Beyond the Orange Moon (Mathews Family Book 2) (6 page)

But, now, here she was again.
   

He wondered how long he had allowed his eyes to linger at her open shirt, which had revealed only a little, but still enough to affect him, before finally looking at her damn nametag. How inappropriate was he just now? He had looked at many chests in the past. As a matter of fact, breasts were, without a doubt, his favorite female attribute. But this was the first time in more than a year that he’d found himself interested in breasts that didn’t belong to his wife—or his late wife; he wasn’t sure what to call her just yet.

He fiddled with his wedding ring, spinning it around and around as he lost himself in thought. She was adorable; there was no getting away from that. And, to top it off, he’d seemed to have an effect on her; her cheeks hadn’t stopped flushing from the moment their eyes met. He must have looked like a complete pig, wearing this ring and touching her face. He cringed at the thought.
 

Nope. He would definitely
not
be going back there.
 

He started his truck and pulled away from the curb, only glancing in the direction of the café.
 

A few minutes later, he pulled onto the jobsite, a new shopping center, and laughed at some of the guys on his crew who raised their arms and looked at their imaginary watches.
 

“Funny,” he said as he got out to greet them. He threw the bag of muffins on the hood of his truck and waited for the sarcastic remarks.
 

“Aww,” Andrew, a longtime laborer, said in a slightly feminine voice, “Boss, you shouldn’t have.”

“Muffins? Did somebody have a good night?” Dan, a forklift operator, asked. He dug into the bag and took a bite of muffin without even looking to see what kind he’d pulled out. “Tell me you got laid, man.”

Charlie shook his head. “No.”

“Too bad.” Andrew took a large bite of a muffin. With his mouth full, he added, “You need it.”

Charlie waved them off as he headed up to the trailer where his boss, Mike, was sure to be sitting. He opened the door and felt the gust of cold air that blasted from the portable A.C. in one of the windows. Normally, he would have protested the cold; Mike liked it chilly and Charlie loved the heat. Today, however, the cold air helped his hangover.
 

Charlie sat across from Mike and leaned back in his chair. He knew what was coming, so he just waited for it patiently.
 

“You’re late,” Mike finally grumbled from behind his newspaper. He had his big construction boots on his desk, one foot crossed over the other. “You think those guys are gonna let it slide because of muffins?”

Charlie sighed. “It’ll shut them up for a few minutes.”

“The real question is: did you bring me any?” he asked, his newspaper still blocking his face.
 

Charlie pulled out the two muffins he had managed to grab from the bag before the guys ate them all. He set them down on Mike’s desk and smiled. “Of course.”

Mike peered out from behind his newspaper. He eyed the muffins in front of him and slowly took one. “Banana nut,” he said, and took a bite. “Are these from your mom? God, I love that woman’s cooking.”
 

“You should join us for dinner, then. And, no, they’re not from Mom. I got them at that place in Scottsdale, Lydia’s Delights or something.”

Mike Ledbetter had been Charlie’s father’s best friend. Even after Carl’s death when Charlie was sixteen, Mike had been a presence for the entire Mathews family. He came to all of Charlie’s football games in high school and college. When Charlie decided that school wasn’t for him, Mike had been there to support him and offer him a job, even though he didn’t understand Charlie’s motives. The point was that he didn’t try and talk him out of it like everyone else had. He just let him be.
 

He had been a fill-in for Charlie’s dad, not because he wanted to take his place, but because he was happy when he was with the Mathews. Maybe it kept Carl’s memory alive for him. Charlie never did figure it out. But, for some reason, Mike suddenly stopped coming around and Charlie stopped asking why when he realized he would never get an answer.
 

Mike took another bite and looked at Charlie. “You look like shit. I’m not going to get much out of you today, am I?”

Charlie closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I think today’s an indoor day for me. I’m sure there are a few invoices that need my attention.”
 

“Sure thing. What’d you do last night?”

Charlie cringed, remembering the last shot that barely went down. “Brothers,” was all he needed to say for Mike to smile in understanding.
 

“I got them back.” Charlie grinned.

“How so?”

“I left them in charge of Jack today,” Charlie said, knowing Jackson would torture them.

“They’ll never ask you to go out again.” Mike took another bite. “Lydia’s Delights, huh? Is that that place down on Fifth Avenue?”
 

“Yep,” Charlie said, hoping that would be the end of it. Mike had a strange intuition when it came to knowing he was on the trail of something.
 

“The one with the purple walls and all the hippie decor?”
 

“That’s the one.”
 

Mike grinned and wagged his eyebrows. “Fine lookin’ women in there.”

“Don’t do that. You look like a dirty old man.”

“Well, there are. I stop in there when I don’t want to deal with you idiots right away in the morning. They just get prettier and prettier, especially that cute little blonde.”

Charlie smiled and looked out the window, knowing exactly who he meant. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“You did, too,” Mike accused, and tossed a crumpled napkin at Charlie’s face. “You’ve always been a terrible liar, kid.”

“Okay.” Charlie picked up the napkin and tossed it in the trash. “I might’ve noticed.”
 

Mike drank from his thermos and gave Charlie an encouraging look.

Charlie exhaled and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his bent knees. “I touched her face,” he said, and couldn’t help but to laugh at his own stupidity.
 

Mike erupted into wild laughter and slapped his desk. “You did what?”

“She had frosting on her face. I leaned forward and wiped it away like she was my son,” Charlie said, and shook his head.
 

Mike almost fell out of his chair as he continued to howl with laughter.
 

“Stop,” Charlie said, his face turning red
again
. Really, that color had never been on his face so much in one day.
 

