AJ stops in front of me, preventing me from walking any further. “There was a chick in your house?”
I push him to the side and continue forward. “My neighbor. Not a chick,” although that was what I mentally referred to her as just a few hours ago.
“You said she, which makes her a chick. Isshemarried?” Why is that always his first question? Why did I bring this up to him at all?
“No, she’s not.”
“And she wanted to have coffee?”
“Yes, and it was just coffee. She didn’t pin me up against a wall and have her way with me.” Those were the thoughts I was avoiding the entire time, though, but AJ doesn’t have to know that.
“But I bet you’re thinking that would have been pretty fucking sweet, huh? What does she look like? Is she hot? Big tits? Nice ass? I need details, bro.”God, shut up.I close my eyes and pull in a struggling breath while ignoring each of his questions. “You would have said no, if she didn’t meet some, if not all, of those criteria,” he continues, despite my lack of encouragement. I can see his shit-eating grin in my peripheral vision, and I’m now absolutely sure that telling him about having coffee with Charlotte was a horrible mistake. Though, it was not as big of a mistake as bringing him to the bus stop where Charlotte is currently standing. “Bro.” AJ grips his hand around my shoulder and forces me to stop walking. “What’s gotten into you today? You’ve been doing well lately and it’s the first time I’ve seen you with that ‘rock-bottom’ look in on your face in a good while.”
“Today’s just hard. It’s been hard,” I say, keeping my eyes set on Charlotte.
“You know she didn’t just go off to college, right?” he asks.
“Yes, I know, AJ.” But it’s all a downward slope from here. First kindergarten...then the next thing I know she’ll be driving. She’ll be dating. She’ll be sneaking into gardens at night with some dude who wants to carve her damn name into a tree.
I try to continue walking, but his hand tightens around my shoulder. “Hunt, what is this chick’s name? Give me that at least.”
“Hey!” Charlotte yells over. It is forty-five minutes before the bus is supposed to arrive, so I guess I’m not the only crazy parent here. I turn to tell AJ that, but he is too busy taking quicker steps ahead of me toward Charlotte.
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” AJ says. “I’m AJ, Hunt’s brother.” He points over to me and I place my head in my hand. How were the two of us cut from the same cloth? “Are you by any chance Hunter’s neighbor? The one who joined him for coffee this morning?” Peeking through my fingers, I watch as Charlotte slips a bookmark in between the pages of the book she was reading and stands up, facing AJ.
“Nope,” she grins. “We definitely haven’t met. Iamyour brother’s neighbor, and yes, I did have coffee with him this morning. Is that a problem?” Charlotte lifts her hand to shake his, but AJ finds it necessary to first turn around and cup his hand around his mouth, shouting through a whisper, “You don’t have to answer my questions. I answered them myself.” I love how he’s pretending to whisper, like any type of volume matters right now. If I look at AJ for another second, I might go after him with a swinging fist, so instead I look up at Charlotte, noticing she is not the slightest bit embarrassed by this horrible encounter.
“I’ve been around his type, plenty,” she says, leaning to the side so she can see me around AJ. “This isn’t new to me.” Her smile is sarcastic and adorable. Adorable? I didn’t know that word was even part of my vocabulary, aside from referring to Olive.
“We’re here early because Hunter was hopingyouwould be here early, too.” You have to be fucking kidding me. I’m going to knock him out.
“AJ, maybe you could sit down and stop talking. Or better yet, go back to the site and keep working,” I suggest.
“But I’d like to get to know your new neighbor.”
She gives me a quick wink and sits down beside AJ on the bench. “What would you like to know?” Charlotte complies.
“Well, I already know you’re single. But now I know you’re a single mom—I never would have guessed that, honestly. You live across the street from Hunter, so now I’m wondering when the two of you will cut to the chase and go out for dinner now that you’ve had coffee? I can watch the kids.” Still wanting to crawl out of my skin, I keep my eyes locked on this scene, waiting to hear what comes out of Charlotte’s mouth.
Thankfully, I don’t have to wait long because she stands up and walks over to me with a blank expression. “Your brother...” she begins. I like wherever this is going. I think. “Is a nutcase, and kind of funny. Whyareyou here so early?”
“Hey now!” AJ yells over. “We were in the middle of a very serious conversation.”
Charlotte turns around and gives him a look I can’t see, but then immediately turns back to face me. “Are you okay? Did you survive the brutal six hour wait?”
“I’m good. I just wanted to make sure I was here when the bus gets here. I know I probably sound crazy, but maybe not since you’re sitting here, too.”
The corners of her lips perks up. “Yeah, for the past year, I have come down to the bus stop an hour early and read, using this time as my daily late lunch break. At least I know I’ll never be late.”
“That’s fantastic. Hunter, you won’t have to stand here alone every day,” AJ interrupts again, with a cunning smirk I still want to punch.
“Really, you should get back to work so we’re not there until six, finishing up.” AJ doesn’t like to work past five, so I’m using the only weapon I can think of right now. He looks down at his watch and squints one eye, debating what choice is better—torturing me or getting out of work on time. “Alexa will kill you if you’re late tonight.” That should do it. It’s their anniversary. And when I say, “Kill” I mean she will make his life a living hell for an indefinite period of time.
“Shit,” he says. “Fine. You win this time, bro.” Win. What exactly am I winning? “It was a pleasure to meet you, Charlotte.” AJ tips his invisible hat and heads back down toward the job site.
Charlotte doesn’t respond. Instead, she immediately turns her attention back to me. “You have to go back to work after you get Olive?” Charlotte asks.
“Yeah, Olive is no stranger to carpentry. She’s been with me at every single job for the past five years.”
