Chapter 02 Settling At Maine
The next morning, Julie went to breakfast after checking Charlie who was still sleeping. He woke up when she entered in his room.
"Good morning. How did you sleep?" Julie asked while he got up and started to change his clothes.
"Not as good as at my own bed, but really great." He smiled before both of them went down to breakfast.
At the kitchen, were Mary, Andrea, Olivia and Alex that was ready to go to open the shop. They greeted them as soon as they came and they sat to eat cereals.
"Your friend Ken called a while ago. He said he'd be here in 2 days and left the name of his hotel and his room's number." Mary told Julie giving her a note.
"We'll go to see him before it starts." Charlie suggested to his friend who nodded.
"Your mom called." Andres told Charlie with a serious tone of voice.
"I guess I should call her now." He said before he asked Julie where he could find the phone.
"I talked to her and we arranged that you stay here these 2 weeks. Also, as I'm sure Julie must have told you, Katie's getting married a few days after you are supposed to leave. You are invited to the wedding and to stay here." Andrea told Charlie before she added: "But surely you 2 talked about it last night, right?"
"We did. As long as there is not any problem with that, I would like to stay." The captain answered.
"They changed of hotel. This is their new and their room's number." The woman said handing him a note.
"I'll show you the phone." Julie said guiding her to a room where was the phone and he dialed the number on the note.
"Ritz Hotel." A man's voice answered a few moments later.
"Yes, I would like to talk with room 236, please." Charlie said while they sat at chairs and waited till his mom answered the phone.
"Hello?" Scott's voice answered soon.
"Hi, Scott. It's Charlie"
"Hi, Charlie. Hold on, your mom is in the bathroom." He said before he went to tell his wife.
"Good morning, Honey. How was the trip?" Casey asked a moment later.
"As good as you can expect with a storm, I guess. How was yours?"
"The same." Casey said before she asked: "What happened that you went there?"
"I went to Scott's sister and their house was empty. I tried to find a hotel but I couldn't so I came here. You knew that in case of problems this would be the first place that I'd try." Charlie said worried that his mom would start to complain about his decision.
"Calm down, Charlie." Casey tried to relax her son before she added: "I talked with her mom and she agreed to let you stay there. She also mentioned something about a wedding and that you'd be invited to it and to spend another week in her house."
"She told me at breakfast too." Charlie nodded before he asked: "So, can I stay?"
"I prefer to have you there another week than having you traveling all the time." Casey said before she added: "Remember the rules ok?"
"I have to be careful, don't cause troubles and call you every couple of days." Charlie answered with a sigh and said: "You told me that one million times before I left, mom."
"I don't want to hear any complain about your behavior or sense of humor. Understood, young man?" She asked very seriously.
"I have enough of people reminding me of that joke with her family to also have you, Mom! Give me a break!" Charlie pleaded with a shout. Next to him, Julie was trying to hold her laughter.
"Ok, but be careful." His mom said before she added: "We'll see each other soon so have fun in the meantime."
"Bye mom and enjoy NY." Charlie said before he hung the phone.
"She complained about that joke?" Mary asked entering at that moment along Olivia.
"Yes, she did. And you have no idea about the lecture she gave me when I got home. She told me about the bees and flowers and also about protections." Charlie said before he added pointing to Julie who was laughing now: "And it's all her fault."
"You are the one who suggested the joke, Conway!" Julie shouted angry with the accusation.
"Yes, but I'm not the one who said that she was busy practicing the KS with her captain to my mom thinking it was her family when she called 5 minutes later!" Charlie shot back with a smirk.
"She told your mom?" Mary asked laughing while her sister blushed.
"She thought that it was you and answered saying that she was busy with me with the KS. Then she told me that it was my mom. I thought that I'd die in that moment!" Charlie explained.
"How could I have known that it was your mom?" Julie exclaimed while her sister laughed harder than ever.
"Thankfully she called to give me some news so she didn't ask too much about it." Charlie explained to Mary-
"How's the baby going? When is it supposed to be born? Do you know what will it be?" Julie asked trying to change the subject.
"The baby won't be born. Mom had a miscarriage 2 weeks ago." Charlie told his friend sadly.
"Shit." Mary muttered in a low voice while Julie looked shocked with the news.
"I didn't know it." The blond said still shocked.
"It was something sudden. The pregnancy was fine and then one day, she fainted and was taken to the hospital. The doctors did all they could but she died." Charlie said trying to not to cry before he added: "Not all of the ducks know it. Besides me, only Fulton and Adam know it and it's because they were at my house when she fainted and they came with me to the hospital."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Julie said hugging him.
"Sorry if I didn't tell you but I wanted to keep it quiet for now. Fulton and Adam promised to keep their mouth shut at this. I'll ask you the same." Charlie asked his friend who nodded.
"Gaffney residence." Mary said answering the phone that rang in that moment. After a moment she turned to Julie and said: "It's your friend Fulton."
"Let me answer. I told him that I would call if I had to move there." Charlie said to Julie before he took the phone and said: "Hey, Fulton."
"Charlie! I thought you would be at your step-aunt's house by now." The bash brother said surprised to hear his voice.
"Yeah, well there were some problems there and I had to change of plans and I'll stay here the whole time. Tell Dean that I won't go to his house." Charlie said without adding more information about the problems and he was sure that Fulton wouldn't ask either.
"Ok, Captain." Fulton said with a nod before he added: "Tell Julie I said hi. I called her to tell her about you going there but I guess I was late for the news." He knew Charlie well enough to know when to ask about a matter and when not, and obviously on this one the questions were not necessary or welcome.
