Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Melody

I stared at the chaos in my mother’s living room. I’d left the boxes and bins out, and the different piles I’d sorted were scattered and messy. I bent and picked up a picture of me and my mother; the frame was freshly cracked. “Why would someone do this?”

Bill sighed. “We don’t know.”

Charles moved to my side and turned to Bill. “What do you mean, you don’t know? She said this is the second time. Have you been doing any investigating?”

“Mr. Rich Guy doesn’t think the police can do their job. Is that it?” Bill stepped closer to Charles.

“I didn’t say you can’t do your job; I’m just saying it doesn’t seem like you are doing it.”

This was getting out of hand. I put a hand up. “Please. Stop. I can’t do this.” It would’ve been funny in high school to see two boys sort of fighting over me, but now was not the time. “Charles, the police are trying.”

Charles took a step back, raising his hands in surrender. “Okay.”

I turned to Bill. “If you guys are done here, then I’d like to look around by myself.”

Bill gestured to Charles. “But he’s staying, right?”

“That’s none of your business, Bill.”

Bill shook his head. “You’ve always been into the rich guy, even when we were young. Look how that turned out for you.”

I wanted to slap the man, but I restrained myself.

“The lady asked you to leave,” Charles growled.

Bill glared at him, then walked out. “Maybe you should call your boyfriend next time, not the police.”

I let out a sardonic laugh. “My gosh.” Bill was acting like a complete jerk, and it calmed me down.

It didn’t seem to calm Charles down. He walked around the broken glass and kept taking in the scene. “I know you said no, but seriously, would you like me to call some people to put cameras up or some private security?”

I shook my head. “I told you Will is coming, and I don’t want it to seem dangerous.”

Charles cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t want to keep having break-ins either.”

It was hard to deal with Charles’s intensity. Especially when he knew he was right. I turned away. “I’m going to go back to my place tonight. I’ll figure out what to do tomorrow.”

For a long minute, Charles said nothing. Then he placed a light hand on my shoulder. “If you don’t want me to help figure this out, just say so.”

I sucked in a breath. “I don’t want you to help me figure this out.” Honestly, I didn’t know if that was the truth, but this situation had left me vulnerable, and it was upending me. I didn’t need Charles to save me. “If you could give me a ride home, that would be great.”

Charles’s lips turned down. “Of course I’ll take you home.”

A few minutes later, we got to the doll shop. He got out and ran around to open my door for me.

I didn’t fight him. “You don’t have to do that.”

Charles gave me another frown and reached for my hand. “I am a gentleman.”

We walked toward the back of the doll shop, and I pulled my hand out of my pocket to punch in the code.

“It looked like you had something you wanted to say.”

I pushed the door open, flipped on the inside light, then turned to face him. “I’m tired.”

His blue eyes looked sad in the moonlight. “Can we talk more?”

I shook my head. “Charles, thank you for helping today and thank you for dinner, but I have to go.”

He nodded. “Sure. Are you going to the church ‘auction a date’ tomorrow night?”

I had totally forgotten about it. “I don’t know.”

“Okay. Can we talk some other time?”

“I guess.” I didn’t know how to feel about this whole situation, but I couldn’t think about it tonight.

“Okay. Goodnight.” He reached out and took my hand, giving it a little squeeze. “Please call if you need anything, even if you only want to talk, okay? I mean it.”

“Thanks. I will.” Again, I felt vulnerable. It’d been so long since anyone had cared like this. Sure, Gretchen and Kent were always there for me, but it wasn’t the same.

I pulled the door shut, slumping against it. This time, part of me wished I hadn’t shut the door on Charles. Part of me wished I had fallen into his arms and leaned into the comfort I knew he wanted to give me.

Could I ever accept another man’s comfort again? Could I ever trust after being so brutally hurt? I didn’t know.

Exhausted, I trudged up the stairs to my small apartment. I couldn’t believe Charles hadn’t known about what his grandfather had told me. I remembered how his face had contorted with pain when he’d spoken about his ex-wife. The man wasn’t unscathed in his life either.

I settled into bed, not caring about taking off my makeup. My fingers tingled with the memory of the way Charles’s hand had felt in mine. Charles King still had my full attention, even after all these years. Would he ever not have my attention?

I smiled and let myself drift off. I wasn’t about to tell him.