by H. P. Munro
“Okay to hell with the wedding plans. I want dirt, and I want it now.” Joanne smiled as she swept the seating plans to one side and planted her elbows on the table cupping her face as she stared directly at Molly. “Pasta night?” she asked with one eyebrow cocked.
“You know, straight until wet.” Molly waved her hand in the air dismissively.
“Spaghetti,” the three women shouted at Molly.
“The term is spaghetti, not pasta.” Ellie picked up a crumpled napkin and threw it in Molly’s direction.
“I can’t believe this happened a year ago, and we’re only finding out about it now.” Charlotte shook her head in astonishment.
“Yeah well, we’ve all got our secrets, Charlotte,” Molly replied pointedly.
An expression of anger flashed across Charlotte’s features as she rose from the table. “I’m going to use the restroom.”
Ellie watched her retreat, then turned to Molly. “Okay, I’m confused. What was all that about?”
Molly looked over her shoulder to check Charlotte’s departure. Then weighing up whether to say anything further, she finally sighed and spoke in a low voice. “You go running twice a week with her, how much do you know about Charlotte from before she started LifeFit?”
“Nothing other than her losing her tennis scholarship when she injured her knee and had to drop out of college. That’s it now that I come to think about it.” Ellie looked surprised at the admission. “She doesn’t talk about herself much.”
“Well apparently Miss thing there comes from a town that’s named after her, and she has a mom there…and friends!”
“Wait, she comes from a town called Charlotte?” Joanne wrinkled her nose and looked at her sister in confusion.
“No Grace Falls, Alabama,” Molly corrected.
“Well now I know you’re talking crap.” Ellie shook her head. “She’s not from Alabama. She doesn’t even have a Southern accent.”
“Maybe ’cause I’ve worked hard to get rid of it.”
The three woman gasped in surprise and spun in their seats towards Charlotte who stood with her arms crossed.
“Did it ever occur to you that I don’t speak about where I’m from because I want to forget?”
Molly closed her eyes and swallowed hard at the hurt and disappointment in her friend’s tone. “Charlotte, I am so sorry. It’s just that it feels like something important to you happened. I’m your friend and it suddenly seems like I don’t know who you are.”
Charlotte nodded, reflecting on Molly’s words. She sat down and crossed her hands on the table. “Okay, what do you want to know?”
“Who is Erin?”
Charlotte gave them a small smile. “She was a girl on a rock with a toad.”
***
“So the toad was called Elliot?” Molly tugged on Charlotte’s arm as they walked back to Charlotte’s apartment. “As in Elliot Enterprises? You’re telling me you named your company after a toad?”
“He was a good toad.”
Charlotte grinned. She’d been worried sharing even a tiny portion of her history with Erin would be too painful. However, she had to admit just talking about her childhood with Erin put a spring back in her step.
It had been a calculated move on her part. There was no way Molly would leave the subject, so she’d given her something she was comfortable sharing. Hoping it would be sufficient, she could then leave the more deeply rooted wounds alone. So far her plan had worked.
“What I don’t get, is why you left home and haven’t been back in over twenty years, and you don’t speak to your mom or this Erin?”
It would appear the plan had worked up to a point.
“There’s a lot more to it, and I’ll be honest with you a lot of it still hurts today. So I’m not keen to go dredging up those memories.”
Molly shrugged. “You know before when you didn’t share it was okay, ’cause I didn’t know what I didn’t know. But now I know—”
Charlotte’s growl was enough to stop Molly from continuing.
“Okay, I’ll let you off the hook. But I do think you should talk about it at some point.”
“For me, or for you?” Charlotte gave her a sideways glance.
“Me of course!”
Laughing, Charlotte laced her arm through Molly’s. “I promise if I ever feel like telling you the tale of how I came to be, you will be the first to know.”
“Well alright then.” Molly grinned, tugging Charlotte closer.
