Page 51 of My Favorite Lost Cause (The Favorites #2)

CHARLIE

I spend the day with Elijah down in the basement, fixing the most recent water damage and going over this morning’s conversation in my head.

I’m not sure what’s going to happen when I’m in San Antonio and she’s in New York.

I know for a fact that I’m going to lose my fucking mind if I have to watch her with someone else.

But I also know that I can’t give her the things she wants.

“What’s up with you today?” Elijah asks. “You’re contemplative.”

“ Contemplative ?” I ask. “Is that from your word-of-the-day calendar?”

“Contemplative and also a fucking asshole,” Elijah adds.

I shrug. “I had a weird conversation with Maren this morning. Something’s going on with her.”

“Something like you’re sleeping together and basically functioning like husband and wife while pretending you’re not together?”

I could deny it, but why bother? He’d know I was lying. Anyone who has ever seen me around Maren probably would realize it was a lie. I can barely keep my hands off her. “Yeah. Something like that.”

“All I’m gonna say before I pretend we never had this conversation is that you’d better lock that down before someone else does.”

If there was some way to lock it down, I would’ve done it a decade ago.

I go upstairs to shower before I hunt for her. She’s usually found somewhere downstairs with the dogs at her heels, but when she’s not there, I go to the cottage.

The door swings open and I freeze at the threshold.

The dogs are gone. The bed is stripped. A single sheet of paper rests on the mattress.

Charlie,

I’m dropping the dogs off at home and heading to Barcelona early. I’ve loved these weeks with you here—I’ve never been happier—but we both know that it can’t last. It’s time for me to move on with my life.

Much love, Maren

I sink onto the bare mattress and put my head in my hands. Was it something I said this morning? Whatever it was, I wish to God I hadn’t said it.

And how exactly is she planning to move on? With another guy? With Andrew ?

I’m furious, but can I actually blame her?

She’s been nothing but clear about what she wants from the start.

She’s a traditional girl—she wants marriage and kids and more pets than any family should own.

And what did I give her? Not a fucking thing.

I’ve fallen at her feet for the past decade, I’ve rarely told her no, but I still never offered her the things she actually needed from me.

I storm out of the cottage with the letter in hand just as Elijah’s opening the door from the basement.

“Did you know about this?” I demand. “Did you know she was leaving? Is that why you gave me the third degree this morning about locking it down?”

“I knew she was thinking of leaving,” he says, letting the doors slam behind him. “What did you expect her to do, Charlie? She’s not the kind of girl you treat like a dirty secret.”

“Fuck you. I never treated her like that.”

“Yeah?” he challenges. “So I guess that means you must’ve had a talk with her about where the relationship was heading? I guess that means you made it official somehow and I just missed the announcement?”

I scowl at him. “We were happy the way things were, and I didn’t want to ruin it. I didn’t want to mess with a good thing.”

“I’m not trying to rub salt in the wound, bro, but that’s the kind of shit a guy says about a mistress or a dirty secret.

You’ve made yourself known to her as the guy who wouldn’t settle down, and I’m guessing you never once indicated that something had changed.

I mean, has it changed? Because if you’re still that guy and you still can’t make a commitment, you should just let her move on with her fucking life.

If there’s some guy willing to ditch everything to meet her in Barcelona, then just let her go. ”

I crumple the note in my fist. “Is that what she told you? That she’s meeting someone there?”

He shrugs. “She said something like that, but I wasn’t really listening.”

So she left me to go be with Andrew. She climbed out of our bed and left me for Andrew mere hours later. And why wouldn’t she?

Elijah’s right. I should let her go on with her life.

Going to the underworld for somebody takes balls.

I didn’t even have the balls to tell her I’d consider doing it.