I Never Even Called Him By His (Real) Name

I have a character named Charlie (so I thought).  You’ve seen him before.  He seems like a very nice man, yes?  I mean, he takes super good care of his dog and for 35k+ he’s unfailingly understanding and gives Ranay exactly what she needs.

He can’t be a bad man.  Right?  So she believes and yes, I hope you believe the same thing for at least the first 1/4-1/3 of the story.

But there are hints that all is not what it should be.

I know secrets about him.  So many convoluted secrets that I’ve confused myself.  Or maybe he’s confusing me on purpose.

He’s very affable.  He enjoyed telling me about his troubled past today.  Too much, perhaps.  It makes me think that it’s all a show, just one of the many faces he wears when it suits him.  His name really isn’t Charlie (and he won’t tell me what his real name is, either).  He isn’t who the heroine believes him to be.  He isn’t even who I believe him to be, and I created the SOB.

I keep thinking that I should know all these things before I get much further.  Hello, I already have 35k+ on this story.  Ranay’s trust in him is getting ready to go to hell in a hand basket.  I put this story aside for awhile because I didn’t know all the whys and wherefores.  I know “about” what happens, but it’s very much one of those things that’s going to evolve and change and scare the crap out of me before I’m done.

He wears so many masks that even he doesn’t know what his face looks like any longer.  A lie?  An illusion?  An alias?  I. Have. NO. IDEA.

How can I hope to write this story and do it justice, when I’ve never even called him by the right name yet?