Chapter Six
Erin yawned and stretched, enjoying the tension in her muscles before the blissful feeling when she released them. She’d had a fitful night’s sleep. Her brain taunted her with memories of Charlotte as well as her more recent conversation with Virginia Grace. Rubbing her eyes, she padded down the stairs and into her living room, pausing at the sight that greeted her.
Her brother was completing squat lifts, which given her brother wasn’t unusual. The fact he was doing it in her living room with Cooper draped around his shoulders was; however, something new.
“Hey, Cooper, you’ve got a Sam on your belly.” She gave her dog’s head a ruffle.
“Mornin’, Sis,” Sam said brightly, continuing to bob up and down barely missing a beat.
“Mornin’, Poop-head.”
It wasn’t something she was particularly proud of, but for some reason, she returned to childhood behavior when in the company of her brother. “You want some breakfast after you’ve finished whatever the hell it is exactly that you’re doing with Coop?”
“I was waiting on you getting up so thought I’d have a workout.” His answer made it seem as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Erin gave him a look that Sam would likely swear he’d first seen on his mother’s face.
“And you decided that lifting my dog onto your shoulders and squatting up and down was the way to go?”
“I need to build up my thigh muscles.” Sam shrugged, which was made difficult by the twenty-pound dog now dozing on his shoulders.
“Put him down.” Erin pointed at the floor.
Huffing, Sam lowered himself down onto his knees then gently extracted Cooper from his lofty position. The dog shook and gave Sam one last look before trotting off upstairs to make the most of the warm bed recently vacated by Erin.
“Will you help me?” Sam pouted his lips and fluttered his eyelashes pitifully.
She sighed seeing her relaxing day disappearing before her eyes thanks to the six foot of lean muscle her parents saw fit to give birth to.
“What do you need? I’m not climbing on your shoulders so you can squat,” she said hastily, seeing a gleam in her brother’s eye.
“Relax, I’m going for a long run, and I could do with some encouragement.”
Erin held her arms above her head. “Yay, Sam. Go do it!”
“Funny lady,” Sam grumped. “Go get a cup of coffee so you’re in a better mood, then we’ll head out.”
***
The coffee helped. However, whatever positive effect it had disappeared when she saw what was parked in her driveway.
“Why is that golf cart here?”
“Well, I thought you could drive it while I run alongside.”
Erin shook her head, but seeing her brother’s pleading look she gritted her teeth. “Fine, but you are taking me to Sully’s for dinner tonight.”
“Absolutely.” Sam dragged his finger across his chest in a cross. “Promise.”
An hour and a half later, Erin took pity on him and eased her foot off the brake. She turned in her seat to look behind the cart, where a sweat-laden Sam was pushing the cart along. “Not much further now, Poop-head, soon be back.” She could hear her brother swear at her under his labored breath. Tutting she added pressure back onto the brake. “So I’m guessing next time you decide to take this out you’ll be checking that the battery is fully charged?”
Erin grinned as she steered the cart down the street. Spotting a couple of figures on the sidewal
k she yelled back at her brother. “Mush, Sam, there’s Alex and Maddie. Step it up a gear.” She lifted her foot off the brake and the cart shot forward almost causing Sam to fall into a heap.
“Hey, Alex, Maddie.” She leaned out of the cart and waved at them.
The two woman stopped and turned. She could see Maddie laughing as they approached.
“Didn’t think I’d see that thing again,” Maddie said, indicating to the cart.
“Yeah, I’m betting Sam started regretting it right about thirty minutes ago.” Erin jerked her head back towards her brother, who managed to lift his weary head up in agreement.
“How’s things?” Alex asked. “I heard Virginia Grace was in the vet’s office yesterday.”
Erin winced as she heard her brother mutter ‘sonofa’ under his breath. She hadn’t had a chance to tell him about yesterday yet, and she could imagine the conversation she would be having with him later would be less than entertaining.
“Yeah, she was her delightful self as ever,” Erin said, hoping Alex would drop it.
