Runaway Love Page 18

  “Tell me this, why is it that I had to find out from Charlie that my niece will be making her appearance soon, instead of my sister-in-law?” He cocked his head to the side, as if he was daring someone to give him any lip.

  Emmy’s mouth hung open in the air, and she quickly pointed to Grady, throwing him under the bus.

  “Shit,” Grady muttered. “Em you are just plain mean,” he said while trying to hide his smile. Turning his attention towards Toby, his smile died on his lips, “I’m sorry man, Emmy told me to get ahold of you and Tessa, but then she got me so flustered I just simply forgot. You gotta understand that this is a bit overwhelming.”

  “Oh alright, I suppose you are forgiven,” he waved Grady off. “Poor Charlie got the brunt of my outrage because I though you notified him before me. But he explained how he was with Maggie when she got the call from work.” He peeked over at me and started waggling his eyebrows.

  Oh my God! Charlie better not have implied what we were doing.

  “So Emmers, I hear you are being a downright Diva? You better watch who you piss of within a hospital. Don’t forget they will be the ones messing around down there, possibly with various instruments, if you get my drift,” he gestured towards her nether regions with his nose turned up in distaste. “That alone is enough to be on your best behavior.”

  I decided that this conversation quickly turned into divulging in a little too much information. I rolled my eyes and went back to the nurse’s station.

  I barely sat down before Tessa rushed up breathless while carrying a bakery box in her hands.

  “Holy moly! Breathe Tessa, you made it in plenty of time.” Her face was beet red and she was completely winded. She had to leave the bakery box on the counter in order to bend over with her hands on her knees until she could catch her breath. With all of these people running around here, losing their breath, we almost needed to install an oxygen station. Sheesh.

  “What’s with the box?”

  “It’s cupcakes. It’ll be baby girl’s birthday, so some kind of cake has to be involved. I was actually going to make cupcakes, but couldn’t find cupcake mix. I swear I went up and down the baking aisle four times.” I raised my eyebrows after she made that last statement. “Then I thought about how it would take too long to cook them, then I’d have to ice them, then I realized that I didn’t know what the hell I was doing since this was Emmy’s department.” She paused to catch her breath, because she said that long ass sentence all in one painstaking breath.

  Damn she was full of hot air.

  “So in the end I just bought cupcakes, because that was the easiest way. And you know what?” She changed her stance, placing her hand on her hip, “I asked the lady in the bakery what type of cupcake mix she used, and can you believe she had the audacity to look at me as if I had grown two extra heads. Rude ass people.”

  Poor Tessa was seriously on the verge of becoming a lost cause, and I just couldn’t hold in my amusement any longer. I tipped my head back and quite literally laughed my ass off. I had to wipe tears out of my eyes, because I was laughing so hard and I do believe even a few snorts managed to escape.

  Tessa’s eyes narrowed into small slits and her jaw clenched. I think I was finally being introduced to her infamous death glare.

  I held my arms up surrendering. “Ok, I’m sorry for laughing.” Her glare turned even icier if that was at all possible. “Ok, I’m really not sorry. But seriously Tessa, cupcakes are made out of any kind of cake mix. Some even make theirs from scratch like Em, and more than likely the lady in the bakery.”

  I had to put her out of her misery and it sucked to do so. I think that was hands down the funniest thing I had ever heard.

  “Are you effing kidding me?” she barked out. “No wonder the freaking baker looked at me as if I had asked her to give me a kidney.” She stuck her finger down in my face, “You don’t breathe a word of this, got it?”

  I gave her a mock salute, “Aye aye, Betty Crocker.” I muttered, sarcastically. “Oh my God…I die.” I slapped my hand on my leg for my joke, and started laughing all over again.

  Tessa jerked the cake box off of the counter while grumbling, no doubt several obscenities under her breath. I was only able to hear about every third word or so, then came and unmistakable, “Fucking cake mix!”

  After another two hours of Emmy yelling and cursing through the pain, she finally relented and opted to get an epidural.

