Page 24 of Just Like Home

Charlotte met her eyes.

“No ballerina bun today, okay?”

Charlotte’s jaw opened slightly, as if to respond, but she quickly snapped it shut.

Lucy smiled. “Great. See you downstairs. We have to leave by eight forty-five.”

Charlotte hurried to get herself ready, aware that there was nothing in her luggage that would suffice for church clothes.

About five minutes before they were supposed to leave, Lucy appeared in the doorway. “Ready?”

Charlotte sat on the bed in her bra and underwear.

“Oh, sorry.” Embarrassment skittered across Lucy’s face.

Charlotte gave her body a quick glance and shrugged. “I’m a dancer, Lucy. I’m used to changing clothes in front of a whole company of people.”

“Why are you just sitting there?” the redhead asked. “We need to leave.”

Charlotte shrugged. “I don’t have anything to wear to church.”

“You must have something.” Lucy walked over to the small guest room closet and opened the door. Inside, she’d find yoga pants, leggings, dance tights, a couple of leotards, two pairs of cut-off jean shorts, cotton shorts, and a wide array of tank tops. “What is all this?”

Charlotte stood and faced her. “Those are my clothes.”

“These are, like, gym clothes.” Lucy dropped two handfuls of clothing onto the closet floor. “Don’t you have any real clothes?”

“I have several cocktail dresses,” Charlotte said. “But I left those all in Chicago.” She met Lucy’s dumbfounded expression. “What? I’m a dancer. I pretty much only needed dance clothes.”

“Okay, but dancers still, you know, have lives,” Lucy said. “What did you wear when you went out with your friends? Or on dates? Or to the movies or the opera or the museum?”

Charlotte turned away, the view of the lighthouse catching her eye out the window that overlooked the lake. “I didn’t do a lot of that.”

She could practically hear Lucy’s jaw drop. “You can’t tell me dancers don’t go out.”

“Dancers do all those things.” She faced Lucy. “But I didn’t.”

Lucy tossed the pair of jean shorts she was holding. “But you had dates and friends and fun parties to go to, right? I mean, I can remember Julianna telling me more than once about some of the amazing things you were doing in the city.”

“I might’ve exaggerated a little in my letters,” Charlotte cut in. “To make myself sound less pathetic.”

If Lucy was mad at this admission, she didn’t let on. Instead, a look of empathy washed over her face and Charlotte suddenly felt like she was twelve years old and Lucy was her all-knowing big sister.

“Come on, let’s find you something to wear,” Lucy said.

Charlotte took Lucy’s extended hand, and Lucy gave her a little tug, then led her into her room, where there was a less-beautiful view but a substantially larger closet.

Charlotte would’ve chosen the view every time.

“Here,” Lucy said, holding up a cute turquoise sundress. “It’ll be too big for you, but we can cinch it with a belt.” She thrust the dress toward Charlotte and then went back to her closet, emerging seconds later with a thick red belt. “Don’t just stand there, we’re going to be late.”

“Are you sure I shouldn’t have a less-flashy belt?” Charlotte asked, tossing her wavy hair behind her shoulder. She rarely wore her hair down, out of habit mostly, so it made sense that after only a few minutes, she was ready to throw it up into her trademark bun.

“It’s church, not a convent,” Lucy said.

Charlotte frowned. She took the belt from her friend, wrapped it around her waist, moved it to the very last hole, and suddenly the dress fit like a dream.

“You really need to eat more carbs,” Lucy said with an eye roll.

---