Chapter 21
CHARLIE
Charlie stretched his fingers, sore from an entire day’s worth of drafting case notes. Sam sat across from him on the adjacent couch. Her eyes had been glued to her own laptop, her fingers flying over the keys as she continued writing whatever it was she was working on with her book.
Their eyes caught one another, smiling as Sam pushed her laptop onto the couch and stretched her arms above her head.
“I think I’ve earned myself a shower,” she announced as she stood. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
He waved over his head wordlessly, the wave turning into a stretch and yawn of his own. It had been quite a few hours since either of them had gotten up, so Charlie figured that she could use a break.
The bedroom door clicked shut behind Sam as he stood.
The coffee pot had been emptied less than an hour ago between the two of them, but he was still in desperate need of that sweet, sweet hit of caffeine, so he set about getting another started.
A quick check of the time and Charlie couldn’t help but groan. Only noon.
He leaned against the counter, about to stare off into the distance with the remaining bout of energy he had for the moment when his phone began to ring.
Peter’s name flashed on the screen. The last time he’d talked to any of his family had been when he and Tyler had argued days prior, so he wasn’t exactly keen for whatever lecture Peter had prepared about getting more involved in the charity. But he picked the phone up anyway.
“Surprised you even picked up,” Peter said quickly. “Figured you were still screening family calls.”
Charlie rolled his eyes and sank back onto the couch. “Doesn’t make you any less persistent.”
Peter tsked. “I’m hurt, little brother.”
“I’m more trying to ignore Tyler right now, so… no offense.”
“None taken… this time. Tyler’s pissed at everyone right now. You know how he gets. But you know he’s only trying to do what he can to help mom and dad for the—”
“Can you spare the lecture today, Peter?” Charlie asked sharply. “I’m not in the mood to—”
“No lecture from me on that,” his brother interrupted. “Tyler will come around when he’s not in such a mood. But I wasn’t calling about that, anyway. I was calling to check in on Sam. How’s she doing? What updates have you gotten about the perv?”
Charlie froze. “Who told you about—”
“Angel called me.”
Of course she had.
“I would’ve thought that you would have told me what was going on before Angel had to call me about it,” Peter added.
Charlie gritted his teeth. “I’ve got things under control.”
Peter chuckled. “Yeah, I’m sure you do, knowing you—probably locked down tighter than Fort Knox over there.”
“Just,” Charlie started before lowering his volume, “just don’t tell anyone else right now, okay? Sam already hates that I’m involved in all of this. The last thing I need is to stress her out even more with everyone else coming in and fussing.”
“I won’t. I just wanted to make sure the two of you were okay.”
“We’re fine. Just… getting by for now.”
Peter sighed. “You getting any sleep at least?”
Charlie rubbed the back of his neck. The usual brotherly antics, Charlie was used to. But he had to admit that hearing the genuine concern in Peter’s voice stirred a lot of memories he’d rather not deal with at the moment.
“Enough.”
Another chuckle. “Which means little to none with you.”
“I’ve got things under control,” he protested again, weakly this time.
“I know you do, but I know you, so I know you aren’t sleeping worth shit right now,” Peter said gently.
Charlie chuckled. “How could you possibly know that?”
“You seem to forget we shared a room for nearly eighteen years. You’ve always been that way,” Peter said.
“You remember when Mom and Dad had that big fight back when we were kids? It was a few nights before Christmas, and it woke us all up, so we tiptoed to the top of the staircase to listen? They made up right afterward, but you didn’t sleep for like three days after. ”
A smile tugged at the corners of Charlie’s lips. “You remember the weirdest things.”
Peter chuckled again on the other end. “I remember sharing a bedroom with you two idiots, so when you didn’t sleep, none of us slept… You didn’t sleep more than five minutes at a time for months after Erica died.”
At the mention of her name, Charlie felt his entire body tense, abruptly rubbing his sleep-soaked eyes. “Not this again. Is that why you’re checking in? Because you thought I’d go off the rails like I did back then?”
Peter sighed. “No, you’re a grown-ass adult. I know how much you care about Sam, and… well, you can see where my line of thought went.”
Charlie understood, but that didn’t make the sting lessen any. At neither the reminder of it nor the implication that he had anything less than a one hundred percent handle on the situation.
Charlie scoffed. “Don’t pull the older brother card on me now. I’m bigger than you.”
