Moving to Hawaii

Two weeks had passed pretty quickly but Charlotte had fallen into a routine fairly easily with the Chapman family and the business. She and Beth had sat down on an off day and worked out some schedules together. Knowing that Lana was officially not coming back for six months made them able to set some things in stone.

“Nobody gets a free ride in this family, you have work to do at home too”, Beth had told her.

Charlotte was a little scared of Beth but respected her as well. She was beyond grateful for this family for taking her in and making her one of their own, knowing her for less than a day when they did.

So, for the time being, Charlotte’s schedule was Monday, Wednesday, Friday: making family breakfast, working at Da Kine from nine am to six pm and helping with laundry in the evenings. Tuesday and Thursday: working at Da Kine eight am to noon, picking the kids up from school/ daycare and helping with homework then making dinner. Saturdays she worked nine am to six pm and had the evenings free and all day Sundays free. Honestly, Charlotte still didn’t have a ton of cash saved up and didn’t know anyone so she still helped out around the house and hung out with the family when she had free time. She was getting to know Duane Lee’s wife as well as Tim’s but she didn’t think she knew them well enough to do girl stuff with them.

Charlotte hadn’t met Leland’s wife, mainly because she didn’t visit. Not to mention things seemed to be getting worse between her and Leland. Recently, he had been scheduled to come help with a capture but because of the issues with his wife he couldn’t.

Currently Charlotte was sitting in her position at the receptionist desk in Da Kine. Duane Lee was baby sitting her again, though she was getting better and didn’t need a ton of help, while Beth and Dog were in a “production meeting”. The show was to start filming soon and Charlotte had decided she didn’t want to be on it. Because of that, she didn’t have many details about what was happening. She would do her job as normal and ignore the guys with cameras as best she could. Part of the contract would be to cut her out of scenes with the exception she walked past while they were shooting something that couldn’t be redone.

The bell above the door chimed and Leland walked in with his two boys in tow.

“Hey, Leland”, Charlotte greeted.

“Hey, Char”, Leland sounded somewhat defeated and tired. “These are my boys, Dakota and Cobie.”

“Hey guys”, Charlotte said. The boys sounded shy hellos.

“Is Duane Lee here?” Leland asked. When Charlotte nodded he directed the boys to sit on the couch. “I’ll be right back”, he said to Charlotte.

“No worries”, she replied as he disappeared into the back. She opened a desk drawer where she kept a few things, sometimes kids came into the office with their parents, and went over to sit beside the boys.”Hi, Dakota, hi Cobie. My name is Charlotte.”

“You work with daddy and grandpa?” Cobie asked.

“Yes I sure do”, Charlotte answered. “How old are you?”

“I’m four”, Cobie answered, “how old are you?”

Charlotte laughed, “I’m twenty two.”

“You’re old like daddy”, Cobie said seriously.

“She’s not old”, Dakota broke in. “I’m nine, almost ten.”

“My goodness, you’re almost as old as I am!” Charlotte exclaimed. She saw a smile crack across Dakota’s face. “Well, I have some stuff you guys can do while you’re dad is busy, wanna see?”

They boys nodded together, curiosity taking over.

“Well, lets see what I’ve got”, Charlotte began as she sat a small box on her lap. “I have stickers, crayons, small coloring pages, some toy army men...”

“Can I see the army men?” Cobie asked.

“Of course, little dude”, Charlotte said. She handed him the plastic baggie of small green army figures. He immediately sank to the floor and began setting them up in battle position on the coffee table.

“Let’s see what I’ve got in here for a big bad ten year old...”, Charlotte Said as she rummaged around in the box. “How about these?” She held up some little mini finger skateboards and a ramp.

“Those are pretty cool”, Dakota said, trying to remain neutral. “I’ll check them out.”

“Ok, let me know if they are any good”, Charlotte said with a smirk. She picked up her box and moved back over to her desk.

About twenty minutes later Leland and Duane Lee came out of the back speaking low. Charlotte straightened some papers to avoid eye contact.

“You guys ready to go?” Leland asked the boys after a few minutes.

“No! Charlotte gave me these army men to play with and I’m not done yet!” Cobie said defiantly. He crossed his arms and stuck out his lip.

“Come on, bud. We got some errands to run”, Leland half begged.

“You can leave them here”, Charlotte butted in. “It’s been pretty dead today, I don’t mind them hanging out with me. They’re more fun than Duane Lee.”

“Hey!” Duane Lee exclaimed.

This prompted Cobie to laugh, “yeah you’re boring uncle D!”

“Nah, I can’t do that”, Leland said. “You babysit enough during the week.”

“No I seriously don’t mind”, Charlotte assured him. “Besides, Dakota owes me a review on those mini skateboards and I don’t think he’s used them long enough to give me his opinion.”

“We’re fine, Dad”, Dakota said, not looking up from the toys.

“Ok”, Leland finally caved. “I mean, thank you, seriously. I won’t be long, I just have a meeting and I’ll be right back.”

“No worries, take your time. If you aren’t back by six I’ll just take them to the house with me. You guys are coming for the party tonight?” Charlotte asked.

