“Of jail?” Seth asked shocked.
Sal laughed. “No. Not that bad. But somehow she can find herself caught up in trouble. Like a magnet, it’s attracted to her. And for the most part, she’s always been an innocent party.”
“And that makes you think there’s more than a stumble to this story. I guess I’ll need to ask,” he said.
“By ask, do you mean brow beat her into telling you? Because I’m warning you, that won’t work. One thing about Charlene is she will talk, but when she’s ready. Your job is to make sure you shut up and listen when she does. Otherwise you might just miss what she’s trying to say.”
Seth never has been good at deciphering what a woman is trying to say when she’s not saying it. That’s probably because he never cared enough. Charlene was different. He did care. Maybe more than he should. Definitely more than he’d expected he would.
“Got it. And I’ll stay with her until I’m sure she’s okay,” Seth replied.
“Okay. You know how to find me if you need me.” Sal got up and headed out of the emergency waiting room.
Now alone, he could do what he wanted, and didn’t need to hear Sal’s unwanted lecture. Getting up, he walked over to the nurses’ station. “I’d like to see Charlene Kittredge.”
The nurse keyed into the computer and said, “She’s in room thirteen. Just go down that hall and it’s on the left.”
That was a lot easier than he anticipated. Of course the hard part was facing Charlene again. Was she still going to be pissed at him? There was only one way to find out. He followed the nurse’s directions. The curtain was closed and he listened outside in case the doctor was inside talking to her. He definitely could hear her voice.
“I’m telling you Sofia, the guy is a complete asshole. The way he spoke to me. God, I wanted pop him in the face. Of course, he’s probably the type of guy who hits women.” It was like a knife hearing her speak about him like that. Seth would never strike a woman under any circumstance, and definitely not Charlene. As far as him being an asshole, well, she was right about that. But he could work on that, at least with her. Yet how could he show her that he wasn’t a brute? It didn’t sound like she was scared of him, just…hates me. “No. I’m not going to call the police,” Charlene continued. “I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do. Maybe I’ll talk to Charles about it. It’s his company. It’s his decision on how to handle it. And remember, don’t tell Dylan about this.” Another pause before he heard Charlene say, “You’re right. Maybe I should talk to Sal first. He’ll know what to do. I mean that is what his job is, right? Protecting Lawson Steel. Thanks for listening. And don’t worry. My ankle is fine. Just a small sprain. Trust me, he’d have been hurting a lot more than me if I didn’t value my job so much.”
Seth was glad to hear she wasn’t injured, but that was the only thing he was glad he heard. He opted not to enter her room. Seth was the last person she wanted to see. He walked back down the hallway, and pulled out his cell.
“Sal, I need you to come back to the hospital,” he ordered.
“Is Charlene okay?” Sal asked.
“Yes. I just have…something to do and I think it’d be better if you brought her home. How long till you return?”
“I haven’t left. I met up with an old buddy in the parking lot. I’ll come back in now.”
“Okay. She’s in room thirteen.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay? A few minutes ago, I practically had to hold you down from demanding to see her.”
Seth wanted to see her, but this wasn’t about him. He needed to give her space. Whatever he’d done to make her speak about him with such…disgust in her voice, he needed to figure it out. Sal was right. There was no explaining it away, but Seth also didn’t feel like an apology was enough either. Sorry only goes so far.
“I’m sure she’ll feel more comfortable with you. But message me once you have her home and let me know how she’s doing.” She might want him out of her life, but he didn’t want her out of his.
“You got it.”
Seth ended the call. It was going to be a long night and he wasn’t going to rest until he knew Charlene was home. He was supposed to pick Charlene up tomorrow for a surprise outing. Instead, he planned on surprising her in a different way.
It’s time I take Gareth up on the trip to Tabiq.It was the only thing he could think of doing that would make Charlene feel at ease returning to work. Maybe with a little time, she might realize that he wasn’t a threat to her.
The timing of this trip couldn’t be worse and he’d avoided going to Tabiq ever since he’d learned what had taken place there. Their family ties there weren’t good. At least they hadn’t been. Gareth and the Hendersons were working on changing that. Maybe he could check himself while there, do some soul searching, and fix whatever in him that had scared Charlene.
Of course, he might not need to look too far, depending on what Charlene shared with Charles and Sal.
Right now, the only person whose opinion he gave a damn about was the one person he couldn’t see.
Fuck. I knew I should’ve kept my distance with her. But I never thought I’d hurt her. Not in this way at least.