Don't Say Goodbye (Navy Book 2)

Chapter 18

Charlie entered the office in an ill temper. Athena had refused to go outside in the rain which forced her to put a leash on her and walk her into the yard. She had learned the hard way to make them go out in the morning. When she finally got on the road traffic was horrible. It always was in the mornings. It seemed San Diego started early.

"Somebody must be having a bad morning." Kayla Hancock, her coworker, mused as Charlie pushed through the door.

"Don't start Kayla," Charlie said as she stomped past her and into her own office. She and Kayla didn't get along under the best of circumstances and she was in no mood for her obnoxious sense of humor.

Charlie had been working for just over a year at a non-profit that helped foster kids who were having trouble dealing with the issues of abuse and neglect. She was working with one young girl named Julie who really had her worried, and she had been up all night thinking about what she could do to help the girl. She only saw one option and that was to share her own story. It was something that she didn't do often and only in the hardest cases.

Some days she loved the job and then others she wondered why on earth she had ever let Devon talk her into making the move west. When Devon had come to her a few months after Kellan had left and asked her what she was going to do after her internship she had told her that she had no clue. Devon had taken matters into her own hands and gotten Charlie's foot in the door as a counselor. Devon had worked for the same non-profit years ago when she first started out counseling and she felt that it had been one of the best teaching grounds she could have had.

So taking her advice, she had made the move and for the most part it had been good. A change of scene and meeting new people meant she had been able to reinvent herself to a certain degree. Shortly after starting she had rented a little house and found a roommate, a young girl who had come through the program and was just starting college. She and Charlie had bonded and she liked to think that she was a good influence for Sabrina. Charlie was only about six years older than Sabrina but it felt like a lot more.

As she did every morning she turned on her computer and checked her emails. She always hoped that there would be a message from Kellan but there never was.

The photos Devon had taken of them at graduation had been emailed to both her and Kellan and it was an email she hadn't recognized so she had figured it was his personal one. The photos included her, Kellan, Josh, and Devon, her and her mother, and one of Kellan kissing her just before she had left and the ceremony had started. The one of him kissing her had been her favorite. He was in his uniform and it looked so romantic and she had a hard time believing that it was her in the photo. Charlie took the time to email him updates on the dogs. Sometimes with funny pictures. Those two beefcakes had made life bearable for her. She never mentioned personal things, even though she wanted to, and kept it strictly about the dogs.

She and Devon had an understanding. No new was good news.

Sometimes she wished she had stayed in Virginia so that she could be closer to him when he came home and then other times she was glad that she had been strong and moved on with life.

One thing that was constant was the ache in her heart.

"Hey Charlie." There was a knock on her door and she looked up at Hank. Hank was the Director and he was a sweet man. They had been out a few times and they got along well but there was no spark.

"Hey Hank. How are you this morning?"

"Better than you if you're grumpy expression is anything to go by."

"Sorry, I'll try to straighten up." She sighed. "I'm just worried."

"About Julie?"

She nodded.