Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96600 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96600 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“I’m kidding, I promise.” I wasn’t, but I didn’t see the harm in the white lie, if it helped her sleep at night in my mother’s incredibly haunted mansion. “What happened?”
“I ran into your niece, and we had a very funny misunderstanding.” Charlotte pushed her fork into the slice of cake. “Although, it wasn’t that funny until I realized it was a misunderstanding.”
“Do tell.”
Around a mouthful, which she covered with her hand, she said, “She asked me how I knew your sister’s ‘paramour’ Scott.”
I barked a laugh that drew stares from a few of the guests still lingering in the dining room. “Where did she get that idea?”
“I have no clue. And I even asked her to clarify, because I was like, well, maybe she doesn’t know what the word means.” She reached for a water glass, which may or may not have been hers during dinner. She was too absorbed in her cake to notice, and I was too high and absorbed in her story to mention it. Taking another bite, she mumbled, “She knows it means lover, though.”
“She’s so little, she probably doesn’t know what that means either,” I said, though hearing my sister and my best friend linked at all in a sentence like that was troubling.
“I mean, it’s nonsense,” Charlotte went on. “I heard Catherine and the guy doing it while you were with Scott in the foyer.”
Relief loosened a knot in my chest that I had been previously unaware of. Maybe it was hypocritical of me, considering I was fucking his sister, but the thought of my best friend and Catherine grossed me out miserably.
A thought occurred to me. “You know what? Briony gave us a big clue.”
Charlotte tilted her head in question.
“She confused your brother for the guy we’re looking for,” I went on, impressed with myself at putting the pieces together while I was as high as I was. “Now we know it’s a guy who looks like Scott.”
“Ooh, you’re right!” Charlotte said, then quickly covered her mouth to prevent spitting out crumbs. More subdued, she added, “So, a blond guy. She has a thing for blonds.”
“Tall blonds, about forty years old,” I added. “This narrows our search.”
“Maybe I should have interrogated her further, but I feel like talking to a child about adultery might be one of those mandated reporting situations.” Charlotte made a face. “Kids that age should not know that stuff.”
I shrugged uncomfortably. “I knew that stuff.”
Her fork paused between her plate and her mouth.
I wished she wouldn’t look at me with the pity written on her face.
“About my dad,” I clarified. “My mom didn’t cheat on him. Ever. But he always had his dick busy in someone.”
Charlotte set her fork down. “That must have sucked.”
“I didn’t know it was unusual. But it taught me about the kind of man I wanted to be. And that man is not one who is going to cheat on his wife.” I shook my head. “You know, if I ever have one.”
“Yeah, maybe if you meet that special someone, someday,” she said with a twinkle of humor in her eyes.
Happy to move away from the subject, I added, “And our kids aren’t going to know about any type of paramour. Except the Hayley Williams kind.”
“Our kids?”
Fuck my mouth. “I was kidding. I know we talked about that, and you didn’t—”
“Don’t freak out. It’s a thing people say. Like when they talk about their future spouses.” She waved a casual hand. “I don’t think you’re looking to seriously family plan while we’re high and eating cake at your mom’s birthday party.”
“Right.” Although, now that I’d said it, my brain latched on to it. We had briefly discussed children. Very briefly. And I’d said clearly that I didn’t want any.
But my mind flooded with images of Charlotte holding a baby, me helping a little version of her learn to ride a bicycle…
That was the THC talking.
“Anyway, I’m glad that isn’t the kind of life you’re looking for. The thing about your dad, I mean,” she added.
I pushed my chair back and stretched my aching leg out. I’d been ignoring my body too much over the weekend. Not even marijuana was touching the pain.
“The ball, the dancing, all of that? I’m not looking for that kind of life either.” I was looking for a pain pill and a place to put my feet up.
Light bulb.
“I just had a great idea,” I said. “Unless you’re into dancing with a bunch of strangers, why don’t we find Scott and ditch this party? We can hide in the movie theater, smoke, and actually enjoy ourselves.”
“The movie theater, huh?” she asked. “That totally normal thing most people have in their homes. Seriously, you want to cut out on your mom’s birthday?”
It hadn’t occurred to me that Charlotte might not want to. She’d put a lot of effort into the hair and the makeup and the dress. While I knew she’d been stressed about the night, maybe she’d been looking forward to parts of it.