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June 2, 1970
1:52pm
Hotel Le Royal
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on already Charlie?” Lee exited the cab and Charlie was right behind her. The last twenty minutes or so were completely surreal. The least of which is the fact that they took a cab back to the hotel. They hardly ever took a cab anywhere, let alone back to her hotel. They preferred to walk.
“I told you that we need to talk and it’s a conversation that neither one of us want to have in public.” He gently put his hand on the small of her back to get her to walk up into the hotel. “Go to your room, I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Charlie.” She stopped. “Now you’re worrying me.”
He comes around to her and gently holds her shoulders, then caresses her arms. “I’m sorry, but you’ll understand in less than five minutes. Please Lee. Please.”
She’s searching his eyes and she can tell he’s acting differently and something’s not right. She guessed twenty minutes ago that Ed told him something, but she didn’t think it was truly serious until this exact moment. She nods. “Okay, see you in a few minutes.” Lee slowly pulls away and when she reaches the stairs, she darts into the hotel.
He follows her into hotel but not up the stairs after her. Instead he goes to the ballroom where the bar was. The bartender that he’s come to recognize is there working. “Yeah, can I get a bottle of bourbon and two glasses please?” For the second time in as many minutes, Charlie fishes out his wallet and throws some local currency on the bar. “May I have a bottle of Coca-Cola as well?”
The bartender sets a new bottle on the bar, the glasses and then adds the soda to the bar top. The request and sees the money on the bar. “That’s too much money.” He tells Charlie.
Charlie stares at the money for a minute. “Can you have dinner brought up to Miss Lee in a few hours? Enough for the both of us and make it her favorite thing, whatever that is?”
The bartender nods and smiles. “Of course I will.”
Charlie pats his hand on the bar. “Thanks.” He collects his order and makes his way to Lee’s room.
She’s left the door ajar thankfully, so he’s able to ease into her room. She’s sitting on the bed, in her khaki pants and pale pink dress shirt impatiently waiting for him. He closes the door with his foot and deposits the glasses and bottles on the small table that houses her typewriter. The room is not as big as his apartment, but it’s enough. He opens the bottle and pours himself a drink. “Charlie, what are-”
He holds a single finger up in the air as he devourers the contents in short order. He’s watching her intently watching him. This is not how he prefers to engage in the conversation they are about to have but he’s self aware enough to know that he needs his brain to stop working like it has been since the moment he left Ed’s office and this is the only way he knows how to do it. He’s finished the glass and despite the burn in his throat, he repeats himself one more time and Lee’s eyes grow wide. He sets the glass back on the table with a little more gusto than he intended but he’s finally ready fueled by liquid courage and with his heart and not his head. He presses his lips together, has his hands on his hips and looks at the floor before looking back at her. “I need you to tell me about your father.”
Her eyes swell with tears at once, but to her credit, they don’t fall yet. She knew it was too good to have lasted. She rises from the bed and now pours herself a glass of bourbon, less than Charlie, but enough. She empties the contents and she needs a drink of the soda to ease the burn. When she’s done, she returns to the bed and swats the tears away with the back of her hand. She looks at Charlie and with as much strength as she can muster she says “My name is Leona Lefebvre and my father is Willem Lefebvre the owner of Atlantis Media Group.”
Charlie covers his face with his hands and the only thought that he can manage is that it was true. He pulls his hands away and just holds them out from his body. “Why are you even here?” it came off more with a little more yelling in his voice than he intended but there was no way he was going to be able to control his emotions anymore.
“I want to be a journalist!” She yells back.
“You don’t have to be here to do that!” Charlie tells her, points at her. “You’re god damned brilliant and you don’t need to be here risking your life to make a point!”
“I can’t do this at home! No one will let me do this at home! They don’t even want me working for Christ’s sake!”
He just looks at her dumbfounded. “How can you even believe that? Since the minute I met you I’ve discovered that if there was something you would just go for it. You reach out for things with both hands and take it! You could own the entire eastern seaboard with your words! You could be influencing politics or inspiring our country to grow a pair of balls and end this damn war!”
She’s on her feet now. “You don’t understand how it is in my family Charlie, you just don’t and you never will!”
“My relationship with my parents is difficult too, but-“
“Difficult?” Lee is full out yelling now. “You have no idea what a difficult relationship with your parents is. I was raised with the sole vision of being married of to a man. That’s it! They thought nothing more of me than a means to continue my father’s bloodline.” She plops back down on the bed and now she’s the one holding her face in her hands and her voice has faded. “God, it’s just. You’ll never understand all the expectations that they have for me.”
Charlie’s voice softens. “I think I may have more experience with that than you know.” He’s looking at the ground now, his hands dug into his pockets. They’ve never had this before, this microburst of anger at each other. He lets the silence go for a few moments and she’s trying not to outright cry but the moisture on her face is apparent. “Say your name again.” It’s almost a whisper.
She sniffles. “What?”
“Your name is beautiful. I want to hear it again.” He comes over to the bed and sits next to her, holding his head in his hands, elbows on his knees.
She lets out an uneasy laugh. “Leona.”
“Leona.” He says softly. “Lioness. I don’t understand how your parents expected anything less with that name. That’s not a name for someone they expected to be passive or uninteresting. That’s a powerful name for a powerful woman. It’s a name that suits you.” He’s pushing her hair back behind her ear so he can see her face unobstructed.
She’s looking at him now, her bottom lip quivering. “Are you going to abandon me now? I’m sure you know more than you’re telling me.”
He shakes his head no. “I don’t care where you come from. I found it odd that you never asked where I came from and I understand that now. No, I’m not going to abandon you Lee. Leona. I’m…I’m all in.”
She’s looking at him now, genuinely confused. “I don’t understand.”
Now it’s his turn to let an uneasy laugh out. “Haven’t you wondered why I didn’t give in to your charms right away? It was hard Lee. Incredibly hard and it wasn’t because I wasn’t sure if you wanted me for me or just to assure yourself that you were still alive. I didn’t know you before but now I’m sure I don’t want to know what you were like before. I like you as you are right now. I’m not sure what that says about either one of us because you’re impulsive and reckless…”
“And you’re thoughtful and cautious.” She finishes for him. “God, we are a pair.”
“I’m trying not be,” as he lets his eyes dart all over her face. “For the first time ever in my life I want to use my heart. I want my emotions my passion to guide me. If I keep thinking about you I’m just going never going to act on my feelings.”
Now she’s outright crying, tear lines trailing down her face. “All I want to do is think about you because I’m afraid my feelings for you are going to swallow me whole. All because you didn’t give in to me and that makes me so crazy Charlie. I’ve been thinking that maybe there was something wrong with me.”
“Jesus. We really are a matched set.” He holds her face now, using his thumbs to wipe away her tears. “I’m going to say something and well, I’ll leave it to you at that point, okay?”
Lee wraps her hands over his as they still caress her face and nods affirmatively.
“My name is Charles Skinner and I’m in love with you Leona Lansing. From this point forward, I can’t imagine not being in love with you somehow. We’re going to know each other even when we’re old and I’m going to keep you in line and you’re going to help me let go when I need to.”
She looked at him for what felt like an eternity before she started to respond. “My name is Leona Lefebvre and oh,” She pulled his hands away and before Charlie could even comprehend her lips were on his and he’s pulling her on top of him and before he knows it, she’s straddling him and holding his face to kiss him.
It’s a feeling neither has ever felt before.