“She is a joy to behold that’s for sure.” Alex nodded in agreement. “I heard she’s been trying to get in contact with Charlotte. I wonder if she’s trying to get her back for the anniversary?”
Erin could practically feel the anger rolling off her brother when he spoke.
“Well, I hope that Charlotte Grace has the sense that she was born with, and doesn’t come back where she’s not welcome.”
Alex cocked her head to the side thoughtfully. “I don’t know about that Sam, I always got on alright with her.”
“Yeah sure you did,” Sam said sarcastically. “You know as well as I do Charlotte Grace got on with those that she wanted something from. She was self-centered and manipulative, and our town is better for her leaving it.”
“Jeez, Sam, tell us what you really think.” Maddie looked at Sam in surprise.
Erin stared impassively at the steering wheel during her brother’s rant. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard him say before, but all the recent talk of Charlotte had left her feeling more exposed than she’d felt in years.
“Try and make sure you don’t overdo it, Sam. It’s my day off and I’d like to spend it with Alex, not doing CPR on you.” Maddie gave Alex’s hand a tug. “We should let you get on.”
Alex waved her free hand. “See you later. Erin, you should pop into Ruby’s soon so we can catch up.”
Erin nodded numbly. “Will do.”
***
As Alex and Maddie walked on Maddie put her arm around her girlfriend’s shoulder. “So Charlotte Grace, wasn’t she the one you almost…” She let out a two-tone whistle. “On Ruth’s mom’s bed?”
“The one and same,” Alex said laughing.
“So what in the hell did she do to Sam? I’ve never seen him get angry before, never mind whatever that was.”
“Oh that’s easy.” Alex leaned further into Maddie’s one-armed embrace. “She broke Erin’s heart.”
***
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Sam yelled, slamming the front door of Erin’s home behind him.
“Why should I?” Erin yelled back. “What business is it to you if Virginia Grace brings her cat into my surgery?”
“Because it’s never just anything with her. There’s always another reason or motive. Where the hell do you think Charlotte learned it from?”
Erin raked her hands through her short hair, leaving it sticking up at odd angles. “That’s not fair, Sam. Charlotte’s not like her mama,” she said, lowering her voice.
“No?” he replied, with a penetrating glare. “So I’m just supposed to forgive her and her bitch of a mother for what they put you through?”
Sighing, Erin put her hands on her brother’s shoulders. “That’s just it, Sam. It happened to me. Not you. Me. I don’t need you to pull the protective brother routine. I can’t be hurt by Virginia Grace anymore.”
“And Charlotte?”
The simplest of questions. However, there was no simple answer for Erin on the subject of Charlotte, and she wasn’t sure there ever would be.
“I haven’t seen or spoken to Charlotte since…” She closed her eyes and swallowed. “I’m not who I was then. I’m a big girl now, and I’ve moved on and so should you.”
“You’ve moved on?” He walked over to Erin’s bookshelf and pulled out a copy of Doctor Dolittle.
She shook her head. Sam knew exactly what he was doing.
“You sure you’ve moved on?”
“Please, Sam, don’t.” She followed him, her fingers twitching as he held her most cherished possession.
He held the book up by its cover, allowing the pages to fan out. Photographs fell from their hiding places. He bent down to retrieve one and held it up. The picture was of Erin and Charlotte smiling for the camera, their arms around each other.
“I’ll believe that you’ve moved on when you actually do, Sis.” He placed the book gently down and pulled a shocked Erin into his arms and held her tightly. “I know you loved her, but she left you without a second glance. She doesn’t deserve for you to keep pining after her. You are wasting your life on what never could have been.”
Erin immediately started to protest. She wasn’t pining, but unbidden tears began to form in her eyes. She chewed on her lip, trying to stop herself from crying, but Sam’s soft pleading broke something in her. She sobbed gently on her brother’s shoulder.
“She said we were unbreakable.”
Sam rocked her gently. “She was only half right. You are. She was the weak link.”
