Chapter 4
Alan Eppes laughed from the doorway as he watched the taillights of his oldest son's car disappear from view.
"Are they gone?" a female voice called down from the top of the stairs.
"Yep," Alan answered as he shut the front door. He smiled up at the long-legged woman. "I'd say we just bought ourselves about two hours."
"Well then let's not waste a minute of it then." She replied with a wicked smile.
Alan Eppes all but ran up the twenty odd steps. At the top of the landing, he wrapped an arm around her waist and steered her down the hallway.
"Now I see why you told me to park across the street and not in the driveway."
"I didn't want anything in the way that might impede their getaway." Alan turned the door knob of his bedroom door.
"And you don't feel bad about chasing your poor sons out of the house?" Bri asked only half in jest.
Alan had felt a small twinge of guilt until he remembered all the times he was made to kill time at O'Malley's during Don's college breaks. A couple days before the weekend would roll around his son would start dropping hints that he would like to hang out with an old high school friend or a new college friend (98% of the time the "friend" turned out to be female) on Friday or Saturday night. Alan being the "good" father would wind up eating alone at some local restaurant or take in a movie if he could wrestle up an old buddy to keep him company.
Sometimes Alan got so tired of being in the way that he would fly out to Princeton to spend a weekend with Margaret and Charlie. However, that too had its drawbacks with Alan often heading home to California with the sinking feeling that he had become nothing more than a visiting relative in Charlie's life. It certainly did not help to observe how much Charlie admired his mentor Professor Larry Fleinhardt. Of course, Alan understood now that his worry that the physicist would take his place in Charlie's life was a case of "irrational jealousy."
In a case of déjà vu Alan now had to repeat the process of making himself scarce when Charlie started seeing Amita on a more serious basis.
"Trust me I've felt worse." Alan stepped aside to let her pass.
Several blocks away Don and Charlie were walking toward the entrance of the neighborhood's most popular watering hole; each man taking turns joking about the dismal ending to their father's date.
Charlie stopped to pull his vibrating phone from the back pocket of his faded and well-worn jeans. He smiled after noting that the text was from Amita. It was a short message in which she wrote about how she wished she had blown off the dinner and had instead spent the night with him. She also wanted to know if he had any plans for the morning. Charlie quickly typed back that his only plan consisted of showing up her front door in the morning with coffee and blueberry muffins. He put his phone away and hurried to catch up with Don who now stood on one of the painted steps that lead up to the entrance of O'Malley's.
Don jammed his cell phone into the back pocket of his black jeans and looked out at the bustling parking lot.
Charlie stopped just short of the steps and opened his mouth to speak.
"Yes it was work and no I'm not taking off." Don again answered his brother's unspoken questions.
Charlie knew this was usually the point where he would ask if there was anything he could do to help. However, this time the mathematician's lips remained sealed. Charlie loved nothing more than to jump in and help his brother (and his team) but this time he just couldn't rearrange his plans. He needed to show Amita that he could be spontaneous.
Don was a little surprised by the absence of his brother's usual offer of assistance though he tried to not to let it show. Even during times when Charlie was super busy at CalSci (and would let Don know about it in no uncertain terms), his brother was a pro at multi-tasking and always managed to find a way to get it all done. The agent knew that if the reason behind his sibling's silence was related to work then Charlie definitely would have said so by now. In Charlie's world no one worked harder than he did. Sometimes Don knew that to be true but there were also times when he honestly felt that Charlie just liked to appear put upon.
Don decided to take a more direct route and hope for the best.
"Hey Charlie I was wondering if you could maybe spare a couple of hours tomorrow morning. I have this case that has just blown up and I could really use your help." Don had vowed at Charlie's front door not to venture into any work related subjects because he did not want Charlie thinking that he had stopped by just to pick his brain.
"I wish I could Don but I made plans that I cannot change. I'm driving Amita to Monterey Bay and we're going to stay at the Main Street Inn. We'll probably be there until late Sunday afternoon." Charlie threw his brother an apologetic look as he joined him on the small porch.
"That's good Charlie." Don (despite his initial letdown) was genuinely happy to hear this news. He would never admit it but Don shared his father's worry that if Charlie did not step up his game that Amita would eventually grow discouraged at the snail's pace of their relationship. "You two deserve a little getaway."
Charlie felt horrible. He had seen the disappointment Don had tried to hide. It certainly did not help that his older brother was standing beside him being "happy" for him.
"Honestly Don if I wasn't trying to show Amita that I can be spontaneous I would rearrange my plans." Charlie watched as a wide smile broke out on his older brother's face.
