The Best Laid Plans (18 page)

She knocked a little more aggressively. Hopefully he had made it home from his party in one piece. He didn’t have a car, so he wouldn’t have gotten himself in an accident. She knocked again—louder, harder. Until the door opened.

“Can I help you?” A pretty blonde with just-rolled-out-of-bed hair and nothing but an oversize T-shirt on did not look as if she wanted to help anyone, Emma in particular.

The fear she had been feeling was quickly replaced by a completely different kind of dread. The woman had obviously gone to bed with all her makeup on. The remnants of her party face were quite smeared.

“I said, ‘Can I help you?’ If you’re selling something, we aren’t interested.” The woman began to shut the door.

“Is Charlie home?” Emma squeaked out.

The woman didn’t seem sure. She glanced back over her shoulder and scanned the condo. “I don’t think so.” She rubbed her eyes, apparently still tired from her evening at Charlie’s. “I woke up alone in the bed. Do you want me to tell him someone is looking for him?”

Shock turned to rage faster than Emma expected. “No, please don’t tell him anyone is looking for him.”

She bolted down the stairs and out the building. This was what happened when she flew blind without a plan; she crashed and burned. And she was definitely burning. Her entire chest felt as if it was on fire. It made it very difficult to breathe. Her eyes were burning with tears she did not want to cry. Her cheeks burned with the embarrassment of showing up at someone’s door and being greeted by his date from last night.

So what if she had been on a date last night, too? She ended the evening with nothing but a handshake and a good-night. She hadn’t brought him inside. He hadn’t spent the night in her bed. Emma’s throat began to burn, too, as she fought back the tears.

How could she have been so stupid? Charlie was nice to everyone. He treated everyone as though they were special. He could make you forget you weren’t the only other person in the world. As he had said once, when people made everything special, nothing was special.

Emma was not special. She wasn’t someone he held in higher regard than anyone else.

Her plans did not include a broken heart. Maybe she needed to give Scott a second chance. All she knew as she headed to Lucy’s apartment was that she was definitely not giving up on the plan.

The plan was safe. The plan would see to it that she had a good and happy life. A life that after Kendall and Max’s wedding would no longer include Charlie Fletcher.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“T
HAT
WAS
THE
best waffle I have ever eaten. I miss Chicago food. Denver is too health conscious. Sometimes a girl just needs some real butter and massive portion sizes.” Becca had practically licked her plate clean.

She had woken up at seven and left a sleeping Candice in bed. She had no qualms about waking Charlie, though. Apparently, being pregnant made her hungry. She had convinced him to get up and get dressed and take her out to breakfast while Candice got some rest after her emotional night.

Candice had told them about picking up Trent’s phone when he was in the bathroom, getting ready for bed. She had sworn she wasn’t trying to snoop, but when she touched the screen, his text messages popped up. She hadn’t planned to scan the names, it just happened. When she had seen one from Julianna, a name that wasn’t familiar, she had to click on it.

That was how she learned her husband was a cheating, lying pig. The messages hadn’t been explicit, but they clearly were about secret meetings. He would ask when she was free and she would give him a date and time. Candice had wondered if he was paying her. That thought had caused another hour-long crying fit.

Trent had denied the whole thing and begged her to let him explain, but she hadn’t wanted to hear his lies. She had run and left everything behind, including her kids and phone.

Becca and Charlie had done everything they could think of to calm her down. Finally, Becca had forced her out of her fancy dress and into one of Charlie’s T-shirts and made her get some sleep. The twins had snuggled in Charlie’s bed, while he was once again relegated to the couch.

This morning, Charlie and Becca spent their Candice-free breakfast coming up with a game plan. They needed to go back to their parents’ house but weren’t sure how to do it without opening the massive can of drama worms.

“I think we should take her back to the hotel. We can tell Trent to change his flight and get out of Dodge before the rest of the family comes for his head,” Becca suggested.

“That’s pretty nice of you. I thought maybe you wanted to get in the first punch or something.”

“I might knee him where the sun doesn’t shine after I give him the peace offering.”

That was more like the sister Charlie knew and loved. “I feel like there has to be more to the story. I just can’t believe he would cheat on Candy Girl. He always acts like the sun rises and sets with her.”

“
Acts
being the key word there. She said it herself, they’ve been having troubles. She’s thrown out the word
divorce
. He’s probably hedging his bets.” Becca stole a piece of bacon off Charlie’s plate. He knew he should have made her order her own.

“I don’t know. I just don’t want to believe it, I guess.”

“You’ve always been my Mr. Brightside, Charlie. I know you want to believe there’s good in everything and everyone, but sometimes people suck.”

Maybe she was right, but he still wanted to hear what Trent had to say for himself. What kind of moron cheated on someone like Candice? It made no sense.

