Page 23 of My Favorite Lost Cause (The Favorites #2)

MAREN

G od, I’ve made such a mess of my life. I guess I’ll need to go stay with my mother, but she really focuses on the wrong things in moments like this. She’ll put me on a diet and start setting me up with Roger’s sixty-year-old friends an hour after I’ve arrived.

I lie in bed, weeping, trying to solve an unsolvable problem.

I want my puppies back. I don’t want them anywhere near Elodie’s horrible son.

But her daughter is sweet, and how do I tell two children I’m taking away their birthday presents?

I could buy them new dogs instead, but then I’m just setting up two different dogs to suffer in their hands.

I guess most people would say the bigger problem is that I’ve blown up my entire life.

I married a man who turned awful while we were still on our honeymoon, and I stayed .

I don’t even know why I stayed. Was it because we’d just had this massive, seven-figure wedding and I couldn’t imagine admitting my mistake?

Or was it because I was so accustomed to scrambling for approval that scrambling for his just felt familiar?

I don’t have a job, I don’t have hobbies, I don’t have fun. I also don’t have a husband or kids .

I’ve got nothing, and that’s still better than being with a man who’d treat me the way Harvey did today.

I just wish I’d figured it out a lot sooner than I did.

Normally, the sound of Charlie’s cottage door shutting is my morning alarm, but when I wake the next day, the sun is high in the sky.

I go to the balcony, but there’s no sign of him on the trail around the cove and he wouldn’t work out this late anyway.

Apparently, he had a lot more fun than I did last night. I’ve got no business being bothered by that, but I at least expected a shoulder to cry on.

When I go to the kitchen, the missing car keys confirm it.

He didn’t fucking come home.

What the fuck? He knew what happened to me and he just…went home with someone else?

I press my face into my palms, more hurt than I have a right to be.

Why am I here? What am I even doing? Of course he stayed out all night and if my head was in the right place, I wouldn’t care about that at all.

Maybe he didn’t actually want me to stay. I’ve been cramping his style for over a week. Of course he didn’t want me to?—

There’s a long creak as the front door swings open. And then…tiny feet scamper across the tiled foyer.

I move toward the sound and have just stepped into the dining room when Echo and Narcy come rushing toward me.

Oh my God. What?

I start crying as I drop to my knees, hugging them to me, stunned and shaken .

Charlie stands in the frame of the door with circles under his eyes and the sweetest, most pleased grin on his face.

“How did you get them back?” I whisper, crying too hard to speak normally. I set them down but they’re so excited they just keep jumping on me so I pick them back up. I missed them even more than I realized.

Charlie runs a hand through his hair. “I made your dickhead husband call his sister and tell her to put them in a car and send them back.”

I shake my head. “ How , though?”

That’s when I notice his knuckles. The skin is cracked. “Oh my God, you didn’t punch him, did you?”

“Define punch .”

“Charlie, you know what punch means.”

He grins. “Okay, then yes, I did. But the bloodshed was just for my own entertainment. He’s still alive, in case you’re worried. Henry only let me get in two good hits.”

I laugh and dry my eyes on the corner of my T-shirt. “Henry?”

He shrugs. “I had him call Harvey and explain that he’d employ every available resource and every dollar he possesses to ruin him if we didn’t have them back by morning.

I’d have done it on my own, but that sort of thing is a little more threatening when it comes from a billionaire.

He met me at your condo early this morning just to make sure Harvey knew how serious he was. ”

And now I’m crying again. It’s the kind of thing I’d expect Henry to do for Kit—not me. “I can’t believe he was willing to do that. I can’t believe you were willing to do that. You don’t even like dogs.”

“People love you a lot more than you realize, Mare. And the fact that you love those dogs is the only thing that should’ve mattered to your husband.”

“Ex-husband.” I’ve said it before, yes, but this time, I know I’m not going back.

Because the man who’s supposed to care about me above all else can’t hold a candle to the one in front of me, who does his best to pretend he doesn’t care at all.

“I have no idea what to do with my life from here forward, but it won’t be with Harvey. ”

His gaze holds mine a moment too long, his lips opening as if to speak.

For a half second, I think of my wedding day, of Charlie saying we can go anywhere you want .

If I’d done it, where would we be right now?

I’d have avoided all these years with Harvey, but it’s not as if Charlie and I would have stayed together, if we’d gotten together at all.

