“I’ll tell them I got mugged.” Steve grinned back.
Charlie sat home feeling miserable. She couldn’t get thoughts of Jake out of her mind. She had lied when she told him she was still in love with Paul, but she had only told him that to protect herself. Oh, her love would never die for Paul, but she was no longer in love with him. It was hard to stay in love with someone who was no longer there.
The crushed look in Jake’s eyes when she told that lie tore her heart out. If she didn’t love him, then why was she in so much pain? On Tuesday, she received a letter in the mail from Jake. Ripping the envelope open, she found a check. She put it aside to read the note he had sent along with it. The note was short and concise, written as if to a business associate.
Charlie, here is the child support check I promised. I know we didn’t discuss an amount but this check should bring me current for all the missed months. However, if you feel the amount is insufficient, we can discuss it when I pick Kristy up on Friday. I will be out of town until then. Jake.
When Charlie actually saw what the amount of the check was, she nearly fell over. The check was nearly as much as Charlie’s annual salary. She knew Jake had been serious when he said he wanted to take care of Kristy financially, but she didn’t know he would give her such a grand amount that was more than enough. It didn’t surprise her, however. Over the past months, she had gotten to see the kind of person he was. He was a good man.
He loved her, but how could she have accepted his proposal when she knew she would have lived in a constant state of paranoia. She would have worried every second of the day and her paranoia would have eventually run him off. She couldn’t do that to herself and she couldn’t do that to Jake.
By midweek, Charlie felt as if she’d been through hell and back. She lay awake at night not getting much sleep, and when she did manage to nod off, she ended up dreaming of Jake’s hurt face when she’d rejected him. On Wednesday morning as she sat at her desk trying to concentrate on a report she needed to finish, she was surprised to hear Steve’s voice. She stiffened, not wanting to deal with him when her week was already shitty.
“Can I talk to you for a moment?” he asked. Gone was the cocky office Romeo from Monday. His face was black and blue, and Charlie couldn’t help but wince a little at the show of Jake’s temper on her behalf.
“Okay,” Charlie said warily, not knowing what he was going to say to her. If he tried anything, she was going to tell him to get lost.
“I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted. I should have taken no for an answer when you first said no, and I certainly shouldn’t have cornered you the way I did. If it’s any consolation, I put the word out that any gossip as a result of said incident will be immediately dealt with by me. I’m not asking you to forgive me because I know what a tall order that is, but I just wanted you to know how I felt.”
Charlie was surprised. She initially thought Steve was a pain in the ass, now he was showing her a completely different side to him.
“You’re right, Steve. You should have left well enough alone, but we won’t mention it again. Okay?” She hadn’t exactly forgiven him but she was impressed he had the balls to admit when he was wrong.
Steve turned to leave but stopped at the door. “Jake really loves you. Please give him a chance,” he said, and then walked away. Charlie sat there in stunned silence.
By noon Friday, Charlie heard through the grapevine of Sandy’s firing. Apparently she was fired for a poor job performance, or at least that was the official reason. Some people speculated she had a falling out with her cousin who had gotten her the job in the first place. No one was sad to see her go. Since the office was buzzing about Sandy’s departure, people seemed to have moved on from the gossip surrounding Charlie and Jake.
When she arrived home, Charlie prepared Kristy for Jake’s visit. Charlie was so tense she felt any little thing would set her off. Her nerves were shot at the thought of seeing Jake when he came to pick up Kristy. How would he act around her? How would she act around him?
One thing was certain. Kristy was excited at the prospect of spending the weekend with her father. She talked about nothing else all week. This would be her first weekend away from Charlie. Charlie had even taken her shopping for child-size luggage to take for her weekend visits with Jake. Kristy loved it.
He arrived right on time. Kristy bounced up and down when Charlie let him in. “Daddy!”
Jake gave Charlie a nod, barely acknowledging her presence. She hadn’t known what to expect, but she didn’t think he’d give her the cold shoulder. He saved his smiles for Kristy. “Here’s my little girl. Are you ready to go, kiddo?”
“Yes. I wanna see the bears.”
“She’s been talking about going to the zoo since I’ve told her about it. She likes bears,” Charlie explained.
Jake spared her a moment’s glance, which was a huge difference from what she was used to from him. “Well, I’ll make sure we see them. Are there any no-nos you want to go over before we leave?” he asked coolly.
“Well, I usually have her in bed by eight and make sure she doesn’t eat too much junk food. You already have all my number in case something happens so I guess that’s it really. When should I expect the two of you back?”
“I’ll drop her off on Sunday around noon. Is that okay with you?”
It cut her how he spoke to her as though she were a stranger, but this was what she wanted wasn’t it? “That’s fine. Uh…I wanted to thank you for the check, although it’s probably more than I need.”
“Nonsense. I’m sure you can put it to good use. If you want to discuss it, can we do it later? I left the car running.”
“Oh, okay. You did purchase a car seat for Kristy, right?”
“Yes. I got one this week per your instructions.”
“Well, that’s all right then,” she finished lamely for lack of anything better to say. Charlie gave Kristy a kiss on the cheek. “Be a good girl for Daddy okay?”
“Okay,” the child agreed easily.
Jake looked at her with indiscernible expression in his eyes. “We’ll see you on Sunday, Charlie.”