Mike stood and clapped his hands. “We need to get your flirting skills back on track, kid. Remember when you were the biggest dog in Arizona? Where’s that guy?”

Charlie shook his head. “I believe my little sister’s soon-to-be husband had that honor. Besides, even if I was a close second, I don’t ever want to be that guy again.”

Mike took his seat and blew out a long breath. “All joking aside, you don’t have to be that guy again, Charlie. Just don’t be the guy that lives to …”

“To what?” Charlie asked quickly. He knew where this was going. He didn’t want to be the guy who was waiting for his dead wife, either, but it wasn’t that simple. “Just don’t finish your sentence, Mike. I know.”
 

“You know what I was hoping when I saw that you were late to work for the first time in seven years?”
 

Charlie shook his head and waited for an answer.
 

“I hoped you had gone out and met someone. I hoped you’d gone back to her place and called off work today with a text that said you just couldn’t pull yourself away from her this morning.” He picked up a stack of papers and banged them onto the desk to straighten them out. “You’re twenty-seven and before you know it you’ll be an old man like me. Life’s too short, kid; it doesn’t slow down for you to think things through. ”
 

“Really, Mike? Where’s your wife? Where’s the woman you can’t pry yourself away from in the morning?” Charlie knew that stung, but he had never known Mike to practice what he was preaching, so he felt it was only fair.
 

Mike’s gray eyes darkened. It was clear that Charlie had hit a nerve. He pursed his lips and tapped a finger on the desk while he seemed to search for an answer. “Never had a wife, but I did have a woman. I blew it and now I just sort of go with the flow. Trust me, though, Charlie, my bed isn’t always as cold as yours.”
 

With that, Charlie stood up and walked over to the file cabinet that held the paperwork that needed his attention. He flipped through each file and pulled out a few material receipts. “Where’s that receipt for the portable light towers we used for …” The door closed behind him and he realized that Mike was gone.
 

Hours later, Charlie stepped into his small, bungalow-style house and looked around at the eruption of toys, clothes, and food. It looked as if someone had picked up his house, turned it upside down, and shook it before putting it down again. He blew out a long whistle and stepped into his living room, where he found Jonah and Hugh lying on the couch, and Jackson sitting on the floor with Hugh’s cellphone.
 

“Long day?” he asked them with a grin. It was pretty obvious that Jackson had terrorized them. He nodded in Jackson’s direction. “He might be buying a bunch of apps, Hugh. I wouldn’t let him play with that.”

“Don’t care,” Hugh mumbled and closed his eyes. “As long as he keeps his little ass there, I’ll pay for a thousand apps.”

At the sound of Charlie’s voice, Jackson stood and ran to his dad. “Da-yee!” he squealed as Charlie picked him up.

“Are you torturing your uncles?” Charlie asked and nuzzled his son’s neck. “His diaper is dry. Good job, guys.”

“We’re not total morons,” Hugh grumbled.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Charlie retorted.
 

Jackson held up the phone. “Ber,” he said, and flashed a toothy grin.
 

“
Angry Birds
?” Charlie asked with his eyebrows raised. “Nice.”
 

“Don’t judge us,” Jonah said through a yawn. “This is the first time all day that he sat still for ten minutes.”

“Not judging.” Charlie laughed and set Jackson back on the floor. “How do you think I knew he’d buy a bunch of apps? That wasn’t just an assumption, man. That was from experience.”
 

“I need to sleep.” Hugh stood up. “Thank you for the birth control lesson today. From this moment on, I wear two condoms.”

“Good to know,” Charlie said, and took a seat on the couch. “Where’d Brandon go?”

Jonah yawned again and stretched his arms. “Mom’s. He had a bunch of work to do and a conference call with the people who hired his firm to design that hotel. He couldn’t work with Jack bouncing all over the place.”

“Why the hell did he even come into town then?” Charlie shook his head and leaned back. “I don’t think he’s ever been this busy. He should’ve stayed home.”

“I asked him to come with me,” Jonah said. He sat up a little, an action that suggested there was more to the story.
 

With one brow raised, Charlie glanced over at Jonah. “Do I even want to know?”
 

“I quit school,” Jonah said, and looked away.
 

“Jonah,” Charlie said, exasperated. He ran his hands over his face, and asked, “And your job?”

Jonah leaned forward and stared down at Jackson, who was sitting with his back to them and working diligently on Hugh’s phone. “That too,” he said with a long sigh. “Cali’s not for me.”

“What exactly is for you, Jonah?” Charlie asked, his voice practically a growl. “You need a job. You need to just pick something and stick with it. You’re twenty-four years old. Be a
man
, for Christ sake.”

“And Hugh’s twenty-five! Do you tell him to be a man? He lives in a hotel!”
 

“There’s a difference between you and Hugh.”
 

Jonah sat there for a moment and then gestured for Charlie to elaborate.
 

“Hugh doesn’t let Mom pay his bills; he makes his own way. He might not do it the way everyone wants him to, but he doesn’t expect help like you do.” Charlie stabbed a finger at Jonah. “You’ve always sat back and let Mom carry you. It’s bullshit and you know it.”

Jonah stared at Charlie for a few moments. He gnawed on the inside of his cheek and slowly leaned back into the couch while he processed it all.
 

“I’m sorry, Jonah, but damn.” Charlie rubbed the back of his neck while he thought about how to handle this.
 

“I’ll figure this out, Charlie. I have a little money put aside and my lease is up now. I just need to decide how to tell Mom.”

Charlie laughed to himself. “I’m sure she already knows something’s up, you dumbass. You don’t give her enough credit.”

Jonah nodded in agreement. “You’re probably right. That doesn’t make it easier, though.”