Chapter 7

The next day, I tentatively opened my eyes, fist at the ready in case there was another early morning party going on. After a few minutes of blissful quiet, I relaxed. The reprieve probably wouldn't last long but I would take it.

After coffee, I called Tana again. She hadn't answered any of my calls and texts the prior day, but the traitor could only avoid me for so long.

After the fifth call she finally picked up. "I was just trying to help," she said in lieu of hello.

"Fantastic way of helping. Sending me straight into the lion's den."

What the hell had she been thinking sending me over to Charlie's place with no warning? The two of us have never gotten along. Apparently in Santana's twisted mind lifelong hatred is a great qualification in a roommate.

"Most of my customers have families and they need to rent an apartment or an entire house. I asked everyone who came into the shop yesterday, but no one needed a single room."

"So your next thought was of me?"

"She needs a roommate. You need a room. It's only a problem if you make it one."

"Or if she kills me before I can rest my head on the pillow."

"She posted on freaking Facebook!"

As annoyed as I was, I had to admit to being worried about Charlie. We might hate each other, but at least she knew I wasn"t a serial killer. What was she thinking advertising to live with a stranger?

"She's going through a lot. Just be nice to her," Tana threatened.

"I'm always nice," I muttered but I really wanted to ask what she meant by that.

What could Charlotte Monroe possibly be going through? Last I heard, she was living the life she'd always dreamed of as a Park Avenue Princess.

Was she traumatized because she couldn't get the Hermès bag she wanted?

Or maybe living though the extreme hardship of her day spa running out of her favorite moisturizer?

Give me a fucking break.

After reassuring Tana that I would be on my best behavior, I took a quick shower and shaved. I was halfway out the door before I remembered that I wasn't scheduled to work until late afternoon. Whatever. That would give me some time to start boxing up my stuff. The sooner I was gone the better. Van might not have minded me crashing but I minded. The apartments in town were expensive as hell but maybe it was worth it for us all to get some privacy.

The dishes were mainly Van's except for my favorite beer glass since I hadn't bothered to unpack my kitchen stuff when I moved in. After pulling out the main outfits I wore all the time, I grabbed armfuls of clothes and dropped them into my suitcase. Since I was on a roll, I got the vacuum and cleaned the carpet. Then I carried my dirty clothes into the hall to do laundry. By the time I was done, it was almost noon and I was starving.

There wasn't much in the refrigerator other than leftovers from Van's shitty cooking. Mine wasn't much better so I decided to swing by the diner. I pulled out my phone and texted Carter to see if he wanted to meet for lunch. When he hadn't responded ten minutes later, I decided I would order an extra meatball sub and bring it to him. If he'd already eaten, then I could save it for later.

When I walked in the diner, the chime over the door tinkled merrily and I returned a few friendly hellos. The owner, Dot, winked as she passed by with a full tray, but all of my attention was on the last table along the wall of windows. When Tana noticed me, she sat up in her seat and waved. I nodded at her but kept walking and took a seat at the counter. I didn't need a menu, but I picked it up anyway, careful not to crush it between my palms.

For five full minutes, I managed to stare straight ahead and even responded appropriately when Dot asked for my order. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore and looked over my shoulder.

Carter was still sitting so close to Charlie that he was practically in her lap. Her curly black hair surrounded her face like a halo, and she was wearing another one of those damn white T-shirts. At least it wasn't wet this time.

Tana caught my eye and tilted her head. I whipped around and grabbed blindly for the soda in front of me. No wonder Carter hadn't answered my texts: he was too busy crawling into Charlie's cleavage. Why were they having lunch? Had he just happened upon the girls out eating or had they invited him?

Had he invited them?

"Here's your order, pumpkin." Dot placed a loaded plate on the counter in front of me.

The heavenly smell of fries hit my nose first and I knew without looking that she'd given me extra. She always did.

"Thanks, Dot. You're a lifesaver. Tell your old man he better treat you right otherwise he might have some competition."

She snapped the towel she held in my general direction, but the high color in her cheeks betrayed her pleasure.

"You go on. Such a flirt. I swear you were making eyes at women even when you were in diapers. I'll wait to put in your meatball sub order so it'll be hot when you're ready to go."

The burger was delicious as always but as Charlie's laughter rang out across the room, it might as well have been paste. What the hell was so funny? Carter was a freaking real estate agent, not a comedian, and Tana definitely wasn't that funny.

I shoved the last of the fries in my mouth before taking another look over my shoulder. My teeth clinched when I noticed Charlie's hand on Carter's shoulder. They were awfully chummy considering she'd just gotten back in town. Carter hadn't been back in town that long, either. He'd moved home from DC when his father had a heart attack and had always said he would move out once his dad was back on his feet.

Wait … Was she asking Carter to move in?

I stuffed the last of my burger in my mouth and stood. I held up a finger so Dot would know I'd be right back. I waved to a few others as I made my way to their table.

Tana noticed me coming first and sat back in her chair with a knowing smile. Nobody else at the table had seen me yet, probably because Carter hadn't taken his eyes off Charlie the whole time. He pushed the rest of his milkshake in front of her.

"You want a sip? They just added this to the menu. We've been calling it the Oreo Orgasm."

Before she could respond, I leaned over. "That's the only way he knows how to give a woman an orgasm. But I don't mind if I do."

I grabbed the milkshake and drained half the contents of the glass in one pull.

Carter just blinked at me. "What the hell? Get your own, man!"

"Oh, not in a sharing mood anymore?"

He chuckled. "Such an ass."

"What are you guys over here whispering about?" I didn't miss the knowing look that passed between Tana and Charlie.

