Page 21 of Second Chance Savior

But somehow, I forced the feeling down. Hid it away, like that poster on the back of Charlie’s door.

I jogged down the stairs. In the kitchen, the McKinleys were dishing up their plates. Bacon and hash browns, sourdough toast that I had no doubt Mama McKinley had baked herself. Carafes of orange and grapefruit juice. I poured myself a glass, half of each.

There was chatter and laughter as they hip-checked one another, trying to reach the food. Ross was standing back, a little hesitant, but within a week he would be right there along with them.

The only person missing was Charlie.

I grabbed a plate and piled food onto it. Meanwhile, Ross asked the very thing I’d been wondering. “Where’s Charlotte?”

Tom pulled out a chair at the kitchen table for his wife, then sat down beside her. “She was up early to get to the archery range.”

The two little girls chanted “Grumpy Charlie!” while grinning at me. I winked back, leaning against the kitchen island to eat.

“Should I bring her a plate to the range?” Ross asked.

Beverly turned her maternal smile on him. “That’s sweet, but Charlotte ate already. She likes to do her own thing lately.”

“But tomorrow, we’re all going to head out nice and early together,” Tom said. “I’m taking you kids camping.”

The little girls cheered. Ross looked excited. I was less so, knowing it would take me away from my projects. But it was kind of him. The sort of thing dads were supposed to do. So I just said thanks and offered to help however I could.

After we cleaned up the breakfast dishes, and I swung the little girls around on my arms a few times on the porch, Ross said, “I’m heading to the archery range.”

“Cool. I’ll come too.”

“And us! We’re coming!” Cora and Megan shouted. They ran off, followed by the dogs, who went everywhere the girls did if they could help it.

Ross squinted at me. “Because you want to hang out with everyone? Or because you want to be a dick?”

“I can’t do both?”

He cursed, ready to stomp away, but I stopped him with a hand to his arm. “I was kidding.”

“I just want to have a nice time. This is the one chance we have during the year to get away from everything. Don’t spoil it.”

“Jeez, I won’t.”

I shouldn’t have been pushing his buttons anyway. I did love my brother. Even if I hated being shipped off this summer, the annual trip was still important to him.

And maybe…he was right. There was a peacefulness here. Agoodness.

“I’ll be nice. I promise.” I patted him on the shoulder.

“You’d better.”

Good behavior. I could manage this. Right?

At the range, Charlie was helping Megan and Cora set up to shoot. A cluster of arrows stuck out from a farther target. Clearly where Charlie had been practicing earlier. Impressive. Her skills had improved.

She smiled when she saw Ross, then shot me a glare. I almost winked, but I held it back.

Ross went to the shed where they kept the bows. He chose the target beside Charlie’s.

Meanwhile, I stood with my hands in my pockets while Grumpy Charlie coached her sisters. She didn’t have saintly patience. Far from it. I hadn’t given her that nickname for nothing. But her affection for her sisters was clear in the way she looked after them.

Charlie was the kind of person whose actions told you what you needed to know about her, even if her words didn’t. I’d always thought I was the same way.

Was that why Charlie and I clashed so much? Were we too alike? She probably would’ve argued I was wrong if I’d told her that.

---