13. Charlotte
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Charlotte
Eighteen Years Ago
“You’re seriously leaving me with him ?” I hissed at my mom.
“Should’ve thought about consequences before you continued to bait him.”
Mom and I stood in the kitchen packing up food for the camping trip. River was helping my dad and Ross load the truck, while Megan and Cora bounced around with the dogs.
“He’s the one who?—”
Mom scowled. I clamped my mouth shut. I was in enough trouble already, and even I could see that I was acting like a monster.
River had a way of bringing that out in me.
After my sisters tattled on me for shooting that rogue arrow and nearly hitting Cora, Mom probably could’ve dismissed the whole thing as an accident. But then she’d asked me what happened. And I’d blamed River. He had blamed me.
The initial bet had been my idea. Archery had always been my thing, something I was just a little better at than River. I hadn’t expected him to sneak around during the school year practicing. And then he’d offered in that insulting tone to coach me. I should’ve walked away right then. But River was also good at talking people into things.
When we’d pointed fingers at each other, my mom had blown her top.
Now, my dad was taking Ross and my sisters on the camping trip. River and I had to stay home. He was in trouble too, and I couldn’t even take pleasure in that. Mom would be heading into town for lunch and antiquing with her friends.
I grabbed a container of granola. “It’s not even a punishment for him. He’ll just mess around on his computer the whole time the others are gone.”
“No, the both of you will clean this kitchen and the bathrooms top to bottom. It had better sparkle. And by the time I’m back tonight, you’d better have learned to get along. Because I’m sick of the two of you picking at each other. We cannot spend the rest of the summer like this.”
I was sick of my fighting with River too. So was Ross, who’d barely spoken to me or his brother since the archery incident. He was pissed off at us both.
Mom shoved a cooler into my arms. “Take this out to the truck.”
Outside, the sky was gray and cloudy. The guys had just finished loading the tent and sleeping bags. I tucked the cooler into the truck bed. They were only going for one night, but Dad always made pancakes, bacon, and cowboy coffee for breakfast.
Thunder rumbled in the distance. “Think it’ll rain at the campsite?” I asked. Weather was unpredictable in the mountains. It could be raining or snowing in one spot, sunny a few miles away .
Dad gave me a hug. “Rain or shine, we’ll have a good time. It’s not the weather…”
“It’s the gear,” I finished morosely.
Dad squeezed my shoulder, then went for the driver’s door. “Let’s roll! Everyone in!” My sisters and the dogs ran for the truck.
“Have fun,” I said to Ross. Then whispered, “Sorry to miss it.”
He shook his head. “Me too. See you tomorrow. Don’t kill River.”
I snickered. “I’ll try to hold back.”
The truck reversed out of the driveway. Mom, River, and I watched it go. Then she turned to us, hands on her hips. “I’m going to get ready for my day with my friends. You two, get to work.”
“Yes, ma’am,” River said.
She pointed an accusatory finger at us both as she walked toward the house. “I expect to come home to two perfect angels who’ve learned their lessons. No more competitions.”
I bit my cheek to cover my grumbling.
Mom had left the vacuum and cleaning supplies out. Once she’d gone, River turned up in the kitchen. “How should we do this?” he asked. “Divide and conquer?”
“You do the floors, I do the counters?”
“Sure.”
We worked in silence for a while. I hadn’t realized River could be so quiet. But maybe he was feeling as sheepish as I was. I was embarrassed about how childishly I’d acted the past couple of days.
Mom was right. I was sixteen, too old to allow some boy to get under my skin.
I tried to focus on scrubbing every stray coffee stain and milk splatter from the countertop. Yet my eyes kept straying to the undeniable presence in the room. His dark hair was shiny. Buzzed at the sides and back, where the short hairs trailed down his neck.
I imagined running my finger along those hairs, and shivers cascaded through my body.
Which made me think of when we’d been on the archery range. River had been standing behind me, so close I could feel his breaths. Not just the air on my skin, but the movement of his chest and stomach against my back.
I’d let him position my arms. When he’d been touching me, I kept asking myself, What are you doing? I didn’t want River’s advice. Certainly didn’t want him moving me around like his personal doll. But it was like he’d cast some spell over me.
And then, when my hand had slipped and let go of the arrow…
“Are you finished?” River asked.
I jumped, surprised by his voice, and spun around. “Not yet. Just thinking.”
