How?
How could he do that to her, to the woman he vowed to love forever, to the woman who vowed the same to him? More than that, more than just the promise of marriage, it was Charlie. She was broken and hurting, she'd lost their children - and he'd run out on her.
I'm going to murder him.
Then again, was it even true? Could I trust Sierra and douchebag Sheldon as reliable sources for anything? How did they even know about it, anyway - who was their source?
There was a very distant part of me that realized how irrational I was being, that Charlie and I had perhaps tiptoed on that line of what was appropriate and what was not the night we went up the Incline. But I couldn't see past the fact that whether I had proof or not, there was a possibility Cameron had stepped out on her. There was a possibility he'd hurt her and still got to keep her, anyway.
///
And that made me see red.
"Oh," Charlie's soft voice snapped me back to the present moment. "Hi, Reese. What are you doing down this way?"
I blinked.
"Reese?"
"I was just wondering if you would be helping your mom with the fundraiser this weekend," I lied. Well, technically it wasn't a complete lie. I had been wondering if she would be around after I'd agreed earlier in the week to help Gloria, but it wasn't the reason I'd stormed down the hall to her room.
"The Valentine's Day silent auction? I'm helping with the bidding items and I'll be in attendance." Her brows bent together then. "Will you be there, too?"
I sniffed, running a hand back through my hair. I needed to get away from her. I needed to calm the fuck down. Every second I stood there looking at her soft, innocent face and thinking about what her husband possibly did to break the smile that once existed there drove me closer to certifiable insanity.
"I'm helping out. I'll be at your parents' later tonight."
"Oh," she said. "Me, too. I guess I'll see you there."
"Yeah. See you."
I turned without looking at her again, gritting my teeth against the urge to slam a hand into one of the lockers as I passed. I didn't even know if I had my facts straight.
Calm down, I begged myself as I made my way back to my own classroom, but it was no use. I couldn't stop seeing red. I couldn't stop wishing Cameron's neck was trapped between my fists.
Once I was back in my room, I pulled the door shut behind me, falling into my chair and slamming my Thermos on the desk. I ran both hands through my hair, forcing a long exhale as my eyes lost focus.
For a long while I just sat there, breathing, finding the resolve to not leave school right then and find Cameron to ask him myself.
But this wasn't about him. Not really.
It was about Charlie.
And I'd see her tonight.
At that, I leaned back in my chair, resting my hands on top of my head as my wheels turned. Before now, I'd realized I needed to stay away from her, to give her the space she desired to focus on her and Cameron. But I couldn't do that anymore. Not when I knew she deserved better.
Whether it was completely true or not, Cameron's infidelity, I didn't know. But those rumors had stemmed from somewhere, and that was enough fuel to drive my fire. I couldn't ask him, couldn't make him pay for what he'd done, or take away the scar it'd undoubtedly left on Charlie's heart, but there was something I could do.
I could be there for her. I could bring that smile back to her face, bring the joy back to her heart. There was a time when I knew every corner of her mind, every fear she housed, every dream she wished. I knew the girl under the glasses and the braids, and I knew she couldn't be far from the woman who existed now.
I would make Charlie happy again.
That was a promise I'd keep.
Charlie
There was a loud bang from upstairs when I walked through our front door Friday afternoon.
"Cameron?" I called out, dropping my keys in the bowl by the door before stripping out of my coat and scarf. I hung them on the rack just as another bang came, this time followed closely by a loud curse.
"Don't come upstairs!"
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine! Just … " There was a muffled groan, and then the sound of a door shutting. Cameron appeared at the top of our stairs in the next instant, his dark hair damp and falling over his forehead a bit, bare chest slick with a sheen of sweat. "You're home early."
My stomach dropped.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing, I just, please just stay down there for a second."
My hand was already on the railing, feet carrying me toward him while my stomach twisted into the most tangled knots of my life. I couldn't swallow, couldn't breathe, couldn't listen to any of the words coming out of his mouth.
"Please, Charlie." He tried to grab for my arm as I passed him, but I slipped by, heading for our bedroom. The door was open, so I swung inside it, eyes ready to shoot laser beams at whoever was in there.
But it was empty.
"Charlie, what are you doing?"
"Where is she?"
Jane and Edward cooed their warm hellos to me, but I zoomed past them, flicking on the light in the bathroom and checking behind the door. I crossed the room to our closet next, and briefly glanced at Cameron's confused expression.
"She? What are you talking about?"
"WHERE IS SHE, CAMERON?"
I ripped open the door to our closet, but there was no one inside. When I whipped around to face him again, Cameron was saying something, but I couldn't hear it - because I noticed the door to my library was closed.
///
And there was a shadow inside it - a shadow where there shouldn't have been anything but light coming from the bay window.
I stomped past Cameron, my entire body trembling as I reached for the door knob.
"Wait, Charlie, please just listen to me a second!"
I shoved it open, chest heaving as I prepared my heart for the worst. I would murder her. I would murder both of them. This was it, the moment when I snapped - the moment when I went to jail for the rest of my life.
But when the door swung open, I didn't find a woman I recognized inside it.
In fact, I didn't find anything I recognized, at all.
Everything was gone.
My bookshelves, half of my books, the bed by the bay window. All the pictures on the walls. They'd all been removed.
And replaced.
Instead of the bed, there was a reading hammock. The netting was a soft yellow that reminded me of Jane's feathers, and it was covered with a plush gray and white chevron cushion. At least a half-dozen little pillows sat in the middle of it, and there was a hand-built table that swung out from the wall to rest next to the hammock, though it could be tucked back into the wall to be out of the way, too.
My old shelves, ones that were simple white wood, were completely gone. Instead, three new ones were built, two more still in boxes, and they were modern glass with stainless steel legs that gave off the appearance that the shelves curved up the wall and hung slightly over at the top. Some of my books had been replaced on the new shelves, the rest of them laid carefully in the corner of the room in boxes.
There was a step ladder and Cameron's tool box, our little portable speaker playing Angus and Julia Stone, and a large gallon of water that was half empty. The photos that had once hung on the walls were laying in the corner, and my eyes scanned the beautiful paintings leaning against them - the ones I assumed were new.
I clapped a hand over my mouth, tears flooding my eyes. "Oh, my God."
There was a loud sigh behind me, but Cameron's arms wrapped around me, anyway. His hands pulled me into him, his chin resting on my shoulder, body bending low to meet mine. "I was trying to surprise you."
"I'm such a dirtbag."
Cameron chuckled, pressing a kiss into my neck. His body was still slick, but I didn't mind. "You are not. I was trying to finish before you got home, but it was more work putting these shelves together than I expected."
"You didn't go to work today."
I spun in his arms, looking up at him just as one tear leaked out of my left eye. Cameron thumbed it away, bending to kiss my lips softly, his smile genuine and true. "I didn't. It's why I've been working so hard lately, and such long days. I knew I would need to take an entire day off to get this built."
"And you did all of this," I said, sweeping my arm over the room. "For me?"
Cameron's caramel eyes softened then, his hands folding together at the small of my back. "I know it hurts to come in here now, Charlie. You haven't read a book in here in … years. But you used to love it in here, before … "