"I will." Charlie promised before he asked with a smirk: "Do you want me to deliver any message for certain duck girl who will be on town for certain tournament too?"
"Go to the hell, Spazzway!" Fulton shouted before he hung the phone.
"What did I miss?" Julie asked while Charlie was laughing about Fulton's reaction.
"He had a crush on Tammy when we were at the pee wee." He explained before he asked: "I need some fresh air. Is there any good place to visit?"
"I was going to the mall today to buy a couple of things. Let's go there." Julie suggested before they went to their rooms to get their wallets and a jacket too.
- - - - -
"Have you ever skated in a mall?" Charlie asked Julie while they were looking shops and they bought some things.
"Never tried it. You?" She asked curious about that.
"A couple of times. The first when we Fulton learnt to skate. Coach did it on a mall. Really funny experience, I'll tell you." Charlie laughed remembering what had happened that day. Then he continued: "Every time we need to pick Averman from his job at the cinema we skate around the mall till his shift is over and he can come with us."
"Charlie?" Someone asked from behind them. Both turned around to see a blond girl looking at them.
"Tammy!" The boy said hugging her before he turned to her mom and said: "It's nice to see you again, Mrs. Duncan."
"Charlie." She greeted him with a serious look.
"What are you doing here?" Tammy asked before she saw Julie and said: "Tammy Duncan."
"Julie Gaffney. I heard about you from Connie." Julie smiled shaking her hand.
"You are one of the new ducks! Congratulations! Now, Connie is not the only girl of the team!" Tammy laughed before she repeated her question to her old friend.
"I'll stay at her house for 2 weeks. It's a long story." He said seeing her questioning look. Then he asked: "Ready for the tournament?"
"Nervous as usual but I'm very ready." Tammy said before her mom pointed to her clock and said: "I have to go. Call me to my hotel and we can meet. Tommy will be happy to see you again." Here she took a piece of paper and wrote something on it before she handed it to Charlie.
"You'll be at the same hotel that Ken." Charlie after he read the note.
"Ken? Ken Wu? You know him?" Mrs. Duncan asked shocked when she heard the name.
"He was with us at the good will games. He's one of the newest ducks." Charlie said with a nod.
"Incredible. He left the artistic skating for hockey?" Tammy asked shocked.
"I'm not sure if he left it forever but yes, he did." Julie informed them. Ken had told her that he wasn't sure about what to do: continue with hockey or the skating.
"Wait till Tommy hears this." Tammy whispered to her mom who didn't look very pleased with the idea of that situation.
"Call us and we'll have dinner once the tournament is over." Julie said handing her a paper with her phone number.
"See you!" Tammy said before she and her mom left.
"What's the problem with her brother?" Julie asked curiously to Charlie.
"Well, you'll see. Their mom presses Tammy for skating and decided that her brother had to be her partner. Tommy never liked the idea too much but went along with it till they joined the team." Charlie stared to tell the story before they went to get an ice-cream and he went on:
"Their mom allowed them to do it like a favor to him but told them that at the end of the season, the hockey was over permanently and they would return to skating."
"Let me guess: he didn't like the deal." Julie said.
"You can bet it." Charlie nodded before he continued:
"After the pee wee, their parents decided to move to continue with her career and Tommy didn't want to. He had his friends there and had no wishes to make new ones, especially with the schedule that they had to keep. He wanted to play hockey and not skating.
"As you can imagine, it was the war. Their mom reminded him that the hockey was temporary and now had to continue with the skating and he had to forget it. Then Tommy went to the extreme and told her that if he wouldn't play hockey, then he wouldn't skate with his sister either."
"How was he convinced? I read that he's her partner." Julie said while they sat to eat.
"He's her partner. To convince him, they made a deal. He would go with her for this year and next she would find another one. If she didn't, it wasn't his problem. But this year he would play hockey again. And if his mom didn't let him and he had to skate with her, he would be paid for practices and tournaments." Charlie explained seriously.
"Are you serious?" Julie asked shocked.
"Yes, he is." Someone said from behind them.
"Tommy!" Charlie said turning to see him and hugging him.
"Spazzway!" The boy laughed returning the hug before he introduced himself to Julie: "I'm Tommy."
"Julie. It's Nice to meet you." The goalie said shaking his hand.
"You are one of the new ducks. You are the new Goalie, right?" He asked taking seat with them.
"That's me." Julie nodded with a smile.
"What happened with the deal? From what Connie told me, your sis hasn't found a partner yet." Charlie said with curiosity.
"Mom is trying to make me forget the deal. She doesn't want to pay me for something I should do freely, as she says." Tommy said before he added: "That's why I made the deal a real contract through Coach Bombay. She has no options: either they find Tam a new partner or they start to pay me."
"Gees! That's a good one!" Charlie laughed.
"That's what happens when your dad is a business man: you learn a lot of tricks from there to use in your own benefit." Tom said laughing.
"What does he say about all of this?" Julie asked.
"I've kept myself away from the arguments after he used my tricks against us." A man said going to them.
"Hi, Mr. Duncan. It's nice to see you." Charlie said to Tommy's dad shaking his hand.
"Likewise, Charlie." He nodded before he turned to his son and said: "Time to go. Your mom wants us at the hotel in 15 minutes."
"She should have been at the army. She makes schedules for everything and everyone!" Tommy groaned before he said goodbye to the friends and promised to keep in touch.
"They say that they can't stand each other, but they can't live without the other." Charlie said to Julie before they took their bags and started the trip back to her house.
