There. A small semblance of normalcy had finally woven its way towards them, a small joke that typically would have caused Charlie to slap him playfully on the arm and convince him to tell her exactly what he had consumed. Instead, her eyes found his, taking some comfort in the way his lips had turned up genuinely instead of forced, as they had since he’d been here. She moved when he did, going to the sink to tidy up what she could. She’d never been a fan of mess and had recently learned that there wouldn’t be anything to clean if there wasn’t anything dirtied. It had been yet another reason why the house looked untouched; some days she couldn’t get out of bed, and the ones she managed to she spent out in the barn. As much as she hated to admit it, Luke’s visit was the only time she could remember spending outside of her bedroom. [I]Their[/I] bedroom.

“Anna?” Charlie’s nose wrinkled slightly as she dried her hands, turning to Luke again. Her hip made contact with the counter as she rested there, crossing her arms. Last summer?

[I]The bedside table rattled with vibration, causing Charlie to crack open one eye and immediately look at the time. 3:05 in the morning, who the fuck would be calling her? She fought a groan as she propped herself up, sight clearing just enough to read her caller ID. She immediately grabbed the phone and looked at Sam, who was sound asleep and snoring. Charlie swore someone could be breaking in and the man would sleep through the racket.

“Hello?”

“Charlie.” She hated how rough his voice was, how it made her heart beat faster, how it made her carefully remove herself from the sheets and exit the room as quickly as possible. Had she ever heard him sound so sheepish? There was only one reason he’d be calling from ‘Hingham Valley Pol’ at this time of night.

“What the fuck did you do?” And then she listened. She could feel her stomach drop, anxiety coursing through her. She wouldn’t ask him if he was alright; he always was.

“Don’t tell Sam.”

Of course, ‘don’t tell Sam’. She would have lied through her teeth if her husband woke up and came to the door, asking who she was talking to. But he didn’t, and she tried to stifle the nervousness that had surfaced… like she was doing something wrong. “Give me twenty minutes.”[/I]

Last summer. “Oh.”

Her brother-in-law, defending her honor. There shouldn’t have been anything to defend, and she certainly should have never accompanied him into town as much as she did. To the hair place, the grocery store. Never should have been seen laughing with him, or putting a ‘friendly’ arm through his as they walked.  “Thank you,” Charlie managed, grabbing the plate and once more moving towards the chairs at the island again. She couldn’t sit at the table where she and Sam had dinner every night, breakfast every morning. She picked at the food, not yet able to bring herself to eat. How could it smell so good and yet so nauseating at the same time?

“She came out, you know. When…” Her voice trailed off. “I forgot you always had a thing for her.” She never pried into Luke’s love life, though she was aware nothing ever seemed to last for him. He’d never seemed the type to settle down, unlike his brother.  “I bet she wouldn’t say no if you wanted to take her for dinner sometime. Since you’ll be here for awhile.”

The words slipped out before she could think about what she was saying and immediately her stomach turned. There had been times where she and Sam had suggested he go on more dates, find someone that could tame him… and each time, she’d felt the same knot develop. Charlie could still remember the time he'd brought a girl home and she could hear the telltale sound of the headboard hitting the wall. Had that been Anna? She could also easily recall how jealousy had reared without warning and that she had told Luke her house wasn't a brothel.