Who Kissed Charlie Fine?

Chapter 20

Suddenly Pam was back, drink-less.

"Where's Claire?" Charlie asked, slightly concerned.

"The line is huge."

"See?" Adesh said.

"They're going to do their shots anyway. I'll just wait for a server to come around with the house red. Whatcha talking about?"

"Fantasy cricket league," Adesh said without missing a beat. "Charlie if you still want in on the action, Singapore took Germany for the 8:00p.m. last night. Number 87 is still up by 62."

It took Charlie a second to realize what Adesh was telling him. Eric was flying in from Singapore through Germany on flight number 8762."

"When's the next game?" Charlie asked.

"Forty minutes from now," Adesh said.

Eric was due to land in forty minutes, roughly at nine o'clock.

"You're going to want your best players on the field in case you get a runner."

"As long as the pitch is covered, it should be fine," Charllie said, texting both Mary and Martin as fast as he could.

"Gawd, is there no getting away from you men and your sports?" Pam complained. "I am the very definition of a sports widow only my guy covers them for work so I'm not allowed to yell at him for it."

"My husband and I have actually bonded over it," said Dimple. "And if I'm happy, my mother's happy. If my mother's happy, my aunt is miserable and we all win."

"How?" Pam asked, confused.

"We're very competitive. We just love the sports so much," Dimple said.

"Is it killing you guys that you're going to miss your game?" Pam asked. "I hope you're taping it."

"I hope so too," said Charlie looking at his watch.

"That's okay," Dimple said. "If Charlie misses it he can come watch it later at our house. We have all the satellites."

"Alllll the satellites," Adesh said with a big grin.

"Well, speaking of game scores," Pam said with a smirk, "did anyone have money on whether or not Charlie would find out who kissed him during 7 Minutes In Heaven?" She let her mouth hang open with mischievous glee for admitting to knowing Charlie's secret so bluntly.

"Of course I told her, Charlie," Adesh said shamelessly. "I have to let minor secrets out so I can keep the big ones safe."

"How'd you figure it out?" Pam asked.

"Mary told me," Charlie said gloatingly.

Pam smiled wide. "She did?"

"Yes, but what I want to know is why you didn't."

"It wasn't for me to tell," Pam said with a shrug.

"That makes no sense," Charlie said with his brows nearly touching.

"Sure it does. What did she tell you exactly?"

"She said you ran upstairs to tell her about the prank and tried to get her to sneak down on the dumbwaiter to kiss me. When she lost her nerve you took her place, I suppose so I wouldn't feel humiliated. That was very kind of you, but it would've been a lot kinder to not make me wonder about it for twenty years."

"You wondering about it is certainly not my fault. Or to my credit," Pam said. "Mary shot down that dumbwaiter so fast I thought she'd hurt herself! She was so in love with you. When she pulled herself back up to the room she was smiling ear to ear, but she made me promise to never tell. I only told Claire, but I swore her to secrecy too. Later, when I said you were driving us all nuts trying to figure it out, she said, 'There's no one in the world smarter than Charlie. When he figures it out, I'll tell him.'