Page 37 of Silver
Charlie sighed. “I understand.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “I do. She’s overstepping. I think she’s just had it in her mind that you all would at least have brought home a date or two by now. I mean, you’re almost forty-three.”
I pulled Charlie down for a kiss. “You’re super sweet, cutie. I understand that you lost your parents, and you want to mesh in with my family. It’s going to happen, I promise. Ma just has to realize first that she’s not in control of the when or even the how when it comes to these things.” Clay was willing to start making an effort, but the other three absolutely weren’t. I understood, because yeah, I wouldn’t be here with Charlie if that decision hadn’t been taken out of my hands.
Charlie laid his head on my shoulder. “I know. If I ask nicely though, can we give your mom another chance?”
I kissed Charlie’s head. “You don’t have to do anything like that. Ma will have her chances, but she just has to not be pushy. She doesn’t get to tell us when we’re having children or how many. How often she’ll get to babysit or even what nursery colors we should pick.”
Charlie moved back a bit and looked up at me. I nodded. “Yes, it’s that bad, cutie. That’s why we need to be as we are for a bit. I told you I would be protective, and that’s what I’m doing. You are my top priority. I love my parents, but yes, I absolutely will cut them off if I need to in order to protect you.”
Charlie nodded slowly. “I understand.” He sighed, then leaned in and gave me a quick kiss. “Can we go? I’m not trying to change the subject or avoid it, even. I just don’t want to be too late and have Sam use that against us in any way.”
I patted his thigh. “Sure. Get your shoes on, and we’ll head to the restaurant.”
Charlie left the room, and when I heard him on the stairs, I pulled out my phone to fire off a text to Clay.
Me: Charlie’s upset. I’m not sure what to do. He feels we’re being too harsh on Ma. I’m not sure what to do in this instance. Any suggestions?
I didn’t have time to wait for a reply because I heard my mate coming down the stairs. I didn’t want to upset him any more than he already was. But I needed some advice, and I wasn’t sure where else to go.
“Are you ready?” Charlie asked. I nodded as I closed the distance between us.
“I am. But I think the more important question is, are you?”
“Yes. I want Sam to meet you. I’m not trying to hide you or our relationship.” Charlie sighed. “It’s just been a chaotic mess.”
I hesitated but caught up easily enough and followed Charlie out the door. I should have waited to claim him. I didn’t regret claiming him, but I should have waited. At least a few days so we could get to know one another and have met each other’s families.
I helped Charlie into the truck, then went around to the driver’s side and climbed in. “Can we just be the two of us the rest of the week?” Charlie asked as soon as I slid in. I looked over at him, confused.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, yesterday was Saturday. We had family dinner with yours, which I’m told is normally on Sunday, but you moved it. Now today, we’re doing dinner with Sam and Justin. Can we just be the two of us the rest of this week? I have the week off todo all of our paperwork and everything, but can we just…I don’t know…hide?”
I chuckled. “We can certainly hide. I’ll need to let Clay know I won’t be in later this week.” I had already told him that was a very real possibility, so he wouldn’t be too surprised. “What all do you want to do during our time off? It won’t take the entire week to file all of the paperwork.”
Charlie sighed. “I need to go clean my cottage and get it ready to sell. I’m not going to ask you to help, but it does need to be done. I’m sure I’ll have no issues with selling it. The market is really good right now.”
“You could always rent it,” I suggested. “That would give you a monthly income stream, and you would have that if you opted to take extra time off once we have children.”
Charlie looked at me with wide eyes. I was concerned that I’d said something wrong until he suddenly smiled.
“That’s a great idea. I don’t know why I didn’t think about that before.” Charlie picked up his phone, which was in the cup holder in the center console. “Do you know of any good management companies? I know nothing about renting out a house.”
I reached over and placed my hand on Charlie’s. “It can wait a day or two, but reach out to Mica. He has several rental houses.” That was why I’d even thought to mention it. We’d all picked on him about it until we saw how much of an income stream it had become for him.
“Really?”
I nodded. “Mica has I think six or seven rental houses now. Of course, you can always sell it if you’re looking for a lump sum. There will be upkeep costs, but Mica can tell you all you need to know about renting it.” I shrugged. “He might even be willing to manage it for you. He’s already taking care of all of his. He has itall organized and knows what he’s doing. I think he only spends a day a week checking on everything.”
Charlie nodded. My phone vibrated in the cup holder, and I figured it was probably Clay getting back to me. I needed to get us to the restaurant first though. Once we were there, I’d send him a quick text letting him know I’d get back to him later.
“Do you need to check that?”
I shook my head as I backed out of the driveway. “No. It’s probably just Clay getting back to me. I asked him a question earlier, but it can wait.”
“Okay.” Charlie seemed preoccupied, so I took a quick peek. He wasn’t hiding anything from me, and when I reached out through our mate bond, he looked over at me. “You started the wheels turning,” he told me.
I chuckled. “All right. I just wanted to make sure you were all right. I know things have been stressful lately. That’s not what I want for you.”
