Page 63 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
With no one to mourn her.
And like she had said, the house and the villa were now theirs. Helen was a bitch, but she wasn’t a liar when it came to things like money and trusts, so all Charlie probably had to do was make a phone call, and everything would be moved to his name.
Please don’t take my sunshine away.
“A Haven House? Here?” Charlie stepped over his mother to take the kids upstairs while he called the police. They had to make the scene look just right, and the less interaction cops had with Toby and CeCe, the better. “Nah, I’ve got a better idea.”
Charlie had once considered the sunsets at his family’s beach house to be some of the best in the world, but this? Nothing compared to this.
“Run, run, run as fast as you can!”
Toby’s gleeful shout carried over the wind and was followed immediately by CeCe’s squeal of delight as her brother chased her down the beach of Magens Bay. They had been playing all day in the surf, and while the sand here wasn’t as nice as the stuff back home, the kids had managed to build an entire sandcastle village along the shore.
His kids were happy.
He was happy.
And they were home.
Sitting on his beach lounger, Charlie swiped the sunglasses off his face. His mother’s villa—his villa—rose up high behind him on the cliff. A small place with six bedrooms and four bathrooms, it was just enough for them to live out a great life. Maybe not the kind of life he had thought he would live, but that dream was as dead as the old him. This was the new Charlie Fairweather. A man with a new life and new dreams.
A man who would never allow himself to sink so low again.
“That’s a nice place you’ve got there.”
With one eye on the kids, Charlie half turned to greet the man walking over from the section of beach next door. “Thanks.”
“Bryan Carroll.”
Charlie shook the guy’s hand. “Charles Fairweather.”
Bryan stared up at the villa behind them. “I thought the Powells owned this place?”
Giving him a once over, Charlie determined that Bryan wasn’t a local by the expensive clothes and the way he held himself. The Bostonian accent was also a dead giveaway. Neat and tidy, with a belly hanging past the waistline of his shorts, Bryan looked like he knew how to eat and drink well.
“My mother was a Powell,” Charlie replied, unwilling to give him more information. Trust wasn’t something he would have here. “She’s passed on, and now the villa is mine.”
“I’ve always been interested in the property, but the Powells never entertained the idea of selling.” Bryan sat uninvited on the lounger next to him, knocking CeCe’s beach towel off and into the sand to make room for his large body. “My place is next door, and I already bought the lot on the other side. I like my privacy, you know.”
“I’m not interested in selling.”
Bryan chuckled. “For sure, not yet. You just got here! Take your time to enjoy island life.” He took a puff on the cigar clenched tight between his knuckles and focused on CeCe and Toby, continuing their game of tag. “But maybe one day you’ll figure out island life ain’t for you. So, if that day comes, you make sure you call your buddy Bryan first.”
Past where they sat on the beach, in the direction of the villa Bryan claimed to own, three men stood positioned not far off. Their gazes never stayed on one thing or another for very long, obviously security of some sort.
“Ignore them,” Bryan grumbled. “They’re necessary, but not the prettiest sight on this beach.”
Charlie took a good look at the man, trying to determine if he was famous. “Necessary?”
“They’re mainly for my daughter. I’m one of those over-protective fathers,” Bryan continued, grinning when CeCe whooped excitedly as she chased off a flock of birds resting in her path. “Fathers and daughters. You know how it is. We share a special bond.”
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
“Yeah.”
“With sons, you have to mold them and guide them. They’re so much fucking effort.” Bryan waved a hand at Toby stomping in the waves. “But our girls, they don’t need us. They’re almost as smart as we are, and they can make their way in the world without our help, you know?”
You make me happy when skies are gray.
