I returned to the room, where Charlotte was waiting for me.
She was sitting in the armchair, her back to the large window. She had placed herself there so she could see me the moment I stepped in. She should have sat on the couch so she could have admired the landscape. They didn’t have views like this anywhere else we’d ever been before. I wondered how long she had waited for me like this.
“Naomi,” she greeted me. She pointed to the couch and I sat. I wasn’t one who would usually follow my younger sister’s orders, but felt this was going to be good. She had a mix of concern and strain on her face.
I sat down across from her. “Charlotte,” I greeted her. I tried to mirror her expression but struggled to keep a grin off my face.
“Naomi,” she said again. She leaned in toward me and placed a hand on my knee. “I’m worried about you.”
“Yes…”
“I love you and—”
Surprised at the sentiment, I interrupted her. “You do?”
“Of course I do.”
“Is…” I looked around, waiting for other family members to pop out. “Is this an intervention?”
“Yes,” she answered.
She’d made a comment about my drinking earlier in the trip but I didn’t think one or two drinks a day on vacation was a big deal. Who doesn’t drink more on vacation? Especially a vacation with your family? Where the booze was included? Of course, if she thought I drank like that at home that might be a warning sign. Were one or two drinks a day a drinking problem? I didn’t think so but who knows what she’d been reading in her textbook today.
“Why are you obsessed with finding Dr. Higgins’ murderer?”
“Obsessed? I don’t think I’m obsessed.”
She scoffed. “What have you done every waking moment since his death?”
“I’ve participated in the lodge’s scheduled activities. I’ve attended game drives, participated in every included activity. If I were skipping activities, a game drive, in order to investigate, well, then you might have a point.” I paused, remembering I had skipped a game drive to investigate. “Fine, once. I skipped one game drive.”
“You weren’t sick?”
“No, I wanted time to investigate while the guests were away.”
“Investigate! That’s what I’m talking about. You’re a twenty-five-year old, with no college degree, working in customer service. You don’t investigate anything!”
I rolled my eyes.
“Do I need to call Mom?” She pulled out her phone. It was an empty threat. I’d yet to see any bars on our phones to make a call from the room. “Would you be acting like this if she were here?”
“I’d probably be spending even more time at the bar if she were here,” I mumbled.
“Naomi!” She briefly put her head in hands. “I’m not kidding. I’m genuinely worried.” She cleared her throat. Oh no, was she going to cry?
“Did you have feelings for Dr. Higgins?”
“Feelings? Don’t be ridiculous. I never even spoke to him. And what we saw of him wasn’t exactly likable. He was a real prat.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. I was going to be worried if you started getting interested in older men like that. I mean your last boyfriend wasn’t ideal but I could see the attraction.”
“Thank you?”
“But why are you obsessed with finding his killer? If he was indeed killed?”
I shrugged. I didn’t know why. It just seemed to be the right thing to do.
“I think you are seeking meaning in your life,” she said.
“Oh no,” I mumbled. Dr. Charlotte had arrived.
“Let me continue.” She got up and the lecture began. “You are seeking something that the rest of your life isn’t giving you. You are seeking a purpose.”
“So you’re reading psychology books today?”
She continued, ignoring my question, if she had even heard it. “Your recent breakup was difficult.”
It wasn’t as difficult as she thought, or as difficult as I thought it would be. Two years together, and I felt nothing that we split.
“Your job doesn’t fulfill you.”
Oh, it fills me alright. It fills with me with distaste of the human race. How could people complain that much? About clothes? It was no wonder I didn’t drink more.
She sat down next to me on the couch and took my hands. She looked at me earnestly and I tried not to laugh. “I was thinking when we get back home. I could stay with you for a week or so.”
“Please don’t.” This vacation was more than enough sisterly bonding time for me.
“We could get you a pet? A cat maybe.”
“Please don’t.”
“I think a dog would be too much for you to care for.”
She was right. A dog would be way too much for me to care for. The plant our mother sent when I moved into my latest apartment had turned out to be too much for me to care for.
“How about a cat? We’ll go to the local shelter. Get you a cute little kitten.”
“Are you saying I’m going to be like Norah, Nan’s friend? I’m in my twenties—nowhere close to being an eighty-year-old spinster. Is that what you think my future is?”
“I’m saying you need a little company. I’m saying one cat.”
I pushed her hands away. “It starts with just one cat!”
“Fine, no cats, but we need to get you back out there. Maybe we could sign you up for a couple online dating sites.”
“Please don’t.”
“Or…we could hit some of the local coffeehouses and bars or whatever. And I could be your wing-woman!”
“Please…Please don’t.”
She prattled on about the nice photo she had taken of me on a game drive. How we could use that as my profile picture.
She was genuinely concerned about me and it was sweet. I got up and kissed her on the top of her head, the way I did when she was a child and I was always at least a head taller than her. “Thank you.”
At least she didn’t think I had a drinking problem.