Page 34

Charlie

“There are so many people here, Charlie,” Bailey whispers when I help her down out of the truck. I toss the valet boy the keys and take her hand, leading her up the sidewalk to PoshA’s, the restaurant hosting Andi’s rehearsal dinner.

Bailey pulls me to a stop before we can reach the doors and uses a small mirror to double check her lipstick. She’d had to reapply it after our impromptu side of the road loss of control and I’d had to scrub my face with a napkin from the glove box to Bailey’s amusement.

“You look beautiful, baby,” I say, pressing a kiss to the top her head while she shoves the compact back in her bag.

She chuckles quietly, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek before allowing me to take her hand, again. “You’re just saying that to get in my pants.”

“Better let me eat first. How are you going to survive the night without me?”

Her eyes go wide and I can see she hadn’t remembered she would be staying the night at the hotel where the wedding is being held with Andi and our cousins.

The better question is, how will I survive?

Bailey Carpenter has fucking ruined me.

I crave her from the moment I wake up until the sun goes down. How the fuck I let this happen is beyond me. It was supposed to be sex. Now, I’m thinking of every possible thing I could do to keep her.

Fuck, I thought I lost her early when she told me to take her home. I can’t explain the fucking punch to the gut I felt. Like I was going to explode. I’m not a man to beg, but I was damn close when she jumped in my lap.

My sexy little vixen. I never would have thought when I met her that she would become as desperate for me as I am for her. She’s the first thing I thing about in the morning and the last thing at night. It’s not healthy.

I’m obsessed.

This obsession runs deep, too.

I briefly debate on if I need therapy as we near the restaurant. A therapist would probably lock me up. A therapist wouldn’t understand how hard I’d tried to keep her out of my thoughts, how hard I’d fought just to stay away from her. I wanted to hate her because she seemed unobtainable to me. It should have been easy. Not with Bailey, though. With her, it’s damn near impossible.

“Do you know all these people?” she asks when I tuck her hand into the crook of my elbow and lead her inside. The food smells fucking delicious and my mouth waters. PoshA wouldn’t be my first choice of New Orleans cuisine, but it’ll do in a pinch. It’s fancy, too fancy for my blood, but this is where Andi and Tom decided, so Sarah paid the almost ten grand for us to rent the place out for two hours.

“Don’t worry. I don’t remember most of them.” It’s true. I never go to family reunions anymore. Too many questions. Most of them centered around Mom.

“There you are,” Andi interrupts, looking like a brunette Malibu Barbie in a bright pink dress. “I was starting to think you weren’t coming.” She stops a few steps back, inspecting us. “You guys look amazing together.”

“Sorry, I forgot something,” Bailey lies smoothly, brushing over Andi’s other comment. Andi pulls her into a hug, shooting me a look over her shoulder before coming to hug me.

“Why did you invite Jake? He keeps making fun of my dress.”

I look down at it in all its poofy glory. “I wasn’t aware we were going to prom.”

Bailey scoffs and swats me on the arm. “I think you look beautiful, Andi. Jake’s probably just stunned by how great your tits look in that dress.”

I raise a brow, daring her to continue.

Andi wrinkles her nose. “Ew. Come on you two. Dinner is going to start soon and Mawmaw’s been asking for Bailey.”

Bailey eyes me over her shoulder as Andi pulls her away as if to say told you so.

Dinner is a buffet of all of New Orleans’ finest food. It’s nowhere near as good as my family’s, but I guess it will do. Bailey likes it, at least, enjoying the burnt honey cake the most.

She laughs and giggles with Mawmaw, who insists on sitting beside her, despite Sarah’s seating chart. In fact, no one sits in their assigned seats.

I end up next to Andi, who chooses this exact moment to ask me about my deal with Bailey.

“So, when were you going to tell me you were sleeping with my best friend?”

I shrug, even though I really want to tell her to worry about herself.

“Do I need to?”

She gawks at me.

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“Because it shouldn’t matter.”

Andi fixes me with a look of disapproval. She looks so much like our mom when she does it that it would almost scare me if I wasn’t growing so agitated.

“Listen,” she says, lowering her voice to barely above a whisper. “I love her. I love you. I don’t want to see you guys get hurt. Either one of you. Dad, too.”

Jesus Christ. I rub the stubble on my jaw, gritting my teeth.

“I wasn’t aware everyone was so invested in my love life.”

“Look, all I’m saying is maybe you guys should give it a shot. Dad thinks so, too.”

“This ends Sunday, Andi. I don’t need you or Dad or whoever else making Bailey think there’s something there that’s not. So, mind. Your. Business.”

She meets my cold, dead stare with defiance, tears brimming at the corners of her eyes. I know I was harsh, but give me some fucking credit where it’s due. I’m barely hanging on by a thread here.

I know the logical response is to ask Bailey to stay, but I can’t. Call me crazy, call me insecure or a pussy, but the moment she tells me no — the moment she admits this was just a fun little adventure for her while she was on vacation, I’m fucking done for.

I would rather not say anything at all.

As if on cue, Dad stands at his spot and taps his champagne glass with his knife, silencing whatever Andi was about to say next.

“If I could have everyone’s attention, please.”

I’m sure Dad has everyone in the city’s attention with his booming voice. The room quiets down, everyone turning to look at him expectantly.

“I am Charles Coulter, for those of you I haven’t met yet.” People in the room cheer and Dad chuckles, waving a hand. “Thank you. I want to thank everybody for coming tonight. It has been a great pleasure to meet everyone in the Bennet family.”

