Happy Merry Everything (Charlie Barber)

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You knitted your brow. "Is everything okay?" You studied his face. It was safe to say there was a lot on his mind. He huffed out a breath, the stream of air steadily flowing out of his puffed cheeks.

"It looks like no Halloween this year. Not for us anyway." You sat up, turning your body towards him properly. You were aware of the liquid in your cup and the way it sloshed, making sure you didn't spill a drop.

You scoffed; you were at a loss as you stared back incredulously. "She won't let him come out?" "No," he said, somewhat reserved. "That's not it at all." "Then what's going on with Halloween?" you posed, failing to hide the irritation in your voice. 

Charlie took another sip of coffee. "He was invited to an overnight birthday party."

"Oh." You softened instantly. "I would have told you sooner, but I only found out a little while ago. I saw her email about it when I got up. She sent it last night. Attached the invitation and everything. All of the details are there." He gestured to his iPad on your nightstand and you handed it to him. Charlie entered his password and swiped on the screen until the email in question was on display.

"It's the whole weekend, which is a big deal for him. He's only ever done that with the cousins." You read on and opened the invitation. Although it was digital, you could tell the graphic was custom. "The whole weekend? For a birthday party?" Charlie tapped the screen and zoomed in, making light of a few specific details.

"I was surprised too. Nicole's chaperoning part of it. The first night: the kids and their parents are invited to a haunted hayride, which I didn't even know they had in LA. Then the second night said something about a scary movie pizza party sleepover thing. And the final night: the kid's birthday, which is Halloween, go figure...that's cake, ice cream, the whole nine and trick-or-treating. It said parents were invited too. If I had to guess it's so they can watch their own kids and once that's done, party's over."

He gulped down a bit of coffee. "How old's this kid?" "I think it said it's his 11th." You huffed out a laugh and had another sip of your own. "Henry's 10. Wow. Baby's first rager. I never thought we'd see the day."

Charlie snickered. "Do you want to go for support? I mean, you could be the parental chaperone on one of those nights." He scrunched up his face. "You would think that, but if you keep reading through there you'll see why that's probably not a good idea."

You stared down at the wall of text, skimming most of it as you scrolled. He gingerly took the iPad from your hands and tapped around. "I'll save you some time." He highlighted a segment of text and enlarged it. In a matter of words, Nicole mentioned the person throwing the party was the one who recommended her divorce attorney and how due to confiding in her at times, Charlie wasn't exactly her favorite person.

You stared up back at him, one eyebrow locked in an upright position. "Well, that was a polite way to say, 'Sorry, I bitched about you so you can't go to this party.'" you posed sarcastically.

"I know. It's not ideal. I wasn't too happy about it either and I know we had talked about costumes, but you know what? We'll Facetime him and it'll be great."

You could tell there was something else he wasn't saying. "What is it?"

He shrugged, his eyes never leaving your face. "Tell me." His mouth grew into a sly smile.
"Before I say this, I want to be crystal clear that I'm not encouraging you to dislike her. Okay? I mean that. I'd be over the moon if she could look past whatever it is about you she doesn't like and if you could see beyond whatever it is you don't like about her. We may not always get along, but she's always going to be Henry's mom."