Chapter 3

He looked out the window.

Charlie was sitting on the room's balcony, already. The two brothers had just embarked, Don ruffling Charlie's hair at the last minute so that he would smile in the embarkation photo. The lines in the terminal were long for the holiday weekend, and by the time they finished the paperwork, had identifying ship badges and got to their cabin, Charlie was showing a significant limp. He had dumped his duffle on the floor and headed immediately for the balcony.

Don had looked around, moved Charlie's duffle into the closet, checked out the facilities. Now, he joined Charlie on the balcony to wait for the lifeboat drill announcement. Charlie's head was leaned back on the chaise, and his eyes were closed, but Don soon found out that he was awake.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this."

Don sat in the lounger on the other end of the balcony and smiled over the water. "I can't, either. Although I think Amita may have done all the hard work."

Charlie opened his eyes, squinted, put on the sunglasses that lay on his lap. He tried to change the subject. "Do I really have to get you drunk on the Lido Deck before I hear about the travel agent?"

Don looked at him through his own sunglasses. "It's too late now, Charlie. You have to go."

Charlie slowly raised his head, took off his glasses. He glared at Don. "What do you mean?"

Don looked back to the water. "The travel agent is a friend of Megan's. I've never actually met her. Since Megan often watches her kids when she and her husband go out, I probably never will."

Charlie groaned, dropped his head back. "So this whole thing was a set-up."

Don took off his own glasses and turned the chaise away from the glare a little. He looked at Charlie. "No. I just mentioned that I was trying to think of something you and I could do together over the holiday, that wouldn't be too hard on your leg. Seems her friend had just called that morning and offered her the cabin, but Megan said she had plans to go on a hike with Larry over Memorial Day, turned it down. She called her friend back and wrangled it for us."

Charlie didn't say anything, or open his eyes again.

Don kept going. "Sounds like Larry won't be at Amita's picnic either."

Charlie sighed a little. "Yes he will. He and Megan decided to take Amita and Mark along; just a short half-day hike, ending with a picnic." He lazily turned his head toward Don and opened his eyes again. "Dad's going, too."

"Dad? Hiking?"

Charlie smiled. "No, not on the hiking part. He'll stay behind and set up the picnic."

"They talked him into being a fifth wheel with two couples?" Don felt a little guilty. Maybe he should have tried harder to include his father this weekend.

Charlie's smile faded. "Not exactly. Three couples. He's taking The Caterer."

Don let that sink in. His brother shifted in the lounger, closing his eyes again. "I just feel like I'm going to come back and everybody will be engaged to everybody else."

Don laughed a little. "Come on, Charlie. I don't think any one of them is that rash. These are all fairly new…arrangements." He stood and walked along the balcony until he was closer to his brother, leaned his back against it and faced him. He tried to make his tone teasing. "But let's say that they all did. Would one of those pairings disturb you?"

Charlie didn't answer right away. Finally, he spoke quietly. "Let's just say there's one that wouldn't."

"Go on. Please. This is interesting."

Charlie opened his eyes again, glowered at Don. "Get out of my sun." Don didn't budge, so Charlie sighed a little more and admitted it. "Larry and Megan. I think they're a good couple. They seem very different on the surface, but on a deeper level they have many similarities, and several complimentary qualities."

Don grinned. "Too many syllables, Charlie. You're on vacation." He decided to push it. What was Charlie going to do, jump overboard? "What about Dad and The Caterer?"

The brown eyes looked up at him. "She's not Mom," he said simply, and Don felt the conversation sliding out of his control. That … that he wasn't going to push, right now. "Okay," he hurried on. "Amita and Mark."

Charlie sat forward on the lounger, refused to meet his eyes. "I've never even met Mark. He could be the exact man I would pick for Amita, I don't know. I just wouldn't pick him yet, I guess."

Don looked at him with concern. "Because?"

"Because I feel like I missed something, didn't recognize something soon enough…or saw something that really wasn't there…basically, I feel like an idiot."

Don walked back to the second chaise, dragged it closer to Charlie. He sat down again. "Nobody else thinks you're an idiot, Charlie," he said gently. "She doesn't look at you like she's looking at an idiot."

Charlie's head came up. "Maybe not. She doesn't look at me the way she used to, either."

Don decided to change the subject. He took out his wallet, extracted a sheet of small, red, circular stickers. "I got these in an office supply store," he began conversationally, and handed it to Charlie. "One for each of us. I was hoping it would be more subtle than a tie on the doorknob."

Charlie accepted the stickers, but looked confused. "I don't get it."

Don looked at him. "Charlie. I keep forgetting you never lived in a dorm. Even the year you lived in that apartment near campus, you lived alone. No roommates."

Charlie just looked at him.

Don shrugged. "If one of us comes back to the room, and there is one of these little red dots near the key slide…well…we just find something else to do for a few hours, okay? It's a big ship."

Charlie was either getting a sunburn already, or blushing. He tried to hand the sheet of stickers back. "I don't think I'll be needing quite this many."

Don laughed. "Just put it in your wallet." He watched while Charlie did as he was told. As his brother reached to return his wallet to his back pocket, Don put out a hand to stop him. Charlie looked at him again. "Do you need anything else for that wallet?"

Confusion. It was nice to be able to see every one of Charlie's emotions in his eyes, again. He was letting his guard down, at least with Don. "What do you mean?"

Don grinned. "Come on. I 'protect and serve', as they say."

This time he knew Charlie was blushing. "Knock it off, Don."

The moment was interrupted by the announcement of the lifeboat drill. They stood and walked back through the room. Don stopped at the closet, grabbing the life jackets. He tossed one to Charlie, smiled.

"Here, Little Bro," he teased. "Just in case you get in over your head."