Stella and the Boxer

Chapter 9

“Do you know what you want for dinner yet? We can just make something at my house again, or we could go out, if you’d rather.”

Charlie isn’t wearing workout clothes this evening. Instead, he wears a large, predominantly red, plaid flannel layered with a white undershirt and dark jeans. He keeps the sleeves of his flannel rolled to his elbows, exposing some of his tattoos.

“I like your cooking as much as anything I’ve had out. Do you want to just stay in?” I don’t want to bore him – I’ve no way of knowing how often he likes to go out to eat, or go out, period; I do like being at his house, though, just the two of us – for now.

He smiles, and I assume he’s okay with the idea.

“You could try to teach me,” I say, “How to cook, I mean. I’m not nearly as good as you are.”

"I'll teach you," he smiles shyly, just as we pull into his garage.

“Let me get your things for you,” Charlie says, stepping out of the car before me. I gather my bag from under my feet as he walks around to my side. He opens my door and pulls the bag off of my lap. He allows me to step out of the car and closes the passenger side door before following me inside. Cooper greets us again, and I make sure to speak to him, kneeling down to pet him. He flips over on his back, and I laugh and rub his belly. 

I only ever had one dog growing up. His name was Skippy, and he actually looked a bit like a brown Cooper. My parents and I loved him so much. He lived to be very old – nearly fifteen – and when he died just over a year ago, I promised myself that I would never love another dog again. It was cheesy and dramatic of me, but I’m only admitting that now because I already like Cooper so much.

I stand and follow Charlie further into the kitchen, where I lean on the counter and watch him. He appears to already be planning what to cook. He looks so cute, shuffling around his kitchen in his casual-yet-cool outfit.

“I told my parents about you today.”

Charlie turns to face me and raises his eyebrows slightly, “You did?”

“Yes. You should thank me for putting it off too, because you would've had to hear my mom’s high pitched squeals for five solid minutes.”

“She was that upset?” He asks worriedly.

“No! No – squals are a sound of elation and bliss around our house. Remember? I told you they love it when I meet decent people, and a boy is particularly exciting for them. Not that they're trying to marry me off by any means, but I wasn’t close with any guys after Jason. I didn’t date, and I was grew apart from so many of my friends. They just want me to meet nice people.”

He looks relieved, but there is still a solemn quality to his demeanor that usually only exists when I’ve accidentally offended him.

“Do you think grilled chicken and mashed potatoes sound good? I have vegetables we can cook, too.”

“Yeah, that sounds amazing, are you hungry yet though? We can wait. I have homework I should do. But if you’re hungry-”

“No, that’s alright. Do you want to do your work at the bar or in the living room? I’ll grab my laptop and work on some things as well.”

“The couch sounds best. My legs are tired.”

Charlie grabs my bag again before I can get to it, and he carries it to the living room for me. As I settle into the couch, he disappears down the hallway to get his laptop, quickly returning and sitting next to me.