  Once the pain meds kicked in, Emmy was sitting pretty, reading up on her new book boyfriend of the week, without a care in the world because she was feeling no pain.

  Another two hours later and after thirty minutes of pushing, Emmy delivered a beautiful baby girl.

  And boy did she have a healthy set of lungs on her. Once Grady cut the umbilical cord and they were each able to get a glimpse of her, she was placed in my awaiting arms so she could receive her first sponge bath.

  I made quick work of cleaning her up, and checking her weight and length before I properly introduced her to her parents.

  I wrapped her up in a warm receiving blanket and placed a pink hat over top of her bald head.

  Walking her back towards Grady and Emmalynne, I got wrapped up in this little beauty; so perfect and angelic.

  Placing her in Emmy’s eagerly awaiting arms, I just stood back and watched as her and Grady’s faces lit up.

  You could see the love reflected in each of their eyes. One look was all it took and she had her daddy wrapped around her tiny little finger.

  I suddenly felt as if I were an intruder, not giving them their privacy during such a pivotal moment in their lives, so I quietly walked out so I could go clean myself up.

  After thoroughly scrubbing my hands in the nurse’s locker room, I walked back to the nurse’s station and was greeted by an awaiting Charlie.

  My face brightened up the moment I saw him, “What are you doing here?”

  He gave me a quick kiss on my cheek. “I wanted to bring you lunch from the bar, and I was instructed to come here because Grady and Emmy had an announcement to make, regarding the naming of a certain little girl, and they wanted all of us present.”

  They had insisted on keeping the new baby’s name a secret and would explain when the time came, which apparently was now.

  I felt his hand at the small of my back, directing me into the hospital room, the heat from his hand caused electricity to zing up my spine.

  We entered the room to where everyone was waiting, including Tessa’s husband Brock and their son Blake, Rose from the bookstore, and a lady whom I hadn’t met, but heard was Grady’s mom.

  Emmy was perched up on the hospital bed, and if it weren’t for her wearing the hospital gown and holding her newborn baby girl in her arms, you wouldn’t have actually known that she just had a baby.

  “We wanted to wait until everyone was here before we announced little Miss’ name,” Emmy explained, then looked down and cooed at the restless bundle.

  “Well, come on already!” Toby stated, “We can’t keep calling her baby girl.” He looked about ready to burst at the seams.

  “Alright…Emmy Lou, go ahead and let them know.” Grady said.

  Emmy took a deep breath, she almost seemed as if she were a bit nervous about revealing her name and the meaning behind it. Toby was bouncing on the balls of his feet, everything had to be made theatrical with him. But I could see his point, it was his first niece and he wanted to call her something besides, ‘Hey you’ or ‘Baby Girl’.

  “Ok, we put a lot of thought into her name, and what we chose is very near and dear to our hearts and has a very special meaning behind it. I would like to introduce you all to Charlotte Rose Finnegan.” Em took her time looking at all of us, an abundance of tears running down her cheeks.

  Charlie’s stance abruptly turned rigid, as if he were made of granite. I glanced at his face and his jaw was clenched, and his hands the exact same way. I took a risk and immediately grabbed his hand, intertwining our fingers together, a
nd giving it a firm squeeze hoping to relay the message that everything was ok, I was here for him, and to hear Em and Grady out.

  Immediate relief washed over me, when he gently returned the gesture.

  “Rose,” Emmy said, looking at the beautiful older lady, “you have been with me since the very beginning of Turn the Page, and in many ways I look to you as a second mother. You are so very wise, and if I ever needed sound advice you have always been there to dish it out. I just wanted to thank you for everything, and what better way to name my beautiful daughter after such a beautiful soul.”

  I saw Rose bring her linen handkerchief to blot the corners of her eyes, but also while giving one of the brightest smiles I had ever seen. “Thank you Emmalynne, you are like a daughter to me, and I’m so very honored that you think so highly of me.”

  “And Charlie, if it weren’t for you and your bravery, I wouldn’t have my Emmalynne, Tucker, or Charlotte. You spared my family more than once, and for that I will be forever indebted to you.” Grady’s words were becoming choppy, as his voice was thick with sadness.

