Chapter Twenty-Four
LILY
“Ican help,” Charlie said, “it's the least I can do for showing up uninvited and unannounced.”
“I don't mind, you're more than welcome,” I said automatically, before realizing that it was true.
I was curious. It was clear that Griffen and Lucas were more than co-workers, Charlie more than a co-worker's wife. They were friends. Good friends. I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to learn more about Knox by getting to know the people he cared about.
Charlie trailed behind me down the path to the cottage, her arms filled with folded towels. When the cottage came into sight, she exclaimed, “It's adorable! Is it original to the property, or did you build it?” Under her breath, she mumbled to herself, “Looks original. That roof is gorgeous.”
“It was here when we bought the land, and I talked my husband into renovating it. It's perfect, isn't it?”
Charlie followed me inside, taking in every detail from the fireplace to the rustic furniture. She dumped the towels on the bed and circled the room. “Lucas and I flip houses,” she said, explaining her interest.
“I thought Lucas was a computer expert at Sinclair Security.”
“He is. He's been very part-time these days with the renovations. Things have been busy at Sinclair. I have my contractor's license, so I manage most of our work. I bet this was fun. I'd love to get my hands on something like this. You did a great job bringing it back to life.”
“Thanks.” A warm glow spread through me at her praise. I loved the little cottage. “Knox thought since you and Lucas hadn't seen each other in over a week, you might want some privacy.”
“Much appreciated,” Charlie agreed, moving her stack of towels to the bathroom and coming over to help me remake the bed with fresh sheets.
“Lucas doesn't travel often. Not like he used to before we were together, but every once in a while, he goes out of town on a longer trip.
This one felt like it lasted forever. Then, just when he got back, Evers' thing happened. He never even made it home. Ran into Cooper in the parking garage. They worked around-the-clock on that, and by the time he got home last night he fell right into bed.”
She paused and thought for a second before she corrected, “Well, not right into bed but, you know. Close enough.”
I thought about the way Lucas Jackson had hugged his wife. I imagined he'd found the energy to make up for their time apart before he'd passed out the night before.
“How many houses do you usually work on at the same time?” I asked. I'd never met anyone who flipped houses for a living, and after my small experience with the cottage, I was interested to know what it was like to do the same thing on a much larger scale.
I also hadn't missed Knox calling Charlie nosy.
She seemed nice, someone I'd love to be friends with under different circumstances.
The fact was, I didn't know how much of my situation was confidential and how much wasn't. Of the parts that were my story alone, I couldn't think of any I was willing to share.
The uncertainty with Adam's birth certificate.
My bad marriage and the death of my husband.
My estrangement from my parents.
Whatever the heck was going on with Deputy Dave.
It had taken me over a week to talk about any of that with Knox. However nice Charlie seemed, I wasn't spilling my guts after five minutes of pleasant conversation.
Charlie took the bait, and it wasn't hard to keep her talking, especially since so much of her life was intertwined with the Sinclairs. I never would have guessed Charlie Jackson was born Charlie Winters, the youngest daughter in the notorious, scandalous Winters family.
The Winters were American royalty, and the family company, Winters, Inc.
, seemed to own half the world. I couldn't imagine Charlie Winters needed to work.
I was shocked when she admitted she'd been an executive at Winters, Inc.
until her brother, Aiden Winters, CEO of Winters, Inc.
, had called her into his office and fired her.
I couldn't imagine getting fired by my own family. I thought of my father and changed my mind. I could totally imagine my father firing me. He'd cut me off for marrying Trey, hadn't he? Still, Charlie's older brother sounded like he was devoted to her.
“He said I wasn't happy. Controlling jerk,” she laughed with clear affection.
“I moved out of the family house into this rundown heap I'd bought in the Highlands—even though I had no clue what I was going to do with it—and discovered Lucas Jackson living right next door.
Aiden never fails to remind me that I never would have met Lucas if he hadn't fired me.”
“You and your brother are okay now? You're not still mad?”
Charlie looked surprised at the concept of holding a grudge against her brother. “Mad at Aiden? Not anymore. That was two years ago. He apologized, and I got him back. Aiden practically raised me. I can't stay mad at him for long.”
“How did you get him back?”
Charlie hesitated before saying, “Um, it was a little…immature, but, well, Aiden likes whiskey. Really, really expensive whiskey. He won this bottle of Macallan Select Reserve Single Malt in an auction. After he fired me, when I moved out, I stole the whiskey.”
“How expensive was it?” I asked, wondering why she looked embarrassed. How expensive could a bottle of whiskey be?
Another of those hums in the back of her throat. “Between the whiskey and the special edition decanter… Let's just say I could have sold them and bought a pretty nice car.”
“Wow.” That was all I could say. There was whiskey that was worth more than a car? Between growing up in a town filled with Ivy League college kids and marrying Trey, I thought I knew about life with the upper crust. Clearly, I'd missed some things.
“Did you drink it all?”
Charlie grinned. “I shared it with Lucas. Then I jumped him on my back porch. Totally worth it.”
Ending up with a man who loved you like Lucas seemed to love Charlie would definitely be worth it.
