Charlotte stepped out from behind the counter and snatched the brochure away. “This is none of your business. Not that it’s any of your concern, but if I decide to do this, it will be my decision, and it would be for a good cause.”
“Am I the only sane person left in the family?” Savannah followed Charlotte into her room, gesturing the entire time. “Come on, you can’t be serious about this, Char. You don’t know the first thing about motherhood.”
“Neither do you,” Charlotte snapped with a withering look in her direction. “Ever thought about that? I work with kids, so at least I’ve got experience.”
Without waiting for a response, Charlotte shoved her feet into a pair of sneakers and grabbed her purse off the desk. She shoved her way past Savannah, who stood in the doorway to her room, mouth gaping like a fish. Just as Charlotte reached the front door, Savannah snapped to attention and raced toward her.
“Where are you going?”
“Out, unless you’re going to follow me on the street and lecture me there too.” Charlotte drew herself up to her full height and gave her sister a cold look. “Make sure you close the door properly on your way out.”
Color rose up Savannah’s cheeks and neck. “It’s your apartment. I—”
Charlotte cut off the rest of the sentence by slamming the door shut. She spent the entire walk to school clenching and unclenching her hands and muttering to herself. Her phone rang a few times, but she ignored it and tried to calm the racing of her heart. It was still pounding heavily when she reached the school and sat down on a bench opposite the building.
As soon as she did, she sucked in a harsh breath, held it in, and counted backward from ten. On the last number, she exhaled, and some of the knots in her stomach loosened. Charlotte did this a few more times until her hands were no longer in fists and the tightness in her chest had abated.
This wasn’t how she wanted her family to find out, but Savannah was the one who had gone snooping.
And Charlotte had nothing to apologize for.
She hadn’t made her decision yet either way, but she didn’t owe anyone an explanation for how she chose to live her life, andif that meant veering dramatically from the path she was on, so be it.
Everyone else got to try new things and experiment.
Why couldn’t she?
“I thought I recognized you.” Libby materialized in front of Charlotte in her usual knee-length skirt with a tucked-in blouse. She glanced over her shoulder at the school and then back at Charlotte, a furrow appearing between her brows. “Did you get locked out or something?”
Charlotte shook her head. “No, the school is closed on Friday nights. I just needed somewhere to think.”
Libby’s face lit up in understanding, and she shifted, revealing a half-shaped moon hanging low in the sky. Wordlessly, she sat down next to Charlotte on the bench and placed her purse in her lap. She stared straight ahead and didn’t say anything for a while.
Silence stretched between them.
“I like to go to the library when I want to be alone,” Libby said in a soft voice. “I know it’s kind of a cliché, but I find it calming to be surrounded by all of those books. And I love how they smell.”
Charlotte’s heart warmed at the thought of how much they had in common.
“I love the library,” Charlotte replied. “That’s a good place too. I’m not even sure how I ended up here, to be honest. I was just walking around.”
Libby twisted to face her and gave her a gentle smile. “My late husband used to say that you should pay attention to where you go when you’re not really thinking about it. It means that place feels like home.”
Charlotte’s stomach dropped. “I’m sorry about your late husband. You must…you must miss him.”
A shadow settled over Libby’s face. “I do. I don’t even know what he would’ve made of the whole foster thing.”
Charlotte cleared her throat. “What do you mean?”
“We were married for a long time, and I always thought we’d have a family, you know, but the timing was never right, and then, when I did have a baby, and I lost it, I was too afraid to try again. Then Noah died and…I was suddenly all alone, and I didn’t know what to do with myself.”
Charlotte squeezed her hand, and her chest tightened. “I’m sorry.”
She had no idea how lonely Libby’s life must’ve been in the aftermath of her husband’s loss. Charlotte herself had felt like her life had ended the day her father died, but she’d had her mother and sister to get her through it.
Poor Libby had to face it all alone.
Charlotte admired Libby all the more for it. Especially because she’d come out of it swinging for the fences.