  I had heard bits and pieces of the night Emmy was attacked. Apparently, I was missing some very pertinent details. I knew he was there and detained the creep until the Sheriff showed up. But I never knew he saved her twice.

  “I also want to thank you, Charlie,” Emmy tentatively looked at me and continued, “for everything.”

  “No thanks necessary, I did what anyone else in my situation would do. Excuse me.” He quickly dropped my hand and rushed out of the room.

  I looked at everyone a bit dumfounded, “I’ll just go.” I pointed to the hallway after Charlie and jogged out after him.

  I prepared myself to have to move fast to catch up with him, but I wasn’t expecting him to be right outside of the suite. I skidded to a stop to avoid a collision.

  He stood with his hands in his hair, pulling on the unruly strands, looking up towards the ceiling.

  “Charlie.” I hesitated before I moved any closer by his side. I had no clue what in the world was going on, so I wanted to be cautious of my movements.

  “Maggie,” he breathed, before stepping towards me and leaning his forehead against mine.

  “You should feel honored,” I encouraged. I loved the name Charlotte and obviously it was very important to them. “But what I don’t understand is how you saved her twice. What aren’t you telling me?” I could feel that something was totally off.

  “It’s nothing Maggie, just as simple as I was in the right place at the right time, nothing to worry about.”

  I recoiled as if he actually had the gall to slap me. I couldn’t believe he just stood here and outright lied to my face.

  The thing about being the quiet one was, while everyone was busy jabbering, I sat back and studied people’s expressions. I could frequently tell what Charlie was thinking by the expressions he wore on his face, so I knew he was lying immediately, but the questions was why.

  “I…uh need to get back to work, lots to record in Em’s and Charlotte’s charts. Thanks for bringing me lunch, I appreciate it.”

  He gripped my shoulders and leaned forward to brush his lips against mine. I slowly started melting into his embrace.

  It was inevitable, one gentle stroke of my cheek or feeling his breath on my skin and I was a goner. I was addicted to his touch, craved it as if I were starved for affection. If I were a chocolate addict, Charlie would be the top of the line gourmet chocolate that just melted in your mouth. And there was one thing you couldn’t do…

  Resist.

  His lips left mine as he began placing feather-light open-mouthed kisses along my jaw-line.

  I had to mentally kick myself for how quickly I surrendered towards this man.

  He locked eyes with mine, his pupils flaring making them my main focal point. “I love you so much, Maggie. Everything is fine. Now, I’ll talk to you later.” A split second afterwards, I was watching his retreating back as he was leaving the hospital.

  “Yeah, you too,” I retorted into the silence. I couldn’t really shake the feeling that I had been dismissed, and if that didn’t make me even more confused.

  (Maggie)

  I walked into the front door of my empty apartment after one exhausting, but extremely rewarding day. Charlie was still at the bar filling in for Grady so he could be with his new family of four, and would be for several hours yet. Which was fine by me since I still didn’t know how to comprehend my newly acquired information.

  I stripped off my clothes right in the entryway, while heading to my bedroom. It wasn’t like anyone was there to see me.

  I slid in between the soft, cool sheets of my bed. It felt so nice to relax into the comfort of my firm mattress.

  Aside from Charlotte, I helped with three other deliveries today. In between those and the mountain of paperwork that had to be completed, I made sure to go get plenty of snuggles from Lottie, Grady and Em’s nickname for the newborn. It suited her perfectly.

  I wanted to ask Emmalynne a million times how Charlie saved her twice, but in the end I didn’t believe that she would tell me. It was as if some sort of unspoken secret was connecting the three of them.

  I rolled over and deeply inhaled Charlie’s pillow, bringing his familiar scent into my lungs. I absolutely loved having him here, it was if he had been here all along. I could pretend that I never went through my horrid childhood, and I never had to endure the cruel and vile way my parents treated me. Charlie’s love was enough. It was enough to erase all of those heinous memories.

