Charlie lay on the couch, furiously reading and marking term papers.
Relaxed in the chair, Alan sat with his glasses tipped on the edge of his nose, pen poised to fill in another box of his crossword.
The comfortable silence hung between them until Alan sighed and put down his paper. He pulled his glasses from his face and looked at Charlie.
"You gonna be up all night with that?" His hand gesticulated to all the papers methodically scattered around the sofa. "It's almost midnight."
"Only a few more left. Why?"
Alan gave Charlie a mock look of concern.
"Just wondering when you'll learn to prioritise. Get this done at work. Like a normal working person. Maybe leave you time to find a mother for my grandchildren."
"Ha. Ha. Don's still working. He's the one you should be worried about. Statistically…"
Alan cut off the lecture by rising from his chair.
"At least he's one step closer than you, but you're right. If he keeps working so much he'll lose the woman he's got."
Instantly Alan turned to head upstairs, a satisfied grin plastered across his face.
Shocked at his father's statement, Charlie could only stare.
"Don has a woman? What. When?" Charlie gagged for words. "Why am I always the last to know?" He screamed at his father as he continued to climb the stairs.
It wasn't often that he knew something Charlie didn't. Alan couldn't resist savouring this moment even though it had almost killed him to keep quiet once he'd arrived home after dinner, waiting till the perfect moment came. He'd won. What a nice sleep he'd have.
Hands in the air, Charlie lay dumbstruck on the couch. Is that why he got Megan to drive me home. Oh man. Does everyone know? Even Larry?
ooOoo
"Did you know Don has a woman?"
"Interesting term, 'a woman'. An entire gender, 2.5 billion wonderful beings full of mystery and wonder. Condensed to one label – woman."
"Larry."
"Yes Charles."
Charlie was getting frustrated. "Did you know Don was seeing someone?" He emphasised the words this time.
"What? Oh no. Though I hardly think I'd be the first to know of his romantic dalliances."
"Yeah, well, neither am I."
"Speaking of which. How are YOUR romantic dalliances progressing?"
"Amita?"
"Yes. Unless there's someone else you'd like to tell me about."
"I, um, seem to be in the way of her career currently and that's what she's concentrating on at the moment. Romance, and therefore Charlie Eppes, don't make the equation. We don't add up."
"I see. I guess we can all understand that. Still if you cut off work colleagues as potential mates AND then concentrate on work." Larry let the statement hang in the air, unfinished. "Well, it doesn't really seem to leave much space or opportunity for anybody else to have a romantic dalliance with if you change your mind. Stars can shine on endless galaxies but they only ever come close to touching one when they die spectacularly. Let's hope Amita is not planning on becoming a star."
Charlie pondered Larry's analogy. He was starting to feel worse about Amita than he had. There was nothing he could do about it, she made her own decisions. Besides, weren't they talking about Don?
"Yeah well Don's star seems to have exploded and I seem to be the only one who missed the show. Again."
Larry felt for Charlie. A brilliant mind, so much knowledge condensed in to one man. And yet so many things eluded him. Oh how he hated it when it became obvious that there were pieces of knowledge floating around, simple bits of knowledge that he just didn't know.
"I thought you said you hadn't seen much of each other lately? Other than that drug case he had you working on. I believe you said it occupied a lot of his time."
"I did. IT did. But he found time to tell Dad."
"Maybe Alan knows when to ask the right questions. You can be a little insular when you're working. Hard for you to notice what's going on with other people. Much like Don actually. Does he ask you about Amita?"
"All the time Larry."
Oh, that tact hadn't worked. Larry decided Charlie needed to work this out for himself.
"Well, maybe you just need to ask more."
"Thanks" Charlie sarcastically whipped.
Larry put down the ball he'd been tossing while talking to Charlie. He placed it on the desk, gave him a knowing glance and walked out of the office.
"And that's exactly what Amita said to me" Charlie faintly whispered once he'd left.
A wad of papers stared back at Charlie, waiting to be marked. He had taken his dad's advice, to do the marking at work, during work hours. This morning provided the perfect opportunity, no classes till 2.
The conversation with Larry made his mind wander as he attacked the papers. Was Amita really focused on a career so much that she couldn't date? Maybe she had simply said it to let him down gently. Maybe she just wasn't interested in him, that way.
The morning passed and Charlie had thought more than he'd marked. Only 10 papers had been graded. His class started in ten minutes. Damn. Guess I'll be doing it at home again. All his smugness that he was going to shower on his dad was now put on hold. Maybe tomorrow.
ooOoo
"Do you want to try your brother?"
Alan hadn't looked up while he spoke from the dining table. He continued to trawl through the bevy of take-away menus. His day at the centre had really worn him down. It wasn't the thought of cooking that he couldn't face, in fact he would enjoy that, it was the dishes afterwards. It wasn't like Charlie would be doing any, not with his marking littering the lounge again.
"Sure he won't be with his 'woman'." Charlie spat the last sentence out a little more comically than he intended. For Don to keep a secret from him was fairly normal, but with his dad rubbing it in his face, well it began to feel like a conspiracy.
"Charlie, I only found out about it yesterday." Alan glanced up over the rim of his glasses and looked towards Charlie. "And Don didn't tell me. Never underestimate the power of a father to find out their child's secrets."
Charlie was amazed his dad had found this out for himself. Perhaps there was some genetic link to this detective work Don did. Maybe Larry was right. Maybe he was too blind to other people's lives. Nah, dad's not that smart. Someone told him.
"So?" Alan stood in the doorway looking at Charlie with his hands on his hips. Charlie just stared back from his papers with a confused look on his face. "You gonna call your brother or what? I want pizza."
"Oh" said Charlie finally remembering. Absent minded professor, oh god please not yet. Charlie crept off the sofa, careful not to disrupt his organised chaos of papers. Picking up the landline, Charlie dialled Don's cell.
"Straight to voicemail."
"Try his apartment, you never know. She's a lawyer I hear, she probably works late too so he may be just lazing around waiting for a call." Alan hid the smirk. Score 2. Another bit of information Charlie didn't know skilfully revealed. He could feel Charlie's stunned stare behind him. Charlie's hadn't actually said the word 'what' but his lips certainly mouthed it.
"Ways and means Charlie boy, ways and means." Alan chuckled to himself.
Ignoring his dad finally, Charlie dialled Don's apartment. This time however, he wanted him to answer the phone. Too many questions needed to be asked. Boy did he hate not knowing stuff.
"Answerphone. Anything else I should know about?"
"You know you could ask him yourself."
"Yeah, like you did. What's your source? Spill it pops."
"Pepperoni."
"What?"
"The pizza. I want pepperoni. While you have the phone."
Charlie just stared back at his dad in disbelief. He hated pepperoni.
"I'll order 2 then."