Cheek To Cheek

Chapter 4

"Are you sure you don't need my help in there? It sounds like things aren't going too well..." Helen teased after she heard the clattering of a bowl in the kitchen.

"No Gram, this is for your birthday party! You are not doing a thing," Charlie insisted as she came to stand at the open doorway of the kitchen so she could see her grandmother in the living room, but then looked back at the cause of the clatter, "That's why Chris is here so that he can help me... although he's proving to be useless."

"Hey!" Chris shouted with a smile while he came up behind her and wrapped his thick arms around her waist, picking her up and shaking her back and forth, making her squeal with laughter while Dodger bounced around them.

Helen watched with a smile on her face as the two horsed around with Chris eventually putting Charlie down on her feet but keeping her tight against him with one arm while the other tickled her side as he taunted her, "What was that? Did you call me useless? You better apologize."

"Shut up! I hate you!" Charlie squealed through her hysterical laughter as she wiggled and tried to push out of his strong grip to no avail. "You are useless!"

"Really? You're sticking with that? Okay then..." His blue eyes were squinted with a smile while he kept on tickling her.

Helen ignored her knitting for a moment, just loving to watch the pair interact. Over the past two months since Charlie and Chris had known each other, Helen felt like she watched her granddaughter getting a fresh breath of life in her. Charlie had always been so close to her father, they were two peas in a pod and watching him slowly decline from his cancer had taken a toll on her. The joy and sparkle that always surrounded Charlie was dulled as she grieved but Helen had watched it return the more and more time she was around Chris.

He brought out the best in her... all of the Evans did and it brought tears to Helen's eyes to get to watch it. She loved hearing their laughter as they retreated into the kitchen to keep cooking but Charlie stuck to her original statement that Chris was useless when he brought her over some things she asked for.

"Chris, this is a tablespoon, not a teaspoon," She handed it back to him.

"What's the fahkin' difference?" His Boston accent came through while his left eyebrow shot up.

"Um one is big and one is small," Charlie rested a hand on the curve of her hip while she sassed him.

Chris rolled his eyes playfully before he loudly muttered, "Well Charlie, I've eaten some of your cooking before and I don't think you should be acting all high and mighty."

She stood there with one hand on the counter and the other on her hip while she narrowed her eyes and tried to hide the smile on her face. Chris crossed his thick arms in front of his chest, smirking at her as they looked at one another.

They were so engrossed in their moment that they didn't hear the doorbell ring or people come in, both of them fully focused on one another. Charlie grabbed a little handful of flour, tossing it and hitting his shirt, making a little white puff explode against his firm chest right at the top of his blue henley where his chest hair was poking out.

He stayed silent, using his acting skills to keep a straight face as he dipped both of his hands in flour and came over, pressing his big hands on either side of Charlie's face, coating her cheeks in flour with some of the dust getting on her dark curls that framed her face.

"I think.... You need to look like Santa," Charlie trailed off while getting some flour and rubbing it on his beard, making him burst with laughter and finally all bets were off.

The two exploded in hysterics while they tried to wipe their hands on each other which somehow ended in them slipping on the tile floor and landing in a tangled pile together as they laughed so hard that Charlie had tears rolling down her cheeks.

This is how the Evans family found them when they all arrived for the birthday party. They all looked in the doorway at the scene, resulting in Lisa shaking her head with a smile as she looked at the pair and quietly mused, "Oh he is such a goner."

"So is Charlie," Helen informed her.

"Uncle Chris and Charlie made a mess!" Miles announced when the children walked in to see what was happening.

"No, Charlie did, she started it," Chris smirked as he stood to his feet before putting his hands out to pull Charlie up.

Once she was on her feet, she tried wiping some of the flour off of her pants while saying, "Excuse you! You were the one being all sassy telling me I'm a bad cook."

"Speaking truth isn't being sassy," He smirked with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

That comment earned him a slap to his chest, causing flour to puff out while Charlie told him, "You're such a brat!"

"Me? Never!" Chris feigned shock while Charlie just laughed and went to the sink to get a rag wet and wipe off her flour covered cheeks before handing it to Chris so he could do the same.

Lisa walked into the kitchen and said, "Alright Chris, stop flirting and beat it so I can actually help Charlie."

He laughed while he finished cleaning himself up, kissing his mother on the cheek before he went into the living room with Helen and the rest of his family while Lisa and Charlie finished getting all of the food ready.

While it was baking, they went into the living room where they found everyone engulfed in laughter and lively chatter which they joined in on as Helen put on a record, filling the room with Fred Astaire's melodic voice.

Lisa and Scott went over to the piano, playing along with the music while Chris stood to his feet and held a hand out to Helen, telling her, "I need a dance with the birthday girl!"

Helen laughed before letting Chris sway with her in the middle of the room as Shanna and Carly sat with Ethan on the couch with Dodger, looking through a book and Charlie held onto Miles and Stella's hand as she taught them a little soft shoe number, giggling the whole time they tried to patter their feet along with the dance teacher's skilled ones.

As the song flipped to the next, Helen announced to her dancing partner, "I think it's time for this old lady to take a break... but this is one of Charlie's favorite songs!"

"Is it?" Chris asked while he turned to look at her while Helen went to sit down.

"Yes! It's from the first Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies I ever watch and it's what made me fall in love with dancing. Ugh, I just love it," She smiled widely.

"Well c'mon then," His blue eyes twinkled while he held his hand out to her.

Charlie asked the kids if it was alright to take a break and they nodded before she was swept into Chris' arms. He let one of his thick forearms snake around her waist while the other held her slender hand inside of his while they danced to the song on the record player accompanied by the joyful piano melody Lisa and Scott were providing.

"Heaven, I'm in heaven. And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak and I seem to find the happiness I seek when we're off together dancing cheek to cheek," Charlie couldn't help but sing along.

Chris smiled down at her, looking at the adorable woman in his arms and couldn't resist pressing his bearded cheek against her soft one as he swept her around the room with everyone's knowing looks following them. He eventually let her out of his arms but held onto her hand as she started to do a tap dance and he tried to follow along with her steps which only got a teasing comment from his brother telling him, "You suck bro, just go back to regular dancing."

He laughed and obliged, pulling Charlie back into his arms as Lisa started playing a slow beautiful song that led them to dancing close to one another around the small living room. The doorbell rung in the middle of their dance and Helen offered to get it, not wanting them to part but when Charlie caught a glance over Chris' broad shoulder and saw who was there, she came to a stop and dropped her hands from Chris.

".... Um Mom... hi.... I didn't know you were coming."