COMPLETE ✓| Charlotte Hastings found herself between a rock and a hard place when she aged out of the foster system. With only a car to her name, she set out on the open road, hoping to find long lost relatives. Winter hits her hard. When she meets...
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CHAPTER FIVE | MEMORY LANE
Elijah Blackwood
I didn't know how to respond to Lottie's revelation that her mother had died, so I just ignored it. Generally, ignoring something like that is a bad idea. But when that someone is going to leave town in a week once you fix her car, exceptions can be made.
Lottie was chatting so much with my mom that neither one of them had touched their dinner when I finished mine, so I took the opportunity to head over to the shop and make sure everything was closed up since I had left in such a rush.
Or that's what I told them. I knew I had locked everything but I wanted some time to think about Lottie. She was still such a mystery and I wanted to know more but I didn't know how to ask. Oh, hey, how's your dead mom? Doesn't sound too nice. Maybe I could ask her about her dad? I used to make friends all the time, how was it possible that I couldn't figure out how to talk to her?
I stood outside the diner watching her chat with my mom, the two of them laughing at some private joke. I couldn't help but smile as I stood outside in the snow, forgetting all about the cold. I don't know how long I stood there, but I'm sure it was longer than a normal person would have, so I made my way inside and caught the tail end of a conversation I couldn't believe my mother was having with the girl I . . . The girl who was staying in my house.
❆ ❆ ❆
I threw my keys down onto the counter as we entered my apartment. Lottie's laugh filled the whole room as my face warmed from embarrassment.
"I can't believe she told you that," I buried my face in my hands to avoid looking at Lottie's eyes.
"I think your mom might be the best part of this whole 'stuck in this town' situation," Lottie continued to laugh as she walked towards the bedroom. "I can't believe you used to run naked down the middle of the street!"
"I was two!" I knew there was nothing I could say to make her stop laughing, but I felt the need to defend myself given this morning's near-miss on nakedness.
"And I can't believe no one has any pictures of it, because I want one!" she laughed from behind the bedroom door as I awaited her return. The heat in my face grew more intense.
"Oh, Mom never got to that part of the story?"
She popped her head into the doorway, "What part of the story?"
I smiled and raised my eyebrow, "The part where she caught me making a bonfire in our backyard."
Lottie's eyes widened and her mouth formed a small o shape, "You didn't!"
I just nodded, trying to keep my expression steady.
This time, when she laughed, I laughed with her. I was fixated on how beautiful her face was when she was truly happy. She looked up and caught me staring, so I broke my gaze briefly. I risked a glance towards her and noticed her cheeks were red; was I embarrassing her or was it possible she was looking at me the same way I was looking at her?
