Chapter Eleven
Morning…
Alan left the Craftsman early, saying that the meeting was happening at 8 so he had to leave to beat traffic but Charlie suspected he just wanted to avoid Irene, who was still asleep when he left and he couldn't blame him. Even if one is on good terms with Irene, she is still exhausting to be around.
Margaret was the first to wake up, meaning breakfast was quiet until Irene came down just as they were finishing and she just had toast and some coffee. She went on to ask about if Charlie was seeing anyone, which he answered no, much to her disappointment.
"Shame, because I think you could make someone very happy." She said with a smile before excusing herself, as she said she needed to meet with an old friend before going to the book club, once again leaving Charlie and Margaret alone.
"Hey, Mom, I need to talk to you about something." Charlie said after a few minutes of silence.
"About what?" Margaret asked, hoping it wasn't too serious.
"I was thinking about… Maybe... We can meet with someone we haven't seen in a long time, if he is willing and able." Charlie said, adding the last part, as he was still waiting to hear from Don, so he wanted to see what Margaret had to say.
For her part, Margaret suspected that she knew that Charlie was talking about Don but didn't want to cause problems by asking questions and decided to agree to the meeting.
"Great, I'll talk to him later and we can set up a meeting between the three of us." Charlie said, further confirming Margaret's suspicions that it was Don, as they wouldn't want to cause Don problems due to the case but she still didn't say anything.
Charlie suspected that his Mom knew but he also didn't say anything in order to avoid an argument and he needed to talk to Don before he could say anything else.
He would do it after his classes, since he knew that would be the best time to call Don and see if he would be able to meet up.
Or if he was busy, Charlie could just leave a voicemail.
Albuquerque
Don was on the phone as he listened to the updates on the case, giving him both the confidence and concern that he could meet with his brother and mother, as he had no idea as to how Margaret would react to seeing him before he would attempt to meet with Alan.
It turned out that he would be needed in Phoenix, Arizona, as it seems one of the cases in there is also connected to the one his office is involved with and they wanted to see what the connections would be.
He smiled when he heard that one of the agents involved was Billy Cooper, as they hadn't seen each other for a year and he had been wanting to talk about some of the personal things as well, and it allowed him for a possible way to meet with Charlie and their Mom.
After the finished updates, he called Kim, as he needed to give her the heads up and to tell her about both reasons he was going to Phoenix. While she did tell him that she was glad about him possibly talking to his Mother, he could tell there was a certain reservation about it and he reassured her it was going to be fine.
"Don't worry, Kim, when I eventually meet with Charlie and our Mom, it will be really short since I will be busy with the case." Don said, hoping that would be reassuring
"Well, tell them I said hi." Kim said as she and Don exchanged goodbyes, with Don wondering if he would be able to break it to his Mom that she and Alan have grandkids.
Deciding to put those thoughts aside, he called up his assistant to help direct him to the next flight to Phoenix and hoped things would run smoothly.
For both the case and the upcoming family meeting.
