Page 24 of Charlie and Her Sweet Escape
“You don’t have to do this,” Charlie said to me while Rosie ran to my bedroom. Her brows were drawn low over her long-lashed eyes, full of concern.
I shrugged. “I don’t mind.” In fact, it might be kind of fun. Become a parody of Greg. Discover the soul of Greg. The arrogant, selfish, never-take accountabilityessenceof Greg.
“Why are you frowning, then?”
Because just the thought of becoming like Greg sent a slimy shiver down my spine. I’d have to emphasize the good parts. The parts that appealed to Charlie. I was drawing a huge blank.
“Tell me something good about Greg,” I said as Rosie raced back into the room with my pillow. Before Charlie could standfully, Rosie was already stuffing a pillow under her backside. Charlie lost her balance and tumbled into me. I grabbed her arms as she face-planted into my chest.
“Ugh,” she groaned, the sound a warm, muffled rumble against my shirt that sent a warmer, hard-to-ignore rumble through my stomach.
I was just hungry. Very, very hungry.
For food.
“Sheesh, Rosie. Couldn’t wait a second?” Charlie said against my chest.
“No time to waste,” Rosie said, out of breath. “But this is good. You should snuggle like this during the video call.”
Charlie giggled nervously as she attempted to pull herself away from me and sit on the pillow. “He’s really focused and driven to succeed.”
“What?” I took her arms and helped her sit up straighter, breathing in the familiar sea-and-coconut scent of her hair.
“Some of Greg’s good qualities.” She blinked at me, and I struggled to lock away my urge to lean close and smell her again.
I tugged on the ends of her hair playfully instead, reverting back to annoying older brother tactics. “Still using Jo Bro Co shampoo?”
Her face turned a deep red. Jo Bro Co was what I’d called the short-lived Jonas Brothers’ branded coconut shampoo she’d been obsessed with the summer she turned eighteen. It had a picture of the three brothers on the label, which was probably all they had to do with the company. But Charlie had been convinced there was a chance they’d lovingly hand-poured every bottle. I’d taken her and Rosie in my boat to Ketchikan, where she’d bought every single bottle they had.
“This is the problem with knowing someone for so long. They know all the embarrassing details of your life,” she muttered.
I grinned, and she elbowed me in the ribs, but I could tell she was fighting a smile.
“It’s a different coconut shampoo, thank you very much.” She whipped her hair behind her shoulders. “Now it’s hand-poured by Harry Styles.”
I laughed in the kind of way I hadn’t in a long time. Before life got so gray and happiness so elusive. Charlie’s smile softened, and my stomach rumbled again as she stared at me. I’d had a decent-sized lunch, so all this rumbling was really unnecessary.
“Hello!” a tinny voice said. “Charlotte and Greg, nice to meet you.”
We whipped toward the laptop propped up on several books and saw a woman in a navy suit observing us through the screen. She appeared to be in her forties, and despite her wide smile, I would bet all the gas money I’d spent on boating to Ketchikan for Charlie’s Jo Bro Co collection that this woman was ruthless.
Rosie watched us with the same expression the wolf must have had before it tried to huff and puff all those houses down.
“Is the connection okay?” the woman asked. “Can you hear me?”
Rosie jumped up and down behind the screen, and I realized we were both completely frozen with nerves.Say something!Rosie mouthed.
“Hi,” Charlie squeaked. “Yes, we can hear you. It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too. I know we’ve spoken via email, but it’s great to put a face with some names. I’m Savannah Corrin, one of the casting directors for theWildseries.” She shuffled a few things around on the desk in front of her and turned on a tablet. “I’d love to start with our expectations if you’re asked to come on the show, and then I have some questions for you, and we can go from there.”
I nodded and cleared my throat obnoxiously, the way Greg did when he was about to say something he wanted us to think was really important but actually had zero substance. “We’re excited to almost die in the wild.” Why was I pitching my voice lower? Greg’s voice wasnotlower than mine.
Rosie looked like she was going to choke, her face turned so red with alarm.
Now Savannah was clearing her throat. “Well, we haven’t had a death yet!” she said with forced lightness.
Crap. I was a terrible actor. I tapped the top of Charlie’s hand in apology.
