Charlie frowned at her. “Who on earth could—”
And then the impossible happened.
Something I’d never seen before.
The blood rushed from Charlie’s face.
He looked pale.
I was immediately concerned. “Are you okay?” I craned my neck toward the front of the restaurant. “Is it Sandy and Darren? That’s weird. I thought Sandy was sitting on Darren’s—”
No, it wasn’t Sandy and Darren.
It was worse.
It was Jeremy and Robert Olsen.
Robert had his cane in his hand and looked dapper as always. He wore a thin sleeveless button-down over blue slacks and wing-tipped brown loafers.
Jeremy was wearing a loose tank top (how many did he own!) over basketball shorts. His sunglasses sat atop his messy hair.
They waved at us.
I turned back around quickly and sunk down on my side of the booth. “Hide!” I whispered fiercely. “We have to hide!”
Sally looked confused. “Oh, I’m sorry. Is there a problem?” She frowned as she glanced toward the entrance. “Are those gentlemen going to cause trouble? I can take ’em. I’ve thrown out men much bigger than them before.”
Charlie recovered first. “No, no. It’s… fine. Just unexpected. One of those gentlemen is um… my gentleman.”
And even though I was about to have a heart attack, I couldn’t help but coo in unison with Sally.
“You cradle robber,” Sally said, punching him lightly in the shoulder.
Charlie rolled his eyes. “The older one.”
She laughed. “I know. I just like giving you shit. So this is why we haven’t seen you in a while, is it? Well, then. I’ll get them over here in a jiffy.”
She left before I could stop her.
“Not a word,” Charlie warned me. “I mean it. I don’t need to hear—what are you doing?”
Well, if I was being honest, I was trying to slide underneath the table with the salt and pepper shakers. The plan—if it could even be called a plan—was for me to hide under the table and then pour salt and pepper on the seat and floor around the booth so that I could do… something. I hadn’t quite gotten as far in my escape plan as I liked.
“Would you get up,” Charlie growled at me, reaching over and stealing my salt and pepper. “They’re on their way over. At least try to act like a human being.”
“You planned this,” I growled at him. “Oh, just you wait until you see what I’m going to do to you. I have no idea what my lineage is, but I am going to pretend it’s steeped in voodoo, and you are going to pay.”
“That’s weirdly sad,” Charlie said. “I almost felt something other than regret about this entire day. Would you just—hello, Robert. Jeremy.”
I turned slowly.
There, standing next to the table, were the Olsens.
“Charles,” Robert said, eyes twinkling. “What a wonderful surprise! I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
Charles, I mouthed, as if I hadn’t ever heard such a thing before.
“You didn’t, huh?” Charlie said, sounding gruff, but dear god, he was also amused. I wanted to squish his face. “Why don’t I believe that?”