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I’m only about twenty minutes away from the hotel where the conference will be held, and I’ve still got thirty minutes until I need to be there. My arms are folded in front of me, resting on the railing that keeps people from accidentally toppling into the river.
A set of arms settles beside me. I realize it’s Charlie from the corner of my eye. “What are you doing out here?”
“Come on, Grant. We’re brothers. Did you really think that I wouldn’t be able to figure out where you had gone?” He reaches forward, tapping a hand against the outside of the rails. “You always go out to the water when you’re upset. I figured that this place is close enough to the conference hall -” He makes a wave with his hand. “Doesn’t matter. Point is, you can’t hide from me.”
“I wasn’t trying to hide from you,” I tell him, turning my gaze back on the water. Like everything in the city, it’s a little on the dark side. And it’s also not as pristine as the surface of the lake back home. A seagull flutters down to sit on the sidewalk at the base of the stairs leading down to the water.
“I know,” says Charlie. “You’re trying to hide from your fiancé.”
I frown. “Are you just here to give me a hard time about Ashley? Because I’m really not in the mood.”
“I could give you a hard time over it,” says Charlie. “And trust me, brother, there’s a part of me that really wants to do exactly that. I want to just—” He reaches out and grabs onto the back of my shirt, though he doesn’t actually pull. “Toss you over the rails and into the water.”
I squint at him, daring him to attempt it.
Charlie lets go of my shirt and smooths it back out. “But I’m going to be a bigger person, and let you walk into the meeting dry.”
“Thanks,” I tell him, a wry smile crossing my face. “What are you doing down here?”
“You know, when Thomas died—” Charlie starts.
I jerk away from the railing, so only one hand is curled over the top of it. “Hard stop. Why are we talking about Thomas?” And then, “I’m really not in the mood, Charlie.”
Charlie continues, like I didn’t even say anything, “Everything kind of went to shit in a big hurry. I mean, let’s not even talk about how Brooke works into it.”
“She’s a good kid, and she’s doing okay now,” I say.
“Yeah, she is. But I wasn’t thinking about that. It’s more that… You know, you stepped up for her a lot,” says Charlie. “And I’m wondering if that has something to do with this whole mess.”
“There isn’t a mess,” I try to counter, feeling a little embarrassed and a whole lot frustrated.
Charlie says, “Grant, Ashley came and talked to me. You’ve got her really freaked out. She’s worried that she messed up big time.”
Shit. Of course she’s worried.
I rake my hands through my hair, pushing it out of my face. “I don’t want her upset.”
“You left her in the hotel after she told you that she loved you,” Charlie tells me, voice dry as summer sand. “And you aren’t answering her calls. What did you think she was going to feel?”
I just stare at him. There’s no excuse for my behavior. Not really. But I also don’t know that I have it in me to fix it.
Charlie says, “I’m going to take a wild guess and say that it’s about Brooke. Am I right?”
“Partially,” I finally relent, after a few moments of Charlie just standing and staring at me. “We’re going to be late if we keep standing here.”
“Yep,” says Charlie. He reaches out and snatches my wrist, his grip tight. “So you’d better get talking or we’re going to end up missing the meeting.”
I try to pull my hand away but quickly decide it’s not worth making a scene. I debate for about ten seconds on not showing up to the meeting—but I’ve worked for this career too hard. I need to keep going. I’m too close to getting my position as CEO.
So I say, “Fine! Fine. Yes, it’s about Brooke! It’s about Brooke and Thomas, and— and I don’t want Brooke to feel ousted by me bringing someone else around. She’s already lost enough people.”
“I don’t think that’s it though,” says Charlie, but he lets go of my wrist. I take a step backwards, to make sure that he’s not able to grab me again.
I shake my hand out, and then rub at my wrist for a moment. The pad of my thumb presses against the side of my wrist. “It is.” A pause. I look at Charlie, and I have to come to terms with the fact that he’s not the same kid that he used to be.
That’s the mistake my dad keeps making. Just because Charlie isn’t the romantic sort looking to settle down, my dad acts as though he’s a kid. As though he’s never grown up. But I can see the difference. When Thomas died, Charlie took off. Suddenly, he was traveling to build business connections, and looking for anything, any girl, that he could distract himself with.
But he’s a different person now. He really is traveling for business, and not just to avoid dealing with something. And he’s here, confronting me on someone else’s behalf, even though it’s hard for him.
