All recognizable characters belong to Janet Evanovich, I'm just playing.

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Chapter 12: Vince

"Vince!"

Stopping at the door of the gym, I wait for Steph to reach me. It's been a long day, and with nothing but the blank walls of my apartment on four waiting for me, I figured meeting up in the ring with Woody would at least eat up some time. It did, and now the rest of the night stretches out in front of me. Steph aims a glare at the treadmill she just dismounted, making me smile. It must be a rare sight, since she sucks in a breath. "Hey, I'm glad I caught you."

My smile is polite even as I'm wondering if it's my turn for a set-up. A month ago, I would have gotten out of it. Now? Why not? Besides, I'm tired of everyone tiptoeing around me. It's not like I'm the first shmuck to have a break-up.

Steph reaches me, and I hold the door open for her. She gives me a smile that turns into a grimace when I head to the stairs. She stops and taps her foot. "Really, you're going to make me climb the stairs?"

I can tell she's half joking, half serious. It's hard to keep the smile off my face. "Sorry, Bomber. But I'll catch hell if I take the elevator. I have a rep to protect."

"So do I!"

We're in a silent stand-off, both trying not to smile before I cave. "Take the stairs with me and I'll spring for donuts after the walk-through on Tuesday."

Her eyes are squinty, like she's trying to figure out my motivation. After a moment, she begrudgingly agrees, and we head up the stairs. "Did you want to talk to me about something?"

Her steps faulter for a second before she continues to climb. "Yeah. A couple weeks ago I set Zero up on a date with a nurse that works for the pediatrician my sister uses. I've met Charlotte a few times and she's pretty cool. Zero thought so, too, but they decided there wasn't a spark. But Zero told me that he kind of thought you two would hit it off."

This I knew, as Zero had felt me out soon after his date with Charlotte and his amazing day with Jenny. I hadn't decided whether or not I was ready for a date-date, but now I think I might be. "Ok."

She comes to a full stop on the second-floor landing. "Really?"

I shrug. "Sure. I've hid away long enough, don't you think?"

"Um…" Steph's eyes are darting around, looking for an out.

"Relax, Steph. Zero already talked to me. You can give Charlotte my number or whatever it is you do."

"Oh. Ok. Yeah." She gives me a smile before darting through the stairwell door on two, no doubt heading to the elevator for the rest of her trip to seven. Shaking my head and smiling, I continue to four. Part of me wonders what the hell I just did, but there's also a part of me that's looking forward to getting back to life. Breaking up with Amy hurt, but, looking back, it was inevitable and probably should have hurt more than it did. I've been reluctant to admit it, but I'm pretty sure my ego hurt more than my heart. So, yeah. Better to go through it now than after the wedding.

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Two nights later I'm sitting across from Charlotte at The Cellar, a wine bar we agreed to try before dinner. I started the night nervous as hell and seriously out of practice at dating. I offered to pick her up, but she preferred meeting me here. From a safety standpoint I understand it, but as a guy, I kind of feel like I skipped a step and hope my Pa never finds out because I'll never hear the end of it. He's old school, and in his world, you pick the lady up, open doors, pay for everything, and see her safely back to her door. It's work, trying to balance old and new ways of thinking. Like the others, I learned from Zero's first disaster and arrived with a small bouquet of sunflowers. Then I almost messed it up by forgetting to hand them over. In my defense, I was bowled over by the sight of her long, gorgeous legs when Charlotte climbed out of her sweet Mustang. Then I was staring because she was just so damn pretty in that sweet girl next door way that seriously does it for me. I was preparing to stutter out an apology when she stopped in front of me and smiled. She stuck her hand out, asking, "Vince?"

At my mute head nod, she smiled again. "Cool. We didn't really get into descriptions on the phone, but Steph said to look for a tall drink of Italian goodness that would most likely be holding flowers."

With that, I finally handed over the flowers and shook off the stupor. We've been sitting in our quiet corner for nearly two hours now, enjoying a couple flights of reds and a really nice Chianti that I need to remember the name of. The complimentary board of meats and cheese is long gone, and if I'm getting hungry then she has to be, too. But I can't bring myself to break the spell we seem to be under. All awkwardness has fled, and the conversation is flowing. Things are almost going too well, and I hate that I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop and for Charlotte to drop some tidbit that will turn me off. She's been honest and genuine with her answers to my questions, something I appreciate. We've been sharing stories, and the more she talks, the more I like her. Right now, she's talking animatedly about one of her favorite patients drawing her a picture while waiting to see the doctor. It's obvious she enjoys her job, and kids in general. Without thought, I blurt out, "You want kids?"

Charlotte leans back in her seat, but never breaks eye contact. "Yes. Not right this second, but yeah, I'd like one or two. You?"

I nod my head yes. It's something that's been weighing on my mind. With Amy, it was an abstract idea, and the longer we were together, the less it seemed like what she really wanted and more like what was expected. I've had a lot of time to think, probably too much time, honestly. But I can acknowledge that at some point, I want to be a dad. Maybe it's on my mind tonight because Binkie is meeting Maggie's son this weekend, and I realized I was a little jealous that he was on the cusp of having a family, and I'm not. It's stupid, but there it is. "Same. I want a family, and to enjoy them before I'm too old, but…"

I don't know why I trail off, but I do. Charlotte leans forward and puts her hand over mine. "You've been burned."