  The sound of my cellphone ringing, brought me out of my relaxed state. I looked at the screen and noticed it was Toby calling. Why in the world would he be calling me at eleven at night?

  “Hello?” I answered, and had to move the phone away from my ear, as the distinct blaring of music was in the background.

  “Hey Maggie, how in the hell are ya?” It was hard to make out what he was saying over the chaos that ensued, but from what I could tell, his words were slurring. If I didn’t know by the noise that he was in a bar, the sound of his words proved it.

  “Are you drunk?” I asked, rolling my eyes to myself, of course he was drunk you idiot.

  “Yeah, I’m drunk and with good reasoning behind it. Fucking asshole,” he barked out. Ok, clearly something was very wrong. “Listen, can you come get me?”

  Groaning inwardly, I really didn’t want to get out of the confines of my bed, where I was trying to rest peacefully, naked on top of everything. But Toby needed me, so no matter how tired and comfortable I was, I needed to be there for him. “Sure Toby, are you at Emmy Lou’s?”

  “Um no…I’m actually not in Brown County. I’m uh…at Big Pete’s. It’s about forty-five minutes outside of town.”

  I had no idea what a Big Pete’s was, but I guess I would be finding out very shortly. I took down the half assed directions from Toby and disconnected the call, only to end up having to Google the directions, because if I had gone by Toby’s I would’ve ended up in Timbuktu.

  Fifty minutes later, I was sitting in the parking lot of Big Pete’s. I could tell by the outside of the building that it wasn’t a very big establishment, and if I would’ve blinked on my way here, I would’ve missed it.

  The signage that informed me that this was in fact Big Pete’s was decorated in a vast array of different colors of the rainbow.

  I was stopped by a big burly hulk of a bouncer on the way in asking for a fifteen dollar cover charge. Luckily, he bought my story of just going into retrieve Toby. The moment I walked into the bar, I stopped dead in my tracks and my eyes widened in shock.

  For it wasn’t just any regular bar, it was a gay bar.

  A drag queen was dancing around the stage lip syncing to her favorite tune. Her makeup and outfit was ultra-glamorous and beautiful, she honestly looked better in a dress than I did. The back of the stage was lined in gold plastic streamers, almost what you would find on the end of a little girl’s handlebars on her bike. And while this
setting wasn’t my cup of tea, I didn’t question why Toby was here, because this was right up his alley. I just wondered why I had never heard him mention it.

  I flittered amongst the crowd and the occupied tables that lined the floor to try to find Toby, but was having absolutely no luck. I wandered to the bar, which was against the back wall. It looked like your average bar, with the liquor stacked behind it several high. It was the bartender and how he was dressed that made it different. The man was absolute sex on a stick and he was working sans shirt. His chiseled abs had such definition and made me almost drool with appreciation. Charlie’s stomach was nothing short of amazing, but the intricate planes on the chest of this man, was a work of art, an absolute masterpiece. I felt a bit woozy staring at him. It was like staring at the sun, if you did it for too long, there was no way you wouldn’t go blind.

  “Hey, sweetheart,” he said with a cool southern twang, “Is there anything I can get ya?”

  “Oh, um...” I had to get a grip and get myself together, this man was more than likely gay and trying to make a living, he didn’t need me ogling him while making an ass of myself in the process. “I’m looking for my friend, Toby Morgan, have you seen him?” I had no clue if the bartender even knew who Toby was, but there was only one way to find out.

  “Oh yes, that Toby is a fine piece of man,” my suspicions were correct, gay. Most of the hot men were. “He is sitting, or lying rather right over there. He’s had a shitty night.” He pointed his finger, in what I assumed was the direction of Toby. I had to peel my eyes away from the sexy body of the bartender, and I followed his finger until I found where Toby was seated across the bar.

  His arms were sprawled out and his head was resting on the wooden tabletop. I hoped to hell that he hadn’t passed out yet. I hated to bother someone in helping me get him to my car.

  I thanked the bartender, then approached Toby and tapped him on his shoulder causing him to jump up immediately, which scared the shit out of me.