Chapter Six
Somehow, over the next week, Trey managed to find a way to fit himself perfectly in Charlotte’s orderly little world. Seemingly without noticing, he had become such a vital part of her day, it became increasingly difficult to remember what life was like before their twice daily phone calls.
Each morning, as soon as she stepped from the door to the news station, she fired off a text letting him know she was headed home. If he wasn’t working, he immediately called her and they would chat for the entire ride home and through her routine of feeding Weasley and getting ready for bed. Then, she’d crawl into bed, and Trey would read from whatever book he had handy until she fell asleep.
Never in her life had Charlotte been so at ease with another person. Not even her parents, whom she tried to bother as little as possible. Or Kym, who Charlotte always felt like was much too cool to be friends with her.
While she slept, Trey would disconnect their call, but ring back when it was time for her to get ready for work. The one day he had even insisted on staying on the line while she showered. Never in all her life had Charlotte blushed so furiously as when her phone sat two feet away on the vanity while she washed herself under the hot, yet pathetically weak stream of water.
He claimed he’d gotten hard from just the idea of her being naked somewhere in the Pittsburgh City limits. Despite occasional innuendo filled comments, he never pushed for more. Never tried to initiate phone sex or pressured her to meet up face-to-face. Most of her was relieved that he seemed to instinctively know where her boundaries were. But a small part wanted him to push those same boundaries. She also worried that he perhaps didn’t really feel pulled to start something with her, and kept up their conversations over the next week simply because he felt bad for the poor pathetic girl he’d accidentally befriended.
Truth of the matter was, even if he only called out of a sense of obligation, Charlotte would take it. Their conversations had been some of the best of her life, even though they didn’t delve into anything too deep. They talked movies and books. Her love for everything fantasy, his for biographies of little known historical figures. They talked about his job, why he loved it, and why he wanted to someday be captain, maybe even chief. Trey talked about his family a lot. His family was big, him being the oldest of six kids, with foster kids also coming in and out of their custody over the years. His father was a preacher, his mother a librarian, and just the tone of his voice conveyed how deeply her respected them both.
For her part, Charlotte didn’t talk too much about her own family. She gave him the basics: immigrant parents, only child, no extended family nearby. But she only skimmed the surface of things with him.
Charlotte pulled into the parking lot, her stomach somersaulting over itself as Trey described to her the fire they had knocked down the night before. It had been an overturned tractor trailer carrying a shipment of microwave popcorn. His laugh filled the car as he told her about the kernels popping all over the road due to the heat of the fire which quickly overtook not only the cab of the truck, but the trailer too. Thankfully, the driver hadn’t been hurt, but the road had been shut down for hours while the mess got cleaned up. Tears collected at the corners of her eyes as she laughed her own much more subdued laugh.
“I’ll send you some pictures I took last night. They’ll be great for the kicker tonight.” It amused her to no end that he had started picking up some of her news lingo. She had taken to telling him about the kicker videos each day, which normally consisted of either cute animals, or news of the weird from around the country. He was right. The popcorn accident would go over great with viewers. “So, anything crazy happening today in the news world that you’ll have to deal with?”
“I don’t know. That is kind of what I like about news. Any day, things can happen that will send us all into a tizzy, scrambling to mobilize crews, or some days the best story is going to be an overturned truck carrying popcorn from the night before.” Charlotte leaned her head back against the headrest, stalling for every minute she could before having to hang up with Trey.
“Is this what you always wanted to do? Be an assignment editor?” Genuine interest filled his voice, and Charlotte reveled in the attention she didn’t normally receive.
“Not specifically. I knew I wanted to do something in journalism. I like fitting pieces together to make a story. I thought for a while I might be a video editor, but I saw the ad for an assignment editor and decided to just go for it.” The laughter from his popcorn story still lingered, and a little bit huffed out as she thought back on her disastrous interview with the former news director. “Actually, it is kind of a miracle I got this job. I bombed the interview. Could barely get two words out. But I guess because I was willing to work nights, for literal pennies, and the fact that the news director at the time was being investigated for corruption, I somehow squeaked in under the radar.”
