Page 14 of Man Glitter
I smiled smugly and added the paper to my stack, happy to have recovered every single one. Leaving the chairs on the beach for now, I hustled up the path to Finnie’s car. She sat in the driver’s seat, the papers arranged all around her as she sorted through them. Every few seconds a sniff could be heard over the crashing waves below as she tried to stem the tears. Nothing a man hated more than seeing a woman cry. We were helpless, and always said the wrong things. There was just no winning when a woman started in on the waterworks.
I came around the car door and handed her my stack, refusing to look at the breasts still on display in her bikini top. Now really wasn’t the time. I mean, it was always the time to appreciate beauty, but I knew Finnie wouldn’t see it that way. “Got every last one. I think if we lay them out to dry, they should be okay.”
She raised her face, the tears gone, but her eyes and nose were red. Her mouth opened, but she paused before speaking.
“You got them all?” she asked, her voice sounding small and completely unlike her commanding, grumpy self.
I scoffed, winking at her in hopes it would get her riled up and get us back on our normal track of arguing. “Did you think I wouldn’t? I’m a master paper collector. Might even be better at catching flying papers than carving wood. I mean, that talent doesn’t get put on many resumes, but it should, right next to any formal degrees.”
She tried to bite back the smile. “Master paper collector?”
I gestured to the pages in her hand. “Got the proof right there. I’m your guy if you ever get a chance to get in one of those chambers where they blow money and you see what you can grab before the buzzer goes off.” She bit back a smile and I wanted to pat myself on the back for a job well done. “Now how about you sort your pages while I collect our stuff down on the beach and we’ll get on out of here?”
She nodded, and I turned to leave, happy I’d been able to somewhat avert her crisis. “Charlie?” she called out.
I turned again and squinted against the mid-day sun.
“Thank you,” she said just loud enough for me to catch.
7
Finnie
I’d fallen asleep quickly last night for the first time since I’d started staying over at Charlie’s house. The couch was still lumpy and smelled of expired essential oils, but I’d been at peace. Charlie rescuing all my papers had created a truce of some sort in our relationship. Not that we had a relationship, but it seemed like the tension was finally gone. We were friends, or at the very least, friendly.
My phone ringing woke me up just a little before seven. I was getting used to Chester’s tongue on my hand or cheek being my wake up call, so an actual phone call proved startling. The display said Mrs. Trudowsky, which was even more odd. I’d met her by accident my first day in town at Coffee. She’d insisted we exchange phone numbers so she could call me when they had open bowling night. I didn’t have the heart to turn her down.
“Hello?” I answered, not sure if I’d be invited to bowl or if the old woman was having some sort of medical emergency.
“Doctor Finnie? Is that you?” her weathered voice scratched over the line.
“Yes, Mrs. Trudowsky, it’s me.” I sat up and shoved my hair out of my face, stretching my abused back. Couches were no good for long term sleeping arrangements.
“Well, I just wanted to invite you and that sweet Charlie to come bowling tonight. It’s BOGO night!”
I grinned, having absolutely no interest in bowling, but wasn’t this the sweetest small town phone call ever? Wait. I frowned. Why did she bring up Charlie?
“Um, well, I’m not sure if Charlie has plans or not.” My stomach dipped, and I instantly felt uneasy.
“Oh, well, I’ll wait while you go ask him, honey. I figured with you two living together now, you’d want to bowl together too. Nothing says romantic like a night of bowling in rented shoes, you know. We even have a new mascot. The Alley Cat!”
While that point about bowling being romantic was arguable, and the Alley Cat mascot sounded adorable, I couldn’t seem to get past the living together comment.
“Um, what are you talking about, Mrs. Trudowsky? Charlie and I aren’t living together. We’re neighbors.” I stood and paced the room, Chester dancing around with me, thinking we were playing a game.
“Well, that’s a disappointment. I heard you two were seen shacking up and got my hopes up. Charlie is such a lovely man and deserves a smart, pretty girl like you. Maybe you should invite him anyway and see if the sparks don’t fly right along with the pins, huh?” She sounded so hopeful I hated to let her down, but I couldn’t have those types of rumors flying when I was trying to start a business in the community.
“I-I don’t know about that. Um, I gotta go, but I’ll see what I can do.” I hung up on the poor lady and spun in a complete circle, like I’d find the answers somewhere on the plain white walls of Charlie’s living room.
All too quickly, the nerves morphed into anger. Here I was trying to help the guy and now rumors had gotten out, potentially damaging my business before I’d even opened my urgent care. I was a single woman in a small town. I couldn’t be shacking up with a guy and then open a clinic where I’d be the town doctor, a supposed moral pillar of society.
“Shacking up?” I asked Chester, who only whined in response.
I stalked down the hall, intent on getting Charlie up to help me deal with this debacle. It took two to shack up, after all. He and I needed to be on the same page so we could squash this rumor and get ahold of whoever started it to set them straight.
I knocked once on his bedroom door, but didn’t hear anything. The guy was probably sleeping in again. Turning the doorknob, I walked in, fully expecting to see his lazy lump under the sheets. Instead, I saw a rumpled bed, but no Charlie.
A noise to my right had my head swinging. Charlie walked out of his bathroom, a white towel rubbing through his shaggy hair and not a single stitch of clothing on. His cock swung between his muscled thighs as he walked into the room, the length and girth more than I would have expected from a guy who juiced vegetables for breakfast. My jaw dropped open, and I stared, completely transfixed, even when he came to a stop and saw me in his room.
