I stop the recording, and then take a long, deep breath. I don’t quite know what to say.
Simon scrubs his hands over his face.
“Please tell me that was okay because I don’t think I have it in me to do it again.”
“You did great,” I reply and clear my throat. “I think it was a beautiful message, and you were eloquent in your delivery.”
“I rehearsed it all day. I’ve never done that before.” He looks up at me, still across the table. “I still don’t know if I should air it.”
“Can I be brutally honest?”
“Always.”
“I think you’d be doing yourself and your fans a disservice by not airing it. If even one person sees that and recognizes herself and pulls out of an abusive situation, it will have been worth it. And I think that fans like it when they can see that you’re a human being. That you may know a lot of things, but you don’t know everything. We are all a work in progress.”
Without a word, he stands and walks around the table, then pulls me to my feet and into his arms. He hugs me tightly, rocking back and forth, his face buried in my hair.
“Thank you, Charly. You have no idea what you did for me today.”
“Simon, you already had all of this in you. I just talked you through it. I imagine I’m not the first to try.”
“No, but it was the first time I was willing to hear it,” he says, his voice muffled against my head. “You are a brilliant, gorgeous woman, and I’m so thankful that I found you.”
I cling onto him, enjoying the way he’s rocking us, settled against him. “I think I found you, remember?”
“Either way,” he says, a smile in his voice. “Thank you.”
Chapter Fifteen
~Charly~
“They’re here already,” I say to Simon as we walk into a restaurant just a few blocks away from my shop the next day. “Now you’ll have met everyone.”
“Rumor has it, Beau and Eli are the hardest to win over.”
“That rumor is probably true,” I reply and smile sweetly. “Don’t worry.”
“I’m not,” he says and kisses my forehead, just as we approach the table, earning glares from both of my brothers.
“Hi, guys, sorry we’re late.”
“You’re not,” Kate says. “We were early because your brothers wanted to have home court advantage.”
“You’re not supposed to tell them that,” Eli says to his wife with a scowl. “I’m Eli.”
“Simon,” Simon says, shaking Eli’s hand. “You must be Beau.”
“That’s right. I’m the oldest brother,” Beau says, and Kate and I both roll our eyes at the way my brothers puff out their chests and give Simon stern looks.
“I’m thirty,” I remind them all. “And this isn’t some sort of weird approval thing. This is just lunch.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Eli replies and holds Kate’s hand.
“Neither do I,” Beau says. “We’re just here to enjoy a meal with our sister and her…friend.”
“Men,” I mumble and smile apologetically at Simon, who just squeezes my thigh reassuringly.
“I’ve seen you on television,” Beau says, breaking the ice after the waitress takes our orders. “You seem to know what you’re talking about.”
“I hope so,” Simon replies. “People pay a lot of money to learn my techniques. I’d better know what I’m talking about.”
“Do you actually have a degree in psychology, or are you self taught?” Eli asks.
I try to kick him under the table.
“It’s good to hear you have your own money and aren’t after Charly for hers,” Beau says, earning a kick from me, which connects because I’m sitting right next to him. “Ouch.”
“Stop being an ass.”
“No, I’m not with Charly for her money. She has a successful business here in New Orleans, and I have a successful business as well. But frankly, that you would imply that her business is the only thing that a man would find attractive about her says a lot about your opinion of her.”
“I like him,” Kate says, grinning at me.
“Head Over Heels is not all she has,” Eli begins, but I cut him off.
“It’s all that matters,” I say sternly. I realize that I’ve never really gotten into my family money with Simon, and I’d rather talk to him about it alone.
“God, you’re stubborn.” Beau scowls at me.
“And yet, you love me anyway.”
“Sometimes,” Beau says with a half smile. “How long are you in town, Simon?”
“A couple more weeks. I decided to extend my stay,” Simon replies.
“How can you run a business from half way across the world?” Eli asks.
“The internet is