Page 42 of Off the Mark
I went to stand over the chaos on Elaine’s desk, trying to get a visual for the day ahead: meetings, calls, grant reports. My attention snagged on the card from the mystery donor this morning and I turned it over, expecting to see one of our usual supporters.
Instead, the typed message read:I hope this helps a little. We used to get boxes like this growing up when we didn’t have a lot of money. - CM
I was dialing Charlie’s number before I could overthink it. She picked up on the second ring, voice breathy and slightly muffled.
“Yeah?” she said.
“Did you send a bunch of South Philly seniors giant boxes of breakfast food this morning?” I asked, still smiling down at the card.
There was a pause, then, “Rowan? Oh, hey—sorry about that. The music’s loud out here, and there’s a bunch of us scrubbing our gear, me included. Gimme a sec.”
There were scraping sounds, the low bass of rock music, Charlie calling something out away from the phone. When she next came on, it was much quieter.
“I’ve been power washing my dirty-ass bike, so I’m soaked through and covered in grease,” she said lightly. “If you want a visual of what your smokin’ hot blond of a girlfriend looks like right now.”
I whistled low. “Are there people nearby, listening in?”
“Uh-huh,” she said distractedly. “No, but I missyoumore…babe.”
“I’m gonna give you so much shit about this later, Maddox.”
“Being away from you is like torture—okay, the coast is clear. I casually let it slip this morning while having breakfast with some of the other riders that I had a new boyfriend. And now I feel like everyone’s watching me like a hawk.” She paused. “And don’t think for a second I’m going to sit back and take it from you, O’Callaghan.”
“But I missyoumore, babe.”
She made a little growl of frustration that I liked way too much. “Forty-eight hours of fake dating and our relationship is already on the rocks.”
I leaned against the edge of the desk. “Can’t say I’m surprised, given our combined lack of experience in this area. You’renotsupposed to annoy the hell out of your girlfriend on day two?”
“Someone should write a manual.How to pretend to date your friend when you don’t know what you’re doing.”
The playfulness in her voice was contagious.
“But, shit-talking aside, I was about to call you anyway to see if you wanted to meet for coffee tomorrow morning? We should nail down details on all the public events I’m attending where I’d like to parade you around,” she said. “And the bonus is that it’s likely we’ll bump into fans and riders. Everyone’s been going to this big market across the street—”
“Reading Terminal?” I asked.
“Yeah, that’s it. Do you know it?”
“You can’t grow up here and not know it,” I said. “But I don’t come uptown for just any girl. If I’m hauling up Broad Street for Reading Terminal, I’m takin’ you to a local’s spot inside. Best scrapple in the city.”
She hummed in approval. “My favorite, how’d you remember?”
I held my tongue.Because I remember everything about youwas too sincere this early in the morning.
“Any girlfriend I had would love scrapple, fake or not,” I said instead. “Should I meet you in the lobby tomorrow morning?”
“It’s a date,” she said.
A heady anticipation zipped up my spine, so strongly that Dean’s warning followed in its path:You told me to be careful. I’m tellin’ you the same now.
“I have to get back to cleaning the grease off my chain, but what were you asking me earlier?”
I swallowed hard. “Right. I almost forgot. Did you send a bunch of food donations to the center this morning?”
“Oh yeah, did they make it there all right?” she asked brightly. “Also, was that okay that I did that? I didn’t even think—”
“It was perfect,” I said quickly. “Came right when I needed extra food for some hungry neighbors.” I walked over to stand by the window, flicking the edge of the card with my thumb. “Charlie…it meant a lot. To more than just me, especially since you’ve only been here once. It was generous of you, is what I’m trying to say.”
