Page 23 of Just Like Home

Haley gave her boss a mock salute. “Hear you loud and clear, boss.”

Betsy smiled, shook her head, and walked away.

“Duty calls,” Haley said.

And then the conversation shifted back to Charlotte’s plans for the recital and the dance studio, and she didn’t get any of the dirt on the man whose truck she’d crashed into the day before.

Getting the flowers had been a sort of spur-of-the-moment idea, and one, it turned out, that seemed to have flopped. Ballet boys were always getting flowers, but she had a feeling it was different in the real world.

She drove across town now toward Lucy’s cottage, wishing she’d had the good sense to stay away from Cole Turner the Super Grouch in the first place.

7

Sunday morning, Charlotte woke up early because Lucy Fitzgerald didn’t seem to know how to get ready quietly.

Music blared from the bathroom while a slightly tone deaf Lucy sang along at the top of her lungs. Charlotte rolled over with a groan, but then, seconds later, the door to her bedroom opened.

“Sorry, Cee, I wouldn’t be a good friend if I didn’t invite you to church this morning.”

“Cee?” Charlotte opened her eyes, but her hair was covering the one that wasn’t covered by the pillow.

“Should I not call you that? I’m big into nicknames.”

“It’s fine,” Charlotte said.

“Good,” Lucy said. “So . . . do you want to come?”

“To church?” She rolled onto her back.

“Stupid idea? Forget I asked. Go back to sleep.” She started to close the bedroom door.

Charlotte sat up. “I’ve never been to church.”

Lucy stopped and stared at her. “Never?”

Charlotte didn’t want to think about all the things she’d never done. She wanted to try them all. Everything she’d missed out on, though she knew a senior prom was probably out of the question. She shook her head. “Marcia isn’t religious.”

“Marcia?”

“My mother.”

Lucy frowned. “You call your mother by her first name.”

Charlotte looked away. “She’s a very different kind of mother.”

“Well,” Lucy said, “you don’t have to be religious to go to church. Do you want to come?”

Charlotte shrugged. “I don’t really know.”

“That’s right. You haven’t been in the decision-making business long.”

“What’s it like?” Charlotte asked.

Lucy smiled. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

Charlotte gave her a nod. “Church. Okay. Let’s see if I’m a person who likes church.”

Lucy’s expression seemed to say “Okay, weirdo” but she quickly turned that face into a smile. “Bathroom’s all yours.” She started off down the hall but popped her head back in. “Oh, and Cee?”

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