by H. P. Munro
Ellie winced at the toast but clinked her glass against her friend’s. Maddie, on the other hand, hooted with laughter as she touched her glass against Charlotte’s.
“I think it’s something to do with Grace Falls. You think you’ve escaped but it sucks you back in.”
Charlotte asked after taking a long slug of her drink. “So Alex has a kid with Sully? How’d that happen? Please tell me he didn’t get to her too!”
Chuckling, Maddie shook her head. “No it was all done strictly by not touching boy and girl parts. Don’t tell me you’re one of Sully’s conquests?”
“I would happily tell you that”—Charlotte watched Ellie’s response carefully—“but I would be lying.” She smiled triumphantly as her friend choked on her drink. “I was trying desperately not to be gay,” she said by way of an explanation. “So moving on. Ruth said that Sully is dating Lou?”
“Yeah, it’s been a year and both Ruth and Peter are still trying to get their heads round it.”
“What about Teddy? Ruth says she still hates me for the county tennis competition.”
“Well you’re in good company, ’cause she holds Erin responsible for it too. Something about a bad line call. In fact”—Maddie looked at her watch—“World War Three may have broken out at home since they’re both round having dinner with Alex tonight.”
Charlotte took another long drink. The warmth of it coated her throat as she swallowed. Just knowing where and what Erin was doing created a heat in her that had nothing to do with the whiskey she was drinking. She cleared her throat hoping the emotion she was feeling wasn’t apparent in her voice. “So Teddy’s with Alex and Erin? What’s Bear doing tonight? No doubt causing trouble with Sully and Peter somewhere!”
Maddie swallowed before sitting forward in her chair. “Bear was killed in Afghanistan over ten years ago. He joined the Marines after he graduated high school and was one of the first deployments to be sent after the attacks.”
Charlotte’s mouth opened and closed as she processed Maddie’s words. Finally, she found words. “Ruth never mentioned…”
Shaking her head, Maddie sat back. “Ruth, Sully, and Peter don’t talk about Bear. It’s like if they don’t speak about him being dead, then he’s still with them. Alex and Teddy talk about him more, but the others”—she shrugged—“they just don’t. They do still, however, make stupid bets on everything.”
Despite her shock and sadness at the news a laugh bubbled in Charlotte’s throat. “He was terrible for making bets. I know it’s been a long time, but could you pass on my condolences to Alex and Teddy?”
Maddie nodded. “Of course I will.”
Ellie blew out air softly. “Well my grandma and abuela taught me that at times like this whiskey is required.” She smiled softly at the two women looking at her. “So I will go get us some more drinks.”
Charlotte watched her friend walk to the bar. The short conversation with Maddie had drained her. For so long her memories and emotions about Grace Falls and all she left behind had stayed locked down. When she felt strong enough to reflect, she would remove a memory almost like a precious stone from a jewelry box and hold it up to the light. Twisting and turning it to elicit every ounce of pleasure she could, before carefully returning it to its rightful position and closing the lid. Tonight the jewelry box had been tipped upside down, and Charlotte was straining to recapture its contents.
It had taken several attempts before Maddie’s voice managed to catch her attention.
“Would you like to see a photo of Jessica?” Maddie held out her phone towards Charlotte.
Unsure she could handle a further assault on her memories with photographs from Grace Falls, Charlotte wanted to say no. However, she was also mindful that people are funny about their kids. If being friends with Molly had taught her anything it was, always look at photos of kids and say how gorgeous they are, even if they resemble Sloth in The Goonies. Molly had once made a less than gushing remark about a colleague’s baby and found herself suddenly without paralegal support for a month. The other lesson has to do with assuming a pregnancy. Never remark about a pregnancy until it has been confirmed by the woman herself. That misstep cost Molly a tax audit. So it was with Molly’s voice ringing in her ears that Charlotte found herself reaching to take the phone.
“Those are from Easter,” Maddie said, looking up at Ellie’s return.
