Page 26 of Charlie and Her Sweet Escape
“Charlie had a crush on me for a while,” I said, pretending to be Greg again. “I was kind of a jerk about it. Sometimes I’m a tool. I don’t know. It’s weird, especially when I have such an amazing fiancée. I guess some of us are slower learners.” Okay, Greg wouldn’t have said that, but man, it felt good to say.
Charlie’s elbow dug into my side, but it also looked like she was holding back a laugh.
Rosie pointed at the tablet, looking exasperated. MEANT TO BE.
“From the moment I first saw him, I knew it was meant to be,” Charlie said, looking up at me with her huge, trusting eyes.
“It was my abs, wasn’t it?” I couldn’t resist saying, even as my heart skipped right over a necessary beat.
“You and your freaking abs,” she said through laughter. “Okay, yes, fine. It was your abs.”
“You had abs as a child?” Savannah asked.
“I was born with abs,” I replied as seriously as I could.
Savannah cracked a laugh, and Charlie pressed her face into my chest as she snorted out a laugh. I inflated my lungs with the air of someone who’d finally done something right.
“And one last question.” Savannah paused, her entire demeanor more relaxed. “How would you describe each other?”
“Oh, um, yeah,” Charlie said. “Ben?—”
I squeezed her shoulder at the same time Rosie squeaked. Charlie’s eyes widened, and she froze.
“It’sbeena long time since we did something like this,” I said. “I’ll start.”
Rosie collapsed to the ground in dramatic fashion, which seemed unnecessary. That was a brilliant save. But now I was left to figure out what Greg would say. The problem was that I couldn’t imagine Greg saying anything nice about Charlie that didn’t circle back into being a compliment of himself. I was sick of pretending to be him.
Rosie was frantically typing into the tablet as the awkward silence lengthened. Charlie looked ready to jump back in, but I leaned forward to look directly at Savannah. I clasped my hands by my knees and pretended we were the only two people in the room. I might get in trouble with Charlie and my sister for breaking character, but I didn’t care. Greg wasn’t here. I was.
“The first time I met Charlie, she was rescuing a cat from a tree. I thought that kind of thing only happened on television, but there she was, navigating the branches to reach an ornery cat, determined to save him. He scratched the crap out of her arms, but she had a huge smile when she descended the ladder. I rushed to grab the devil from her—even though she insisted she had it. The cat scratched my face and then raced back up the tree.” I laughed, remembering how Charlie had slow-blinked at me and then looked up to where the cat had gone, even higherthan before. “She saved the cat again, and this time I just held the ladder steady.
“Charlie doesn’t give up on people. On animals. On anything. She is the most likable person I’ve ever met in my life. Your viewers will fall in love with her immediately, just like I did.”
The room was silent, and Rosie caught my eye with a slow brow raise.
Charlie gripped on my arm. “Thank you,” she said, her voice so quiet I doubted the computer’s speakers picked it up.
I replayed through what I’d said but didn’t regret it. I’d gotten caught up in the moment, but I stood by my statement that I loved Charlie. Of course I did.Everyonedid. Charlie was irresistibly lovable. Like a cute puppy. Like Hansel, who chose that moment to wake up from his nap and hobble over to Charlie.
Charlie set Hansel in her lap, and the distraction seemed good for her. She blinked out of whatever haze my words had put her in. She wasnotgetting enough compliments if that’s how she reacted to me. She introduced Hansel to Savannah and talked for a moment about how she rescued and fostered injured animals.
Savannah nodded. “This will be amazing B-roll. Viewers will eat it up.”
“Does that mean…?” I asked.
She nodded. “We’ll want to get a camera crew out to film your wedding for the show. It’ll help with your show intro. And I’ll email you a file with more information and your travel itinerary.”
Charlie’s hand gripped mine so tight, it almost hurt.
“We’ll be in touch soon,” Savannah said.
The camera turned off, and Charlie turned to me. “We did it.”
“Yeah, we did.”
Rosie barreled forward and pulled us into a hug. “You guys were amazing!”
“I’m going on the show! I’m going to get the money for Mom. It’s all going to work out.” Charlie looked like she was in shock. Hansel stretched up to lick her on the chin.
