Chapter 28
CHARLIE
Looking out over the playground in the park, I watch as Charlotte entertains herself on the swings, a little envious of the days when it took so little to entertain myself.
I miss being a kid. Things were certainly simpler and easier back then. Neither Bonnie nor Jace had the shadows in their eyes they have now, each for different reasons; one warring with her past, the other his mind.
I didn’t know what it was like to have my heart broken, to lose them and Mitchell…well, I really don’t know. I’m sure he’s seen some haunting shit over the years doing what he does.
We talked for hours, getting to know each other all day, and yet…I feel like I didn’t learn anything at all about him. He definitely walked away knowing more about us than we did of him.
“You seem quiet.” Bonnie gestures to Jace sitting beside me.
We haven’t been here long, only about twenty minutes, just talking about little shit, nothing too important or deep.
Stuff like what we’re doing for a living, how my parents are, easy stuff and whilst Jace has been engaged in conversation, she’s right. His mind is elsewhere.
Catching his attention, I tilt my head every so slightly, my brows twitching in question, asking without words if he’s alright.
He rolls his lips, his eye twitching almost imperceptibly as he swallows before his head jerks slightly down.
He’s okay for now, but he’s starting to struggle.
I nod back, letting him know I understand.
When he starts fidgeting under the table, his knee bouncing and twisting his ring, I make a note to ask him if he wants to go for a run this evening.
“I’m good…Just, um…there was this lady this morning. She knew my mum and dad back in the day,” he explains, recapping everything she told us.
“Guess flower thievery is genetic,” Bonnie quips, her joke pretty similar to mine. “Though, I doubt your dad got an arse full of thorns.” We all laugh at that, drawing Charlotte’s attention.
“Watch this!” she calls, jumping off the swing midair, landing with her arms raised in triumph before she bows and races to the monkey bars.
“She reminds me of you, you now,” I say turning to Bonnie.
“Mm, she’s the spitting image of you,” Jace adds.
“I don’t know about that. Sometimes I think she looks more like…” Like her ex-husband. Bonnie clears her throat, shaking her head and picking at her nails. Not wanting the mood to drop, I fish out my phone.
“No way, she’s a dead ringer for you and I can prove it.” Unlocking the phone, I pull up the album I had digitised a few years ago of all the photos of the three of us as kids and early teens.
“Proof,” I say, turning the phone after finding the image I had in mind. In it, Bonnie is about six years old, dangling from the monkey bars and smiling wide for the camera with one of her teeth missing after she stumbled her landing when she jumped off the swing.
“Oh my God.” Bonnie slowly reaches out and takes the phone, staring down at the image on the screen, her eyes misting over.
I watch as her thumb swipes through the images until she gets to a close up of the three of us with our arms around each other.
“That looks like me.” Charlotte appears out of nowhere, standing on the tip of her toes, looking at the screen. “Is that you Mum?”
“Yeah baby, that’s me.” Charlotte climbs up into her mother’s lap and the two of them, plus Mitchell, resume scrolling.
“Why are you covered in cake?” Bonnie, Jace and I share a laugh, the other two looking at us questioningly which just sets us off again.
“That’d be my fault.” I scratch the back of my neck, when our laughter settles down. “My family has this nontraditional, tradition of-”
Bonnie snorts. “Fancy way of trying to say they like to have food fights with their birthday cakes.”
We continue on like that, scrolling through photos and telling the stories behind them to the other two until there’s no more left and the sun has started setting.
“Shit, I didn’t realise the time.” Bonnie hands me my phone, and I reluctantly take it. Together we all stand and make our way back to the school where their car is.
We’re quiet most of the way, Charlotte dancing between the four of us and taking turns swinging our hands back and forth.
“So, where are you guys staying?” Bonnie breaks the silence as we make it back to their car.
“Um, in the RV down by the river,” I answer, scratching the back of my neck.
Mitchell opens the back door for Charlotte, but before she climbs in she turns to us. “Will you guys be here tomorrow?” There’s a vulnerability in her voice that tugs at my heart and my eyes flick to Bonnie.
She gives me an encouraging smile, and I return it, not looking away as I answer her daughter’s question. “Nothing in this world could stop me.”
Bonnie’s cheeks turn a light pink, and she ushers her daughter inside, making sure she’s buckled in before turning to us. “Would you…maybe want to grab a coffee or something tomorrow?”
In her posts, she mentioned rarely leaving the house except for school runs and I can’t help but wonder if yesterday was her first attempt. The same day we arrived in town.
Like it was fate. I’ve always been a firm believer in the concept. After all, fate is what brought my dad back to my mum. It also brought Jace and Bonnie into my life.
Then again, it also took them out of it…
Mitchell stands behind Bonnie, waving a hand and giving us an expectant look as though to say, ‘answer her idiots’ and I clear my throat. “Um, yes. Yes, we’d love that.”
“Okay,” she says slowly, nodding her head and licking her lips. “How about after we drop Charlotte off in the morning? Or lunch if that’s too early-”
“It’s not too early.” Jace nudges my side, and I quickly agree, repeating his statement.
Mitchell snorts and when I look his way, he gives me a small smile – at least, I think that’s a smile. “See you tomorrow,” he says, rounding the car and climbing into the driver’s seat.
“Tomorrow,” Bonnie repeats before following suit. Once inside, she winds down the window and after another round of goodbyes, they take off.
Rubbing my chest, we watch as they get further away. “Tomorrow,” Jace echoes and I take the hand he offers me, heading back to the RV.