I looked around to see Charlie’s car and smiled as I stepped out of my car to walk to the front door. I knew the business itself was closed, but he had a picnic planned inside, from what he told me about our date on Main Street.
As I approached the door, I saw Charlie smiling at me as he opened the glass door. He welcomed me inside and I looked around the dimly lit front room with a smile. “I love this building, Charlie. It suits you and the lodge so much.”
“It was a lot of work to build it, but we did it. A few of the guys helped along the way and I bought a lot of beer and food for them. Before we completely constructed it, we’d hang out and eat around the fire pit and just talk about old times.” Charlie smiled at the memory as he shook his head. “We still do that on Fridays after hours. Did anyone tell you that?”
“No, but I can see Jefferson keeping that from me.” I replied, laughing. “That sounds nice at the end of a long week.”
“It is. Not so much in the middle of winter when it’s freezing outside, but during the warmer months, it’s great.” Charlie looked around and then met my eyes, looking so handsome that he took my breath away. “You’ve seen this room already during the day. Let’s go in the back.”
He led me to the back room with his hand on the small of my back, and I looked around the first room that held more apples than I’d seen in my life. “Wow. Look at all of them.”
“These apples are all purchased from local smaller farms in the area so I can support the community. It’s also a nice way to find the proper diversity of the fruit to work with the flavors.” Charlie smiled at me. “Do you know how many types of apples there are, Avery?”
“I have no idea, apart from memories of apple picking when I was a kid. Even with that, I don’t remember a specific number.” I laughed as he took me by the hand and led me into the fermentation room.
“One hundred kinds of apples are grown in the US. That makes for a lot of different flavors, and I feel like I’ve tried them all.” Charlie laughed. “Once I have my apples, I extract the juice and start with that base. Obviously, from there I experiment with the flavors once the juice matures and drink a lot of cider. It’s a long process, but I love it.”
“What got you into making cider?” I asked, seeing a blanket on the ground with a basket in the center.
“Growing up, I got teased a lot. Maybe even bullied, depending on how you look at it. My dad is Laos and because of my looks, the kids threw every kind of Asian joke you could imagine at me. I got called a nerd and so many other things and it was a tough look into racism by other people.” I squeezed Charlie’s hand and he looked at me with a small smile.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, never knowing this part of his life before now.
“It’s okay, Avery. I turned to learning in school and had a particular love for science. The process of things was something I enjoyed learning about. I think it helped me to make sense of how some things work when there was so much I couldn’t understand about people and why they were so cruel.” Charlie smiled as he walked towards the checkered blanket. “I used to help Jefferson with his homework and made that kid look good in school. He was always so into Polly.”
“Didn’t you guys meet in the school library?” I asked, trying to remember what my brother told me years ago.
“We did. He had to go in there and work on incomplete homework at lunch and that’s where I went to just hang out, kind of to hide.” Charlie shrugged and smiled again. “We just became best friends right away and you remember a lot of the memories we shared. He’s been such a big part of my life right along with you and your family.” Charlie kissed my hand gently. “There’s a part of me that can’t believe we’re doing this.”
“I feel the same way,” I replied, leaning up to press a kiss to his lips.
“I have some food for us.” Charlie looked as though he’d rather do anything other than eat, looking down at the blanket. He made sure I settled first before sitting beside me in the middle of the machinery. I could smell the cider in the air and didn’t mind it.
He handed me a cold bottle of cider, telling me it was the holiday spice one that I enjoyed so much. I looked down to see a tray of sliced cheese and another charcuterie tray with various sliced meats. “Wow. This is nice.” I told him, smiling over at Charlie.
“It’s the fanciest picnic I’ve ever planned before. I got all of this at that new grocery store and prepared it after work.” Charlie admitted as I shook my head gently, meeting his eyes.
“You could have fed me peanut butter sandwiches, Charlie. The whole point of tonight was always about spending time with you,” I assured him, reaching over to touch his hand. “Thank you for doing this.”
“You’re welcome, Avery. You’re worth it.” Charlie told me and I took a sip of cider for liquid courage, enjoying the sweet flavor.
“I never saw you as any kind of nerd, Charlie. You were never the odd man out to me. I always thought you were so smart and interesting. You were the cutest boy I knew. I loved the way your eyes crinkled a little in the corner when you smiled.” I smiled and looked down at the red and white blanket. “You were always so warm to everyone around you. I would never guess that you went through all of that at school. I mean, you were way too old for me back then, but you were just so wonderful and-and just golden to me. Teenage me had quite the crush on you.”
“I suppose back then, it would have been wrong on many levels to start anything with you. We were way too far apart in age, but I always thought you were a great girl. I couldn’t believe when I saw you at that gas station, Avery. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” Charlie smiled at me again as I blushed, reaching for a piece of cheese to shove into my mouth.
“I guess I looked a little different from when I was still in school.” I laughed, thinking about the fact that Charlie was twenty-two when I was just fourteen. That was a disgusting thought now, but at our current ages, there was nothing stopping this from happening.
Nothing apart from the fact my brother would kill us both for it.
“Just a bit.” Charlie agreed as I looked around the room.
“What happens in here?” I asked, as Charlie smiled.
“The fermentation of the juice and my little science projects happen in here. I have spent way too many hours in this room, but I love it. I’m so happy it worked out for me.” He looked like a kid that got the best Christmas present under the tree and I laughed.
“You worked so hard for this place. You built it from the ground and made it Ciderworks. I would say that you deserve all your success.” I assured him as Charlie shrugged. “I’ll bet your parents are so proud of you.”
“They are. My parents worked hard at their business to make my life great and I’m following in their footsteps. I want to support myself by doing something I love.” Charlie looked around with a proud smile on his face. “I think I found it and I enjoy working with Jefferson, even if I feel like I’m constantly hiding this from him.”