“So, before we head back to Casa Miserable, tell me more about this girl you’re in love with.”

“Whoa, I never said I was in love with her. Where did you come up with that?” Charlie lowered his voice as if he was afraid Emma could somehow hear his conversation with his sister all the way from her place.

Becca rolled her eyes as she buttered her third piece of toast. “I know you. You have a heart the size of Texas and it is ready to be handed over to this girl on a silver platter. Can I at least get a name? Maybe a profession?”

“Her name is Emma.”

“But you call her...” Becca motioned for him to give up the nickname.

“Nightingale.”

“Oh, that’s right. That certainly tells me something about her. She’s either a bird enthusiast or you were going for Florence Nightingale, making her a nurse.”

“She is a nurse,” Charlie said, grinning at her deductive reasoning skills.

“Okay, so that makes her compassionate. You wouldn’t like her so much if she wasn’t.”

“She’s the whole package.”

“The
quatro
P
s?”

Charlie chuckled into his coffee. “Emma’s about five foot ten. Petite, she is not.”

“Oh, wow. So if you married this girl and had children, you will basically have your own basketball team?”

“Something like that.” Marrying Emma and having kids was quite a ways out. He needed to get her to admit her feelings and then they could work on the rest. There had been some major progress. He didn’t think he’d have to wait much longer for her to come clean.

“Does she ski? Have any interesting hobbies? Love ponies? Tell me something,” Becca begged.

Charlie gave her the rundown. He described her family and her love of ice cream. He admitted she wasn’t the best dancer, but she was awesome at jump-rope games. She’d played volleyball in college. He didn’t know if she skied. She loved Great America.

“Everyone loves Great America,” Becca said, waving the waitress over for some more ketchup for her hash browns. “The big question is, does she love you back? Because you deserve someone who flips out over you. Somebody who manages to love bigger than you, which we know is not easy.”

Did Emma love him? A better question was,
could
she? Charlie was beginning to see signs that she could. If the text messages sitting in his inbox were any indication, she was falling for him and that was good enough for now.

“There’s potential.”

“This is why I need to meet her. I need to see how she looks at you. I need to hear her talk about you. That’s when I’ll know.”

Charlie had been waiting to see what the plans were before he texted Emma back. He wanted her to meet Becca but not Candice, at least not in the condition she was in currently. If they took Candice back to the hotel, had it out with Trent, went back to their parents’ house to say goodbye to everyone and took the train back to the city, they could possibly meet up with her tonight for a late dinner. It was their only shot since Becca left in the morning and Charlie had to work.

“I’ll text her to see if she can meet us for dinner tonight. Just promise me you’ll be nice.”

Becca took offense. “I’m always nice.”

“Says the woman who wants to knee her brother-in-law in the crotch.”

“Hey, no one messes with my twin. That’s the same as messing with me. We have the same DNA.”

Charlie called the waitress over to order some takeout for Becca’s other half and to settle up the bill. Then he sent Emma the dinner-invitation text.

Meet me for dinner tonight? Have lots to tell you.

Your Charlie

He really liked the sound of that last part.

* * *

C
ANDICE
WAS
CURLED
up on the couch with a can of Coke when they got home. “Where have you been? You guys left me, and Charlie has nothing in his fridge except three cans of Coke and ketchup. How do you live on Coke and ketchup?”

“I eat out. A lot.” He dropped the Styrofoam container of pancakes and sausage on the coffee table in front of her. “Let me get you a fork.”

Candice didn’t wait for utensils. She popped the top and snatched up a sausage link, closing her eyes as she savored every bite.

“Crying all night makes me really hungry,” she said, pouring the little packet of syrup on her pancakes. She slapped Becca’s hand when she tried to steal a sausage.

“So, Charlie and I decided that we should take you back to the hotel. He and I will handle Trent, and you and the kids can pack up to head over to Mom and Dad’s,” Becca explained.

Candice shook her head. “No way. I am not ready to see that cheating jerk.”

Charlie sat down on one side of her while Becca sat on the other. “Candy Girl, you have to face him sometime, and won’t it be better to do it with me and Snow Mama as backup?”

“You two can get the kids and I’ll hide at Mom and Dad’s, but only after Kristin leaves. I do not want to deal with her trying to give me marital advice. I cannot handle that right now.”

Charlie hadn’t thought about that. Kristin would definitely find a way to make this about how she had managed to stay happily married the longest. That would not be helpful.

“We don’t even have to tell them anything is wrong,” Becca said. “We can say you showed up because you wanted to drive us to the train station.”

“Right. Mandy was going to bring the kids by the hotel to go swimming before going to Mom and Dad’s. She knows by now, I’m sure.”

“No one has texted me or Charlie.” Becca tried to calm her down. “If there was gossip, it would have hit us by now.”

