“Freakishly easy?” I ask. I do feel like I kind of need to walk on eggshells around this girl, but the humor just slips out. I glance at Tessa and only see a smile. Success! I look over at Owen and grin. He reaches out and holds my hand. Okay, I am feeling a lot better about things here now.
I get in about five steps of actually feeling good when I step in someone’s discarded gum right as Tessa shouts, “Audrey!” And then she unhooks her arm from mine and runs forward awkwardly with her one foot in a walking boot toward a woman who’s standing on the street, looking surprised to see her.
I don’t have anything resembling anapkin to use to get the gum off my shoe, and I don’t just want to scrape it on the sidewalk for someone else to step in. I don’t have a lot of choices here, so I decide to scrape it off on the asphalt of the road. Not a great option, either, but it’s the lesser of two evils.
As I veer right to the road, walking awkwardly to keep my shoe from putting the gum right back onto the sidewalk, I nod to the woman with Tessa and ask Owen, “Who’s that?”
Owen sighs. “That’s my ex, Audrey.”
“Oh.” As I’m stepping off the sidewalk and trying to take in Owen’s ex, I bonk my head on the underside of one of the hanging flower baskets. “Ow,” I say, mid-step, followed closely by a much more enthusiastic “Ow!” because not only did I bonk my head, but my hair got caught in the basket and really got yanked. And now I’m tethered by the hair to a hanging basket.
Owen rushes over to help. Since I can’t look up without it pulling on my hair too much, while he’s working on untangling this mess I got myself into, I check out the woman who, thankfully, has all of her focus on Tessa.
She is beautiful. Her chestnut hair is pulled back into an elegant low bun, and she’s dressed in dark wash jeans, heels, and a flowy blouse that make her look like she belongs on a magazine cover. She also has a look about her that says she never forgets to register her car or comes down the stairs sporting onlya towel and a head full of shampoo, not knowing her new neighbor can see her. I bet she’s never even burned cookies.
“Okay, I think I got it,” Owen says.
I slowly and gingerly step away from the basket, the few remaining strands pulling their way free. Until the last couple get stuck and are yanked from my scalp. I rub my head as I look back up at the hanging basket, feeling betrayed by it. Then, I start scraping my shoe on the asphalt, trying to get all the stickiness off so I won’t leave a trail behind me.
Then I take the most fortifying breath I can, muster what dignity I have left, put my hand in Owen’s, and head toward Tessa and Audrey. As we get closer, I start hearing part of their conversation. Tessa is saying, “My flight’s not until tomorrow morning. You should come over! There’s tons of food leftover from lunch. Besides, how long has it been since you’ve seen my parents?”
“They had me over just a couple of weeks ago. But I’d love to come and see you before you head back!” Then she sees that we’ve caught up to them, and she says, “Hello, Owen. It’s great to see you.”
I glance at Tessa to see that she’s looking at my hair with her brow furrowed. My hands fly to the top of my head, and I feel the tangled mess that is supporting the part that I’m sure is practically sticking straight up. The movement catches Owen’sattention, and he tries to help, which doesn’t make things any less embarrassing.
By way of explanation, I motion back to the betraying basket. “The hanging flowers decided to attack. Hi, I’m Charlie. It’s nice to meet you.”
Cool. Very cool. Nothing like minor public humiliation to reinforce that I’m the quirky chaos goblin and Audrey is grace in heels. Plus, Tessa loves her. Owen’s parents love her enough to have her over when neither of their kids is in town, so she obviously fits in with his family well. She seems perfect for Owen, and right now, I feel anything but.
It’s fine. I’ll just walk directly into the nearest pothole and let the shame swallow me whole.
CHAPTER 26
SMILE AND SECURE THE EXIT
OWEN
I’m sitting on a padded folding chair in my makeshift office in one of the balcony boxes, my laptop sitting on a card table, as I scour the video feed from over the weekend. I have the new cameras installed, which means more cameras to check. As I scrub through them, I don’t see anything out of place, which gives me such relief. Weirdly enough, I’m getting in even more of a funk as I sit here than I’ve been the rest of the day, which is saying something.
The weekend was great, though, and the hour-long drive to my parents was totally worth it. Charlie was amazing with Tessa. She isn’t the easiest person to connect with, yet Charlie did,andshe helped her in a way I couldn’t have, since I hadn’t even sensed there was a problem. I swear, Charlie is just magic when it comes to seeing into a person’s heart.
My parents love Charlie, too. My mom has texted me a good five times since we left their house yesterday to tell me so. Charlie seems to be pulling back, though. I felt it to some degree almost the whole time we were in Bridleford.
And for some reason, it feels like The Shadowridge is pulling back, too. I worry that someone is going to break in again, even though I’ve taken ample precautions. I love this place and don’t want to lose it. I just need it long enough to get it fully restored and looking the way my grandpa hoped it would look again someday, back when he first showed it to me more than fifteen years ago.
I keep thinking that maybe if I hold onto it tightly enough, including obsessively checking the security camera footage, it’ll know how much I care, and I’ll get to keep it. I know that doesn’t make rational sense, but it’s what I’ve got. Even though I know that life is under no obligation to be fair.
My crew is all leaving for the day, so I’m surprised when I hear a knock on my doorframe and turn around to see Luis.
“Hey, boss. Can I come in?”
“Of course.” I motion to the extra folding chair, and he takes a seat.
“I just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing. You’ve seemed off today.”
Normally, in a situation like this, I would paste ona smile and say that I’m doing great. But for whatever reason, I say what I’m thinking. “I don’t know. I just feel like everything is on the verge of falling apart.”
“With Charlie?” he asks, concern in his voice.
