Charlie was overwhelmed. Good heavens, homemade soup and tea and aromatherapy … just for coming down with the flu? “What about you, Josh?” she joked, as the microwave beeped, indicating her soup was done. “What did you bring me?” She opened the door and caught a little of the scent, even through her plugged nose. Her stomach rumbled and she realized she couldn’t remember when she’d put anything other than fluids in her tummy.
Josh held up a bottle. “I’m not much of a cook. But codeine cough syrup will do. You should at least get some sleep.” He grinned at her. “You really do look like hell, Charlie. Do you need someone to take Daniel for a day or two?”
“Thanks for this,” she grumbled, but then she looked up at him and smiled a bit. “Thank you, Josh. And Dan and I will be fine. He’s been sleeping better lately, only up once in the night. I just put him down. I should be good until about one in the morning.” She took a sip of water. “This is pretty amazing and a real surprise.”
He gave a shrug. “That’s what happens in a place like Jewell Cove. People help each other out. Sometimes it’s suffocating, but everyone means well. Almost everyone, anyway,” he amended with a crooked smile.
She sat down at the table with her soup. “You want to join me? There’s lots here.”
“I’m good. I’ll sit for a minute though, if you don’t mind.”
“Okay.” It seemed odd that he’d hang around, but her head was pretty fuzzy. She might not be the best judge of what was weird and normal at the moment. The first taste of soup made her close her eyes in gratitude. The broth was hot and rich and filled with vegetables and chicken and soft noodles. “Oh, tell Meggie that this is delicious and just what I needed.”
“I will.” He hesitated for a minute and then leaned on the table on his elbows. “Charlie, are you okay?”
“It’s just the flu, Josh.”
“That’s not what I mean.” He looked slightly uncomfortable. “Look, I don’t like to pry into people’s private lives, but you’ve been burning the candle at both ends for the last week, and now you’re sick and it looked like things were heating up with that Dave guy. Did something happen there?”
“There’s nothing happening there, don’t worry,” she replied, scooping up more soup to keep busy, to keep her from thinking too much.
“Do I need to have a talk with him?”
She swallowed and looked up in surprise. “What?”
“You’re my business partner now. And my friend. And if you need help, I hope you know you can ask me.”
A silly grin broke out over her face. “Are you saying you’d beat up Dave Ricker if he hurt my feelings, Josh?”
Josh looked at her evenly. “He’s a big boy. Not sure I’d beat him up, but I’d give it a good try.”
Her eye stung with unexpected tears. “That’s sweet. I never had a big brother, you know. But this feels like something a big brother would say.”
He smiled at her. “Look around you, Charlie. You’re part of this community. People care about you. I know it’s hard at first, coming to a place where it seems everyone has known each other forever, and have all this shared past stuff. It’s hard to come back to that too, you know. I didn’t find it easy last year. People get in your business. But they’re also there when you need them. I guess what I’m saying is, don’t let this get you down. There are people who care about you.”
“Wow, Josh, this is pretty touchy-feely for you.”
He chuckled. “Don’t I know it. My sisters are much better at this kind of thing, but since you and I share an office, I put on my big-girl panties.”
Josh could be really businesslike, or so charismatic that Charlie often felt outmatched. But he was really approachable today, relaxed and cracking jokes.
“I’ll be fine. Dave and I just want different things. We kind of ignored it for a while, but there it is. It wouldn’t have worked out anyway.”
“Bummer,” Josh replied.
She laughed, coughed, and then sighed. “Yeah. Bummer.”
“Well, listen, I should go and let you get your rest. We miss you back at the office. I was run off my feet today.”
“Slave driver. Now I know why you brought this stuff over. So you can get me back in the office and go back to your cushy hours.”
He laughed. She saw him to the door, and when he was ready to go, she thanked him again. Once he was gone she returned to the kitchen, finished her soup, and decided to run a bath using some of Robin’s bubbles.
It wasn’t until she sank into the hot water that she let the emotions in. She’d been holding them back for days now, but the virus, added to her long work hours and then the unexpected generosity of friends had her protective shields down. The steam made a peppermint and eucalyptus scented cloud in the bathroom as she finally cried.
She’d trusted him. She’d believed in him. Wrong or right, foolish or not, she had. And for a brief, wonderful moment, she’d lain in his arms and believed in the possibility of forever.
But that moment was gone. It was time she let it all out and then moved on.