Just as she said that, Charlie’s phone rang. He was hoping it was Emma looking for details about dinner, but it was Mandy.

“Oh, my gosh, did Candice drive you two all the way to the city last night? She never made it back to the hotel and didn’t go to Mom and Dad’s. She’s not answering her phone, either.”

His call-waiting beeped; it was Kristin. “Hold on a second. She’s here with us, but I have another call.” He switched over to Kristin and before she could ask a million questions, he said, “She’s here with me and Becca, tell everyone she’s fine.”

“What the heck happened? Trent thought she spent the night at Mom and Dad’s, but we haven’t seen her since the party. We called Mandy and she said she came by late and picked you up. Everyone thought she drove you to the train station.”

“Everything’s fine. The two DNA clones wanted to spend some more time with each other.”

Becca’s phone rang next. It was their mother. “Seriously? Isn’t Kristin at Mom and Dad’s?” she said to Charlie before she picked up and said the same things her brother did.

Candice stopped stuffing her face and ran her hands through her hair. “Everyone is going to find out I’m such a loser that I married a cheater.” Tears ran down her cheeks.

Charlie and Becca ended their calls and tried to console the sister sitting in between them.

“No one’s going to think you’re a loser. They’re going to think
he
’s a loser for losing you,” Becca said.

“We’re going to work this all out, I promise,” Charlie said. He wasn’t sure how, but he was going to do his best to get to the bottom of this supposed cheating business.

* * *

T
HEY
DROVE
BACK
up north and went straight to the hotel. The kids had gone to Grandma and Grandpa’s with Aunt Mandy. Trent had stayed at the hotel in hopes Candice would come back there.

Candice was barely holding it together. Her emotions fluctuated between anger and sadness. One minute she would be wiping tears and the next she’d be talking about scratching Trent’s eyes out.

“I’ll go in first and get Trent out of the room so you can take Candy Girl in and get her packed up,” Charlie said to Becca as they parked the car.

“Okay, but don’t let him get away until I’ve had my moment with him,” Becca said.

“Don’t worry, Spartacus, you’ll get your gladiator moment. I’ll text you when the coast is clear.” Charlie hopped out of the car and made his way inside the hotel.

He had no idea what he was going to say to Trent when they were face-to-face. He kept telling himself this had to be a terrible misunderstanding. Otherwise, he might have to clock the guy.

Charlie knocked on the door. Trent answered right away. “Charlie.” He quickly stepped back and shielded his face, expecting that punch. “Don’t hit me. I swear she’s got this all wrong. Where’s Candice? I need to talk to her so we can sort this out.”

“She doesn’t want to talk to you just yet. You need to come with me so she can get her stuff.”

“What are you going to do? Are the other guys here to kick my butt?” Trent asked, obviously feeling a tad paranoid. Charlie was surprised he could create this much fear in a person.

“No one is here to kick your butt,” Charlie said, then remembered his promise to Becca. “Well, one person is here to kick your butt, but she’s five months pregnant and you’re going to let her do whatever she wants.”

Trent relaxed. “Becca is that mad, huh?”

“We’re all that mad. If what Candy Girl thinks is true, you will be banished from the Fletcher family forever.”

“It’s not true,” he asserted. “Just let me talk to her.”

“No can do. You can talk to me, though. But we have to do it somewhere other than this room.” Charlie stepped back so his brother-in-law could exit the room.

Trent reluctantly followed him down the hall and to the stairway. “You swear nobody else from the family is here.”

Charlie had to laugh. “I swear.” He led Trent down to the swimming pool and texted Becca the all clear. “Now’s your chance to plead your case.”

Trent balked. “I want to talk to Candice. This is a private matter.”

“Here’s the thing,” Charlie said, leaning in. “I’m the only one willing to hear your side, so spill.”

Trent sighed and scrubbed his face with his hands. “I am not having an affair. I’m seeing a counselor.”

“I don’t believe you. Candy Girl told me you refused to go to marriage counseling.”

“She did?” Trent’s eyes widened in surprise. “What else did she tell you?”

Charlie shook his head. “This is the time for you to talk and me to listen.”

Trent sighed in frustration. “I did refuse to go to marriage counseling, but when I tried to make some changes and she was still unhappy, I decided maybe I needed some help. A friend of mine gave me Dr. Gorton’s number and I started seeing her once a week. I didn’t want Candice to know because I wanted her to think I could do this on my own.”

“So Julianna is really Dr. Gorton?”

“Yes.”

Charlie pulled out his phone and searched for a Dr. Julianna Gorton in Manhattan. Sure enough, her name popped up as one of the psychologists at a practice in the Upper West Side. “Let me call her,” Charlie said, sticking his hand out for Trent’s phone.

“What?”

“Let me call her and make sure you aren’t having an affair with her.”

Trent hesitated but eventually handed over his phone. “This is ridiculous.”