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A second knock forced Charlotte to her feet. If the cops were coming back for her, she refused to cower in fear.
Standing tall, she straightened her hoodie and brushed sandwich crumbs o her sweatpants. With a flick of her neck, she moved her hair, still damp from being washed, o to the side, then opened the door.
“What are you doing here?” Charlotte blurted.
The last person she expected at her door was Alex. In a sharp blue suit and hair pinned back, she looked like she’d been somewhere important. At the threshold of her crappy little apartment, Alex was a glamorous Hollywood star.
“May I come in?” Alex asked, her tone gentle.
Charlotte took a step back and moved aside. “Yeah.”
ALEX’S HEART SANK. She hadn’t expected Charlotte to look so haggard. Her face was gaunt and her eyes bloodshot. She was sure Charlotte hadn’t eaten or slept in a week.
“Are you okay?” Alex stepped into the neat but outdated apartment. Charlotte dressed so well, she was surprised she’d never upgraded her furnishings.
“I’ll live,” she replied with a lopsided smile, but it didn’t reach her tired eyes. “Do you want something to drink?”
“No, thank you,” Alex said as she took a few short steps to Charlotte’s couch. “May I?”
“Sure,” she replied before reaching for the remote and turning o the television.
Together, they sat on Charlotte’s sti couch in silence.
“How are you really?” Alex asked again, unable to look away from Charlotte’s face, even though it steadily shattered her heart. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t get you out sooner.”
Charlotte furrowed her brow. “You got me out?”
“It was nothing.” She waved her away. “How did you end up in there? I couldn’t get any clear answers.” The o cial complaints her attorney filed might lead to something later, but they’d left Alex uncomfortably in the dark. It would all come to light as the corruption was investigated, she was sure, but she still needed to understand.
“Does it matter?” Charlotte asked, her voice strained. The exhaustion that clung to every word made Alex’s stomach hurt. “I said I didn’t know anything, and that story never changed, if that’s what your worried about.”
Alex hated the frozen gulf between them. The worse she felt for Charlotte, the harder it was to talk to her. “I’m not worried about that.”
Charlotte looked down at the fingernails she’d chewed down to nubs. How stressful had the last several weeks been for her?
Consumed by her own possible demise, Alex hadn’t imagined Charlotte would be in trouble. And in the moments she had thought about her, she’d figured that she’d brought it upon herself. Ironic, of course, that it had been the same reasoning that led Charlotte to sign up for the undercover job. They were both right, but only technically.
“So why are you here?” Charlotte asked as she sighed.
“Am I finally getting canned?”
Surprised by the hint of jest in her tone, Alex furrowed her brow. “Are you trying to talk yourself into getting fired so you can collect unemployment benefits?”
Charlotte’s smile was weak, but it heartened Alex just a little. It was the glimmer of what might be possible.
“What are you doing here?” Charlotte asked again.
“I don’t know,” she replied honestly, averting her gaze towards Charlotte’s little kitchen.
Did she practice any of her wonderful meals in there?
Guilt coiled around her heart. She should’ve insisted on coming over sooner. It had been so much easier to integrate Charlotte into her life. She’d never pushed to know hers. Had Alex just assumed that Charlotte preferred hers? Because it was better? Alex swallowed hard against
the shame bubbling up from her gut like acid reflux.
“Alex, I don’t expect you to forgive me,” Charlotte said softly. “I shouldn’t have so much as kissed you while this secret was sitting between us. That choice haunts me.” Her voice cracked, sending goosebumps skittering over Alex’s skin. “I doomed us.”
“I want to forgive you,” Alex admitted what she hadn’t been able to say to herself.
