Page 52 of Hope for the Best

"You're seriously unbelievable," Casey replied, shaking his head.

"I assure you I did not try to let this happen," Charlie said. "But if I don't snatch her up, someone else will, and I'll never forgive myself if I let that happen. She drug me out of that hole I was in, Casey. I need her."

"Yeah, are you sure that's not the reason? Maybe she was at the right place at the right time."

"I get what you're saying, and I knew people would think that. It's what I expected after finding her so quickly. But no. It's not a rebound situation. We were just friends for months. And, besides, I just want to be with her. I want to spend time with her. She's beautiful, and fun, and funny, and she laughs at all my jokes. I'm looking forward to seeing her right now. I'm sad that she's there and I'm not."

"AJ's going to know something's going on with you acting all lovestruck like that."

"I'm not going to mention any of this to AJ. But I'm fine if he knows, I'm just trying to be considerate."

"Did you ever consider staying single for a year or two, Charlie?" Casey asked in the way only a brother could.

Charlie knew Casey didn't mean any harm. He was surprised that was all he had to say. "Not really," Charlie said as he shrugged and smiled at his brother.

He turned up the truck radio.

The two of them listened to music in silence for a few minutes, and then they went back and forth from quiet to talking until they arrived back at the house. Hope's car was in the driveway, and Charlie felt like he might burst if he didn't make it inside to see her.

The house was so big that people didn’t usually keep up with other people's comings and goings. Casey went in using another door, and Charlie went in search of Hope. There were several people in the living room when he got back, and they all noticed when he walked in. Hope was nowhere in sight. It looked like everyone was playing a game around the dinner table, and they stopped and greeted Charlie.

"Hope was supposed to come over," he said.

He told himself to play it cool. He had been trying not to make it the first thing he said when he walked in, but the words just came out of his mouth.

"Oh, she got roped into going out on the boat with my crew," Astrid said. "Beau had everybody trying to climb that big cliff face at the bottom of Michael Simon's property today."

"Are you talking about Hope?" Max asked.

Charlie turned to find his dad who is just walking into the room. "Yes, Hope," Charlie said to him.

"Hope got talked into going out to Michael's Bluff for a little while. I know where they are. I could take you over there if you want to go meet them."

Charlie agreed casually, but he sprang into action, and it only took him three minutes to get down to the dock and ready to go. He saw his dad coming out to meet him.

"I'll just take the boat over there," Charlie said when Max came near. "I think I know where that bluff is. Is it that big one past the white house?"

Max nodded and kept on approaching. "Yeah, I was up at the house talking to Hope when they asked her to go. Beau and AJ had come back to get stuff for the ice chest, and they got to talking about that rock wall and her climbing skills. Of course, Beau had to challenge her."

"She doesn't even climb real rocks," Charlie said.

"Yeah, but you know that one they're going to. She said she's climbed that one before. I can even climb that one." Max stopped in his tracks. "I'll just go back up to the house since you know where you're going, though. Are you sure you've got it with your leg?"

"Yeah, it's no problem." Charlie didn't even feel his leg. It was still aching, but he didn't care. He already had swim trunks on and was prepared to go climbing or swimming if he had to.

"She looked at me as she left, and she smiled at me," Max said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Charlie asked, looking at his father for the odd comment.

Max shrugged. "I don't know, she smiled at me, and I knew it was about you, that's all."

***

It took ten minutes of boating to make it to the right place. Charlie saw a few different boats at the spot, but he easily found his cousins and their friends from Chicago on his dad's big boat. Danny Cameron, Astrid's husband, was obviously captaining because he stood behind the helm. AJ and some others were on the boat as well. But Hope and one of the girls from Chicago were up on top of the small cliff. Hope had on short-shorts with a one-piece swimsuit as a shirt. She was soaking wet and had been in the water, and she started smiling and waving as soon as she caught sight of Charlie.

He waved back at her, and she held her nose and jumped into the lake in a comfortable position feet-first like she was seated in a recliner. She had chosen a good spot and jumped in at a reasonable trajectory, but Charlie watched her, feeling his heart stop as he waited for her to surface. He wanted to jump in and swim to her. There was nothing he could do to stop his mind from flashing to Savannah, but for Hope's sake he didn't want his fears to control him. He hated to think of the possibility of ever losing Hope, though, and he ached to protect her.

He breathed again once her head popped out of the water. She was wearing a smile and Charlie took a deep, calming breath. He wondered if any of this would ever get easier. He had to think it would. He had to let go and live life and trust that those he loved would be okay.

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