Spencer raised his hand to slap her, stopping himself just in time. Acutely aware of his shaking hands, he clenched them into fists before stomping over to collar Landon in the crowd of interested onlookers.
“Hey Landon, I’m not going. Sorry to back out on you.”
“I totally get it, bro. If I were you, I’d make like a banana and split.” Landon shot wary eyes toward Becca. “See ya later.”
Spencer hailed a taxi and headed to Emily’s apartment.
*****
Charlie listened while her mom chatted with excitement, but she was anxious for her sister to wake up and join them.
“So, Steven got all of us tickets to see Let It Be tonight. It’s all about The Beatles and has Beatles music. It should be so much fun. I’m hoping it’ll cheer up Emily.”
“It’s almost ten-thirty. Don’t you think we should wake her up? I’m only here for a few days.” Charlie spoke around bites of chocolate covered donut.
“I don’t know. She probably needs the sleep. We’ll wake her up by noon for sure.”
“But you’re not much fun, tethered to an IV pole.”
A hurt expression came across Anne’s face, so Charlie sprang from her seat to give her a chocolate-smudged kiss on the cheek. “I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean it. You’re always fun, but I wanted to do something with Emily.” She chuckled as she licked her fingers. “But we want you to come, too, because you have more money.”
“Do you want to go out for lunch?”
“Do you really think you could stomach a restaurant?”
“Probably not. I think I’ll just send you and Emily. Y’all can take pictures, and I’ll live vicariously through you.”
“Poor Mom. I know how much you love to eat. This must be torture for you.”
“It is.”
They both jumped at a trilling sound from the doorbell.
“It’s Emily! Yay!” Charlie ran to the door to fling it open. “Sister! Oh... Spencer. Come in. I thought you might be... uhmm...”
He stepped
through the doorway and stood, shuffling his feet. “Hi, Charlie. Mrs. Gherring.”
“Hi Spencer. Your mom’s already come and gone today. She’s coming back for a while this afternoon.” Anne’s smile was full of sympathy.
“No, I didn’t come to see Mom. I came to see Emily. She didn’t answer her door, so I thought she might be up here with you. Is she here?”
“She’s still sleeping, I guess. Although you’d think she would have heard you knocking.” It was all the excuse she needed. Charlie was out the door, headed to rouse her sister from bed. Spencer followed behind with a worried expression.
“I don’t want to wake her up. I... uhmm...”
“Well, I want to wake her up. And I happen to know she would like to talk to you.” She grabbed Spencer’s arm and pulled him onto the elevator.
“No, really, don’t wake her up. It can wait.”
“Look, Spencer. If she found out you were here and I didn’t wake her up, she’d kill me.”
“Okay.” They stood in awkward silence watching the numbers flash above the elevator door.
“So... Are you going to give her another chance?”
She watched a red color creep up from his neck to envelop his entire face. “I really don’t know. I guess I just need to talk to her.”