What About Charlie? (2 page)

“Damn right I do, Evan.” Her voice was an octave higher than a few moments before. “I’m not going to put up with you dating another woman while you’re dating me.”

“Liza, I’m not going to argue about this again.”

“I don’t understand why you want to be around her. What does she have to offer that I don’t? I’m ten times prettier than her!”

“She is one of my best friends,” he answered, ignoring her question, “and I will see her when I wish to.” His voiced was as hard as granite. Evan gave her a pointed look. “No one is going to tell me otherwise, including you.”

She pursed her lips into a thin line, narrowed her eyes into tiny slits. “Are you sleeping with her? Is that it?” She was almost screaming. “I would have thought you’d at least have chosen someone with class!”

Evan turned back towards the window, looking out into the night, watching the snow fall. He heard angry footsteps cross the tile floor. He heard the front door slam. A few moments later, he saw her car bolt out of his driveway.

He suddenly felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his chest, thankful the scene hadn’t lasted any longer than it had. He hated emotional turmoil. But he was glad the deed had been done. She was gone and out of his life forever. He looked forward to seeing Charlie tomorrow.

Evan watched Charlie breeze into the hospital cafeteria, her soft dark blonde curls bouncing around her shoulders as she moved. She automatically looked towards their usual table, lifting her hand and giving him a small friendly wave. He smiled, allowing himself to relax.

It had been five years since they had first met. She had rear-ended his car in a store parking lot. After that, they had become dear friends, best friends even, meeting for lunch every Friday, going to baseball and hockey games together, and often going out for pizza.

She was now twenty-five and a confident, independent young woman full of life and energy. In the time since meeting her, she had graduated from college, rented a nice apartment, and had managed to find a good job.

Today was Friday, their lunch day. Evan watched her weave through the sea of tables towards him. For some reason, he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off her. With natural grace, she seemed to float across the room. Her green eyes were bright, her smile one of pure joy. Her vitality more than made up for her plainness in looks.

When she neared their table, she gave him one of her wide smiles, a smile that could brighten the darkest of rooms. Evan rose from his seat, receiving a usual kiss on the cheek. Charlie sat down across from him, her salad and sweet tea already waiting there for her.

“Thanks for getting this, Evan. Traffic is so horrendous on Friday afternoons. I can never get here on time.”

“You look tired, Charlie.” The dark circles under her eyes worried him.

She sighed, sitting back in her chair. “I am, Evan. I’ve been working long hours. I get in the office at 7 in the morning and don’t leave until 6 at night with not much of a break in between.”

He gazed at her with concern. “You need to slow down.”

Charlie reached across the table and covered his hand with her own. “You’re such a worry wart, Evan. I’m fine. You know how it is with a new job. You have to really work hard to get a feel for everything. Being on the software design and development team is hard work, but it’s so much fun and challenging. I love it.”

Evan nodded, understanding the challenges of a demanding job. “Well, try to get a little more rest. You’ll get sick if you don’t.”

In silence, they both opened their packets of salad dressing, pouring it on their salads.

“You have circles under your eyes, too.” Charlie commented. “It wouldn’t hurt you to follow your own advice. You work longer hours than I do.”

Evan couldn’t help but smile. Charlie was dishing it back at him as usual. “You know doctors are always good at giving out advice but not so good at taking it.”

“A date?” he asked incredulously. “You haven’t dated anyone in months since Brad. I hope the guy you’re going out with tomorrow night is much improved over Brad.”

“He is. You know Ken from work?”

“You’re going out with a married man?”

“You think I’d go out with a married man?” Charlie huffed playfully, rolling her eyes at him. “I’m not going out with Ken. I’m going out with his brother, Adam. I haven’t met him face to face, only talked to him over the phone. But he seems really nice. And I’ve seen a picture of him. He’s really good looking. He looks a lot like Ken.”

“Charlie, that’s what you say about all the guys you go out with. They all may be nice, even good looking, but they end up being weird as hell, too.”

“No they’re not.”

He gave her an incredulous look. “Not weird? How can you tell me Brad wasn’t weird? He drove a purple AMC Gremlin with every available space in the car filled with stereo equipment. A passenger couldn’t even sit in the front seat. What he paid for that equipment, he could have bought and paid for a new car. And then all he’d do if he wasn’t in class was play video games on his computer for days on end, nonstop.”

“He was a software engineer major,” Charlie said defensively. “He used that time as research time to see how the games worked from a developers point of view. And besides he was very good at playing those games. He won a lot of contests. You know, he graduated with his degree and is now working for Nova Logic designing games.”

“No, not that many. About 20. And snakes aren’t bad creatures. They actually make very nice pets. When I was growing up, I had a pet garter snake named Gordie. I rescued him from my cat. He’d been injured and I nursed Gordie back to health. He was a nice little snake.”

“One snake is a hell of a lot different than 20.”

“I concede 20 was a little much. But I decided to end things when he started buying poisonous snakes and keeping them in his house. He had permits for them, but I was scared to death that one would escape or he’d start letting them roam the house, too. It got to be too much.”

