Jeff scoffed. “I try to avoid him. He seeks me out. I don’t know where you were, but he came back later and threatened me. Told me to stay away from him, like somehow I’d followed him there. You can ask Lydia. She was with me.”
So that was why Will had gone back in. He hadn’t dropped something. He’d spotted Jeff.
She took a step forward and touched Jeff’s arm. “Will lets grudges ruin his happiness. But you don’t have to do that. Don’t let him get to you.”
Jeff frowned. “It’s okay. Denny and I need to get back to L.A. soon anyway. And there are a lot fewer chances of running into him there.”
She had mixed feelings about that news. He needed to get on with his life and staying here was holding him back from that.
“Well, don’t be a stranger.” She smiled and ducked her head. “Even if we’re only friends.”
***
The soothing swirl of cream in Will’s coffee cup was in complete contrast to the situation at hand. Charlie had come home from work looking defeated. Usually, he was a ball of energy that never depleted, but not today. After dropping his car keys and jacket on the table, he’d sat down in a heap and ran his fingers through his hair, over and over, until his blond mane stuck up in every direction.
“What’s with you?” Caroline nudged his jacket away from her with one finger and wiped the spot with a napkin.
“I don’t want to tell Jane I’m leaving in a week. Every time I start to say it, I chicken out. I’ve got four days of work left. I have to be in San Francisco by Monday.”
“Well, when she sees you packing up all your stuff, won’t that make it kind of obvious?” Caroline smirked. “She dated you knowing you’d be leaving at some point. Why is this so hard?”
Will circled the rim of his cup with his finger. “The reason he can’t tell her is because he hasn’t decided how to leave things. Charlie, you owe her that. Don’t make her be the one to ask.”
Charlie nodded. “You’re right.” His hands continued to fidget, and he looked up at the ticking clock on the wall, a concentrated look on his face. “We’ve been together practically every free moment for over a month. What do I do now?”
Caroline leaned forward. “You need to make a clean break. Otherwise, you just prolong this thing.”
“Or …” Will glared at Caroline. “You could ask Jane to come visit you in San Francisco. I’ll pay for the flight. You could choose not to date anyone new for a while and see if you two could make it work.”
Caroline scoffed. “Not date someone new? Like that’s gonna happen.”
Charlie slouched onto the table top and rested his head on his arm. “Caroline’s right. I hate being alone.”
This was the side of Charlie that Will despised. The self-defeating, self-fulfilling cycle of doubting his own goodness.
Will stood up and ruffled Charlie’s already messy hair. “Then I guess you know what you need to do.” He went down the hall to get his laptop, but when he came back, Caroline was still harping on about what Charlie should say to Jane.
He swiped his coffee cup and set himself up in the den instead. Elsie was working tonight, and Jane was at home preparing to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. Charlie would head over there later and probably pretend everything was fine. Knowing him, he’d wait until the very last moment to break her heart.
Numbers were easier to think about. Will got two minutes of work done before Charlie came in, wrestling with a bag of mini Snickers, which was about as loud as standing next to an avalanche. He finally got it open and set it down.
“If anyone rings the doorbell, will you hand these out? Caroline said she’s heading to a nail appointment. She just broke one trying to open up a Diet Coke and found a place still open.”
“Hmm.” Whether or not Caroline was going to a nail appointment was not on his list of important information. He looked up from his computer and saw Charlie still standing there, looking dejected. But there was nothing more to say that would do any good. Will had already given his opinion.
“Are you gonna stick around here, Will? Since we’re into November tomorrow, we’ll have the whole month paid whether we want it or not.”
Will gave Charlie a warning look. He didn’t want to discuss it while Caroline was within hearing range, wanting to know why Will might or might not stay in Meryton. Unlike Charlie, he knew exactly what he would say to Elsie before he left, leaving nothing uncertain between them. And they weren’t even a couple. It killed him that Charlie did this to girlfriends over and over again. Elsie was going to hate them both.
Chapter 15 ♥Sandwiches
The doorbell rang and the shipping box fortress Elsie had been building around her suddenly seemed like a mistake. She quickly gathered up the leftover Halloween candy wrappers and shoved them under the couch behind her.
“Coming!”
She moved aside a stack and weaved through the mess to reach the front door. The last thing she expected was to see Will Darcy on her doorstep.
“Jane said you were here getting orders ready to ship so I thought I’d join you. She and Charlie are watching the musical,Cats, at full volume and I can’t get any work done.”
