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“I like my cereal crunchy. Too much milk and it goes soggy.”
“Oh. I like mine soupy.”
I flick my spoon, drying it the best I can, then hold it out to Charlie. “Cheers.”
An excited glint in her eye, she rips her spoon out of her half-eaten cereal, then licks it clean before clanking it against my spoon. One bite in, it dawns on me how natural this feels. I just touched my spoon to Charlie’s spit-spoon like a natural reflex. I used to never share food until Elise and Claire came into my life. I loved my family so much, all my boundaries crumbled.
“Did you spend the night?” Charlie asks.
I take my time chewing my large bite of cereal, trying to stall as I come up with a reasonable explanation. “Sort of.”
“You can’t sort of spend the night. You either did or didn’t.”
Dammit, Nate.That would’ve worked on a five-year-old. Charlie is much older. “Your sister and I are just friends.”
“You sure?” She shuts one eye while tilting her head. “I don’t think Spence likes you very much.”
“Oh? Why do you say that?”
Charlie stirs her cereal, turning her milk into a whirlpool. “Well, she tells all her friends that you don’t pay her enough to put up with you.”
I chuckle. “That’s probably true. What else?”
“Some other stuff I’m not allowed to repeat. We left our swear jar in Miami, but she still keeps tally in her head.” Charlie rolls her eyes so hard, her light blue irises completely disappear for a split second. “But if you have money on you, I’m open to betraying her for the right price.”
“I like you, Charlie. But unfortunately, I don’t have any cash on me,” I say between breathy huffs of laughter. I’m curious though. Spencer’s haughty insults are kind of a turn-on. I just want tohandlethat sassy mouth of hers. I wonder if Charlie would take Venmo.
“So, I heard you sing at House of Blues.”
At that, Charlie perks up in her chair and beams. “Was I good?”
“Way better than good. Where’d you learn to sing like that?”
She shrugs. “My mom said I just came out singing like a bird. I really love it. Spencer doesn’t let me sing in public, but as soon as I can get a job and afford my own cell phone, I’m going to get TikTok and post on there.”
“Spencer doesn’t let you have social media?”
Charlie shakes her head, wearing a bitter expression. “Nope.” She shows me her phone in a pink Hello Kitty case. “She blocked everything except music, games, and YouTube Kids. So annoying. All my friends at school have TikTok.”
“That’s not a good thing. Your sister loves you very much. She’s protecting you.”
“I know,” Charlie says, exaggerating the syllables. “That’s why I put up with her.”
Spencer’s logic makes more sense as I get to know Charlie. While she’s smart, charming, and talented, she’s also impressionable. Not to mention she’s eager to show off her skills. Getting tangled up with the music industry at her age would be like dangling a baby seal above chummed, shark-infested waters.
“That song you sang that night though, it was beautiful. I almost got married, and that was supposed to be our wedding song. It was nice to hear it again.”
Charlie’s face goes blank as she sucks in her bottom lip. Something set her off. Wordlessly, she goes back to half-heartedly poking at her cereal-sog.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“If you’re married, why are you spending the night with my sister?”
“I said Ialmostgot married. We’re not together anymore.”
“Why, what happened?”
I duck and dodge every time someone brings this up. The only people I mention Elise to are the people who were part of our life before the accident, and even then, I rarely make exceptions. There’s something so earnest about Charlie. Today, I don’t feel like telling one more lie.