“The realtor wants you to meet her at a property she’s showing! I’ll text you the address!” Stassi called after her.
Charlie followed the GPS for a half-hour before pulling up to a gated property.
“So sorry I’m late!” she said as she hopped out of her car and greeted the woman. “I’m so glad the condo finally sold. You’re cutting the check back to Demi, right?” Charlie asked.
“Yes, arrangements have been made,” the woman said. “The paperwork is right inside.”
Charlie nodded. “Lead the way.”
They stepped inside the massive mansion and the entrance took her breath away.
“Wow, this is a beautiful home. Oh my God.” Charlie gasped as she admired the opulence of it all.
Her high-heeled boots clicked against the marble floors as she followed her to the kitchen. When she stepped inside her heart ached.
Demi sat coolly on one of the bar stools and Bails laid at his feet.
“Bails!” she yelled, dropping to her knees as her dog ran to her, barking in excitement as she rubbed all over him.
Charlie glanced up at Demi and then stood. The smile he wore was so relaxed. He was relaxed in denim and a white V-neck shirt. Demi wouldn’t be Demi if he didn’t have diamonds around his neck. Maybe he was trying to freeze her, because suddenly, she couldn’t move. Her heart raced as she looked at him, stunned.
She felt like the room was imploding. She didn’t know how to feel. It had been so long since she had laid eyes on him. So many things had gone wrong between them. So much hurt had been passed around. Still, her heart fluttered in his presence.
“Say, man,” he said, giving her a slight nod, like he wanted to speak but was too taken by her to say one word.
She didn’t know why but she loved when he said that. She could tell he was trying to gather his thoughts. Speechless. Charlie made Demi speechless.
“Say, man,” she replied.
“It’s been a year, Bird. I got the paperwork you need right here,” he said. He handed it to the realtor who handed it to Charlie. Charlie’s heart sank a little. Selling the condo he had purchased for her was like closing the book on their chapter in her life. This was their closure. Charlie had been okay for a few months. She hadn’t felt this active pit in her stomach for quite some time, but just one look at Demi brought all her hurt back. To love someone but not be able to have them was torture. She took the paper and she sucked in a deep breath.
A divorce decree. Two signatures. Sealed by the State of Michigan. Demi was a single man. Charlie felt sick. He may as well had killed her. She had wanted him almost from the first time he had spoken to her. It had felt like love from the very beginning but she had spent the past 390 days telling herself that she had been wrong. So many nights she had convinced herself not to call him, that he couldn’t be the one. She had forced herself to hate him and now here he was in front of her, available.
“You got a divorce?” she asked.
He nodded. “It was time,” he replied.
She blinked disbelieving eyes up to him.
“I need you to burn me, baby,” he said. “I want to go to Charliezonia, Bird,” he said. “I missed you. Fucking missed my baby.”
“You haven’t spoken to me since...”
He thumbed her lips, stopping her words. He didn’t need to be reminded of what they had lost. He thought of the baby they could have had often. He didn’t want today to be about that. He turned to his realtor. “Can you give us a minute?” he asked. She nodded and clicked away in her five-inch heels, leaving them on the first floor of the home alone.
“It’s been a year, Demi. You left me out in the world to deal for a year,” she whispered. She scoffed and shook her head.
“I had some affairs to get in order, Bird. A lot of loose ends to tie. I had a family that I had to secure. I couldn’t just leave. I had to get closure over there first, make sure my son was straight, get him comfortable with a new normal. It took some time. I’m sorry for that,” he said.
“Shad Brooks? Did you-”
Demi didn’t even let her finish the sentence. He simply put a finger to his lips, signaling for her to cease that line of questioning. Her instincts had been right. He had committed murder for her. A man who went to such lengths to protect you had to love you, right? It had to be more than lust. She didn’t even know why she was questioning it. The way her heart beat for this man she knew they were so much more than the scandal of an affair.
“I’ve moved on,” she said. It was only half a lie. Her life had moved forward. She had fallen in love with herself, with her artistry. The pain he had left behind was shaping up to be motivation for a damned fine album.
She turned and walked out the house. It was too much. This interaction. This love she felt resuscitating, it was all just too much.
As soon as she pulled open the door, her feet stopped working. She turned back to the house and Demi lifted out of the stool, taking steps in her direction. Her head whipped back to the car in front of her. Her mother’s car. The one he had scrapped. It was pieced back together but better than it had been before and it sat with a red bow on the hood. It was restored. It was exactly how she had remembered it being as a child. This car had been her home. It had been her safety. She had spent moments with her mom in this car. He could give her a mansion worth millionsof dollars and it would never outweigh the value of this car. He had given her the one place she considered home.
