Page 24 of Charlie Takes a Chance

She raises her eyebrows. “Want to bet?”

“Sure.”

And that is how I lost a bet to Charlie Baxter and ended up paying for her lunch.

CHAPTER 9

Charlie

After we leave the diner,we drive one street over to a line of old houses with large yards and picket fences. It looks like something from a magazine. Max parks the truck in front of an old two-story house with a two-car garage attached to it.

“Why are we in someone’s yard?”

Max explains to me, “We’re at Darlene’s.”

“Yes, you keep saying that.” I press a thumb to the middle of my forehead. “I don’t know if you know this or not, but I’m from out of town, and I don’t know Darlene.”

“Well, if you stay in town long enough, you’ll know Darlene, because Darlene knows everybody,” he explains very slowly as he adjusts his ball cap. “I’ll be right back.”

“You realize that’snotvery helpful, right?” I call after him as he climbs out of the truck and heads up the driveway to the house. I assume I’m supposed to wait in the truck, so that’s where I stay.

But then the front door opens, and a woman in her forties with long brown hair steps out. She greets Max, waves to me, then jabs at Max’s arm. I can’t understand what they’re saying with the car door closed, but I see Max’s shoulders sag. He turnsback to the truck and waves me to join them. That’s weird. I point to myself as if he could be pointing to another option in the car.

He frowns and mutters something—probably not nice. I can practically hear him all the way over here. He motions again for me to join them on the porch. I unbuckle and climb out of the truck because, really, I just want to meet Darlene. She seems to be the person to know.

“I can’t believe he was gonna leave you in the truck,” Darlene greets me as I climb the steep steps to the covered porch. She has brown hair and bangs and a face with smile lines and twinkling eyes.

I’m tempted to say something that will throw Max under the bus, but he didn’t actually leave me in the truck—I stayed there. “I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to get out or not,” I tell her.

“Oh, that’s okay, honey. It always takes me a little while to pull all the orders, especially when people don’t give me a heads up that they’re coming.” She turns to give Max a chiding look.

She turns back to me and shakes my hand. “I’m Darlene.”

“I’m Charlie Baxter.”

“You come on in, Charlie. I don’t want you to freeze in the truck.” She flicks Max’s arm when she walks by, and he grins at her. “Max should have called ahead that you were on your way, and I would have had everything ready.”

Max doesn’t even look like he feels bad. “You know cell service is bad out there,” he tells her.

Darlene laughs. “I know you’re only doing this to see what I’ve baked for the day.”

We step into her entryway, which has a nice large rug and a big shelf lined with shoes and boots.

I jump a little when Max leans close to me to rest a hand against the wall as he kicks off his boots. “You’re about tosee why I like to surprise Darlene. She feeds me,” he whispers loudly.

Darlene laughs. “I heard that!”

He looks happy. Less raging grump. And he looks like he’s actually got a soul rather than being the heartless Scrooge I’ve come to know and hate.

I force my eyes away from his face because that’s just dangerous territory right now. Smiling Max is a dangerous Max.

Darlene motions for us to follow her farther into the house. “Well, you might as well wait in the kitchen. I’m going to go put together Max’s order. There are some pumpkin muffins on the table, and the coffee pot is warm. You better plan on staying a little while, because I’ve never met one of Max’s girlfriends.”

She disappears down the hall, and I don’t have the chance to tell her that I’m not his girlfriend.

I hear the door close after her.

“One of your girlfriends? How many do you have?” I mutter as I follow him into the kitchen. Max actually blushes, and I can’t help but think about how that, combined with his smile, would be an adorable combination.

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