Cadence of Cranberries - Valerie Comer Page 0,51
I help get things on the table?”
“Sure. There’s a salad and a few kinds of dressing in the fridge, so pick your favorites. Sour cream and other fixings for the potatoes.”
She nodded and washed her hands as Dominic went down the short hallway to the restroom.
“Katri? How are things, really?”
“I’m honestly not sure, Dad. Dominic says all the right things, but it seems like the joy has been sucked right out of him. I hate knowing I did that to him.”
“You didn’t.” Charlie let out a sharp laugh. “From what I hear, it’s all my fault.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know why I let Mom get to me. It’s not like she has your best interests at heart, or mine, either. She just gets so... convincing.”
Charlie caught Katri’s arm. “Really? You’re okay with me dating Winnie?”
“Why not? You’re a grownup. I mean, it feels a little odd right now, but we’ll all get over that, right?”
He glanced toward the restroom door. “Does Dominic feel the same?”
“I’m not sure. He doesn’t seem to want to talk about it.”
Yeah. That’s what Charlie figured.
He heard running water before his daughter’s fiancé came back out, peering at his phone. Dominic bit his lip.
“What’s wrong, honey?” Katri stepped closer.
Dominic slid his phone into his pocket with a frown and a sigh before glancing at Charlie. “Mom is trying to get a flight to Florida for her and Michael to visit my grandparents for the rest of the week. That was her, texting from the airport.”
The lad’s words hit Charlie like a punch to the gut.
Katri furrowed her brow. “Oh, no. I wanted to talk to her while I was here.”
Dominic shook his head. “I’m not sure what’s going on. She just said warm sand and ocean breezes sounded good right about now. She said nothing about it when I talked to her this morning.”
Charlie was so out of the loop he might as well be on a different obstacle course. Winnie was running from him. That’s all he could think of. He shouldn’t have put her on hold without explanation while he tried to sort things out with the younger couple. He was a fixer, and his years of engineering reminded him there was an order to trouble-shooting and programming. You couldn’t do the steps out of order. Somehow, he’d assumed that if he fixed Katri and Dominic, that would also fix him and Winnie. First things first.
Didn’t look like she was waiting around to find out.
Why? Didn’t their kisses and conversations mean to her what they’d meant to him? Or had he just reminded her of everything she’d lost? To hear the neighborhood talk, Alberto had practically been a saint. Charlie was a newish Christian, and he was pretty sure no one would ever nominate him for sainthood. He was too flawed. Too quick to act.
Or, in this case, too slow.
He excused himself to his bedroom for a moment and tapped Winnie’s number. It rang three times then went to voicemail, and he ended the call. She’d turned off her phone... or else she was screening his number.
Charlie took a deep breath as his brain scrambled through his shrinking options. He hated leaving a message, but it was the only real choice. After all, she’d see he’d called. If he didn’t follow up, he was completely toast. The kind the smoke alarm went off for.
He hated being cornered. He glared at his phone and tapped her number again, then waited out the three rings until she invited him to leave a message.
“Hey, Winnie. It’s Charlie. Katri and Dominic just got back from pastoral counseling. Sounds like it went well. He mentioned he’d just heard from you, that you might be on your way to Florida.” Charlie hesitated. The wrong words now could ruin everything he’d ever wanted. “I’m sorry you feel you need to get away from me without saying goodbye. Please give me a call as soon as you can. I... miss you.”
He’d almost said he loved her. He did, didn’t he?
But loving someone shouldn’t be harder and more awkward in his fifties than in his twenties. It shouldn’t be this complicated. He’d blown it over and over with Julia. Now he was doing the same with Winnie. He’d thought maybe Jesus had fixed the problem areas inside him, the ones that made him so bad at relationships.
Yeah. Maybe not. Charlie was still himself at the core.
In the other room, he could hear Katri and Dominic’s low tones as they talked to