He stood there like he was waiting for me to elaborate, so I said, “We’re supposed to find a way to get along.”
He smirked. “We should. Everyone’s fed up with us.”
“I’m willing if you are.”
“I’ll try anything once.”
“Try being less obnoxious?”
He laughed. “Worth a shot.”
I rinsed out the rag, then sprayed cleaning fluid on the fridge. My sisters had left jammy fingerprints on the handles.
“I’m done with the vacuum,” River said. “Want me to clean the sink?”
I nodded. We went back to work. “So. Your school has archery classes. That’s lucky.”
He glanced over. “It is. When I saw it on the schedule, I thought of you. That’s why I signed up.”
Annoyance flared, along with a deeper kind of heat that I couldn’t name. “You signed up so you’d be better than me this summer?”
“No. Just…I don’t know. It reminded me of you. And Colorado. No evil ulterior motive.”
“Oh.” The fridge handles were spotless now, but I kept scrubbing them. “Sorry I called it a fancy rich-boy school. That was rude.”
River laughed. “Nah, it’s true. It’s for rich people. And a few who get scholarships. But they’re never completely welcomed, and that’s bullshit to me. I’d much rather be talented and smart than born into the right family.”
“Lucky for you, you got all three.”
Instead of acting arrogant, his expression was conflicted. A frown tugged at his mouth. “Trust me, when it comes to family, you got the luck of the draw. Not me.”
I couldn’t let that pass. “Your dad’s an action movie star. You live in New York and LA. Do you know how many people would trade your life for theirs?”
We had never talked openly about River and Ross’s father. My mom had told us not to ask. These summer trips were supposed to be an escape for them. As if their glamorous life could be that bad.
“Having money is preferable to worrying about how you’ll survive,” he said. “I’m well aware of that. But I would take your life here in exchange for the stuffy boarding school, the fake friends, the absentee dad, and the anxiety-ridden mom. And yes , Charlie, the money. Any day.”
“Oh,” I said again. The height of eloquence.
River set down his cleaning supplies and went into the backyard. I felt kinda like a jerk.
I tossed the rag into the sink and followed him.
The sky had darkened to steel gray. Thunder rolled, and it smelled like rain and pine needles. Tiny raindrops pricked my skin. But River didn’t seem to care about the weather. He stood with his back to the house, looking out over the forest. Our house was on the high ground, with a slope leading down to the creek that Ross and I had visited on their first day here.
“I’m going to join the Navy after I graduate in a year,” River said. “I’ve already talked to a recruiter.”
“The Navy. Wow. That’s serious. You’d get deployed to war zones, right?”
“That’s the idea. Worried about me?”
“Maybe. Just a little.” And impressed, though I wasn’t going to admit that out loud. “I thought you’d go to an Ivy League or something.”
“That’s what my dad wants. He’ll be furious when he finds out. Won’t be able to stop me though.”
I’d always wondered what daily life was like for Ross and River during the rest of the year. Did people recognize them on the street? Their dad used a stage name, Dash Park. Whenever Dash had a new movie coming out, the ads were everywhere on the internet. TV commercials. He was known as one of the handsomest men in Hollywood. That trademark smile. The same shape as River’s.
I knew their mom had kept them out of the public eye as much as possible. Unlike the kids of other movie stars, the Kwon brothers weren’t hounded by photographers. After I’d learned about their dad’s job, I’d done some online searches, and never found anything about the boys. But I’d still assumed that River’s obnoxious attitude came from a sense of superiority.
“You don’t want to be famous?” I asked.
He huffed, though his smirk didn’t budge. “Hell no. I’d much rather be anonymous. Known only for what I can do. A name doesn’t capture everything about who a person is.”
“Yeah, I guess not. ”
“Would you want to be famous? People thinking they know you, but they don’t?”
“Maybe, if I’m famous for making the world better.” I scuffed my shoe against the grass. “As long as people don’t call me Grumpy Charlie.”
He turned enough that I saw him smiling in profile. His smile was like a lightbulb over my head, hitting me with inspiration. I hated his smirk, but this, I wouldn’t mind getting more of.
“Race you to the creek,” I said.
“Are you trying to get us in trouble again?”
“Think about it. We’re both competitive by nature, so we have to practice being good sports no matter who comes out ahead.”
