Pages from the little black notebook

Charlie blankly stared out her window into the Vinyard aisles. She had moved to the Okanagan valley a couple months ago from her Humbolt hometown, to be closer to her boy friend, Greg. She looked over at the little black notebook, then over at the little piece of paper that he tore out of it and wrote 7 measly words on it that read; “I’m sorry, Charlie. I’ve met someone else.”

She was unfamiliar with this new place, although it was a gorgeous area she hadn’t had the opportunity to meet many new friends besides her new boss, an older lady named Gwen who owned an adorable little store, that can only be accessed when walking or biking along what used to be a railroad track but was now a wonderful path for everyone to enjoy exploring through the vineyards and valleys called the KVR trail. The shop was covered in travelling vines and surrounded by beautiful wild flowers. Charlie had lucked out in getting a position there, because it was only a few houses down from where she was renting a room. Gwen was a widow of 8 years, with no children or siblings, and kept to herself besides attending church service every Sunday and sharing her beautiful country side shop with tourists and locals who would pop in for one of her fresh cinnamon buns or a bottle of water to quench their thirst on the hotter days. Gwen enjoyed Charlie’s company and often was reminded of her younger years when looking at her. Gwen too traveled to the Okanagan to be with her husband Harold. She was in Nova Scotia when he walked into her mother’s flower shop to get flowers for his Grandmothers funeral and they fell head over heels for eachother. He moved her as soon as she would agree and they stayed in love with each other for 59 years until he passed on. Gwen made it known how she felt about Greg, having allowed Charlie to move so far from home just to leave her a few short months later. “Young people are too fast to move on to the next these days” she would say “relationships take work! Harold and I had to work through many arguements but we stuck it out and became stronger every time!”

Charlie loved hearing gwens stories about her marriage. From the sorrowful stories about pregnancy loss and infertility to the hopeful And inspiring stories about coming close to poverty but working there way through tough times together and becoming owners of one the most successful wineries in the country. Which they sold for millions and retired together. She just recently started her store by the KVR trail because she was bored and lonely. Gwen and Charlie had become quite close over the passed couple months

As Charlie got up from her bed she reached over and finally crumpled up the note from Greg and tossed it in her waste bin next to her desk. It had been 10 days and she was done being sad about it. He didn’t deserve another thought. After a quick shower she threw up her brown shoulder length hair into a messy bun. Threw on some jean shorts and her favourite light blue tank top and white sneakers and jogged towards Gwens little shop.

When she entered through the front door the smell of fresh brewed coffee and buttery cinnamon buns filled her nose and instantly put a huge smile on her face. “Good morning Gwen!” Gwen was wrapping her oatmeal raisin cookies she had baked that morning in Saran Wrap and stacking them on a display tray. “Good morning dear, can you finish this for me please, I am off to the church to help make apple pies for a fundraiser. You’ll have to close today as well, after the pies I’ll be heading over to the soup kitchen to make borscht and my famous dinner rolls.” She pulled Charlie in for a hug and rubbed her back. Gwens hugs were the most loving and comfortable hugs anyone had ever given Charlie. “Sounds good Mrs. Clark! I hope you have a great day, it looks like it’s going to be a hot one!” Charlie said “Mrs. Clark oh get out of here, you must call me Gwen, please I’ve told you a hundred times” Gwen said to Charlie swapping at her arm. “Ah I’m sorry, you’re right, it’s just force of habit from my last few jobs.” Gwen hobbled out of the store on her sore knees and drove off to the town.