Erin’s sobs gradually lessened. “You’re still a poop-head,” she muttered into her brother’s wet shoulder.
“And you’re still annoying.” Sam laughed and held her tighter.
“You also smell. Something awful.” Erin wrinkled her nose and pulled out of her brother’s embrace.
“Yeah well if someone hadn’t had her foot on the brake, I wouldn’t have had to work so hard to push the damn cart home.”
Erin grinned sheepishly, her eyes still watery from tears. “You saw that huh?”
“Oh yeah, and just so you know, you’re buying dinner at Sully’s.”
***
Later, when Erin was on her own, she picked up the Doctor Dolittle book. Her eyes scanned briefly over the written inscription on the inside cover. She sighed and laid it on the coffee table. Picking up the bundle of photos of Charlotte she kept stored within the book, she began flicking through them. Their childhood and teens played out through the half dozen photographs now worn at the edges. She thought back to what she’d said to Sam about Charlotte and her being unbreakable, and laughed softly at the memory it conjured up.
It had been 1984, an Olympic year. the year Sam started his fascination with all things snow and she’d had her own obsession. Thanks to the summer Games she’d taken to going everywhere with a backpack on with sticks threaded through the straps, pretending it was a jetpack.
Her family had been in Grace Falls for two years, during which time she and Charlotte had formed a close friendship. Each day they would meet at Erin’s Rock and play together. They built hideaways, fought dragons, and made shooting noises that no doubt scared half the wildlife in the woods.
However, that day when she’d gone to the rock Charlotte didn’t appear. Erin knew better than to go to the big Grace house to look for her. So with a disappointed shrug, she switched on her jetpack and swooped her way towards town.
She was running along the sidewalk when she spotted Charlotte standing outside Ryrie’s Store. Her auburn hair normally tied back into a ponytail was loose around her shoulders, and where the light caught the blonde streaks that appeared in the summer months, it almost shone in the sun.
She was wearing a short white dress with white ankle socks and pristine white sneakers. Erin was used to seeing Charlotte in dresses since she wore one most every day to school. But to Erin when Charlotte was dressed that way, she wasn’t her Charlie. Her Charlie was the one th
at wore Matt Sullivan’s old jeans cut off into shorts and a bartered for T-shirt from Peter Crawford. The Charlotte standing in front of the store didn’t belong to Erin, and she felt sad.
She looked down at her own attire. Her T-shirt had a muddy paw print from her run-in with a neighbor’s dog and, much to her dismay, the summer sun had failed to join up the freckles on her arms to give her an even color. They just stood out against light brown skin instead of her usual pale color. Her shorts had grass stains on them that no amount of washing could remove. Her skinny legs had various cuts and bruises that seemed to appear without her being conscious of them and her sneakers were without laces, as she’d used them to twine the sticks together to form the handles of her jetpack.
When she looked up she saw two green eyes, full of happiness at seeing her, staring back. She skipped over to Charlotte.
“Hey, Charlie. I waited, but you didn’t come. Do you like my jetpack?” Erin gave a little twirl, showing off her handiwork.
“Yeah, it’s cool. I’m sorry, but I wasn’t allowed out.” Charlotte threw worried glances over her shoulder as she spoke.
“It’s okay.” Erin shrugged. “You gonna get out later?”
Before Charlotte could answer a woman dressed in a lilac suit appeared out of the store. Erin wrinkled her nose at the waft of strong perfume that accompanied the woman. She wasn’t sure but the woman was either Charlotte’s mom or the Queen of England. Either way she fought the urge to curtsey.
“Charlotte, who are you talking to?”
To this day, Erin was unsure where the courage came from but under the icy glare of Virginia Grace she’d stuck out her hand in greeting and announced her name.
She had to check her hand to make sure she didn’t have poop on it or something equally disgusting, because by the way Mrs. Grace looked at it, you would have thought she was handing over a pile of it. She took her hand back with a shrug and went back to holding the controls of her jetpack.
“I see you’ve met our resident Doctor Dolittle.”