them. If you don‘t mind,” Jenna stood up, dusting off her hands. She flashed another smile at him.

             
“Uh, sure.”

Charleigh sent them off with a pat on each of their backs.

***

“Oh, my gosh,” Jenna squealed later that night as she sat on the couch. With a mudpack on her face, she looked like a Martian. “I think…
No, I definitely know that
I am in love
.”

“With who?” Charleigh asked curiously.

              She was leaned back in the recliner in her living room, with her eyes closed. A mudpack was smeared on her face, as well. Not bothering to look up, because Charleigh didn’t want to mess it up, she could only imagine what her friend was doing.

“Brian, your cousin. He’s like,
Wow!
So cute, and…” the young girl gushed.

Hardly able to believe what she was hearing, Charleigh began to laugh.
If only he could hear that for himself.
He’d probably blush as bright red as a tomato. No, even worse, Brian would probably die from embarrassment.

“What’s so funny?”

“You like Brian?” 

“Yeah,” Jenna said. She stopped to look at Charleigh suspiciously. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Nothing,” Charleigh replied, shaking her head. “There’s not a thing wrong with that boy. Unless you count the fact that he has a thing for you, too.”

“Truth?”

“Truth.”

“Really?” Jenna stopped to consider the possibility. “Do you mean, like, he really likes me,
likes
me, or he just likes me?” The tone of her voice changed as she compared the levels of ‘liking.’

“I’m pretty sure he likes you, likes you.”
             

“Wow,” Jenna gushed.  “Like, is he boyfriend material?”

“As far as I know, he’s never had a serious girlfriend. But it’s not because he’s a player,” Charleigh tried to explain. She wasn’t sure if she was doing her cousin justice or ruining his chances. “I think, he’s rather shy. Brian’s smart; he graduated with honors. He was the valedictorian of his class, and he got a national merit scholarship to SOSU. He’s kind and funny.”

“I could tell that, after a while. He started to, I don’t know, kind of chill out.”

Charleigh shrugged, thinking about how similar she and Brian were, in that sense. “Nobody’s really taken the time to scratch the surface with Brian. And believe me, it wasn’t easy for him— or any of his brothers, for that matter— to grow up in Andrea’s shadow, either.”

“Andrea is his sister, right?” Moving over to the couch, to get closer to Charleigh.

Knowing that Jenna was taking a genuine interest in Brian, Charleigh was more willing to help her. Who knows, maybe they had a chance. “Yeah, good ole Andie. She’s only out for Numero Uno. The kind you never want to tangle with, Jenn. Believe me, Andie’s the type that’ll look you in the eye while she plunges the knife in your heart. Cut your throat and never blink.”

“Sounds awful. Is she not sane?”

The question made Charleigh laugh.
If only that was the raison d’être.
“Vain. Self-absorbed. Narcissistic as no one I’ve ever seen.”
Except for maybe you’re mother
. Although she thought it, she didn’t dare say it.

“But do you think I have a chance with Brian? He won’t think, because we come from two different worlds, we’ve got nothing in common?”

“What can I say, polar-opposites sometimes attract.” She and Jamie were the best example she could come up with, and she said so. Because if anybody could come together and make it through as much pain and suffering as they had, it must have been written in the stars.