Charlotte looked at the phone and smiled knowing she wouldn’t have to lie. “She’s gorgeous.” She could see both Alex and Sully in the girl’s features.
Maddie accepted a drink from Ellie. “If you scroll left there are more photos.”
Her finger hovered briefly over the screen before she replaced the image of a smiling Jessica with a family photo that included Alex, Sully, and Maddie with Jessica. She laughed at the sight of Sully sulking. His face was painted like a rabbit and he was wearing a set of rabbit ears with one ear flopping down onto his forehead. “Sully hasn’t changed much, well apart from the ears.” Charlotte turned the phone to show Ellie and Maddie. “They seem bigger than I remember.”
“They were only temporary, unfortunately.” Maddie grinned. “He bitched the whole day that his face was itching with the face paint. It was only after a couple of hours when we removed it that we realized he was allergic. His face was bright red for days.”
Charlotte laughed, then returned to look at the photo. “Alex looks much the same too.”
Maddie smiled that smile that people have when they are stupidly in love.
Flicking her finger across the screen, Charlotte changed the image again. This time, a group shot full of faces she hadn’t seen since her teens filled the screen. The world seemed to get smaller for Charlotte at that moment. The sounds of piano music, glasses clinking, and general chatter from the bar dissolved in an instant only to be replaced by the sound of her own blood rushing through her ears.
She increased the size of the image, focusing on the face that made time stand still for her over twenty years ago and apparently could still render her immobile now. Her blonde hair was much shorter than Charlotte had ever seen, but her hazel eyes were still as warm as they remained in Charlotte’s memory. The small upturn at the edges of her mouth made it look as though a smile was only ever seconds away. Faint laughter lines crinkled the corners of her eyes now, but the face was unequivocally still the Erin that Charlotte had loved. A touch on her arm brought the sounds of the room flooding back, and Charlotte looked up dazed.
“You okay, you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Ellie asked with concern.
Charlotte took one more glance at Erin before restoring the image to its normal size and returning the phone to Maddie. “Yeah, I’m good. Sorry, I zoned out there for a minute.”
“So are you going to come back for the celebrations?” Maddie retrieved her phone and returned it to her purse.
Ellie looked between the two women. “Celebrations? Is there a party we don’t know about?”
With a faint laugh and a shake of her head Charlotte swirled her whiskey around and watched as the legs of the liquid slowly meandered back down the glass. “Grace Falls is a hundred and fifty this year, so they’re having a celebration and no I wasn’t planning on going back.”
“You know Alex will kick my ass if I don’t at least try and persuade you.” Maddie raised her eyebrow as she took a sip of her drink.
“Why don’t we pretend you tried and save us all some time and that way we can talk about more pleasant things.” Charlotte summoned a smile she didn’t feel. In truth she didn’t want Maddie to try and persuade her. She knew seeing Erin’s photo had made her vulnerable, and it wouldn’t have taken a lot of convincing for her to agree. That thought in itself was unsettling enough. What worried Charlotte more was that even without Maddie’s encouragement she was already thinking about returning home.
Chapter Ten
In Erin’s dream, she was in a comfortable bed. She didn’t have to look to know the warm body pressed against her belon
ged to Charlotte. The bewildering spiral towards wakefulness confirmed that although some of the components of her dream were based in reality, the reality was vastly different from her dream.
Birds were much louder than she was accustomed to. However, those sounds were currently being drowned out by someone yelling loudly close to her ear. If she’d correctly identified the owner of the voice currently screeching ‘Alex’ at the top of her lungs, it would appear the warm body pressed against her belonged to Teddy.
At that thought, her eyes sprung open. She was outside. Wherever she was, it was outside. Which explained the birds, but not Teddy. Despite clearing her throat, her voice still sounded terrible when she mustered the words together to ask Teddy where they were.
“We’re in Bear’s tree,” Teddy replied. “Mornin’.”
Erin nodded. “Oh.” She attempted to sit up only to find herself unable to move. “What the…” She looked down and realized both she and Teddy were bound to the wooden platform by what looked like an entire reel of duct tape.