"You? Spontaneous!" The amused man replied with laughter in his voice. It was only last week that Larry told Don a story (while he waited in Charlie's office for the busy professor to finish collecting some more data) about how at the start of Charlie's CalSci career he had mapped out a five year plan that covered all the academic milestones he had planned on achieving. Larry proudly announced that it had taken Charlie only three years to not only meet but surpass those goals. Don remembered looking at Charlie and seeing how uncomfortable his brother looked at having been made the topic of conversation. He also recalled how Charlie had put a halt to Larry's proud crowing with a "that was a long time ago" declaration and without another word went back to work at his beloved chalkboards.
Don was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of his brother's deep toned voice.
"Oh right like your middle name is impulsive." Charlie replied sarcastically.
"Touche' Chuck." Don had to give Charlie the win if only for the guy's snappy comeback. "Come on let's go in."
Don walked toward the bar's decorative six panel wooden front door. He always hated having to rope Charlie in especially when his brother had made plans but in all honesty there was no one Don trusted more or who could produce results like CalSci's favorite mathematician.
"What about Monday around eleven?" Charlie spoke to his brother's back. "I could come in and work until four but I really cannot stay any longer than that; I have to attend a symposium at six o'clock." He briefly wondered if Amita would mind stopping at Whole Foods on the way home Sunday. Charlie quickly nixed the idea when he pictured the look that would cross her face when he broached the subject. Charlie knew there would be another brightly colored note left on the refrigerator door when he got home on Sunday.
"Hey buddy whatever time you can give me is always appreciated." Don replied earnestly.
"Can we leave here by 10:30? I still have stacks of papers to grade and record." Charlie tried to put on his game face on but failed. He would somehow find a way to get everything done; it's what all the people around him have come to expect.
"Sure Charlie." Don willing agreed. "Tell you what to save time we'll eat at the bar." He saw an apprehensive look filter across his brother's face. "I swear," Don held up his right hand as if taking an oath, "if there's a game on and it's tied in the bottom of the ninth I promise we will still leave here by 10:30."
Unconvinced based on Don's previous patterns; a frowning Charlie followed his sports loving sibling into the bar's jam packed foyer.
Don was a man on a mission and immediately headed in the direction of O'Malley's equally crowded bar. He saw a young couple, with drinks in hand, vacate two seats. "Follow me Charlie." Don ordered. "We'll grab those two seats." He pointed over the head of a small statured female and dismissed the annoyed look the lumbering man standing next to her threw his way. "
Don assumed that Charlie was directly behind him and with the agility of an athlete, he ducked and weaved his way around a boisterous crowd of soccer fanatics.
Charlie tried to follow but got cut off by a congealed mob of dressed to impress young women intent on taking a group selfie. Every time he attempted to go in a forward motion, Charlie found himself bouncing off one irritated person after another. One giant redwood actually pushed him back toward another gaggle of selfie takers. Charlie felt like a salmon fighting to get upstream.
Don had made it to the two vacant seats just before an oddly mixed duo tried to stake their own claim. The barely legal buxom brunette whispered in her decades older male companion's wrinkled ear and she pointed to two newly vacated seats in the middle of the bar. As the May and way-past-December couple walked away, the young woman turned and threw Don a mega-watt smile.
Don missed the woman's attempt at gaining his attention because he had turned to scan the crowd for his directionally challenged brother. He could not help but think "only Charlie could get lost in a crowd of no more than forty people." He was about to pull out his cellphone and type out a "where the hell are you?" text message.
"I bet that happens a lot." A sultry female voice interrupted Don's hunt for Charlie. He turned to see that the voice perfectly matched the attractive auburn-haired bartender.
"What me nearly body checking an elderly person?" Don answered jokingly. He gave the woman a friendly smile.
"I swear that old geezer's in here every Friday night with a different escort oh sorry I mean date (she threw in some air quotes). No I meant women trying to gain your attention. It must happen to you on a daily basis." She flashed the good looking man seated in front of her a very welcoming smile. The bartender quickly mixed a drink and then slid it to the complaining out of shape middle-aged man seated next to Don. The man received no dazzling smile.
Don watched the exchange and grabbed a handful of beer nuts from a nearby bowl. He chucked a couple in his mouth in an attempt to ward off any further conversation it worked but then it also prevented him from warning an advancing Charlie about the female barracuda behind the bar.
"Oh yeah it happens to him all the time." Charlie answered helpfully as if the world needed to hear this piece of unnecessary information. He smiled over at Don who responded with a dagger-like stare. This totally threw Charlie seeing how only a few seconds ago his brother seemed quite happy to see him.
