Why Always Her? - (TNN - REECE & VARIOUS)

CHAPTER FIVE

Reece felt his heart start to pound as he saw the restroom door burst open. Only Charlotte emerged and she looked absolutely livid. Quickly her eyes found his and his breath caught in his throat as he saw the fire behind them. He expected her to come straight over and scream at him however she did no such thing. She snatched her gaze away from him, scanning the room - as soon as she located Carly, she made a beeline for her. The young apprentice was now sat with Autumn and Winter - which surprised Reece a little. It's not like Autumn was the particularly talkative type - she was clearly saying something to Carly though.

"Carly, are you alright?" Charlotte sat down next to her friend. She felt strangely glad to see her sat with Autumn and Winter - although not the softest of people, she knew they would look after the young girl.

"Yeah Char I'm fine. What the hell that was that, Reece was so nasty, is Mia ok?" Carly's questions tumbled out one after the other.

"She's alright, she's just taking some time to calm down. She's sorry you had to see and hear all that."

At this, Autumn raised her eyebrows. "In fairness, I wouldn't say Mia is to blame on this occasion."

Charlotte nodded slowly, unsure how to respond. Why had Reece blown up like that? Seeing that Carly was ok had helped to somewhat calm her racing heart, but she still felt so angry. Things had been so good recently, everyone had been bumbling along with no arguments. The entire thing infuriated her even more because she had been on at Reece about his anger issues SO MANY TIMES. As she turned her head to observe him, suddenly it wasn't a 6'3 man she saw, it was a little boy. She sighed and turned to the others,

"I'm going to go and speak to Reece." With that, she got up and started to approach the table. Everyone had given him a wide berth after his outburst so he was a solitary, sad little figure.

"Can I sit here?" Charlotte asked, her voice controlled but frosty. She felt a pang in her chest when Reece looked up at her with his big blue eyes and simply muttered,

"Yes."

Charlotte wanted to scream at him. She wanted to call him a prick. She wanted to slap him, honestly. Instead, she quietly said "why, Reece?"

She could tell he wanted to answer. The pair had spent many a night talking previously, but getting down to the nitty gritty with Reece was like pulling teeth - one step forward and about forty five steps back.

"Why always her, Char? Believe it or not I actually want Mia to be happy...but why does she have to take everything from me?"

Charlotte stared at Reece, baffled. "What has she taken from you? Do you mean Carly?"

"It's not just about Carly" Reece replied. "It's everything. For twenty odd years, we were together and she didn't even want me, by all accounts I disgusted her. My father was bailing her out all those years, he can't even muster up the energy to care if I live or die. She starts at the nursery, you fall in love with her. She was atrocious to Carly, now I've barely any idea what's going on in her life because she only wants to speak to Mia. She used to come to me for advice." At this, Reece let out a gigantic sigh and looked away.

"Reece, I understand that you feel rejected. And I agree that Mia didn't handle your relationship well, because of everything with your Dad. But we've talked about this, you have to let your anger go. I don't think this is really about Mia, is it?"

Reece refused to turn and look at Charlotte. He wasn't doing this, not now, not ever. He was strong, not weak. He felt tears forming, so he cleared his throat to deflect. Charlotte always could see right through him - that's why he found her easier to talk to, he didn't have to explain so much.

Sensing Reece's reluctance to talk, Charlotte continued "you can't let what your Mum did keep ruining your life like this..."

"No" Reece barked, almost like an order.

"No what?" Charlotte knew what was coming.

"No we are not doing this. It's so hilarious for everyone, that I spent over twenty years with a woman who didn't even care for me one little bit. All that, after being abandoned by the one fucking person who was supposed to stay. Somehow I'm still the bad one? Everyone can have Mia for all I care, even Autumn wanted her. Marjorie's with her right now, on her side." His voiced cracked at the end as he thought of Marjorie. He was so sorry. He loved her so much, and he knew that every day he STILL didn't say it, she was slipping further and further away. The only one who had finally loved him, no holds barred, and he was losing her.

Lost in his thoughts, his eyes wandered over to the bathroom door. He so desperately wanted to storm in there and tell Marjorie that he loved her, more than the sun, moon and stars. Everything he did, it was for her. So why was he rooted to this stupid chair, Charlottes eyes focused on him like laser beams, refusing to back down...honestly damn that new backbone of hers.