seat beside Charlie. While I was tempted to wrap myself up in him, the need for public decency won out over basic desire. Still, I felt a light squeeze of Charlie’s hand on mine when they met under the table—an inconspicuous lover’s greeting.
I wanted to stay in my daze, to remain wrapped in those few moments we were sharing, but the loud clamoring of falling objects took us away from each other.
“Polo!” Yuri bellowed. “What the hell you doing over there?”
The red top of Polo’s head appeared over the top of a counter. “I can’t find that one frying pan for making sandwiches! It’s the best one! If I don’t have it, the grilled cheeses won’t taste the same.”
I rested my hand against my chin and looked at the mess over Yuri’s shoulder. “I put it back in the pantry above the stove, Polo…where I found it.” I rolled my eyes at Charlie and laughed.
“Ain’t no point trying to clean up Polo’s messes,” he said and grinned at me.
“I wasn’t. Rather, I was cleaning up after myself after we made breakfast.”
Yuri leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “You made those omelets yesterday?”
Charlie nodded slowly, but I looked back at Polo, who was struggling to carry about ten different things in his arms at once. “Well, I just helped—”
Yuri laughed. “Right.”
I jumped as something else crashed to the floor. “I got it! I got it!” Polo called.
“Well maybe you can go help him again before we all starve?”
Charlie laughed. “You think he’s gonna kill himself in here or down in the engine room?”
Yuri frowned as he glanced from Charlie to me. Apparently he didn’t realize I knew about the knockers. It made the atmosphere tense enough for me to know that maybe I needed to disappear for a while.
Reluctantly, I let go of Charlie’s hand and walked over to the kitchen nook. “Hey there, Polo—need some help?”
Almost as soon as my back was turned, I heard swearing and hushed whispers. It made me uneasy immediately. Even though I tried to ignore it and muddle through the tasks of slicing tomatoes and chopping lettuce, it was difficult to discount the underlying anger that boiled in Charlie’s voice.
Polo leaned over me to collect the loaves of bread I had put aside. His sudden action, combined with my lack of attention, nearly caused the surgical removal of his pinky finger.
“Oh God, Polo, I’m so sorry!” I dropped the knife and stepped away from the cutting board. My lack of ability to keep myself out of harm’s way was one thing, but I didn’t think I would be capable of forgiving myself if my clumsy actions caused someone else to get seriously injured, too.
He just shrugged it off, becoming, like I, more interested in the growing argument at the table.
“What do you think they’re talking about over there?” I whispered.
Polo laughed his Polo laugh, unnerving me more. “You, Addie! Duh!”
I cringed and turned back around to the storage space where I thought I might pretend to look for something. I had very few options but to look away and just try to make-believe I didn’t know what was going on—although I suppose that wasn’t entirely untrue. It seemed like Charlie was trying to stand up for me. Yuri was clearly very angry. But hadn’t he and the other guys come to realize by now that I would never speak a word against them if it meant hurting Charlie?
Didn’t they understand by now I would do everything I could to keep them from the trouble of the law? I blamed myself. I simply hadn’t been clear about my intended loyalty. From outside the pantry, both Charlie’s and Yuri’s voices rose to new octaves. I cringed at the thought of them coming to blows.
I would give them a minute to work it out for themselves before telling Yuri myself I had no desire to say anything to law enforcement. Hopefully, that would clear everything up and there would be no ill will between us. With any luck, Charlie wouldn’t lose any of his friends as a result of my poor judgment. I would go back to life as I knew it. We would remain in one piece.
The concept brought back the complications my feelings for Charlie carried. By protecting Charlie from the law, I was also protecting his friends, which I didn’t know if I should necessarily do. My mind evoked the nameless truck driver Wallace had killed to save money and the family