“Alright, just because I’m not built like a fucking human battering ram like you and Dad are doesn’t mean I can’t still kick your ass if I needed to,” Peter stated firmly, though he couldn’t seem to hide the touch of humor in his voice, which only managed to irritate Charlie further.
“I’d like to see you try,” Charlie challenged but deflated almost as quickly, knowing he wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone his brother. Even if he did like to push his buttons.
“Look,” Peter said slowly, “I just don’t want to see you torture yourself like you did last time.”
He shook his head. “It’s not the same.”
“No, you’re right. It’s not. You couldn’t stop what happened with Erica, but you think you can with Sam? Tell me I’m wrong.”
“Please don’t start with me on this again—”
“You and Erica had that weird twin telepathy thing going on—” Peter said abruptly, the shift forcing Charlie’s system to short circuit temporarily. “—always creeped me out how you two could always say what the other was thinking so accurately.”
A strangled sound escaped Charlie, reverberating around in his chest in a way that made each breath feel strangled.
He knew what Peter was doing. It was what he’d been trying to do for so long that Charlie had lost count.
“We were thick as thieves for a long time,” he finally agreed. “Though, Erica used to joke that because we were fraternal twins, it wasn’t the same.”
Peter chuckled. “She definitely had a mind of her own, that’s for sure.”
“Much to Mom and Dad’s chagrin.”
Another laugh. “Yeah, you remember that time when she tried to convince all of us that we should go camping on the roof of the house? Because she wanted to be as close to the stars as she possibly could?”
Oh yeah, Charlie remembered.
And he remembered how angry his father had been when they’d tried to start a campfire up there.
The coffee pot dinged next to him, his anchor to reality. He blinked a few times and grabbed the pot, tucking his phone between his ear and shoulder as he grabbed his cup and headed back to the couch.
“I remember how we all managed to get grounded for a week, but Erica managed to only get two days,” Charlie said. “She really wasn’t afraid of anything.”
The tightness in his chest threatened to suffocate him, but he cleared his throat in an attempt to ease the pressure.
“Time is supposed to heal all wounds, but… I don’t know.
I feel like it hasn’t. I still miss her every day,” Peter admitted, something that surprised Charlie more than anything, but he decided not to comment on it.
As much as everyone gave him a hard time about opening up, this was the first time he’d heard Peter say anything about it.
Charlie cleared his throat. “Me too.”
“Charlie… You’re doing the best you can to make sure Sam is safe,” Peter added carefully. “She’s not Erica… Don’t run yourself into the ground over something that wasn’t your fault.”
“I know,” he lied, still feeling that ache deep in his chest that said otherwise.
“Sam’s a wildcat either way, so I don’t expect that she’d go down without a fight.”
Charlie chuckled. “Yeah, you know how she is.”
“Not as well as you do, it seems,” Peter replied. “There was another little detail Angel added when we were on the phone—something for Sam’s book?”
Oh no, he absolutely wasn’t about to go there with Peter.
“Is there anything else you need?” Charlie huffed.
“Fine, cranky pants. But at least let me know if you guys need anything, huh?”
Charlie snorted. “I will.”
“Good. Go get some sleep, Charlie. You sound exhausted.”
Charlie rolled his eyes. “Okay, Dad. Goodbye.”
He ended the call and tossed his phone onto the seat next to him. He felt weary from the conversation, which was truly a statement considering how exhausted he’d already been.
Sam sauntered back into the living room with a smile. “Who was that?”
“Peter.”
“How’s he doing?”
Charlie rolled his eyes. “Being a giant pain in my ass, so, you know, the usual.”
“Was he giving you a hard time about the auction? He mentioned he had a date, too, so he won’t have to participate either, but he wouldn’t tell me.”
Charlie raised an eyebrow at her. “You’ve been talking to my brother?”
She shrugged as she lowered herself back into her seat. “I texted him, joking about Angel staying with him when she gets in town for her conference. She wouldn’t tell me who, but he’s the only other person I could think of who she would stay with.”
“You think he’s taking her as his date?” Charlie asked. It wouldn’t surprise him if he did. It was far from the first time that he’d suspected Peter had a thing for Angel, but he kept that to himself.
Sam scrunched her nose. “I don’t think so. She would have told me if she was going. And, more to the point, she’d already have an itinerary a mile long of all the shopping we would have to do to prepare.”
Charlie laughed. “True, though you probably do need to get something for it yourself soon, don’t you?”