Page 101 of The One I Hate
Then I see the small, yet devilish, smirk on her face. Oh…she’s going to pay for this later.
“Simon Banks! Did you not properly ask this woman to be your girlfriend?”
“Mom…it’s not like that.”
“Jesus Christ, son.” My dad’s tone is laced in disapproval, and this whole situation is getting very out of hand.
“Listen!” Raising my voice only makes my sisters and Charlie snicker more. It only deepens the disappointment on my parents’ faces. “We’re together. No I didn’t ask her because I’m not sixteen. But also, this woman knows for a damn fact that I’m nuts about her, and I’m pretty much whipped already and we’ve been officially together for less than a week.”
Charlie takes my hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “He’s right. Plus, he’s like a stray cat. I’ve fed him once. I know he’s just going to keep coming back.”
This makes everyone laugh. “Exactly. She’s stuck with me.”
“I am.” Charlie leans into me as I put my arm around her shoulder. “I tried to resist. I really did.”
“We get it,” Maeve says. “The man has wormed his way into everything in his life. Why would this be different?”
“But we also know that he can be a bit much,” Stella says. “So when you need a break, just come up to Nashville. We’ll take you out for the day. Oh! Please come up so we can go baby shopping! I never need an excuse to shop, but I’ll take one when I can.”
“And if it’s a boy, you can have whatever you want that I still have,” Maeve says.
“It’s not a boy,” I say confidently.
“Isn’t it too early to know?”
“It is,” Charlie says with a side-eye my way. “He’s ‘got a feeling.’”
Maeve rolls her eyes. “Of course he does.”
The girls begin talking and start planning a trip to Nashville after the restaurant opens. I sit back and watch as Charlie blends seamlessly with my family.
Just like I knew she would.
I happen to share a look with my dad, who just gives me a nod and his version of a smile. And for the first time in my life, I get it.
I get the meaning of this.
Family.
I take after my dad in a lot of ways. I didn’t go into law like him, but his drive to be the best was ingrained in me from an early age. He retired last year from his firm, where he had been partner for more than twenty years. The man was ruthless in thecourtroom. He was the best. And that’s what I wanted to be: the best.
What I never wanted was the family. I didn’t get the appeal. I mean, look at my family. We’re loud, messy, and constantly in each other’s business. There was not one moment of peace growing up. Who in their right minds would want that?
But I get it now. Because I do. I want a flock of kids and the loud and the messy.
And I want them with Charlie.
Chapter 24
Charlie
“I’m going to need another batch of sausage gravy. Also, Mellie, people keep asking for the cinnamon rolls, so don’t stop now.”
“Woo hoo!”
I smile over at Mellie, who is doing a happy dance at her bakery station. “Enough dancing. More baking.”
She smiles at me, her hips still moving to the non-existent song. “In this kitchen, we dance. Especially when I’m told to make more cinnamon rolls.”
