Page 86 of Charlie
“Aunt Liv.” Nathan smiled. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
I held out my hand. “All right, then let’s make a pact. From now on I’ll be your crazy but fun aunt, whom you can always call if you need to be pulled out of a pond or something.”
Nathan placed his hand on top of mine, and River sandwiched our hands with her right palm under my hand and her left palm on top of Nathan’s.
“Family for life on three. One, two, three...”
“Family for life.” We all said it loud and clear.
Nathan fell asleep less than half an hour later, his body and mind exhausted from the stress he had been through.
River and I were talking in low voices when a light knock on the door was followed by Charles popping his head in.
“How is he doing?”
“Better. He’s sleeping.”
I got the feeling that Charles hadn’t moved on from the tension that had been between us earlier, because he had a hard time looking me in the eye.
“Dinner is ready in twenty minutes.”
“Okay. Thank you.” I turned to River. “I’m just going to take a shower before dinner but I’ll meet you down there, okay?”
“All right.”
I was right about Charles being on edge. When I walked out the door, he was serious and would have come across as cold and uninterested if it weren’t because I knew this was his Asperger’s showing its ugly head. Charles had warned me over and over that he was bad at communicating his emotions and this was what it looked like. I had zero doubt that he loved me and wanted us to be close, but tension between us made him hide his head like a tortoise.
I had just poured out all of my love to Nathan and River and I needed to recharge before I focused on getting Charles and me back on track. “How about I meet you downstairs?”
I caught the sideways glance and the press of his lips. “I thought you might want to talk.”
“I do, but I also need a minute to get my head straight. Hopefully a shower can help with that.”
He nodded and we walked side by side in silence until I took the stairs up and he went downstairs. I thought about saying something encouraging, but I was upset with him for believing Conor’s lies.
I was walking down the corridor and had just opened the door to the bathroom when I heard someone call my name.
“Liv, wait up.”
I turned to see Conor jogging toward me and froze halfway into the bathroom.
“I just need to talk to you in private.” Looking over his shoulder, he placed a hand on the door and pushed me gently inside before he closed the door behind us.
“What is it?” My body was stiff and alert from being in an enclosed room with Conor.
“I hope you understand that I’d never hurt Nathan. I see him as my own son. “
It seemed the wisest to agree rather than challenge a crazy person, so I nodded. “Uh-huh.”
His face softened. “Charlie said that Nathan is sleeping now.”
“Yes.”
“That’s fine. We can set aside some dinner for him.”
“Great. Now, if you don’t mind, I would like a shower before we eat.”
“Yes, of course.” He turned and put his hand on the door handle, but changed his mind and turned back to me. “Oh, before I forget. I talked to Mike Hanson like we discussed and I was right. He does have connections to other forensic anthropologists around the world. He didn’t know anyone in Chicago, but he mentioned Denver, Boston, and LA. He’d be happy to meet up and talk to you. Mike could open a lot of doors for you if you play your cards right.” Conor’s smile seemed so genuine and warm that it was unfathomable that this was the same man who had hurt so many people.
