Saving Charlie

Chapter 2

"I'll come to lunch." I agreed. Even if I'm ignored the whole time.

"Good. She'll be here shortly. We're going to Sullivan's." He adds, distastefully. Charlotte likes to eat there because of the healthy menu options. Two years ago, Peter suffered from a massive heart attack. She's been looking after him ever since.

That means she dictates what he eats and how much he exercises. She recently moved in with him, saying he doesn't take his health seriously enough. However, it doesn't stop him from sneaking a glass of scotch here and there. Right now, a delicious beverage.

"She's going to smell this on you." I warned, lifting my glass.

He reached into his pocket, taking out a red and white tin of breath mints. I laugh.

"It's not worth the risk. I'd hate to see her dump this hundred-year-old scotch down the drain."

Making a distressed sound, he drinks the last of his glass quickly and pops a breath mint in his mouth. A knock on the door has him shoving his glass into the bottom drawer of his desk. "Come in." He calls, loudly.

The door opens, "Hey, grandpa. Are you ready?" Charlotte asked, not looking up from her phone.

She looks so young. Younger than her twenty-six years. She always seems to have her long thick strawberry-blonde hair in a ponytail. She doesn't wear a lot of makeup, never any lipstick, yet her lips are continuously stained a deep red. Her dark blue v-neck sweater and tight skinny jeans never disappoint.

Feeling myself harden as I take in her perfect body, I look at my scotch glass and drink the contents and look back at her. Noticing the glass in my hand, she turned to glare at Peter.

"You've been drinking again, haven't you?" She asked.

" You know you can't drink with your medication." She scolds, moving closer to the desk looking for evidence of a glass.

"I did not." He adamantly denies.

"Braxton is drinking alone." I smirked, knowing she'd never believe that.

"I'm not stupid." She huffs.

Peter stood up and I set my empty glass on the desk, joining him.

"It was just a little." He replies, guiltily.

"I don't know why I even tried. You're determined to undermine all my hard work." She grumbles, unhappily.

"Because you love me." He responds, pinching her cheek. Walking to the door, he held it open for Charlotte.

"Too much, if you ask me." I said, walking out the door after her.

"No one did." Peter replied, smirking.

She turns slightly at the sound of my voice but doesn't look at me, she rarely does. "I hope you don't mind if I join you, Peter insisted." I told her.

She forces a small smile. I feel the anger, same as always when she refuses to give me a simple answer. Charlotte steps into the elevator first and Peter shakes his head at me. I glared at him, remembering what he told me earlier. Am I looking at her, heatedly?

I forced myself not to look at her the whole ride down to the lobby. A car parked at the curb is waiting to take us to the restaurant. I held the door open for her and Peter. After we get settled, my eyes beg to go to her, to take in everything about her. However, I

control myself by keeping busy and using my phone to respond to a few work e-mails.

"We're meeting a friend of mine at Sullivan's." I heard Charlotte tell Peter quietly.

A friend? I felt jealousy starting to course through my veins, but I continued my e-mail as if I hadn't heard.

"A friend?" Peter inquired, clearly intrigued.

"Yes, her name is Allison Grant. She's new at the hospital." She answers.

"That's great." He says, sounding a little relieved.

"Yeah, she's really nice. She called today and asked if I wanted to have lunch.

I told her I was meeting her and I asked if she wanted to join me. She's new to the area, I didn't want it to seem like I was dodging her." She explains, sounding somewhat guilty for not clearing it with him first.

The weekly lunches have been something Charlotte and Peter continued since she was in High School.

"Its fine, dear. The more the merrier. By the way, we're having a family dinner on Sunday."

"What for?" She questions, not sounding happy about the news.

"I just want to get everyone together. It's been over three months," Peter responded.

I can tell by the look on Charlotte's face it hasn't been long enough. Her older brother Keith and sister Brynn are notorious for asking for money and using Peter as their personal piggy bank. Keith works for the company as a low level employee, but never really strives for more. He's lazy, overly confident and not smart all together.

How Keith shares blood with Peter Henson, the most hardworking man I know, is beyond me. Brynn is a lot like Keith. She relies on her looks to make her want what she wants. Charlotte had no illusions about her siblings. I know she doesn't like them coming to Peter every time they need money. Even though she doesn't agree with her brother and sisters' laziness or Peter giving to them, she never says anything bad about her family and they rarely argue.

We pulled up to the restaurant and I opened the door, holding it for both Henson's. I get a quiet "Thank you" from Charlotte and we make our way inside.