Chapter 56 Charlie's Chicken
Relief continued to roll over Andrea every time she thought about Case, Sarah, and the baby. It had been about two hours since he’d called her and gave her the good news, that Sarah wasn’t really pregnant, and she couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face. Now, driving to his place with the top down, the sunshine on her face, and her hair blowing in the breeze, she couldn’t help but sing along with the radio. It had turned out to be a good day after all, despite her awful headache.
He’d said there was more to the story, but he didn’t want to talk to her about it over the phone. Instead, he’d asked her to come over for dinner. His good friend and racing partner, Charlie Drake, was there. Case had picked him up from the airport earlier, and he wanted her to meet him.
Now that Andrea knew the truth about Case and Sarah, there was nothing stopping them from being together. Except for the fact that he’d be leaving to go back to North Carolina for a few days. Long distance relationships were hard. She’d done them before, when she was shooting a movie in one country and Leo was shooting somewhere else. They hadn’t been able to make that work, and he’d cheated on her. But then… she’d found out he was cheating on her before the long distance. She didn’t worry about that with Case.
It would still be hard not to see him during the week. Her filming schedule gave her the weekends off, so at least she’d be able to travel to races with Case. It was also great that he had his own plane so that she wouldn’t have to take the airlines or charter a flight every time she wanted to see him. It was just too bad they wouldn’t have more time together to start their relationship off.
She pulled her car into the parking lot where the apartment Case was staying at was located and made sure she was in a visitor’s parking spot. The last thing she needed was for her Mercedes to get towed.
The doorman recognized her. “Good afternoon, Ms. Sparks. Are you going up to see Mr. Meyer?”
“Yes, I am.” She smiled, glad he was so polite.
“Very good. I’ll call the elevator for you.” He did as he said he would and she thanked him as she stepped into the elevator headed to the twenty-fourth floor.
As soon as she knocked on the door, Case opened it, and she stepped directly into his arms, not caring who saw. It was so great to feel his arms around her and know at least one of their major worries was over.
“Hey, now, don’t be startin’ none of that PDA in here,” a deep voice said behind Case.
He let her go and stepped aside. “Andrea, this is Charlie. You’ll have to excuse him. He’s never met a stranger.”
Andrea extended her hand but found herself in a giant bear hug. “Nice to meetcha, Andrea,” Charlie said, patting her on the back. “You’re about all this guy talks about these days.”
Blushing, Andrea stepped back. She liked Charlie right away. Of course, she knew who he was and had heard his thick Southern drawl on the television, but it was different to be standing in front of him in real life. He was even taller than Case with thick, curly, dark hair and a crooked smile. He was also barrel chested. She wondered how he managed to fold himself up behind the wheel of a racecar.
Charlie had insisted on making his famous fried chicken when he’d gotten in a few hours earlier, so dinner was ready when Andrea got there. They sat down to what she could only describe as the best southern home cooking meal she’d ever had, with mashed potatoes, cornbread, and greens.
“Now, it’s too bad I didn’t have time to make my mama’s apple pie. It’s the best you’ll ever have. It’s got gramma’s secret ingredient in it.”
“What’s that?” Case asked around a bite of chicken.
“If I told ya, I’d have to kill ya,” Charlie joked, and Andrea couldn’t help but giggle. He’d even insisted they drink sweet tea.
“We could’ve got a frozen pie at the grocery store when we were picking up the chicken.” Case’s face revealed he was joking.
“Bite yer tongue, boy!” Charlie insisted, as if he couldn’t believe Case would ever say such a thing. “If this here was my house, I’d be kickin’ you out.”
Andrea laughed hysterically. Eating dinner with Case and Charlie was more amusing than most comedy shows she’d been to. By the time she was stuffed full from the meal, her heart side hurt from laughing so much.
“Now, you two go catch up on all yer happenin’s while I clean the dishes.”
“We can’t let you do that,” Andrea said.
“Please woman, it ain’t like there’s no dishwasher. Get outta here! Get!”
Still laughing, Andrea took her tea, wishing it was something a little stronger, and went with Case into the other room. He still needed to tell her what else he’d found out from Sarah.
“He’s something else isn’t he?” she laughed, sitting down on the couch.
Case sat down next to her. “He sure is. Exactly what, I’m not sure.”
“He’s a great guy, though. I wonder why he’s not married yet.”
“You mean hitched?” Case asked. “I don’t know. I think he’s looking for a southern belle. Don’t you be getting any ideas though.”
Andrea laughed. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m spoken for.”
“Darn right you are.” Case leaned over and kissed her, and Andrea forgot all about the fact that they were supposed to be talking about Sarah. All she could think about was Case.
He hadn’t forgotten, though. He pulled away. “So… not only is Sarah not pregnant now, she never was.”
Andrea’s mouth fell open. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“Nope. As soon as the doctor called to tell me she wasn’t pregnant, I started to think about the circumstances the first time. It was almost a month after she said she was pregnant that I found her bleeding in the bathroom. I wondered why she wasn’t freaking out until after I started yelling about the blood.”
“She was actually on her period and trying to hide it from you?” Andrea couldn’t believe anyone could stoop that low.
“Exactly.” He was shaking his head slowly. “She is a monster of a different kind altogether.”
“Wow.” Andrea was just glad they were disentangled from her now—except for the movie. But she wouldn’t start filming for a few weeks. Andrea would do everything she could just to stay away from her. It seemed to her that Sarah had to have something wrong with her to stoop so low. “I’m sorry there’s no baby,” she said, realizing he did want to be a father. “But at least you’re not tied to her.”
“Thank you. I am more than happy to wait until I’m married to a woman I know I’ll love for the rest of my life until I have kids.” With that, he kissed Andrea, and she hoped he was talking about her because the more time she spent with Case, the more she wanted to be his forever.
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