"Nothing. I have it under control," Charlie replied finally.

"Just like you had the water under control," I added just because I knew it would annoy her.

"What water?" Carter asked.

The face Charlie made at Tana clearly indicated that she didn't want to talk about it. Or more likely that she didn't want to talk about it in front of me.

Tana sat up straighter. "Why are you here? You usually get your food to go."

"Maybe I wanted to say hi."

"Unless you don't want to go home." She turned to the others with mirth in her eyes. "Rix is traumatized from catching Van having sex. And our parents."

"I'm disgusted by this conversation." I ignored their laughter. Let them catch their family members going at it like bunnies and see how well they reacted!

"You're like a good luck charm," Tana teased. "Swing by my apartment and maybe I'll find a boyfriend."

"I hate you."

"You love me."

Resolved to ignore her, I turned to Carter. "Think you can help me negotiate a good deal on one of the plots of land right outside of town? If you're not too busy heading up the town welcoming committee, that is."

Carter's lip quirked at the dig, but he nodded. "You want to buy?"

"I can build for cheaper than the places in town."

"Do you really think this thing with Janelle is permanent? What if you get back together?"

Even though I wasn't looking at her, I could suddenly feel the weight of Charlie's judgmental stare burning a hole in the side of my face.

"No chance of that," I said finally.

Carter smirked. "Yeah. You're not exactly the picket fence type."

There were so many things I could have said to that. Between his demanding career, constant travel, and dealing with his alcoholic father, he wasn't the poster child for stable relationships either. But instead, I bit my tongue.

"Whatever. I'll see you later."

I finished the rest of the milkshake as I walked back up to the counter. Behind me I could hear Charlie asking Carter to recommend some local contractors. Before I could even sit down, Dot deposited a paper bag stained with grease on the counter in front of me.

Charlie's laughter assaulted my ears all the way from across the room. Was it just me or was she deliberately being even louder than before? I slapped some money down on the counter and picked up the bag. If she wanted to use the overpriced contractors Carter knew, that wasn't my problem. Hell, she could live with the guy, too. I wasn't going to spend another second thinking about what Charlotte Monroe might or might not be doing.

I had better things to do.

Like eat a meatball sub.

* * *

I was halfway through my meatball sub, which was fucking delicious by the way, when I heard a little growl. Rolling down the truck's window, I surveyed the parking lot. Main Street was usually pretty dead this time of day so there was no one else around. The only reason I was still here was because I was hungry.

It wasn't like I was waiting to see how long Carter was going to hang around.

And I definitely wasn't hanging out eating another lunch because I wanted to make sure Charlie left alone.

Definitely not.

Another growl, this time right outside the door, drew my gaze down. There was something that looked like a demented squirrel glaring up at me.

"What the hell?"

I opened the door and climbed out slowly, trying not to startle it. Upon closer inspection, I decided he was probably a dog even though he looked more like a gremlin. I looked around. Plenty of people walked their dogs off leash but none this small. One wrong step and he would have been under my boot. He stood up on his hind legs and let out another pitiful whine-growl.

"Where did you come from?"

He blinked at me but didn't offer any information that was helpful.

The door to the diner opened and a young woman walked out. I was pretty sure she was a Murphy because she had red hair and a ton of freckles. She was wearing yoga pants with stains all over them.

"Is this your dog?"

She shook her head before looking around. "Sorry. Maybe Dot knows?"

After she climbed into her car, I waited to see if anyone else would come out. There was no one else in the parking lot so he had to belong to someone who was still inside otherwise that meant he'd wandered all the way down Main Street by himself. His legs were so short that I figured he couldn't have come that far. Based on size alone, he had to be a puppy still.

He stood on his hind legs again and pawed at my jeans. When I noticed his eyes fixed on my sub sandwich, I felt a little pang of sympathy. Poor little guy was probably hungry if he'd been wandering alone.

"Sorry, buddy, but I don't think dogs are supposed to eat meatball subs."

He barked once and then latched on to my pant leg.

"Ow! Motherf?—"

I danced around trying to dislodge the pup's teeth from the fabric of my pants. Just when he let go, the door to the diner flew open and Charlie came out, flames of fury in her eyes with Tana following right behind her.

"Are you kicking that puppy?" Charlie demanded.

"I didn't kick him. He bit me. All because he wanted ameatball."

Tana shook her head. "Seriously, Rix? It's a dog, not a criminal mastermind."

"Really?" I pointed to the dog happily feasting on the meatball sub I'd finally dropped.

Although she still looked like she wanted to breathe fire, Charlie relaxed slightly at the evidence that I was not in fact a puppy-kicking monster.

She knelt next to the dog. "Aww, you like meatballs? You look like a little meatball."

The dog snuffled over to her and licked her fingers. She petted him on the back a few times before picking him up. The puppy cuddled right into the curve of her cleavage with a happy sigh.

"Pretty surehe likes melons as much as he likes meatballs," I muttered.

Charlie gave me a nasty look before she turned her attention back to the little thief burrowing against her breasts. "Don't be scared, cutie pie. I won't let the big old meanie get you."

"Reminder: he's not scaredof me. He just tried to take a chunk out of my ankle!"

As if he could sense that he had the attention of the room, the puppy whimpered and put a dramatic paw over his eyes.

"You've got to be kidding," I muttered.

Charlie walked away, cooing at him the whole time. Tana shook her head at me again before she followed. I was left standing in the middle of the parking lot with nothing but the sad remains of my sandwich next to me.

Meanwhile, that little gremlin was leaving with a pretty girl to hold him and the rest of my meatball sub in his belly.

Not a criminal mastermind, my ass.