Under the table, Bailey takes my hand, gently squeezing my fingers. It’s such a simple gesture, but it brings a sense of calm over me that I’m not used to.

“Now, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be funny, or serious, or cry.” He looks down at Kendra, who smiles back appreciatively. “But my wife thought it would be best for me to just say what comes to mind. And we all know not to argue with our wives,” he says, drawing quiet laughter out of the room.

Dad shoves his free hand in his pocket, holding the microphone in his hand closer to his mouth.

“Now, when Andi came to me to tell me that Tom had asked her to marry him, I was shocked, to be honest. You know, in my day, you had to ask the girl’s father if you could marry her before you proposed. I was mad, at first, I’ll be honest.” He pauses for a moment, collecting himself.

“When your daughter tells you, as her father, Dad, this man asked me to marry him, your first thought is, oh, I don’t think so. Who is this lowlife, good-for-nothing kid that’s planning on taking her away from me? How does he get the balls to do that?”

Dad chuckles. “I went through every emotion. But my first thought was, he’s not good enough for her. He’s not. She’s the apple of my eye. How does he think he can give her everything she needs in this life? But then I watched them. I saw how much Andi smiled when he was around, how well he took care of her, and that anger started to fade. I saw her following her dreams. Laughing like she did when she was a kid. Before her mother passed away, God rest her soul.”

Then I knew,” Dad shrugs. “It’s because she loves him. He makes her happy. And if that makes her happy, then it makes me happy. I’m not giving her away. I’m allowing her to grow.”

Dad smiles, remembering something.

“I forgot about this story until recently. I was looking at pictures and found one of Andi covered in this dark, walnut stain. She was so clumsy as a kid, you’d think her legs were on backwards.”

Andi chuckles, embarrassed.

“I remember this story,” I murmur quietly to her.

“God, I can’t believe he’s telling this.”

“Gemma — her mom, bought stain to do up an old dresser. She and Andi were going to do it together. Andi was only nine at the time and her mom wanted to have some bonding time. Well, Gemma hands Andi the thing of stain and says, don’t drop it. Of course, Charlie and I are out in the garage trying to get my piece of crap Chevy to run when they come walking out.”

I have to add, I don’t know why, but Gemma had taken the lid off the stain inside, so she had to be planning for this to happen.

Well, Andi follows her mom down the stairs to the sidewalk and right as she reaches the bottom step, her foot gave out and she fell, covering herself and Gemma in that gallon of stain. Got the stairs. Got the sidewalk. Even got the old house on Dumaine. But Gemma didn’t yell. And Andi didn’t apologize. Gemma asked her what happened and Andi said well, you took the lid off, what did you think was going to happen?”

He laughs, shaking his head along with the crowd. “I remembered that story and I knew, Andi can take care of herself. She’s not afraid to stand up to anyone. She’s not afraid of hard work, which is what a marriage takes. And she’s definitely not afraid to tell you when you’re being a dumbass.”

The room laughs, the sound in the room rising to where I can barely hear Dad’s last statement.

“Thank you all for coming. Oh, and Tom,” he says, the room falling silent again. Tom looks to Dad expectantly, though there’s a trickle of fear there. “If you hurt her, I’ll sick Bailey on you.”

Bailey and Andi laugh, chattering behind my back. I’m frozen in place, because Dad looks my way and nods, like he knows what I’m thinking .

Part of me feels like that whole speech wasn’t just for Andi. Maybe it applies for me, too.

I walk Bailey to the car that will be taking her and Andi to the hotel tonight. I have to go without her, something that sets me on edge. I just need a moment with her, long enough to say something I need to get off my chest. If I say it now, and she runs away like I think she might, I’ll only have to look at her one more day until she’s back on a plane to California.

I pull her to a stop a couple feet away from the car waiting at the curb. Andi is too busy saying goodbye to Tom and everyone else is engaged in conversations. It’s just us in our little square of space.

“What’s wrong?” Bailey asks, her delicate brow furrowing as she gauges my expression.

“Nothing. I just wanted to say goodbye.”

She chuckles, humorlessly, worry lighting up her eyes. “Are you sure that’s it?”

I grit my teeth, willing myself to be a man and just fucking do it.

“Bailey, I need to tell you something.”

Her smiles fades to nothing. “What is it? Is something wrong?”

“No.” I take her hands in mine and they’re cold to the touch. Leaning forward, I press my forehead to hers and close my eyes. “Nothing’s wrong.”

Everything’s right. Save for one thing .

“Break it up, lovebirds. It’s time to go,” Andi calls from the car.

Five minutes. I just need five minutes. I run through Dad’s speech in my head, searching for the right thing to say.

“I, um . . .”

Bailey places her hand on my cheek, smiling softly at me. “It’s okay,” she whispers. “I know.”

“Know what?” I dare.

“I heard you and Andi. I know she was pressuring you. I don’t have any expectations from you once this is over. I get it, Charlie.”

Shit.

God fucking dammit.

“You don’t need to feel guilty. This has been the best five weeks of my life.”

She raises onto her tiptoes and places a soft kiss to my cheek, before stumbling back from me and putting a foot between us. My body craves her the moment she’s left me and I tug her back, pressing a kiss to her lips.

Disappointment. Anger. Resentment. The same shit I feel when I think of Mom crashes in on me.

Bailey breaks the kiss when it starts moving toward sex in the middle of the street.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she whispers when Andi calls again.

“See you tomorrow, princess.”

I watch her walk away, a feeling of dread washing over me.

Fuck, why can’t I just tell her I’m in love with her?