Chapter 2

The kitchen fell dead silent at once.

Emily immediately snapped. "Charlotte, what is wrong with you?"

Linda banged the rolling pin against the shoe cabinet again. "Say that again, Charlotte."

Nathan dropped his gaze, looking wronged. "Mrs. Summers, don't blame Charlotte. She simply remembers I can't handle spicy food."

I dried my hands. "Got it."

Charlotte frowned as she looked at me. "Are you upset?"

"No," I said.

Tears welled up in Emily's eyes. "Does that need asking? You're making your husband cook non-spicy food for your old crush? Are you out of your mind?"

Nathan's expression darkened. "Emily, there is nothing going on between your sister and me."

"Then why show up at our house carrying a huge bouquet of roses?" Emily shot back.

Linda picked up the roses from the doorway and thrust them straight back into Nathan's arms. "Take these away. We don't want your flowers."

A flicker of embarrassment finally crossed Nathan's gentle features.

He turned toward Charlotte. "Charlotte, I only wanted to see how you've been."

Charlotte gave him no answer. Instead, she looked at me. "Andrew, go cook."

I nodded and headed for the kitchen.

Emily called after me, "Andrew, don't do it. Let them both go hungry."

I turned the stove on.

As the frying pan heated up, Nathan's voice drifted out from the living room. "Charlotte, you've really changed."

"People change," Charlotte replied.

Nathan asked softly, "So do the words you said about waiting for me still count?"

Hot oil crackled in the pan. My hand froze for a split second.

Silence settled over the living room.

Charlotte didn't reply right away.

I heard Emily's slippers slap across the floor as she stormed over.

"Have you no sense of shame, Nathan? Charlotte's been married for three years. How can you ask something like that?" she said.

"I'm asking Charlotte, not you," Nathan said.

Linda roared, "Shut your mouth if you still want to stay in this house."

I dropped the crabs into the frying pan. Rich aromas billowed upward.

Charlotte finally spoke. "Nathan, we can talk after dinner."

Emily was left speechless by those words.

Linda slammed her rolling pin hard onto the dining-table surface.

I bent down to flip the crabs. The spatula clanged sharply against the pan edge.

Nathan laughed quietly, just loud enough for me to hear. "Looks like I didn't get back too late."

*****

When dinner hit the table, Nathan took the seat to Charlotte's left. That was my usual spot.

Emily dragged her chair with a shrill scraping noise as she carried her plate and plopped down right next to me. "Andrew, let's sit together."

I sat down.

Nathan glanced over the spread of food and smiled. "Mr. Sinclair, you're quite the cook."

"I know a few dishes," I said.

"Do you do all the cooking around here?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Charlotte has such a busy career. It's good to have someone look after her," he went on.

Emily slammed her fork down against the table. "Watch your tone. Andrew is her husband, not some servant."

Nathan wore an apologetic look. "That was not what I meant."

Linda pointed her fork at the crab on my plate. "Go ahead and eat, Andrew. You've been slaving away all afternoon."

Charlotte speared a piece of fish with her fork and held it out toward Nathan's mouth. "Try this."

Nobody at the table touched their food.

Emily's eyes went wide. "Charlotte, do you realize what you're doing?"

Charlotte set her fork down and explained, "I remember Nathan likes fish."

Emily let out a sharp, bitter laugh. "Do you also remember when Andrew went with you to those business galas, and ended up sick to his stomach throwing up in the bathroom halfway through the night?"

Charlotte turned her gaze toward me. I kept my head down, picking apart my crab.

"Emily, old history doesn't matter," Nathan said. "There is no point dredging all this up."

"Old history doesn't matter? Then why did you show up carrying roses?" Emily shot back.

"I only wanted to make amends," he said.

Linda sneered, "Make amends for what? For vanishing overseas without a word and leaving Charlotte heart-sick? Or for coming back and setting your sights on a married woman?"

Nathan set down his fork. "Mrs. Summers, there were misunderstandings back then."

"Mom, drop it," Charlotte said.

Linda fixed her with a hard stare. "I won't drop it. Charlotte, if you dare hurt Andrew over this man tonight, I will kick both of you out of this house."

Nathan frowned. "Mrs. Summers, aren't you being rather biased? I hear Mr. Sinclair has not held an outside job all these years and stays home full-time."

Emily cut in at once. "So what if he stays home? Could you pull Charlotte out of mountain-high messes with her books? Would you drive out to warehouses in the middle of the night to oversee shipments? Would you stand in hospital lines with Mom?"

Nathan let out a short laugh. "You could hire an assistant to handle all those things."