“Well, obviously you were a good choice since you’ve been there for, what, three years, right?” When would it stop amazing her that he actually listened to what she said? And remembered too? Knowing one small comment about how long she had worked at her job in one of their other conversations had stuck, warmed something inside her. It made her want to curl up on her driver’s seat and bask in the glow of his attention for a while.
Somehow, the more they talked each day, the more Charlotte found herself wanting to share parts of herself with Trey. It made no sense. The idea of meeting him face to face made her break out in a sweat. Yet, she found herself offering up more and more information without him needing to push for it. “Actually, my boss, Michelle, offered me a promotion last week.”
“Really? That is amazing. Are you going to take it?” God, why had her own mother and father not been able to muster up as much enthusiasm for the news as Trey, a near stranger could?
“I don’t know. It is a big leap for me. The extra money and daylight hours would be nice I guess. But it is a big step outside what I’m used to. What if I take the job, and fail miserably? I couldn’t stand the idea of letting Michelle, or hell, the whole newsroom down.” The usual dread crept up her limbs, weighing them down and making it harder for her to shift her body.
“You can’t think like that.” Trey’s low steady voice seemed to lift some of the heaviness from her psyche, but not enough to make her breaths come any easier. “Listen, you can do anything. I know you can. The captain has this sign in his office that I always stare at when we’re having a meeting. It says, ‘Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.’ Were you scared the first time you went to work?”
“Terrified. I threw up three times while getting ready.”
“But you still went, because you knew you had to. So you wouldn’t live with your parents for the rest of your life, so that you could support yourself. And maybe because something inside, under the fear, knew that doing this job was going to fill something inside of you.” Trey paused for a second, and Charlotte held her breath waiting to hear what he would say next. “The things you do despite the fear say more about the person you are then the fears themselves.” A loud burst of laughter from Trey broke the silent contemplation they had both lapsed into. “Damn, I sound like a self-help book.”
“No, you’re right. I always look at the things I don’t do because of being so afraid and anxious all the time. But I do a lot despite all that too.” A weird sense of pride took place of the near constant dread that had been there a moment before. She’d never thought of herself as someone who overcame her fears. Rather, she thought she laid down to them. But if that were true, she wouldn’t be working at WQUZ. She wouldn’t have a back full of beautiful artwork. She wouldn’t be talking on the phone with a sexy as hell fireman.
“Charlotte.” Her name on his lips sent arousal plummeting into her core, heating the space between her legs. “I know meeting me scares you. We live in a time when a person can literally swipe left on their phone and be having sex thirty minutes later. We’ve been talking on the phone for over a week, and I’ve yet to ask you out because I don’t want to scare you off. But I want to push you a little bit out of your comfort zone. Because I do want to meet you in person. Maybe even get to touch you someday. Would you think about letting me take you out on a date, please?”
That new found pride swiftly left, shame taking up residence instead. “I’m sorry, Trey, I know I’m a mess. I want to meet you too, but I have a feeling you will be disappointed in what you find when we do. I’m nothing special. But you’re this hero who saves people and poses shirtless in calendars for women to drool over.”
A low rumble rose up from the phone, almost like the growl of a wolf. “Never say you aren’t special again. In only a week, you’ve become so special to me. I look forward to hearing your voice more than anything else in my day. And I know, I know, that is only going to grow. I’m the oldest of six kids, Charlotte. I have endless amounts of patience, and I will wait longer if you need me to. Don’t answer now. Think about it.”
“I’ll think about it.”
***
For maybe the first time in the four years Charlotte had worked at WQUZ, it was too quiet. All night, she kept waiting for something to happen, someone to walk in the door and take her mind off the swirling thoughts Trey had stirred up. But the ten hours stretched on, with her tying herself into knots. Guilt, fear, hope, anxiety, they all mixed together to make her second guess every decision she had ever made.
By the time morning came, and with it the crew filtering in to start their shifts, Charlotte thought she might start crying at the first word someone said to her.
The door to the newsroom flung open, crash against the wall behind it. Charlotte had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts, the sudden noise almost made her fall from her chair.
“Mira, you know this is going to happen; just give in to it already.” Chris Noble came trailing in after his girlfriend, Mira, who looked just a little annoyed with her hotter than was fair to the human race boyfriend. “Don’t make me come home with a judge some night and trick you into marrying me. I tricked you into dating me; I’m not afraid to trick you into spending the rest of your life with me.”