“That was my thought entirely,” Teddy drawled. “I don’t want to alarm you further, but our predicament could get a whole lot worse soon.”
Erin turned her head to look at her fellow captive.
“’Cause I really need to pee.”
Spinning her head back to look towards the house, Erin ignored the thumping in her head as she yelled loudly for Alex.
It took another couple of minutes of combined yelling before the woman in question arrived and climbed the small ladder leading to the platform.
“Wow, you two are quite the dawn’s chorus.”
“Alex Milne, let me out of here now.” Teddy twisted back and forth in an attempt to slacken the bindings, her movement made no difference to the taut tape and she flopped back against the wooden platform with a grunt.
Alex smirked and waggled her finger. “Now, Claudia Roosevelt, is that any way to thank me for saving your life?”
The combination of the duct tape, Alex’s quick reflexes, and Teddy’s alcohol-slowed ones meant that when Teddy lunged, it only took Alex a split second to lean back out of the way. Erin, however, was at a disadvantage. Her reflexes were slow like Teddy’s, and it was her inability to move out of the way that resulted in her face being pressed against the wood by Teddy’s elbow.
“Teddy, what the hell? Will you quit!” she yelled, waving her own arms in an attempt to get Teddy off her.
Finally realizing her efforts were futile, Teddy calmed and settled back down.
“Thank you.” Erin glared in her direction before looking at their captor turned savior. “I’m a little confused. Why are we here?”
“’Cause someone, and by someone I’m looking at you, Teddy, thought it would be a good idea to climb up here last night.”
“Why the hell didn’t you just get us back down again?” Teddy thumped her palms against the platform.
“Good plan. Why didn’t I think of that?” Alex tapped her forefinger against her lips. “Oh yeah, ’cause you both passed out before Matt got here and apparently it’s hard enough getting a willing participant down, without it being two drunk comatose women,” she yelled. A small satisfied smirk appeared when she saw both Erin and Teddy flinch at the noise.
“Anything could have happened to us. We could have rolled off,” Teddy said in a somewhat more apologetic tone.
“What do you think the duct tape was for?” Alex grinned and pulled a pocket knife out of her back pocket and proceeded to cut the tape to free them.
Ignoring the agony from where the tape caught her skin, Teddy ripped the tape from her and crawled over Erin. “Outta my way. I need to pee.”
Alex swung to the side, creating space on the ladder for Teddy to scramble down, which she did in record time. She then sprinted towards the house yelling ‘freedom.’
Taking a more cautious approach to the tape removal, Erin sat up slowly. “Thank you for last night. Somewhere within my hazy memory, there is a recollection of you giving me some good advice.”
Alex grinned and patted Erin’s leg. “You’re welcome. You are one of the nicest people I know, and you have to let her go.”
“I will. Jesus, it’s not like she had a hard time letting me go.”
“Well she’s an idiot, now come get some breakfast.”
***
Judging from the squealing Alex could hear, Sully had entered the coffee shop and was now accosting Lou. Their relationship meant a period of adjustment within the group of friends as long-established dynamics shifted to accommodate their new status. Alex was sure she still caught moments of ‘how the hell did that happen?’ in Ruth’s eyes as she watched their friend with her little sister.
Wiping dough from her fingers, Alex stuck her head around the kitchen door into the coffee shop. “Matt, put her down and come in here.”
She desperately wanted to tell someone about Maddie seeing Charlotte, but after the duct tape incident Teddy was ignoring her and Ruth was off in St Anton. So, excluding Erin for obvious reasons, that only left Sully as her outlet of who would give a damn.
“Yes, ma’am.” Sully saluted and stole another kiss before trotting around the counter. He entered the kitchen and took a handful of raisins from the open container on the work surface, ignoring the baleful look from Alex at his theft. “How was Teddy this morning?
“Madder than a wet hen.” Alex grinned at the memory of Teddy’s post pee rant.
“You tell her I was involved?”
