Beckoning Light (The Afterglow Trilogy #1)(21)
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

“Fine, I’ll come down,” she said immediately.

“Good.” Trying to hold in my laughter until I was out of her hearing, I walked back downstairs. As soon as I reached the kitchen, I lost it.

“What’s so funny?” Monty asked, studying my face. “Is she coming down?”

“Yeah, she’s coming down.” I couldn’t stop laughing

“So what’s so funny?” Liam asked.

“She’s coming down so Monty doesn’t send her to Siberia to live with Dad,” I sputtered.

“Why would she think I would do that?” Monty asked.

“Because I told her that if she kept being such a brat, you would want to get rid of her.” Before Monty could argue, I continued, “Hey, you wanted her to come down for dinner.” Right on cue, Charlotte walked into the room.

“Glad you could join us,” I said, finally over the joke.

“Gee thanks.” Charlotte glared at me. Wow, she really was in a bad mood.

I watched Charlotte during dinner and realized that she did seem kind of out of it, so I decided to pry a little. I followed her into the kitchen to help her with the dishes. “Hey, are you doing okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just haven’t been sleeping well.”

I didn’t fully accept her answer. “Are you sick or something?”

“I’m really fine,” she repeated. “I think I’ll just go to bed early.” She mustered a smile. If it wasn’t my imagination, she was smiling to appease me.

Tuesday was a typical day. Charlotte seemed like she was back to normal when I saw her at breakfast, even though she was a tad quieter than usual. We had a home game that night that I was pumped about; I was really getting used to the new team. We won again, and the guys seemed to have finally gotten over me being on the team, and were excited about being on a winning streak. I noticed that Charlotte sat with some friends at the game and seemed to have fun. I had never told her, but I was glad that she always came to my home games; I would miss having her at them in college.

I woke up on Thanksgiving not knowing what to expect. Growing up, we always had a big traditional Thanksgiving dinner with our family and Liam’s, but for the three years we were in Alaska, we didn’t do much. Dad just didn’t seem interested, and Charlotte and I were never feeling adventurous enough to try it ourselves. While we were gone, Liam and his mom had continued the tradition, so they would be joining us this year, too. Charlotte seemed especially excited about cooking a big meal, and Monty wanted to encourage her enthusiasm, so it looked like we were going to have way too much food. I had been surprised when Charlotte pulled out all of the old cookbooks because she had never shown any interest in cooking before, but it wasn’t like her new enthusiasm for cooking was a bad thing. If it made her happy, and also meant we ate well, then who was I to complain?

I had slept kind of late, so by the time I walked downstairs I could already smell the turkey in the oven. When I walked into the kitchen, Charlotte, Monty, and Debbie were busy cooking with Charlotte directing everything. Figuring someone would give me instructions if they needed help, I poured some juice and took a seat at the table.

“Good morning!” Debbie said cheerfully, taking a break from what she was doing to give me a hug.

“Happy Thanksgiving, Debbie,” I told her, as she sat down next to me. Charlotte and Monty came over to the table as well, with Monty drinking a large cup of coffee.

We talked casually for a while. I figured that Liam must have slept in, too, because I hadn’t seen him yet. I was wrong. He walked into the kitchen with a big smile on his face and told Charlotte to go check out her computer.

“My computer?” she asked suspiciously.

“There’s an early birthday gift on there for you.”

Charlotte stood and headed upstairs.

“Wait, what did you get her?” I asked as soon as I heard her on the stairs.

“Just some music, I made her a playlist.” Liam leaned against the counter.

“Nice, I’m sure she’ll love that.” I realized instantly that I would have to rethink my birthday gift for her. Somehow, the iTunes gift card plan didn’t sound too creative. It felt like Charlotte was upstairs forever, but she eventually bounded down and gave Liam a hug.

“Wow, thanks so much, Liam. It’s awesome. I only listened to a little bit of each song, but I can’t wait to listen for real later,” Charlotte gushed.

“You’re welcome. Happy birthday. It wasn’t too hard because you’re the only person I know with as eclectic a music taste as mine.” He smiled. I looked across the table and noticed that Monty was giving Debbie a funny look, like they were sharing an inside joke.

Our meal was fantastic, and it was a lot of fun to have everyone at the table. Monty made a nice toast about how thankful he was to have Charlotte and me back with him for the holiday. Charlotte got up to give him a hug, and it reminded me of why it had been such a good decision to get Charlotte back in Charleston before I left for school.

I spent a lot of the afternoon watching football with Liam and Monty. Charlotte seemed to be having a great time with Debbie. I had a feeling she was really glad to have a woman around. Monty left us alone while he cleaned up the kitchen, and it was really nice to catch up with Liam. Even though I saw him at practice all the time, and he was over for dinner a lot, I felt like we hadn’t had much time to talk, especially when the topic of conversation didn’t involve my sister.

“So I never asked you, where are you planning on going to school next year?” I felt kind of bad that it had taken me almost two weeks to broach the subject.

“I’m thinking Tulane or Vanderbilt,” Liam replied, “but we’ll see when the acceptances roll in.”

“Well, if I had to choose between New Orleans and Nashville, I’d go with New Orleans, and remember to save me a spot for Mardi Gras.”

Liam laughed. “I’m sure that your coach would love that, taking off for a party right in the middle of the season.”

“Ah, good point,” I admitted.

When Monty finished cleaning up, the three of us went out to shoot some hoops while Charlotte stayed inside with Debbie. When Liam and Debbie left that night, I sat in the den with Monty and Charlotte just enjoying the sensation of being home. Charlotte was back to normal, and she was going to be just fine when I left for school. It was a nice ending to a very nice Thanksgiving.

Chapter Ten