Charlie finished wrapping the cookies and opened her book she had started yesterday that she was already half way through, took a swig of her coffee and was about to take a bite of a still warm cinnamon bun when the door opened. Charlie’s jaw dropped at the sight of the man who came through. His green eyes caught a flash of the sun which made them sparkle. He ducked down from being blinded for a moment. His humble stumbling into the store made Charlie feel giddish. She could tell he took his workouts seriously from the way his T-shirt tightened around his biceps. He had a sweaty glow on his forehead from running the trail and was stopping into the store to grab himself a bottle of water. “Wow! It smells amazing in here!” He looked over at Charlie who was having a hard time keeping herself from staring at him. “Er! Erm! I mean yea! Gwen makes an amazing cinnamon if your interested?” She asked. “Well, maybe next time when I’m not running, I don’t wanna get a cramp.. I’m Mark by the way.” He walked over to the cooler fridge and pulled out a cold water. “I’ll just grab this for now.” Charlie rang up his water on the old cash register. “I’m Charlie, it’s nice meeting you, I just moved here a few months ago with my boy friend, I mean, well he’s not my boy friend anymore. I do enjoy living here though, it’s really pretty.” Charlie regretted saying so many details about her life so fast to Mark, who by now probably thought she was just some weirdo.

“Oh.” He said with a long pause. Charlie closed her eyes tightly feeling a wave of embarrassment. “Uhm.. that will be $1.75, please” Mark handed her a toonie from his shorts pocket. “Well I would love to take you to one of the local wineries around here if you’re free tonight?” He said as he watched her face waiting for her to open her eyes back up. She looked up to find his amazing green eyes locked in on hers. Her cheeks felt hot and prickly. “Ok, that sounds really nice.” He left with Charlie’s cell phone number on a piece of paper that Charlie ripped out of the little black note book she had grabbed from her room. She ran home after closing up the store to get ready and wait for Marks text.

A few hours later Charlie was looking at herself in the mirror after she had picked out her favourite dress and sandals, and put on mascara and lip plumper. She felt confident and pretty. Mark had text her asking for her address and said he would be by to grab her in twenty minutes. When she replied to him with her address she would never expected him to say what he did next. “No way! That’s where you’re staying?? That’s my childhood house! I grew up there for 13 years!” Charlie got excited at the idea of having this extra bit of something in common with him. “Well you’ll have to come in and check it out when you get here!” She replied.

She heard the knock at the door which made her heart leap and breath turn shallow. “Hey how’s it going, come on in if you’d like!” She told Mark as she opened the door. “This is too crazy” he said as he entered into the home looking around in amazement. “My bedroom was the room up stairs, first right.” “Ahh ya that’s the spare room, I’m renting the room farthest down the hall and to the left, from this family, they’re last name is Leery?” She said as she showed him to the kitchen. “Would you like a drink or anything?” She asked. “No I’m okay thanks” Mark followed Charlie to her room where she turned on the light and straightened the book on her desk. “This was my older brothers room” he said smiling at the window. “You must have a ton of memories flooding your mind right now” she said. As she went to squeeze by Mark so she could grab herself a cardigan from her closet there faces were so close she could feel his breath. There was an intense warmth between them and they were both He grabbed the back of her neck and gentle pulled her towards him,he skimmed his lips against her causing an electric shock to travel down her legs, making them feel weak. Then he softly pressed his lips onto hers for one long pause. “I’m sorry.” He whispered, while his lips were still nearly touching hers. “I hope this wasn’t too fast paced, it just felt right” he said. Charlie was still in a daze from the brief kiss but she knew what he meant, it felt right and it felt good. She wrapped her arms around his neck and could feel his large trap muscles as she pulled him into her locking their lips for a longer and harder embrace. They were getting ready to go to the winery when Charlie excused herself to go to the washroom. Mark was feeling strongly for this girl, he ripped a piece of paper out of a little black note book he had found on her desk and wrote her a note for the morning “Charlie, you’re amazing! Thank you for tonight! Call me!” He moved it to the corner of her desk. Charlie was ready to leave and Mark walked over to help her put her cardigan over her shoulders. “Ready to go, beautiful?” He asked. Charlie blushed and followed him out the door.