He’d probably have broken my heart, and our entire friendship would be ruined.

Whatever I saw in his face disappears entirely and his mouth curves. “So I guess that means you’ve got nowhere to be?”

I blink up at him. “Huh?”

He lifts a shoulder. “I’m just saying…that wallpaper’s not removing itself and I’m staying til mid-July. So maybe you could stick around until you’ve got a reason to go home.”

This euphoria I’m feeling could just be the house again, or these squirming puppies in my arms.

But I’m pretty sure it’s Charlie. I’m pretty sure I’m simply thrilled that he wants me to stay.

My relationship with Henry has long been.

..awkward. I’m grateful for the role he’s played in my life, but there’s no way to hide the fact that his relationship with Kit is very different.

She wouldn’t blink an eye at calling to yell at him because she knows her position is secure.

I’ve never quite felt that way. But by that same token, I’m immensely grateful for the things he does on my behalf, things Kit would barely even notice.

Thank you so much for helping Charlie get the dogs back. I will never forget it.

Henry

I’m your father. You don’t have to thank me for that. You should have told me the second it happened.

Well, anyway, I’m very appreciative. And you won’t have to deal with Harvey again. I told him I want a divorce.

Of course you do. My attorney is already drawing up your separation agreement.

I smile. I guess the benefit of being raised by people who can’t stay married for long is that they know exactly how to get you out of your marriage when the time comes.

Unfortunately, now that Henry knows we’re in South Carolina, his best bud Roger will too.

..and therefore my mother. Charlie calls his dad to get ahead of it, but I put off calling my mom until later in the day, because it’s not going to go well.

She won’t be upset that I’m leaving Harvey—she adores breakup drama, which is probably the reason she threatens to leave Roger as often as she does—but she’s going to have an issue with the fact that I’m in South Carolina with her stepson.

I wait for a bit after Charlie phones his dad, then I call her from the back deck, while Echo and Narcy tear around the yard, and deliver the news about the divorce first.

“I’m going to set you up,” she says. “Roger has a friend who’s going through a divorce and his youngest is leaving for college, so he’ll be looking for someone to fill the void.

I’ll have you over for dinner. Although, speaking of dinner, you know if you want to model again, you’re going to have to drop about ten pounds.

But anyway, let’s shoot for Thursday. Roger!

” she shouts, fully prepared to set me up with this guy whose kids are grown adults .

“Mom, stop. I’m not in New York. I’m in South Carolina. Helping Charlie.”

“Helping Charlie ?” she repeats, as if Charlie is some random guy out on parole, one we can’t trust. “With what ?”

Charlie’s inside, but I look around anyhow before I proceed. “With the house, Mom. I’ve been removing wallpaper, and I think I’m going to start redoing bathroom tiles soon.”

There’s a tick of silence, one that sets my heart beating in my throat. “But why?”

There’s so much embedded in that why .

She’s saying Why does he suddenly matter to you? I sense drama, and this is something I could get upset about!

“Mom, it’s not a big deal. I like house renovations, and he needed help.”

“Where are you sleeping ?” she asks, and this question isn’t innocent either. Her tone implies that I’m not simply in the same bed with Charlie but actively sleeping on him, with his penis wedged inside me all night long.

I sigh heavily. “Jesus, Mom,” I hiss, glancing over my shoulder to confirm that Charlie’s still not in the vicinity. “I have my own cottage. Charlie has his own too.”

“Keep it that way,” she warns. “You could ruin everything if you…”

She trails off without specifying, but I’m pretty sure I can figure out the rest of the sentence on my own. “I know, Mom. I know. God, what do you think of me? I just told my husband I want a divorce twelve hours ago.”

“I think you’re single and so is he,” she replies, “and that leads nowhere good. That’s what I think. You shouldn’t be down there. You need to come up here and get your career back on track.”

She’s probably right. I’ve got nothing now. No home and no idea what happens after South Carolina, and the timing of it is really not great, with Kit’s upcoming engagement. I know her— she’s going to feel guilty and there’ll be nothing I can say that will entirely erase it.

And yet, despite all this, I’m sort of…happy?

I think perhaps it’s just a break from all the worry—about ticking biological clocks, and where my future is headed, and angering a man who couldn’t be pleased.

Most of those things are still a concern.

But for right now, I’ve got my puppies and I’ve got Charlie, and the whole world just feels as if it’s finally been set right.