With Stewart''s help, things had gone surprisingly smoothly even without aptop —at least until that afternoon, when something urgent cropped up at The
Henderson Group and Charlene had to step in right away. That was when theck of aputer became a real headache.
Staring at the files The Henderson Group had just sent to her phone, Charlene couldn''t help but regret turning down Thorne''s offer to bring herptop earlier that morning.
But with the situation so urgent, there was no time to dwell on it.
She hurried upstairs, pausing in front of Thorne''s study. After a couple seconds'' hesitation, she raised her hand and knocked.
"Come in," Thorne called.
He was at his desktop, busy as ever, and looked up just as Charlene opened the door. He didn''t seem the least bit surprised to see her. In fact, before she could even say a word, he asked, "Need theputer?"
Standing just inside the doorway, Charlene nodded. "... Yes."
Thorne smiled, nudged theptop sitting on his desk toward her, and gestured for her toe take it.
She walked in, keeping her eyes down, took theptop from his desk, and said a quiet, "Thank you."
Thorne just smiled and said nothing.
Without another word, Charlene turned and left. As she stepped out, she heard him say "Carry on" to someone on his call, and realized he''d been in a meeting the whole time.
Charlene took theptop back to Jasmine''s room and got to work.
Jasmine, hoping for some ytime with her mom, quickly realized Charlene was so engrossed in work she barely noticed anything around her. Disappointed, Jasmine hugged her pillow and sighed.
It was just then that Thorne stopped by. Jasmine, still clutching her pillow, couldn''t help but pout, "Dad, Mom''s so busy..."
Thorne just grunted in sympathy and walked into the room, grabbing a chair and settling in beside Charlene at her makeshift desk.
Charlene barely noticed his arrival. Only when she heard the chair scrape the floor did she nce over and see Thorne next to her. She didn''t say anything, just turned back to her work.
Given that the files were from The Henderson Group, Charlene didn''t worry about Thorne catching a glimpse of her screen. Even if he saw, it would hardly be an issue.
Thorne actually had plenty on his own te, but he lingered for a while, watching with interest. When it was finally time to return to his own responsibilities, he gave the seene onest, reluctant nce
before slipping out.
to s
It turned out to be a long, busy day for Charlene; she was still buried in work well into the evening.
At dinner, she sat beside Thorne.
"I still have a lot to do tonight," she said as they finished eating. "Do you need theputer back?"
"No, you keep it," Thorne replied.
"Okay, thanks."
They got along easily, and Irma, ever the nurturing soul, was pleased to see it. Still, she worried Charlene was too thin and kept encouraging her to eat more.
After dinner, Charlene headed upstairs to keep working.
Thorne didn''t disturb her again, choosing instead to stay downstairs and y with Jasmine.
By a little after nine, Jasmine had finished her bath and was getting ready for bed. She noticed Charlene still bunched over herptop, the ck of the keys a steady background noise. All at once, Jasmine remembered something. s
"Mom, why don''t you go work in your room with Dad?" she asked. She wasn''tining about the noise-she just suddenly recalled that, in the past, even when her mom had work to do, she would always do it in her and Thome''s
bedroom, not in Jasmine''s.
belongs to s
Charlene paused, fingers hovering over the keyboard. After a couple seconds,
she replied, "It doesn''t really matter where I work."
Then, ncing over, she added, "Sorry if I''m keeping you up."
"You''re not,” Jasmine said, stifling a yawn. "I''m going to sleep now, though. You should get some rest, too. Good night, Mom."
"Good night," Charlene replied softly.<fn27ea> Chapters first released on </fn27ea>
She got up and turned off the main lights, leaving Jasmine to drift off to sleep.