The next morning Charlie woke up with sore cheeks from smiling so much the evening before. She was so excited to have met Mark and amazed how well they hit it off. She got up from her bed and saw a two pages ripped from her black note book, one was a note from Mark. She smiled thinking how he must have wrote it while she snuck off to the washroom. The second page was Mr. Leerys hand writing leaving a message from a lawyer that had called for Charlie late last night with his number under it. Charlie wasn’t sure what to think about that but she dialed the number anyways. “Hello Munson Law Associates how may I help you?” Asked the secretary “Uh hi, this is Charlie Reems calling back John Munson?” She asked curiously. “Okay I’ll put you through to him.” “Hello this is John Munson, and that’s Charlie?” He asked “Yes hi, I have no idea what this is about?” She questioned him. “Well I’m sorry to have to do this over the phone but Your dear friend Gwen passed away yesterday, the hospital was called after she collapsed at the soupeteria, they believe it was a heart attack” he said as a matter of factly. “Oh my gosh.” Charlie skunked down on her bed unsure of what to say or how to feel. “If you have any time to come into my office sometime today I would like to discuss a few things with you regarding her KVR trail shop and a few other things.” He was speaking so fast Charlie was unable to really reply. “I’ll put you back on with my secretary and she can tell you the address, we will see you sometime today Miss Reems.” He clocked off the line before she could even reply and the secretary started reading out the address and details on where to park. Later that afternoon Charlie was finally ready to go and see the lawyer but she picked up and dialed Mark first. “Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear about that.” Mark replied after Charlie had explained about Gwen. “Thanks I’m supposed to go speak to her lawyer today , I don’t really know why... I wondered if maybe you could join me, if you were free?” She asked him hoping that he didn’t think her asking to hang out was too soon. Mark was happy to help Charlie and was dying to se her again already. Their night together went so well that he was glad she called him and wanted to meet up again so soon.

At the lawyers office Charlie’s leg was nervously tapping. Mark noticed and put his hand on her knee, reached over and kissed her on the shoulder. All of a sudden Mr. Munson walked through the door and went straight to his desk opened his brief case and pulled out a stack of paper work. “Good morning Miss. Reems, we spoke on the phone earlier, I’m again sorry for your loss, I have a court hearing to be at in about a half an hour so I apologize if I sound all business but time is of the essence, I brought you in today” he cleared his throat and straightened his tie, looked over at Mark briefly then back to Charlie “to discuss with you about Gwens will. I’m sure you were aware as one of her employees that she didn’t have any family members?” He asked. “Well er, Uhm yes I was aware of that.” Charlie replied. “Yes well on her will, it states that she has given a very generous amount of money to several charities that were near and dear to her heart. Another very generous portion to her church and the soup kitchen. She had divided her wealth between many friends she had made through her church and neighbors throughout the years. Lastly she has left her house, the KVR trail store, and $20,000 to a Charlie Elizabeth Reems.”

“Are you okay?” Asked Mark as he and Charlie stepped out of the elevator. Charlie was lost in thought. She felt guilt. But she wasn’t sure why. She also felt an over whelming power of love and gratitude. Moving to this place and then getting dumped by the only person she knew there was extremely difficult for Charlie. She was lost and afraid. Gwen was the only one who made her feel at home.

“I miss Gwen.” Charlie told Mark. She remembered back to a visit she had at the store with Gwen several days ago, right after she had found the note from Greg, dumping her. Gwen told Charlie “You will come across a lot of people in your life and some of them might play a big role in your book, and some people might only last a chapter. But no matter how brief or long they last in our story they’re there to teach us a lesson. And we just gotta love them for that reason alone.” Charlie wanted to be wrapped in Gwens loving arms for one of her warm hugs one last time. Then right at the moment Mark wrapped his arms around Charlie and she felt a similar warmth from him as Gwen had always given.

“Thank you, Mark. I needed that. And I’m going to be okay.” She said as they stepped out into the parking lot. “I know you will, now how about we go check out your new house?” He said. “Okay sure I’d love you to join me for that.” She said. Then she pulled out her little black notebook, where she had written down the address to her very new home.