“Damn, I forgot. Yeah, yeah we will be there”, Leland responded, smacking his hand to his forehead. “I’ll be back before then though, promise.” With that he was out the door.

Once he was gone and the boys were distracted again Charlotte whispered quietly to Duane Lee, “is everything ok?”

Duane Lee tipped his head, gesturing for her to follow him to the other corner of the small room. “He’s going to meet a lawyer about starting the divorce process”, he whispered. “Apparently Maui told him last night she wanted a divorce and had already been in touch with someone.”

Charlotte’s mouth dropped open, “that sucks.”

“Yeah”, Duane Lee answered with a sigh. “I mean they both knew it was coming but when it’s really out there it’s a different feeling.”

“I feel like an ass for asking him if they are coming to the party. That’s obviously the last thing on his mind.”

“Honestly, it’ll probably be good. Distraction for him and the kids, know what I mean?”

Charlotte nodded in response, feeling bad for the boys and Leland. Beth and Dog has planned a huge party at their house tonight for the show being signed on and now Leland was going to have to be there and pretend to be happy even though he was getting divorced.

Leland had gotten back right before six. He made some small talk with Charlotte before telling her hat he and the boys would be at the house around seven-ish. Charlotte was going to be late as well since Beth had asked her to stop and pick a couple of things up for the party.

She got back to the house right at six forty five. She dropped the bags to Beth on the way in and headed for the bathroom. Charlotte wasn’t going to be on the show but Dog had asked that she get dressed up like everyone else and take part in the festivities. He still wanted her to know who the camera crew and all were since they would be around often.

After showering, shaving, exfoliating and styling her hair she wrapped her towel tightly around herself and darted to her room. Once inside she put on a soft pink lace dress with an off shoulder neckline that stopped about mid thigh. It was fitted, definitely a little tighter than her normal clothes, but still comfortable. She applied about as much make up as she knew how; a bit of blush, soft pink eyeshadow, liner and mascara and a bit of tinted lip balm. She was slipping her feet into a pair of nude heels when she heard Beth call for her.

“Oh good, Char, I need your help. People are starting to arrive and I need some help setting up”, Beth said sounding flustered.

“What do you need me to do?” Charlotte asked.

“Start taking these tray out to the table?”, Beth asked. “Cecily is getting Bonnie and Garry dressed then she will help as well.”

“Got it, boss”, Charlotte answered and began taking trays of fruit and finger foods out the the designated area. Charlotte had volunteered to be on kid duty. She figured that way she only had to pop outside every now and then to be seen, meaning less awkward conversations with people she didn’t know. The kids were going to all stay inside in the living room area.

Around seven thirty people began arriving. Dog was outside turning string lights on around the pool and Justin was filling coolers full of beer and ice. Charlotte and Cecily were just getting the last trays out.

“Beth, do you need anything else to go out?” Charlotte called as she slid back through the glass door leading outside.

“She went to finish getting ready... wow”, Leland said once he turned around and saw Charlotte. “You look great”, he breathed out.

Charlotte watched as he took in her appearance and blushed. “I don’t dress up much”, she responded, feeling a little embarrassed.

“No, you look amazing”, Leland said. Then it was his turn to blush, realizing what he had said.

“Damn, Char! Looking good!” Duane Lee exclaimed as he walked into the kitchen with Teresa and their son Dylan.

“Hey!”, Teresa called to her. “You do look really nice!”

“Thanks”, Charlotte said, giving her a hug. “You look great too!”

“I’m going to go help Justin”, Duane Lee announced. “I’ve got a trunk full of drinks and ice.” He slipped out the door calling for Justin.

“Do you guys need anything?” Teresa asked. “Otherwise I’m going to go say hi to some people.”

“Nope, we should be good”, Charlotte confirmed.

Teresa nodded and headed out to the patio leaving Leland and Charlotte alone in the kitchen.

“You ready?” Charlotte asked.

“Not really, I’m not in the mood for this”, Leland answered, waving his hand to the growing number of people in the back area.

“Me either, that’s why I volunteered to watch after the kids”, Charlotte said with a grin. “Then I only need to show up every once in a while.”

Leland gave a small laugh, “maybe you will need my help, there are a lot of kids.”

“Well then maybe we should have a signal. Like if you pull on your ear I will ask you to come help me and then you can disappear for a little while”, Charlotte suggested. It was obvious Leland was not in the mood for this either.

“That sounds perfect. Except people are probably going to think I have a weird tick if I keep pulling my ear all night.”

“Guess you’ll have to save it for really important times.”

“Charlotte?” Cobie asked, coming into the kitchen.

“Hey little dude! What’s up?” Charlotte asked, squatting down to his level.

“Did you bring your army men here?” He asked.

Charlotte gave him a big smile, “funny you ask because I brought them just for you.”

“Yay!” Cobie exclaimed, clapping his hands together.

“Come on, I’ve got them in the living room”, Charlotte said as she guided him out of the kitchen. “Have fun!” She called back to Leland.

Leland shook his head. He took a deep breath to prepare himself and exited outside with his best fake smile.