She says it with conviction, and I tilt my head, wondering how she knows that. She gives my hand a squeeze and pulls back. I look down at my nearly empty glass. "Yeah." Maybe I should just put my concerns on the table. "Do you hang out with your friends a lot?"

Her eyes narrow for a second, like she's trying to figure out where I'm going with this. "I have a girlfriend I'm close with. Is that a problem?"

"Good friends aren't a deal breaker for me. I'm tight with some of the guys I work with."

"Okay…"

With a sigh, I launch into my sad sack story. "I dated someone for a couple years. She had a couple best friends and… I wasn't good at setting boundaries when I should have. Dates that I thought would be just the two of us, weren't. If we were chilling at her house, they were more than likely there, too. That's fine, some of the time. If we went and did something, they frequently showed up and I was on the hook for their drinks, dinner, whatever. Again, fine, sometimes. If we were hanging at mine, I had to share her with her phone."

"And you put up with that for a couple years?"

"Yeah."

"Why?" I'm sure my surprise shows on my face. "I mean, you seem like a nice guy." Shit. There's no hiding the grimace. Nice. Fucking kiss of death.

She frowns. "Don't. Don't do that. There's nothing wrong with nice. Not every girl wants a bad boy asshole. As a book boyfriend, sure. In real life, not so much. What I'm asking is, if it bothered you so much, and it clearly did, why'd you suck it up and stick around? A couple of years is a long time to be unhappy."

Again, as much as I appreciate her bluntness, being put on the hot seat kind of sucks. I shift in my seat and decide how much to share. I've had months to think about it, to analyze it to death on the nights I sat alone in the apartment on four. "I'm the middle child."

"And?"

"The people pleaser. The one who never gave my parents any problems. My older brother's been with his wife since high school. My younger one married his girl a year into college. And then there's me. It wasn't a priority when I was in the Army and moving around, but since I've been home—"

"There's been pressure."

I laugh. "Did you miss the Italian part?"

Charlotte smiles. "Nope. I love Italian."

There's a beat where the air gets heavy before we smile at each other. Yeah. Definitely some chemistry swirling around. "Ma's been not so subtle about me settling down, but not so bad that I'm making excuses to avoid family dinner."

"So, what changed?"

And here's the part where I feel stupid. "I figured it was time. That after we got married, we'd be a priority and the girls would fall back and we'd start a family and all that. I loved her so I got a ring and planned a romantic getaway in South Carolina to propose."

I can see the exact moment the lightbulb clicks on. "Oh… shit."

"Yeah. I thought I was clear about it being just the two of us, but a day or two before we left, she started talking about all the things the three of them had planned while we were at the beach. By then, I had prepaid most of our stuff, the plane tickets were non-refundable, all that shit. Turns out, the plane ride was the only time we had alone. I was pissed, but like you said, sucked it up. Spent the first few days trying to be a good boyfriend, until the third or fourth time they treated me like a walking wallet fetch boy, and I had this vision of five, ten, years down the road doing the same thing and I realized I was done. Not my best moment, but I told her that, said goodbye, and flew home. Moved out of our apartment."

"And she accepted that?"

"No. Came to my work and made a huge scene, played it like if I loved her, I'd be ok with her having a support network. It wasn't that. It was that it was almost never just us; it wasn't Vince and his girlfriend Amy and her friends. It was Amy and her friends with her boyfriend Vince tagging along. It sounds stupid when I say it out loud—"

"It doesn't."

"Well, I was definitely stupid when I dropped that I had a ring and after that it took a while to get her to give up. But I'd had the entire plane ride back to realize I was more in love with idea of us than the reality."

"And now you're getting back out there."

I shrug. "Licked my wounds, so to speak. But I want a partner, someone to spend my life with. It's just how I'm built. Wife, family, house, the whole nine yards. Not going to find that sacked out if front of the tv."

I watch, mesmerized as her finger circles her glass. Her face is thoughtful as she asks, "Is this your first foray back into the dating world? The rebound?"

"No! Shit. My ma's had women at the dinner table every other week, it seems. Steph's been setting guys up at work and had some success and she's been like this sweet mother hen trying to find the perfect girl for each of us. I thought maybe it was time to try again."

"Not being a rebound is good, since I like you, Vince Rossi. But I stopped being a girl a long time ago, and I'm not perfect. Never have been, never will be. My girl Kari will be getting an after-action report, but she won't be coming on dates unless she's specifically invited to a group get-together. Just like you won't be invited for girlfriend time." She smiles at me. "Unless you're just jonesing for a mani-pedi followed by a trip to an overpriced chocolate shop?"

A smile quirks at my lips. "Love an occasional chocolate, but I can skip the mani-pedi girl time. I like that you have someone like that. I just…"

"Need to know the relationship you're building is a priority, too. I get that. Casual was fine in my twenties, but I'm at a place where I want more. I need to know the guy I'm putting my time and effort toward feels the same way."

"I do. Feel like that."

We smile at each other. Charlotte shifts in her seat. "As much as I love the wine and the ambiance here, I need some real food. And sooner rather than later."

She shrugs, like it's a take it or leave it situation. Again, I love that there's no games with her. I flag down the server. "Can't have you starving to death on me. The quickest options are probably the Mexican place down the street or the Bluebird diner about ten minutes away."

"I could go for a burger."

"Perfect." Because she might just be and for the first time in a long time, I don't feel like I'm just going through the motions.