The Man Who Never Looked Away novel Chapter 80

The small restaurant.

"These vegetables are incredibly sweet. Must be straight from a local farm." Jimmie highly recommended the stir-fried greens. "Charley, you have to try this."

Charley: "Not eating."

Jimmie picked up on his mood. "What's wrong? Did the vegetables offend you?"

Charley said nothing, picking up his cup to take a sip of tea.

His phone chimed. He picked it up and saw a text from Lavinia:

[Taking the trash out in ten minutes.]

Charley abruptly stood up. "Eat by yourself. I'm leaving."

Jimmie looked completely baffled. "What is your deal? Having a rebellious phase?"

Charley hurried back to his car, drove home, grabbed the dog, and headed to their usual spot. As soon as he arrived, he saw Lavinia walking over, wearing a face mask.

When she saw him, she waved her phone. "I'm free."

Charley paused, his heart skipping a beat.

Lavinia grinned. "I told him I signed up for a floral arrangement class. Now I have a legitimate excuse to leave the house during the day."

He understood immediately.

She was swallowing her pride and placating her husband just so he wouldn't interfere with her getting certified.

He looked away and offered a faint smile.

"Charley, the prep course sent me a reading list and told me to buy the books myself." Lavinia opened the list on her phone and showed it to him.

Before she could finish, he interjected, "I'll take you to get them. If you buy the wrong editions, it'll be a massive headache."

There was a bookstore about a mile away, so they decided to stroll over as if going for a walk. They dropped Nemo off at the Pet Paradise near the entrance, spent half an hour finding the books, and just as they paid and were getting ready to leave, it started pouring rain.

It was a heavy downpour, and it didn't look like it was going to let up anytime soon. Fortunately, there was a café on the first floor of the bookstore. They went over, sat down, and ordered two drinks to wait out the rain.

Just as they sat down, Garnett called to ask where she was and if she needed him to bring her an umbrella. Lavinia said she was waiting out the rain somewhere.

"It should stop soon. Don't come out—you'll just get your pants wet," she said.

"Alright, just be careful," he instructed before hanging up.

When she put her phone down and looked up, she met Charley's gaze.

"The max score is 1900. How is 200 points 'not bad'?" Lavinia stuck her tongue out.

"You basically got all the math questions right," Charley said with a slight smile. "That's impressive."

Lavinia, pleased by the compliment but too embarrassed to show it directly, lifted her cup to hide the upward curve of her lips.

They sat there a little longer until the rain finally stopped. The two of them went to pick up the dog and slowly walked back.

When they reached the small garden and said their goodbyes, Lavinia was just about to turn back when Charley called her name.

"You signed up for the crash course. You only have a month. Every day after class, I'm going to watch you take practice exams and help you review them," he said plainly.

Lavinia looked slightly torn.

Garnett had been acting strange lately. Whenever he didn't have a business dinner, he insisted on coming home to eat. A man who used to never be home suddenly demanded she cook for him all the time.

She lowered her head and thought about it. Nothing was more important than getting her certification and finding a new job as quickly as possible. So, she nodded and said, "Okay. Charley, thank you for your help."

Charley watched as she turned, pushed the heavy door open, and disappeared inside.

His fingers slowly curled into a tight fist.