Chapter 35
Charlotte and Cooper are waiting outside the nursery, dressed in old shirts of Marks to paint in . After a few minutes Mark and Monica come up the stairs. Monica's carrying a bottle of wine and a basket of cheese and crackers. Mark's carrying four glasses and a blanket. They all walk in the nursery where Cooper's already set up the paint and painting supplies.
"What's with the wine and crackers?" Cooper questions.
I figured it'd make it easier if we all had a little wine and made a toast before painting the room, to make it special." Monica helps Mark spread the blanket on the floor.
"Sounds good to me." Cooper sits down on the blanket grabs the bottle of wine to look at and then starts pouring." Charlotte sits next to him. Cooper hands her a glass of wine and she starts drinking immediately.
"Who wants to give the toast?" Monica asks holding up her glass of wine.
"I will." Mark answers and they all hold up their glasses. "To Lili... our precious baby girl... you will always be with us." They all clink glasses and sip the wine.
"I'd like to make a toast." Cooper announces "To starting over fresh. Here's to new beginnings!" They clink glasses and sip their wine. Cooper gives Charlotte a quick soft kiss on the lips.
"That's so romantic." Monica says "Why can't you be romantic like Cooper?" She looks at Mark and Mark shoots Cooper a glare.
"We should get started." Charlotte stands up still holding her wine and reaches for a paint roller.
"This was a good idea your friend had Cooper?" Monica says as she grabs a paint roller.
"What are you talking about? What friend?" Charlotte looks at her with her face a bit scrunched in confusion.
"Cooper's friend Violet.. It was her idea to paint the nursery." Monica blabs.
"It was my idea.. I thought of it the other night after I saw the nursery...How does Violet even know about the nursery?" Charlotte looks at Cooper.
Monica answers. "I told her…. Well… Cooper told me to tell her…to help you…she's a psychiatrist."
"I know what Violet is." Charlotte grumbles as she slams her paint roller on the ground and huffs out of the room.
"Charlotte!" Cooper and Monica both call as she storms out the door.
"I'll go talk to her." Mark holds his hand up to Cooper who is starting to follow Charlotte.
Charlotte's sitting on the bed she picks up some laundry out of the basket and starts folding it quickly.
"What's wrong Sunny?" Mark sits on the bed next to her.
"Nothing's wrong! Everything's just dandy." Charlotte slams the folded shirt down on the bed.
"Your upset Cooper told Violet about Lili?" Mark asks.
"It's none of Violet's business. She got as big a mouth as your girlfriend. I don't need the whole damn town knowin' my business." She slams a folded towel down.
"Yes you do. It's good that she tells people, that people know about Lili. You certainly can't bring yourself to talk about it and people should know. People'll be more likely to give you a break when you're grouchy if they know your situation." Mark starts folding laundry with her. "Or else they'll just think you're a bitch without a cause"
Charlotte gives him a small smile. "They already think that... Is that what they think about you too?... I noticed you can be an arrogant ass at work."
"The people that know my story understand and the rest well; I don't really care what they think about me." He tells her as he folds a towel.
"What happened to us?... We used to be so much fun... We used to be.. well...nice." Charlotte asks him as she folds a shirt. She's calmed down and is folding at an even pace now.
"We were dealt a bad card in life, Sunny. What happened with Lili wasn't fair and we have a right to be angry about it, but we've both found fantastic people that love us. We need to move forward and let ourselves be happy people again." Mark puts his hand on hers.
"Can I tell you something?" Charlotte asks.
"Anything Sunny." Mark answers still holding his hand on top of hers.
"It's Violet. Cooper tells her everything. I'm gonna be his wife. He shouldn't be tellin' her personal things about me. It's not right." Charlotte's sounding whiny and she knows it.
"He told her because she's a psychiatrist and he thought she could give him advice, which she did. I think it was a great idea she came up with that we each paint a wall together. Don't you?" Mark asks looking her in the eye.
"I thought of that idea myself. I didn't need her to think of it, besides Cooper would have told her anyway. He tells her everything." Charlotte's still whining.
Mark holds her hand and tells her "Cooper's the type of person that needs to talk. You've always been closed up. Talk to Cooper and he'll open up and tell you things. Tell him to talk to you, not Violet."
Charlotte nods her head yes. "We better get back in there before they end up painting the room by themselves."
"And Charlotte... you could always talk to me." Mark tells her as he pats her on the backside as they walk back to the nursery.
Charlotte smacks his arm for that. "And you Mark, you better not cheat on Monica or you'll have to deal with me because I plan on keepin' in touch." She smiles at him as they walk back in the nursery.
"Everything okay?" Cooper asks as he paints the trim with a small brush.
"Will be soon enough." Charlotte says as she grabs a paint roller and rolls it down Cooper's back. It's a good thing he's wearing an old shirt of Marks for painting.
"Hey! You're gonna get it now Spanky." Cooper takes his paint brush and grabs Charlotte as she tries to get away. He paints a line across her chest. Good thing she's got on a painting shirt too.
Charlotte grabs the paint brush away from him and paints over his chest with it. Cooper grabs Charlotte and hugs her pressing a big kiss on her lips.
Mark shakes some wine at them. "Get back to painting or I'll put the hose on you."
"This is turning out to be more fun than I thought." Monica says.
Thank you to all of you that take the time to review. :)