Alex shook her head. “You’re okay. I took one for the team. Just make sure she doesn’t see those photos you took.”
Sully gave her a lazy smile and tipped an imaginary hat. “So how’s Maddie’s trip home? Did he agree?”
Momentarily forgetting about Charlotte, Alex gave a tentative nod. As well as attending the conference in New York City, Maddie scheduled time to see her family in Brooklyn particularly her brother, so she could ask if he would be a donor for her and Alex to have a child together.
Sully grinned broadly. “I’m happy for you. But you know, if you need me to step up I’m willing to lend a hand again.”
Alex ignored the rude gesture that accompanied his offer. “I’m sure you would and thank you, but this way our baby gets to have some Marinelli genes. However, if Maddie ever decides to carry then we may take you up on it.”
“You okay about all this?”
Alex took a deep breath. “I’m a little worried we’re doing this too soon. I mean we’ve only been together a year and already we’re talking babies.”
Sully nodded carefully. “I get that, but you also have to face up to the fact you’re not getting any younger. So if you want to do this, it should be soon.”
Letting out a loud laugh, Alex smacked him in the chest with the back of her hand. “You’re an ass you know that.”
Rubbing his chest, Sully looked suitably chastised. “That didn’t come out right. I just mean that none of us are spring chickens anymore, and we can’t let opportunities pass us by.” He looked furtively at the door of the kitchen before digging into the pocket of his jeans and pulling out a ring box.
“Oh. My. God.” Alex snatched the box from Sully and looking at the ring inside. “You’re…You’re…Oh. My. God.”
“Is that all you’re gonna say?” Sully grabbed the box back and thrust it into the depths of his pocket.
“No. Yes. Oh my God.” Alex flung her arms around her friend’s neck. “I’m so happy for you and Lou…wait, it is for Lou?”
Sully huffed at Alex’s joke. “Course it is!”
“Well, that’s the second thing to leave me speechless,” Alex said shaking her head.
“What was the first?”
Alex’s face broke into an excited grin. “Maddie was at her conference thing last night, and you will never guess who she met there.”
“Do you want me to actually guess or are you just gonna tell me?”
“Charlotte!”
“Charlotte?”
; “Grace, Charlotte Grace!”
Sully let out a slow stream of breath. “You gonna tell Erin?”
Alex shook her head until it occurred to her there was more to Sully’s query. She narrowed her eyes. “What do you know about Charlotte and Erin?”
As far as Alex was concerned what happened between Charlotte and Erin was one of the few secrets that Grace Falls managed to keep. She only knew because Erin confided in her during their ill-fated attempt to date.
“Probably knew before you did.” Sully puffed his chest out and gave a self-satisfied nod, before smiling sadly. “You remember when I hauled her ass off you at Ruth’s mama’s that time.”
“How could I forget.” Alex grinned. She’d been sixteen when Sully stopped her impromptu making out session with Charlotte before they could get to the good stuff.
Sully gave her a sheepish look. “Yeah well it was for the best. The reason I did it was ’cause the week before I was out fishing when I heard voices. Next minute Erin comes striding past faster than salts through a widow woman, followed by that damn mutt of hers. What was its name?”
“Daisy,” Alex supplied, poking him in the side to carry on with his story.
He rubbed his hand across the stubble on his chin as he recounted the decades’-old incident. “Less than a minute later Charlotte comes out. She doesn’t say a word. Just comes over to me and before I know what’s happening she’s kissing me. One minute I’m standing there minding my own business with my rod in my hand and the next—”
“If what you’re about to say also includes the word rod, I will stab you,” Alex warned.
Laughing Sully shook his head. “I can’t say I’m proud of it, ’cause I know none of what happened that day was about me, but that’s how I lost my virginity, and I didn’t want you to lose it the same way. You deserved better.”
Alex moved closer and snuggled into the side of her friend. “You know you just keep surprising me.”
“What ’cause I’m an ol’ romantic?”
“Nope, I honestly thought you were younger when you lost your virginity.” Alex laughed, giving him a squeeze.