People Like Us: Part II [MxFxM]

Chapter Thirty-Eight

It was nice that Varian's idea hadn't been for nothing, Charlie figured, watching Adrian working at River's stomach lightly. Lake seemed perfectly fine to watch, and it wasn't too long after that when River fell asleep again. She didn't know how long Adrian planned on keeping the rubbing up, but she figured she could leave him to it for the time being and head downstairs. She hadn't gotten much of a chance to tell River's parents that the bookstore had been a good idea, as brief as it was, and she had to admit she was rather curious as to whatever conversation Adrian had with Varian. It was obvious that he talked to him, considering he didn't follow the three of them upstairs and lingered in the dining room.

That thought was why she was making her way through the first level of the house, looking for either of River's parents. It wasn't a particularly long look, because both of them were only ever in one or two places, and the first one she happened across was Nathan in the kitchen. Surprisingly Varian wasn't with his mate, but Corin and Vanessa were present, both sharing a bag of chips while Nathan seemed to be fiddling with his phone, looking less than happy.

"You just gotta call her." Corin said. "You know if you don't and she finds out later she's just gonna be pissed off, and then it'll be another 'Nathaniel Tyler, I am your mother' type of speech that nobody wants to hear."

Nathan threw his son an annoyed look for that, but when he noticed Charlie come into the room, he straightened up a bit from where he was leaning against the counter.

"Did you need something?" he asked her.

"Oh, no, just thought I'd come downstairs for a bit," she answered, giving a small shrug. "Adrian's upstairs with River and Lake, and River's sleeping again, so. I didn't get a chance to tell you and Varian how our trip went," she added, then paused and glanced around. "Where is Varian, anyway?"

"He's, out in the living room with his dad and Lako." Nathan responded, gesturing toward the hall with a small wave as Corin sighed loudly.

"Dad, no distractions. Call Grandma."

Ah, so Nathan was supposed to be calling Elle then. Probably over everything with River, she assumed, though she was aware that Nathan didn't talk to either of his parents very often. It explained why there were two kids in the kitchen with him, both looking a bit too entertained, Charlie thought. Nathan huffed at Corin's interruption, pushing himself off from the counter and making his way to the table instead to sit down. Charlie was sure that Nathan didn't want more of an audience for the conversation with his mother, and two of his children were more than enough, but Charlie was rather curious as to how this would go.

Slowly she took a seat of her own, taking a few of the chips Corin passed over to her as Nathan sighed, shaking his head. He didn't mention Charlie's sitting down and staying, and instead messed with his phone for a minute or two before he was putting it up to his ear, a reluctant expression on his face as Charlie heard the ringing sound.

"Put it on speaker, we wanna say hi!" Vanessa demanded, and Nathan only had time to give her a look before his mother apparently answered, and he was talking to her instead.

"Uh, hi Mom. Yeah, hey, how're you? I'm fine. Well, uh—hm. The uh, two of the kids want me to put you on speaker, so they can say hi. Okay? Alright."

Nathan pulled his phone away to press a button on the screen before setting the phone on the table in front of him, a picture of Elle and one of the kids showing for her contact photo that looked like it was taken sometime around Christmas, when Elle and Eric had been over.

"Hi Grandma." Vanessa and Corin announced at the same time, and Charlie heard a quiet chuckle from Elle's end.

"Hi, let me guess—Corin and Vanessa," she said.