Page 9 of Love in Tandem
Dumb question. Of course, she was still around. Half the reason her relationship with his brother didn’t work out was because she refused to leave Bailey Springs. The other half of the reason was because his brother was an idiot.
And now that idiot was marrying Shannon instead.
Rick must not have heard his question about Charlotte. Sounded like he and Kate had entered a serious debate about how much salsa consumption it took to kill a person. “You are not going back inside for more,” Rick said.
A truck tooted its horn behind Zach, a line of vehicles starting to form. Zach flipped down his visor. “I’ve got to hit the road. I’ll talk to you later and we can work out the details for the trip.”
“Awesome. Thanks again. And hey man, have fun at the wedding.”
Zach ended the call with a grunt. Rick might as well have told him to have fun wrestling alligators in the Everglades.
No sooner had Charlotte closed the front door to her yellow bungalow house full of charm—or in need of renovation, if one didn’t find stained carpets, bad plumbing, and outdated appliances particularly charming—than Sophia burst through the door behind her, flinging a purse, shoes, scarf, and possibly an earring across the small entryway.
“Spill it,” Sophia said, slamming the door shut.
Charlotte’s cat, Patches, leapt from the couch and fled down the hallway in a blur of gray, no doubt seeking sanctuary beneath Charlotte’s bed.
“I thought you had to get to work,” Charlotte said, watching her sister rush past.
“Not until I hear about this mystery person you’re supposedly seeing this weekend.” Sophia started stripping off clothes on her way to the bathroom, leaving the door open as she talked. “Does he by any chance go by the name Frankie?”
“How’d you know?”
“Please, I’m not only a master amateur sleuth who’s watched every season of Psych at least seven times, I’m your sister. I know your coping mechanisms whenever you get stressed. Now, speaking of stressed, we need to make a plan before it’s too late. Right now. Today.” Fabric rustled and her jeans sailed out the door. Next came her T-shirt.
Charlotte scooped them from the floor. “Nope. Not today. I’m officially starting a heartbreak sabbatical, and I refuse to make plans or think about anything to do with my job until next week.”
“Job? Who said anything about your job?” Sophia jutted halfway through the doorway, buttoning up a white long-sleeve collared shirt. “I’m talking about Mom and Dad. Didn’t you hear them? They’re having issues, Charlotte. Issues. Everybody knows in married life that’s code talk for divorce.”
Oh, for Pete’s sake. Charlotte loved her sister, but the girl could find more drama reading a coffee maker manual than most people found watching an entire season of The Real Housewives. “I promise you Mom and Dad aren’t getting a divorce. They’re fine.”
Sophia sped out of the bathroom, tucking her white shirt into black slacks as she jammed on one black shoe after the other. “If they’re fine, why were they acting so weird, huh? Admit it, something was off. Mom hardly touched her food. Dad couldn’t stop rubbing his hands together. You saw it. I saw it. I’m telling you, we need to do an intervention.”
Charlotte folded her arms and leaned against the back of the couch. No way did she believe for one second her parents were contemplating divorce. But she couldn’t deny they had been acting a little weird, especially about the whole money issue. All right, she’d humor her sister. “What sort of intervention?”
“Something big. Something Hayley Mills–like.”
And now she was done humoring her sister. “Not sure The Parent Trap should be our guiding light when it comes to marital issues.”
“Well, what do you suggest then?” Sophia grabbed her giant tote bag of a purse and began shoving the wreckage of her tornado costume change into it. “Have you even thought about what a divorce would mean for us? Who are we going to spend our Christmases with? What, one of us goes to Mom’s and the other goes to Dad’s? Dad doesn’t know how to cook. I don’t want to eat takeout on Christmas. And I don’t want to split the day between parents. I want to stay in my pajamas all day. Don’t you want to stay in your pajamas all day?”
“Of course I want to stay in my pajamas all day.”
“Then we need to do something for the sake of our pajamas if nothing else.”
Charlotte opened the door, ready to end this ridiculous conversation. She had enough on her plate without catering to her sister’s delusions. “Sophia, I’m just going to be straight with you. My job is not as stable as I made it sound. If I don’t focus on figuring out how to raise enough money for an entire music program before August, I’m going to have to search for a job somewhere else. Do you know how hard it will be to find a music teaching position I’m qualified for? I only have my associate’s degree. I was lucky to even get a part-time job here. If I lose it, I’ll either need to go back for more schooling, which I can’t afford, or move to some remote town in the middle of Wyoming where I’ll get snowed in every winter and never make it home for Christmas at all.”
Sophia hitched her bag onto her shoulder. “Have you considered bingo? I overheard Arlene at church say she made four hundred dollars in one night. Of course, I think she said something about losing eight hundred the previous week.”
Charlotte held the door wider. “Don’t you need to get to work and save some lives?”
Sophia glanced at her Mickey Mouse watch, a Christmas gift Will gave her years ago that she still wore every day. “I do. Though I’d hardly call delivering meal trays to patients with no appetites lifesaving work.” She sighed and grabbed Charlotte’s wrist. “Promise to keep thinking about how to save Mom and Dad’s marriage, and I’ll keep thinking about how to raise money for your music program. Deal?”
“As long as your ideas don’t involve lottery tickets or slot machines.” Though the idea of spending another summer swamped in fundraisers made Charlotte consider the idea of betting on horse racing.
Adjusting her tote on her shoulder, Sophia headed to the door. “Too bad you and Frankie Avalon aren’t a real item. I hear A. P. Hopkins is offering a bunch of money to a couple who can complete some sort of challenge in ten days. Sounds like a crock if you ask me. But hey, so is your relationship with Frankie. So maybe it’s the perfect solution.” She winked and pulled Charlotte into a hug. “Hang in there, Sis. We’ll figure something out.”
Charlotte smiled and waved her sister off the front porch. “Of course we will.”
