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He ignores me, insisting, “You should understand it! I know what your father’s like. All the time I spent hanging around your sister before—”
Before our brother died, and Charlie moved elsewhere.
Ashley frowns at him. “You’re being an ass.”
The simple statement cuts Charlie off and surprises the both of us. He stares at her, sputtering. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” says Ashley. “You’re being an ass. Throwing a fit in the middle of the pub. You’re lucky we don’t have the people here kicking us all out.”
Charlie, for the first time, seems to realize that his voice had been raised. It’s amazing, the way that Ashley can get through to him. Then again, it’s also not a surprise.
Charlie’s my baby brother. It’s pretty much just sibling law that nothing I say is going to de-escalate the issue, whether he knows that I’m correct about something or not.
He jabs a finger at her. Ashley leans back and says, “Get a grip, Charlie.”
Then she turns and looks back at her drink, very pointedly picking it up and taking a long sip from it.
Without turning to look at Charlie again, she says, “I do know where you’re coming from. Which is why you should understand exactly why I suggested this whole thing.”
“You suggested it,” says Charlie. It sounds like that took all of the winds out of his sails. In a snap, he lost all of his ability to stay mad at me.
Shit, I love Ashley.
Snap again, and that thought pulls all of the wind out of my own sails, too.
“I did,” says Ashley. “It was my idea, not your brother’s. So if you’re going to be mad at someone—it should be my father, and no one else.”
Charlie looks between us for a moment, like he’s trying to find a way to fight back against that statement. Then he turns and storms over to his own table. I was right. It’s the one with three empty pint glasses.
He slams the cash for his tab down and then heads for the door, though he shoots us one last withering look over his shoulder as he goes. The door swings open when he pushes his shoulder into it, but it’s built to prevent drunk customers from slamming it shut.
Still, I can tell that Charlie tried his best to get that dramatic exit going. For a few moments, we just sit there next to each other.
“Well,” says Ashley, finally. “That could have gone better.”
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, with a shake of my head. “Charlie just… Loses himself sometimes.”
“Grant, he’s been at the pub drinking alone for over an hour, of course he’s going to lose himself for a bit,” says Ashley. “I know your brother. I’m not upset with him over it. I mean, I am—but I don’t blame him. Think about it. Just because we’ve gotten a way out, and my sister has… We sort of forgot about Charlie in this whole mess.”
My expression tightens. She’s right, but I don’t want to admit it.
“My dad, he’s more focused on me now than he is my sister. But that’s almost the opposite for the two of you.” Ashley shakes her head. “We didn’t think about the fact that Don would see you settling down and want that even more than before for Charlie. I moved the expectations off my sister but you…”
“Just pushed them even harder onto Charlie.” Groaning, I turn and bury my face in my hands. Ashley finishes off her pink strawberry martini and stands up, grabbing her purse and sliding the black leather strap over her shoulder. She places a hand on my shoulder, giving it the same reassuring squeeze that she did back at the hotel.
“Let me go talk to him,” says Ashley.
I frown at her. “What?”
“I mean it,” says Ashley. “We don’t want Charlie to go run off and confront your parents about this before he has a chance to cool down. I’m the one that brought the whole mess up here where someone could hear it, so I should be the one to fix it. Plus, I doubt he wants to listen to anything that you have to say right now. I’ll meet you back at the room.”
She’s right, and I know it. Charlie doesn’t want to look at me right now, let alone listen to a word that I have to say. There’s no choice but to let Ashley head out after my brother. All I can do is hope that she’s able to get Charlie to look at things in a different light. I wave the bartender over for another drink.
Whiskey on the rocks. At this point in the evening, I desperately need it.
Chapter eighteen
Ashley