“Sure, you say that because you know I’ll win. I am way faster than you.”
“You might think that, but—” I sprinted into the trees mid sentence, smiling so big my face hurt.
Behind me, River cursed. His footsteps pounded the ground a split second later. “If you win, it’s only because you cheated!”
“Whatever it takes! Loser scrubs the toilets!” I careened downhill, jumping over fallen logs and dodging branches. My stomach cramped from holding in laughter.
“You’re going down!”
River had nearly caught up. His fingers swiped the back of my shirt, and I screamed, dissolving into giggles.
The bank of the creek was just yards away when River grabbed me around the waist. We went sprawling in the long grass, which cushioned our fall. I fell on top of River, but he rolled us immediately, winding up above me. We both panted to catch our breath.
Our skin and hair were damp from the gentle rain. He was really close .
I want him to kiss me.
Just as I made that realization, I sucked in a ragged breath, glancing down at the minuscule gap that separated us. River hovered over me, but if he’d lowered his body by an inch, he would’ve been lying right on top of me. Pinning me to the ground with his weight.
As if he’d realized the same thing, River threw himself onto his back beside me.
We both stared up into the clouds as raindrops continued to fall.
I’d had a boyfriend earlier that year, a guy who volunteered at the animal shelter with me. It had fizzled out. I had never thought about River that way, but now I couldn’t seem to stop.
What would kissing him be like? Would he be slow and intense? Fast and passionate? How far would he want to go?
It felt like lighter fluid had filled my veins. One spark, one touch, and I’d be set aflame.
“Which of us won, do you think?” I asked.
He cleared his throat. “It was a tie. No one escapes toilet scrubbing.”
Another giggle snuck out of me. Toilet scrubbing. Exactly what I needed to think about. Like a bucket of mop water drowning the flames.
I couldn’t think about River like that . I barely even liked him. It was the worst possible idea.
Thunder crashed, and the rain picked up. River stood and bent over me, holding out a hand to help me stand. “We better get up the hill and finish cleaning before your mom gets home. Or before we’re soaked.”
“Yeah.”
His palm was flat against mine, gripping tightly for an instant. Then it was gone. I wiped stray raindrops from my face .
River led the way up the slope. My feet sank into the sodden ground. I stared at his back, at his damp T-shirt molded to his lean muscles, and tried fruitlessly to calm my racing thoughts.
I took a step and lurched forward. My ankle twisted painfully. “Ow!”
River ran back to where I was crouching. “What happened?”
“Stepped in a hole. Twisted my ankle.” Because I’d been staring at him instead of watching where I was going.
“We raced down the hill like idiots, and you manage to twist your ankle just walking back?”
“I’m talented like that.”
And of course, the rain started pelting us now. Crap .
He bowed his head to look down at my hurt foot. Rain dripped along his face to his mouth, his chin. I imagined sucking each drop from his lips.
Stop , I told myself.
I tried to stand, grimacing at the pain.
“Don’t,” he shouted over the noise of the storm. “I’ll carry you.” River knelt in front of me. “Climb on my back.”
“You’re never going to let me forget this, are you?”
“Come on, Charlie. It’s freaking cold, and we’re soaked.”
I put my arms around his neck. He grabbed my legs, lifting me, and we both held on. I felt the shape of his back against my breasts and stomach, as if our wet clothes were no barrier at all. Both of our heartbeats thrummed.
If I’d leaned forward, I could’ve licked a bead of water from the shell of his ear. The urge was so powerful I had to close my eyes.
Back in the house, River carried me to my room. He set me on my bed and carefully avoided eye contact. “I can finish the rest of the cleaning,” he said .
“No, the race was a tie. We’ll both scrub toilets. I’ll be fine.”
“You sure?”
“Just give me a few minutes to change,” I said.
He left, and I tried not to imagine him stripping his wet clothes in the room next door. But maybe I could’ve tried harder.
Later that afternoon, when my mom got home, the house was clean. My leg was propped on the couch with an ice pack on my ankle. “How did you manage to hurt yourself without leaving the house?”
“I tripped on the vacuum.”
“My fault,” River chimed in.
“No, it was mine.”
Mom eyed us both. “You’re getting along now, it seems. Hope it stays that way.”
We nodded. She turned away.
River and I shared a private smile, laughing silently, while something warm and exciting unfurled in my chest.