Page 50 of The Charlie Method

CHARLIE:

Is it out?

LARS:

Yeah.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHARLOTTE

Imagine my glory at your table

AFTER MORE THAN A WEEK, ICAN SAY WITH A HIGH DEGREE OFcertainty that my biological brother is not interested in reaching out to me.

The Method told me I could live with that outcome, but…it still sucks.

I’ve never been an overly optimistic person. I’m not a cynic either. I suppose I’m just a realist. I recognize there’s going to be really great things that happen and not so great things that happen. But I can’t deny I was fully entrenched in the optimism camp with this one.

I truly believed he would want to meet me.

Faith knocks on my bedroom door on Wednesday evening, catching me mid–moping session. “Are you ready for the meeting?”

“No,” I say glumly.

“Well, I don’t mean figuratively, but, like, practically, are you ready to go downstairs, or do you need to pee or something?”

I climb off my neatly made bed and walk to the desk to grab my laptop and phone. “No, I’m fine. Let’s go.”

“What’s wrong?”

“He left me on read.”

“Who?”

“Bio bro.”

“Ah. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. Whatever.”

I smooth out the bottom of my white cashmere sweater. Faith always makes fun of me for how often I wear white. She has no idea how I manage to keep these things clean.

“No, it’s notfine, whatever,” she says in a firm voice, pulling me into her arms. “C’mere, Ms. Mopey.”

When I sag into her embrace, she rubs my shoulders in a comforting gesture.

“I’m sorry, babe. I know you really wanted this to work out. But just because he saw your message doesn’t mean he’s never going to respond. How long have you been on read?”

“Well, I sent the message ten days ago, and he read it nine days ago.”

“Oh.” She blinks. “Okay. Doesn’t bode well.”

I can’t help but laugh. “See?”

“Look, a week and a half isn’t unheard of for someone to not get back to you. But if he doesn’t, then he doesn’t. It’s his loss. You’re fantastic.”

“Iamfantastic.”

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