Page 45 of From This Moment

Dylan started the car and headed back to their parents’ house.

Charlie sighed. “I’ve never been like that. She can just walk in a room and have everyone’s attention, and I don’t think she cares very much what people think about her either. She’s just happy with who she is.”

“Has she always been like that?” He was shamelessly questioning his sister about a woman he’d decided he needed to avoid.

“Pretty much, although when I first met her she was a bit more withdrawn.”

“You two close in school?”

“Kind of. I mean we were both Maggie’s friends, so we hung out.”

Dylan made a noise that said he understood. He then heard his sister sniff.

“Wh-what am I going to do, Dylan?”

“We’ll get to the bottom of it.”

Someone had stolen from Charlie, and that was bad, but for the first time in a long while, Dylan felt like he was close to someone, and that someone was one of his sisters.

“You get me that info, then I’ll make a call. We’ll go see Dad, and then go out for a meal or something.”

“I have no job. I need to watch my money.”

“I’ll pay, then you’ll owe me.”

“I just lost my job for something I didn’t do. Have a heart.”

“I’m a Howard, we don’t have those.”

Her laugh was genuine. Dylan then did something else he hadn’t done in ever... he reached across and grabbed his sister’s hand and squeezed it hard.

“It’s going to be okay, Charlie.”

Ava was sittingin the kitchen when they walked in. Her face screwed up in concentration as she stared at the small screen of her phone.

“Hey.”

She didn’t lift her eyes.

“Ava, don’t be rude. Dylan said hello.”

“Hello.” Ava looked up at Charlie’s words, then back down to her phone.

“Okay, I need you to write down those details for me, Charlie, and I’ll call my friend and see if there’s anything he can find out about what’s going on. Then we’ll go out for a meal. You want to come, Ava?”

“No.”

He saw the curiosity in her eyes. She wanted to know what was going on.

“Yes,” Charlie said. “If I have to suffer through a meal with a brother I don’t know, then so do you.”

“I’m twenty-three, I don’t have to do anything either of you say. Besides, I’m going out with Zander.”

She got out of her chair and stormed from the room.

“She was such a sweet child.”

“And we left her,” Charlie said. “Just like we left each other.”

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