When Charlie reached over to grab some beer nuts Don slid the bowl out of his big-mouthed brother's reach.
"Hey! Another cute one. Must be my lucky night." The bartender grinned as she watched the smaller man turn and look behind him.
Charlie blushed when he realized that the woman had been talking about him.
"So what can I get for you two gentlemen?" The young woman hardly ever got to use that term during her shift; seeing how 80% of the males who saddled up to the bar ultimately tried to hit on her as soon as their wives, fiancés or girlfriends were conveniently out of earshot range.
"I'm Charlotte." She offered her deeply tanned hand. Charlotte knew she would once again get reamed out by her manager for "being overly" friendly. However, given the rare opportunity of having an intelligent conversation with not one but two good looking men made Charlotte ever so willing to forget her manager's ridiculous rule.
This time Don gave her a nod of acknowledgment instead of a smile. Charlie, thinking his brother was being oddly rude, leaned over the counter of the bar and shook the woman's multi-ringed hand.
"I'm Charlie and this is my brother Don." Charlie cordially volunteered.
Don looked at his brother's engaging smile and genuinely sincere expression and wondered why he had stopped using the nickname Charlie had despised the most: Captain Oblivious because it still fit Charlie like a glove.
Don was a seasoned pro when it came to the L.A. bar scene and knew without a doubt that Charlotte was in the process of weighing her options.
"Charlie and Don." Charlotte answered in what could only be categorized as a cat-like purr.
The woman's tone almost made Don smile again. It also left him wondering if Charlie was the milk and he was the cream or perhaps it was vice versa.
Charlie had taken a slight step back from the bar. "Maybe" Don noted, "he's not as oblivious as I thought after all."
Charlotte was definitely drawn to the older man's dark and moody aura. However, she was also attracted to the younger one's light and open aura. Charlotte made her decision; she leaned against the bar rail and turned her attention toward the dark and moody one. She couldn't help herself; there was just something about bad boys that rocked her world.
"So what brings you here on our busiest night of the week?" Charlotte inquired of Don.
Charlie watched as the bartender turned away from him. The not so subtle brushoff, however, created no bad feelings. High school was a thousand years ago and Charlie no longer felt the crushing blow of rejection that had come with the realization that his female classmates (all a good three to four years older) befriended him simply to get closer Don.
Now in his pre-Robin days, Don would have already had Charlotte's number and a time to meet up already lined up. When he caught sight of Charlie pretending to be totally interested in an international soccer match Don flashed back to his thoughtless teenage self who would go out of his way to rub his dating success in Charlie's (barely) teenage face.
Don reached out and took hold of his younger brother's forearm and gave it a light shake. "Hey!"
"Yeah?" Charlie answered. He instantly took his attention away from the blaring over-sized mounted television. The mathematician had spent the five minutes calculating which team had the overall skill set needed to achieve victory.
"The kitchen's backed up." Don fibbed. "Do you want to grab a burger at "In N Out." down the street?"
"Okay. Sure" Charlie answered over the din of the television.
Don thought he could actually feel the heat coming off Charlotte's burning stare.
Charlie took a quick glance in Charlotte's direction. He had no doubt that all her attention toward Don was going to get her nowhere. He just wasn't sure how she would react to getting shut down. It went better than Charlie had anticipated, as an obviously pissed off Charlotte poured a draft and walked it over to an elderly patron. However, she placed the glass down so roughly on the counter that some of the beer flowed over the side of the glass.
"We should probably go while she's busy." Charlie wisely stated. He nodded his head in Charlotte's direction just in case his brother needed a visual aid.
"Right." Don grinned at his oh so helpful sibling. "Let's get out of here." Don threw some money on the bar. He slung an arm around Charlie's shoulders and propelled him in the direction of the now far less crowded foyer.
"Hey how solid are you on that curfew time?" The older man joked.
Charlie stopped dead in his tracks.
"I'm kidding." Don pushed his brother forward.
When Charlie passed the now seated redwood; he kept his distance but shot the man a dark look. Don who was following close behind realized that something must have occurred between the two men while he was busy fending off Charlotte's advances. As he moved past the much bigger man's table; Don threw the man a look that read, "You got lucky. This time."
The petite blonde woman seated across from the Norwegian giant; failed to notice the exchange between her date and Don. She was too busy tracking Charlie's movements.
Don caught the woman's eye and gave her a wink. She did her best not to look embarrassed before she attacked her salad.
Don had to hustle after Charlie who already made it to the doorway.
Back at the bar, a surprised Charlotte picked up her sizable tip. She sighed unhappily as she made her way toward a gaggle of hooting and hollering baseball watching twenty-something at the far end of the bar.