AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He shrugs. “I don’t know what I did but you're welcome. I think it’d be cool if you guys got married.”
“Jackson, I told you, we’re just friends,” I repeat.
“Uncle Chase and Pepper were friends.”
“Not really.” Levi scrunches his nose.
“But they were living together. And so are Uncle Noah and Charlie.”
“Who’s telling this kid these things?” I mutter under my breath, mainly aimed at my older brother across from me.
“My money’s on Tess,” he mutters back.
“Enough.” Dad cuts through the spiraling conversation. “Noah isn’t getting married.”
“Like ever?”
“Like…he hasn’t found the right girl yet, Jackson.” Dad offers softly, not wanting to shut down a curious kid.
“What’s wrong with Charlie? Or Tessa, I like her.” Jackson nods agreeably with his own suggestion. I bite down a comment to my nephew about trying to pimp me out when Charlie chimes in.
“There’s nothing wrong with us. People just have—”
“Issues they can’t get over,” Dad finishes sharply, glaring at me.
The table goes quiet, heads turning to the man at the head of the table.
“I wasn’t going to say that.” Charlie jumps in quickly. “I was going to tell Jackson that people have to feel a spark before they can get married. Chase and Pepper had that spark. Uncle Noah and I never did.” She sets her napkin down. “Excuse me.”
Standing gracefully, she steps through the kitchen and out the back door to the porch.
Heads turn to me. Particularly Dad and Levi, who both know Dad's comment wasn't about her. That it was never about her.
“I’ll go see if she’s okay.” Pepper offers.
I stand. “I’ll go. Mind if we skip dessert? I think we’re going to call it a night.”
Dad stands. “I’ll pack it up for you.”
I step out to the back porch, finding Charlie gazing out into the woods. “Can we talk?”
She nods but doesn’t turn back.
“That wasn’t about you.”
“Yes, it was.”
I take her hand and turn her. “No. It wasn’t.” My chest tightens and I release her, stepping to the fence and gripping it for support. I huff out a breath. “It was never about you, Charlie. It was about me. And him.”
“Who? Aiden?”
“Losing Mom when I was eighteen was...tragic and painful. Seeing what Dad went through in the years that followed was even more painful. Losing fights on purpose, drinking, disappearing. Hell, there were months I was the one raising Elliot because Dad wouldn’t come home. Levi was checked out in other ways—with a different girl every night. Until one of them got pregnant.”
“I’m so sorry. I never knew that.”
I turn back to her. God, I want to kiss that apologetic look right out of her. “One day when he returned, I called him out. Levi was there. Called him every name in the book and told him I’d never put anyone through what he put us through.”
When her eyes drift, I stop her thoughts mid-track because we can’t go there. “It's why I never dated before you or after you, Charlie. It’s why I’m in law instead of photography. There’s no passion for what I do. It’s facts, it’s steady, it’s real. For me, love was always an illusion, one that brings you down when reality hits. And hurts everyone around you.”
