Page 155 of Happily Never After

“I can’t believe you made me do that.” She glared at her sister.

Brianna hesitated in the kitchen like a startled deer. She clearly wasn’t used to sibling blow-ups. Claire had seen more than her fair share from Charlie before she had left for college.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Claire asked gently, as if she was questioning a child who had just woken from a nightmare.

“It’s just—” Charlie paused to take in Luke’s foyer as if she hadn’t seen it before. “I like this flooring. Luke has good taste.”

“Well, obviously. He picked Claire, didn’t he?” Brianna called from the kitchen.

Charlie’s attention snapped to the kitchen. “Oh, good. Shots.” She strode into the kitchen like she owned the place. Her elbow lifted, head thrown back. Something glass clattered against the kitchen island. Then she strode over to the window above the kitchen sink and seemed to be composing her thoughts.

Brianna and Claire hurriedly took their shots and sat down at the kitchen table, where tall glasses of water were waiting. Claire’s throat burned from the whiskey. Was Charlie about to confess to running Jack over with her car? That would really put a damper on things.

A second later, Charlie spun back around to face them. She looked a little more composed.

“So?” Claire prompted. She pushed the chair across from her out with her foot. Charlie sank into it and took a big sip of water.

“We talked. I didn’t flip the table over.”

“Always a good start,” Claire said. “How do you feel about what you talked about?”

“I don’t know. He hurt me—and you and Mom of course. I know you guys have both somehow found a way to forgive him. But I had him for sixteen years. He was teaching me how to drive when he left. I never really learned how to parallel park. I almost rear-ended a Tesla last week.”

“Of course,” Claire said, reaching over to squeeze her sister’s hand. Roy had systematically taught Claire how to parallel park, and she could practically do it with her eyes closed. Maybe he could teach Charlie at the next uncomfortable family gathering. “It was different for you.”

Charlie stared at the ceiling. “I knew what it was like to have a stable, two-parent household. Even though they fought, at least they were both there. And then one day he just wasn’t. And everything changed. Our house, my responsibilities, everything shifted.”

“But he reached out to you?” Claire asked. She had only recently learned that Alice had hid years of birthday cards Jack had sent.

Charlie shrugged. “Here and there. He emailed and sometimes called, but he told me Mom got upset and made him stop. I guess after a while he got tired of trying. I didn’t really help things. I was so angry I never wanted to speak to him again.”

“For good reason. What he did was super shady,” Brianna said, throwing her own dad under the bus.

“Exactly. But there is a small possibility that I’m getting tired of being angry. I’ve been so focused on raising Ryan and making sure he never has to go through what I did that I didn’t stop to ask myself if he would want to meet his grandfather. And maybe I did him a real disservice.”

“You were protecting him,” Claire said. “It’s understandable.”

“Anyway,” Charlie said, shaking her head. “I told Jack he has one chance. If he screws it up, he’s right back in the mental dumpster. He’s going to come out for Christmas this year.”

“We can all come out if you think that’ll make it less awkward,” Claire said without thinking. Crap. She probably should have made sure Luke hadn’t already made holiday plans.

“I think this is something we should try just ourselves. You’re wonderful, but sometimes you can be too much of a buffer,” Charlie said, raising her eyebrows.

“That’s fair.” Something in Claire was glowing. Maybe, just maybe, her dream of a blended Hartley/Alejo family was becoming a reality. If only she could find the stick that was permanently lodged up Rachel’s ass, maybe she could whip Luke’s family into shape too.

“Do you want to drink a glass of wine and dance to some nineties music?” Claire asked when Charlie didn’t respond.

Charlie shoved herself back from the table and downed her glass of water. “Will there be costumes?”

“Obviously. Come on.” Claire led the charge upstairs.

Thanks to Claire’s cache of emergency disguises, the three of them were unrecognizable as they thrashed around the living room thirty minutes later.

Charlie, in a lime-green wig with matching lipstick, sang into an imaginary microphone while Claire and Brianna did backup dancing. Brianna wore denim overalls and a clown nose while Claire had slithered into a replica of Sandy’s final outfitfromGrease. The wine was flowing—definitely more than just one glass now, and Claire’s head was swimming pleasantly. She would do better at cutting back tomorrow.

At one point, Luke came down with his camera, but Claire chased him out.

Surrounded by her sisters, the warm feeling only grew. Because of her age gap with Charlie, Claire had practically been raised as an only child. Now that Happily Ever Afters had a branch in Los Angeles, maybe they could make up for lost time. Monthly dance parties, weekly dinners.

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