Back To You /Mialotte

Not alone for one night

Day 16

Charlotte didn't tell anyone about the second letter, she kept it to herself. But everyone around her realised that something had changed. She was no longer in this fog of grief and pain. No, a storm was slowly building inside her.

Charlotte could be described as a blue, sunny ocean. Deep and calm. But right now, it was restless with a storm building. Everyone around her was afraid of being engulfed by this storm. Even if she still looked calm from the outside, one look into her eyes, and you could see the unrest.

It would only take one more small thing for this storm to break outside.

Marjorie looked out of the window, the sky was black. In the distance, a soft thunder could be heard from time to time. It wasn't raining yet, but it was only a matter of time. Autumn sat opposite her and typed on her keyboard. The manager was worried, Charlotte had changed in the last few days if something else had happened. Marjorie sat back and sighed loudly. Even though she personally didn't understand what Charlotte saw in Mia, she was happy for her friend, that she had found someone she was happy with after the end of her marriage.

Marjorie would never have thought that Mia would betray Charlotte like this. "I can hear your thoughts," Autumn said without taking her eyes off the screen.

" I'm just worried about Char. How are we going to get through this year? What's more, what will happen when Mia is back? I want Char to be happy, but is that really with Mia? Can Mia deal with everything that's happened in the last twenty years in one year?"

Autumn had listened to her carefully, she had her opinion, which she had kept to herself all this time, but now seemed like a good time to finally make it public. "Mia lives in this illusion that she would have a happy and trouble-free life if her father hadn't left her. But that's a lie." She found it difficult to talk about it, because if she talked about Mia's father, she had to talk about her mother too.

"Even if she finds him, it won't change anything. Only that Mia will finally be confronted with the cruel truth. And I don't want to know in what kind of state she'll come back in. The bigger question is also, will Charlotte be willing to forgive her and pick up where they left off? Or will she do the right thing and choose her own health? Marjorie, Mia will never change, she is just so stuck in her behaviour and has always got away with it. She never had any consequences for her behaviour."

"Was the relationship with Reece not consequences enough?" asked Marjorie.

" No. Yes, she had to spend twenty years with a man. But she was still able to live out her sexuality, she was able to travel, she never really had to work, she was taken care of in all areas. My father manipulated Mia, I can see that. But Mia isn't innocent in all of it. You know Reece, if he had known what my father had done. He would have helped her. But Mia kept quiet, she can say now, that she did it all of this, to get information about her father. But the truth is, she enjoyed this easy life with my brother. Now that she is free of everything and in a serious relationship, she had time to think about her life. She got scared of the commitment, so she ran away, not just to find her father."

Autumn had never talked so much about her past. But it was better to do it now, so that they could prepare for what was to come.

"What will happen when she meets him?"

"Then she'll meet my mother too. There's a good reason why Reece and I never want to have anything to do with her again," the painful memories came flooding back to Autumn. The image of a little girl sitting by the front door waiting for her mum, the images of Reece, still a child himself, starting to look after her. The nights when her father had drunk too much again and was on the rampage in the house. All these images flashed through her mind.

"They were engaged, but my mother is the daughter of a rich car dealer, and Mia's father was just a worker in a restaurant. My grandparents had forbidden my mother to marry him, so she married my father. But she kept in touch with him, that's why Reece and Mia became childhood friends. My mother never wanted children, but she had to have them, so she just ran away - they are narcissists who only love themselves. They knowingly left their families behind, Mia in poverty and me and my brother with a monster."

At that moment, a heart shattered outside the office. Charlotte's eyes burned as she slowly processed the information she had just unwillingly heard. A loud clap of thunder rang out, and the rain poured down from the sky.

Marjorie was taking a back with all the information she had just received. She couldn't imagine how bad it had all been for Autumn and Reece. She was about to say something to her. When Carly stormed into the office.

"Marjorie!"

Marjorie had never jumped up so quickly when she heard from Carly what had just happened. Charlotte had simply packed her things and stormed out of the building. The manager ripped open the door and stepped out into the rain. Charlotte was still in the car park. But she quickly made her way to her car.

The rain poured down on Marjorie with full force.

Charlotte was just about to open the car door when she was grabbed by the arm. She spun round and looked into Marjorie's worried eyes.

"What's happened?"

"I heard you two!" Charlotte didn't want to take out the anger on her, but she didn't know where else to put it.

" Char.... I'm so sorry you had to hear that..."

" Stop it, Marjorie! I don't want your pity! I should have known! It was all too good to be true! Just let me go, I can't be here right now!"

"Come on, let's talk about it," Marjorie said, trying to stop Charlotte from driving the car in such a state and in such weather.

But Charlotte didn't listen, she tore herself away from Marjorie and got into the car, before she drove out of the car park, Marjorie saw Charlotte throw something out of the car window.

A necklace with a heart pendant glittered on the wet asphalt.

"Do you want another whisky?"

Charlotte looked up, she was still wet from head to toe. There really wasn't anything going on in the pub during the week. "Yes, please..." she mumbled. She wasn't someone who liked to drink, especially a lot of alcohol, but right now, she just wanted to numb her feelings, as how she came home later. That was a problem for the future.

Sara gave her a sympathetic smile and placed a new whisky in front of her. "That's not like you, Charlotte. Is everything alright?"

" Relationship problems." was all she could say, if she said anything more, she knew she wouldn't be able to hold back the tears.

"I'm sorry about that..." Sara spoke softly.

Evening fell, then night, and before Charlotte knew it, the pub was closing. As she tried to get up from the bar stool, she realised how drunk she actually was.

"You don't want to drive like that," said Sara worriedly. She had been keeping an eye on the woman the whole time.

"I'll get home..." Charlotte mumbled.

But Sara looked at her sceptically. "Why don't you wait outside the door, I'll be right there, and then I'll drive you home."

Charlotte could no longer disagree, even when she couldn't think straight, she knew she shouldn't do anything stupid. After all, she was the mother of two children.

The fresh air did her good, the smell of rain was still in the air. The streets were wet and glistened in the light of the streetlamps. It wasn't long before Sara came out of the door next to her, locked it, and then carefully took Charlotte's arm and led her to her car.

Charlotte was home in the blink of an eye. Sara helped her out of the car and unlocked the door for her, too.

"Do you need any more help?" she asked.

Charlotte looked at her, something inside her was crying out for a night where she wasn't alone. Where someone would hold her, even if they disappeared again the next morning. Without giving it much thought, she grabbed Sara and pulled her into the house.

The front door clicked shut, and not a second later, she had pressed her lips to the bartender's.

As Sara let her hands glide over her body, Charlotte thought of Mia.