Malcolm took his juice very seriously indeed. When I returned to the living room and held out my offering, he snatched it from my hands with a withering look that made me laugh out loud. I'd seen that look before. Mostly when catching glimpses of my reflection in the mirror that hung above the big glass table in my conference room.
"Sorry," Charlie sighed. "Trying to explain manners to a twenty-month-old is pretty much like talking to a wall. A very loud, stubborn wall." She punctuated that sentence with a squeeze that made Malcolm squawk.
"He's got manners much like mine," I observed.
"You're right, I don't think I've heard you say please once," Charlie deadpanned.
I laughed. "I don't usually need to. I usually can get what I want without it."
Charlie snorted and shifted Malcolm to her other hip before standing up. She cleared her throat and her voice suddenly turned frosty. "Well bad manners aside, thanks," she said, looking at some point just over my left shoulder.
I should have probably just said you're welcome. After all, I was leaving...very soon in fact. My flight was due to leave from the small airport in nearby Crown Creek at ten-fifteen.
But I couldn't just leave it like that. With her...fucking thanking me? "For what?" I prodded.
Her smile tightened and I saw her eyes flicker to the kitchen where her mother was still puttering around, loudly letting her presence be felt. "I had fun last night."
"Me too," I said, far too quickly.
She noticed and her glance flitted up to me and for one second I caught her gaze before she turned her head and looked at Malcolm. "Yeah and thanks for paying Maisie. I uh, I can pay you back if you give me your address, I'll just need some time to..."
"Charlie." Even I was startled by the way I growled her name, but it was the only way to get her to stop talking this nonsense. "I told you I would pay her. It was worth it."
Her eyebrows zoomed upward. "I'm not a fuc-fudging prostitute."
"Goddamnit." I looked over my shoulder to the kitchen and then put my hand on her arm. "Could you come outside with me please?"
She shook her head, stepping back. "No," she said. "I don't think I should." Her voice caught and she reddened and looked away from me again. Nervously she plucked at Malcolm's diaper. "I need to get him changed. And you need to get going, don't you? You're leaving today."
"At ten-fifteen," I said. "I've got time to..."
"Then you should go," she interrupted, finally meeting my eyes. She lifted her chin fiercely. "You should go now, just in case you run into any trouble on the way."
"Like pretty girls running stop signs?" I asked. I sounded bitter. Why the fuck did I sound bitter?
"Yeah," she chuckled icily. "You need to watch out for those. Bad luck."
"Charlie..."
I stepped forward again and she threw up her hands. "Would you please go now?" she hissed, smacking my hand away. "I've got shit to do. I don't have time for long goodbyes with some guy I'm never going to see again."
I opened my mouth to protest and then snapped it shut because what the fuck was I going to say? That I was going to see her again? That would be a bold-faced lie. I was in town for twenty-four hours and that was it. I was done. The rest of the deal needed to be hammered out by our lawyers. My work brought me here and now my work was done.
"I'm going," I said, keeping my voice level. "Good luck, Charlie."
"Don't need it," she said faintly, bouncing her son. "I have my good luck charm right here."
Something tightened in my throat, making it impossible to speak anymore, so I turned and walked out of her front door, shutting it gently behind me and all the while I wondered what the fuck was wrong with me. This wasn't my first one-night stand, not by a long shot.
This was just the first one I was ready to make longer.
I couldn't help but look over my shoulder as I was walking down her porch stairs. Some part of me insisted she would be watching me longingly through the window, already regretting her cold goodbye.
But even though I knew very little about her, I knew her well enough to know that wasn't Charlie's style. She had too much dignity for regret. If she said she was done with me, she was fucking done.
Sudden anger boiled up and I yanked my door open with much more force than it needed. I kicked it viciously as I slid into the car, then slammed the heel of my palm into the steering wheel before letting my head fall back onto the headrest. Then, even more pissed off at myself for throwing a tantrum like a fucking child who didn't get what he wanted, I jammed my finger into the start button and backed out of the driveway way too fast.
Instantly my phone started ringing.
"Sir?" Miles's voice blared out of my speakers. "Have you checked your email?"
"Jesus Christ, Miles," I complained as I pulled away from Charlie's house, deliberately not looking back. "The sun has barely risen, why are you at work?"
"Because the Granger paperwork came through last night?" he said with a tone of utter disbelief.
"It did?"
"Sir? Are you fucking with me right now?"
"Maybe a little," I lied, and he let out a relieved laugh. "But I didn't get a chance to read through it all the way," I hedged. I felt no guilt bullshitting my assistant. It's what I paid him to deal with.
"Well, you probably had a late night."
"I did." That wasn't a lie, although not for the reasons he was expecting.
"I read it through once before sending it to legal," Miles explained. "How did you do it?"
"Just lucky I guess," I said, without the faintest clue as to what he was talking about.
"As far as I knew you weren't even looking for a stake in the casino, much less one so large."
I clapped my hand over my mouth. "He went for it?"
"Making you a majority shareholder, sir?"
"Um, yes."
"Yes he did, sir."
"Stop saying sir, for Christ's sake."
"Yes, sir." In his elation, he ignored me completely. "They went for everything you were asking for and more."
"And I almost left the table prematurely," I chuckled, looking in the rear view mirror. For a second I thought I saw Charlie. Who else could that figure with the gleaming crown of golden curls be?
"Lucky thing you stayed in Reckless Falls this long."
I grimaced and turned the corner, and she slipped out of sight. "Yeah. Lucky thing."