Evan smiled. “I would say so.”

“Well, I know Adam is not a weirdo. He’s a photographer, and if he’s anything like Ken, he should be fine.” Charlie took a sip of her sweet tea. “Evan why don’t you take Liza with you tomorrow night to the game? She can have my seat for the night.”

Evan looked away from Charlie and said, “We broke up last night.”

“Broke up? Why didn’t you tell me?”

He looked back at her, his face devoid of emotion. “It’s not something you broadcast, Charlie. I was planning on telling you today.”

Charlie shrugged her shoulders. “Evan, you’ve gone out with a lot of women who I haven’t liked, but I kept my opinions to myself out of respect for you and your choice regarding who you want to see. If you like someone, I will get along with her for your sake. Now, if you’d gotten all crazy in the head and had decided to propose to one of them, I would have said something.”

“If I ever think about proposing, I will run it by you for your opinion before I do it,” Evan said dryly.

Charlie shook her head. “Be serious, Evan. You don’t need my permission to do anything.”

“I am serious, Charlie, and your permission would not be what I would be seeking. I’d want your input. You’re a good friend and I respect your opinions. You have a gut instinct about people that I don’t have. You can instantly read between the lines in ways that I can’t.”

Charlie shook her head. “I have no secret gift. Usually, your girlfriends behave perfectly in your company, but when you leave the room, they show their claws.”

“They weren’t that bad.”

“Yes, they were. You remember the one who had the fingernails that looked like eagle talons? She was always so nasty nice to me and she always got so angry with me when I would ignore her and wouldn’t dignify her comments with even an acknowledgement.”

“You should have told me.”

Charlie looked at him squarely and said in a serious voice, “I didn’t know how you’d take it and I didn’t want to risk our friendship over something like that.”

“Nonsense, Charlie. You know you can tell me anything. Anything. If that ever happens again, you tell me. I’m not going to put up with anyone being discourteous towards you.”

“Do you have anything planned for next weekend?” Charlie asked, changing the subject. “It’s Easter weekend.”

Evan shook his head. “Nope.”

“You should come with me to the farm in Iowa. I’ll be cooking daddy a big Easter dinner. It would do you good to get away.” Charlie took the last bite of her salad and put down her fork. “Evan, why don’t you come with me back to the farm next weekend?” she asked again, her voice becoming more animated with every word. “I’ll be leaving Saturday morning. It’s only a five-hour trip to Iowa from here. It would do you good, give you a nice break.”

She was looking at him expectantly, her eyes all bright and hopeful, but Evan knew there was no way he would ever go to her father’s farm and stay. The one and only time he had met her father was an uncomfortable experience that he’d rather not repeat. Charlie’s father had grilled him regarding his intentions toward his only child. Once was enough. He definitely didn’t have any desire to experience that again.

“I’d love to, Charlie,” Evan lied, seeing no sense in hurting her feelings. “But I have appointments lined up for Monday. It would be too rushed driving up Saturday and driving back Sunday.”

Suddenly her eyes turned serious. “Thanks for looking after me like you do, Evan. You’re a great friend.” She glanced down at her watch. “Oh. I’ve got to run. I’m going to be late back to work.”

Evan quickly stood as she did. She leaned and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Thanks for the lunch, Evan. Next week it’s my treat. I’ll see you tonight.”

Evan watched her rush out of the cafeteria, feeling a sense of disappointment that their lunch, like always, had ended way too quickly.

Over the years, Charlie had come to forge an important place in his life. She was like a breath of fresh air to him, always happy and upbeat, direct and truthful, not telling him what he wanted to hear but, instead, what he needed to hear. She truly cared about him. To put it simply, she was genuine; there was nothing fake about her.

Many of his friends and colleagues couldn’t understand their relationship. How could they only be friends? How could they not be sleeping together? No matter what he said, they didn’t believe him. With nods and winks they accepted his explanations of their relationship, but he knew they didn’t believe him.

But in truth, all they were were friends. They had always been just friends. The thought of dating or sleeping with Charlie had never crossed his mind. She was his good friend and that’s all she would ever be.

She was not a great beauty by any means. If one were to describe Charlie’s looks at first glance, the word plain would definitely come to mind. Overall, her features were even and pleasant, nothing spectacular, but still there was something about her that garnered attention, drew people. She had a quality of genuineness and brimming vitality that seemed to resonate from her. People couldn’t help but notice. That’s one of the things that first drew him to her.

And Charlie possessed a gift that few people had. She could instantly make people feel comfortable and at ease. He was no exception. Her smile and laughter was infectious, and no matter what had been worrying him, it seemed to disappear when he was with her. Before he knew it, he was laughing and smiling with her.

Thinking back to the day he met her, Evan firmly believed that had been a turning point in his life. At that time, he’d been staid and stern, a man of few smiles and even less laughter. But Charlie had brought joy and laughter into his life and changed him and his life for the better.