Finished with the cottage, we walked back to the main house. Charlie took in all the details of Trey's dream house as we headed up to the rarely used guest room.
“This is the complete opposite of the cottage,” she commented.
“I know. Trey, my husband, designed it. He loved it.”
“But not you?” she asked.
I refolded a towel, not wanting to think about Trey and how much I hated this house. “The cottage is more my style.”
“Then you're going to love Knox's place.”
I wanted to ask for more details, my heart taking off in my chest at her assurance that I'd ever see Knox's house. I was afraid to assume too much. Too soon, Lily, I reminded myself.
Since Charlie didn't mind talking, I asked, “How long have you known Knox?”
Charlie shot me a shrewd glance over the sheet we stretched across the guest bed. She knew when she was being pumped for information.
“Since I was born. His dad and my dad were best friends. We all grew up together. Knox is like another big brother. We always got along well when I was little. Evers and Axel liked to tease, and Cooper was so serious, but Knox was patient with us little kids.”
“I've noticed that. His patience. How much older is he?”
“Ten years. He's Aiden's age. They're tight, Aiden, my other brother Jacob, and my cousins Gage, Vance, and Annalise. They're all around the same age as Cooper, Evers, Knox, and Axel.”
Knox poked his head into the room. “You telling Lily all my secrets?”
Charlie laughed, the sound comfortable. Confident. This was a woman who knew she was loved. Knew she had a place in the world. I'd only known her an hour, but I liked her a lot. I envied her even more.
Charlie shot Knox a wink. “Not yet. I'm saving your secrets for later.”
“How about you tell her the good stories and keep the bad ones to yourself?”
With exaggerated sincerity, she said, “I can't do that, Knox. I only have good stories about you.”
I sniggered. Charlie helped me spread the quilt across the bed and fold it down before she said, “Maybe I should tell her about that time with the spiders when you and Evers and Gage—”
“Not another word.” Knox shoved his hands into his pockets, looking a little sheepish. “First of all, I was thirteen. Second of all, the spider thing wasn't even you. It was Annalise, and she was ten. Ten and determined to keep up with the boys.”
“Yeah, you guys showed her,” Charlie said, skepticism heavy in her voice. Turning to angle Knox out of the conversation she said to me, “They put dead spiders inside her shoes. I was only three, but I swear I remember the screams. She was so mad. It took her a while, but she got them back.”
“What did she do?” I gave the pillows on the bed a final fluff.
Knox shuddered. “She hid a snake in my bed.”
“She did not,” Charlie countered. “She found a snakeskin in the woods and hid it under your pillow. Obviously, I couldn't hear those screams, but Cooper says they were impressive.”
“I did not scream. Much. Evers screamed louder.”
“That's because she snuck a dead mouse under his sheets. According to Ev, it was pretty gory.”
I looked between them, still jealous, but loving that Knox had this sprawling extended family, filled with pranks and teasing and affection. I'd spent so much of my life alone. Isolated. Not fitting in.
Wanting to hear more, I asked Charlie, “What else did he do?”
“Nothing,” Knox said with a glare for Charlie. “I was an angel. The perfect child. Ask anyone who isn't Charlie.”
“Actually, you're better off asking me. I was only kind of kidding before. Most of my stories about Knox are good ones. Now, if you wanted to know about my older brothers and cousins, I’ve got plenty of bad stories about that crew.”
“You have no idea, Charlie. You’re the baby. We all went easy on you. Tate and Holden—Charlie’s brother and cousin—are the youngest boys of all of us. They caught hell until they got big enough to fight back.”
“And the rest of you got old enough to stop being jackasses,” Charlie finished.
“When did we grow out of being jackasses?” Knox asked with a straight face. Charlie laughed so hard she snorted.
“Apparently not yet,” she said through her giggles.
Knox rolled his eyes to the ceiling once before saying to me, “Do you have enough food in the house for everyone? I can’t remember what there was before we left.”
I mentally inventoried my pantry and freezer. There wasn’t a lot left in the fridge. Enough for Knox, me, and Adam, but not when I added three more.
“Thanks for thinking of it, I do need to run to town. It won’t take me long.”
“I’m driving. Normally, I’d say these guys are good to watch Adam, but after last night—”
“What happened last night?” Charlie asked.
“He had a night terror,” I said slowly, not sure I wanted to talk about it, and unwilling to be rude to Charlie when she’d been so nice. “He seems fine today, but—”
“You don’t want to leave him alone. I get that. Knox is right, we wouldn’t mind watching him, but I understand wanting to keep him close. Tate had night terrors for a while after his parents died.”
“I remember,” Knox said solemnly.
I wanted to ask what they were talking about, but I didn’t have Charlie’s confidence. Asking felt too much like butting in.
Keeping my questions to myself, I checked my watch and realized we’d have to move fast to get to the store and be back in time to make dinner.
“I’ll get Adam and meet you at the car,” I said.
Knox nodded, and I started the all too lengthy process of prying Adam from his cartoon, ushering him to the bathroom and into his shoes.
Knox was ready to go when we got to the garage. Adam grabbed one of the coloring books I kept by his car seat and started to draw.
Seeing he wasn't paying us any attention, I asked in a low voice, “Why did Tate have nightmares?”