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“Chief Swan,” Dr. Cullen’s lovely face looks delighted as he glides up to Charlie who is finishing up the report for Ross Brent’s fender bender. Brent’s fine, holding an ice pack to his bumped forehead as Charlie flips closed his notepad.
“Dr. Cullen,” it’s getting a little easier to look at him head on and act like a real human.
“May I introduce my wife, Esme,” Charlie startles and notices a beautiful woman standing close behind the doctor. Jesus, how had he not noticed her? Too busy mooning over her husband. You’re such a fucking creep, Charlie.
“Uh. Hello. Nice to meet you,” her eyes meet his briefly before flitting quickly to the floor. Her delicate white fingers clench around the large white pieces of paper she is holding.
“And you,” her voice is quiet. “My husband has spoken well of you.” Charlie feels his face heat.
“Darling, I just came to drop by these. I must be off. It was very nice to meet you, Chief Swan,” she smiles and retreats into the misty outdoors.
“The plans for our new home,” he waves the papers as if Charlie deserves some kind of explanation. “Some urgent matters that need attending to. I will bid you good day,” he grins and leaves Charlie gripping his notebook too tight in his damp hands.
———
He sees her again on a gloomy Wednesday inside a Fred Meyer.
After absentmindedly almost running into her cart, Charlie is standing uselessly in the middle of the aisle, holding a single bottle of creamer and a package of ground beef.
“Uh, I’m, -”
“Hello, I -”
“You first -”
“My apologies -”
Esme shrinks awkwardly away from Charlie. Silence drags between them as old Mrs. Talbet pushes her cart past them, grabbing some cereal and casting them dirty looks for clogging the aisle.
“Got it Esme!” A huge teenager lumbers up to the cart, laden with several cartons of eggs. “Oh hey. What’s up?” He says as his eyes catch on Charlie’s sweating face. Charlie bets this woman doesn’t sweat, she’s probably too dignified. Probably glows or some shit.
“He likes eggs,” the woman says timidly. “Chief Swan, this is my son, Emmett.”
“Hi!” The kid waves cheerily.
The silence ticks by again, this time with a teenager bouncing on the balls of his feet, cutting his eyes between the two adults.
“Emmett, where did your father get to?” Esme’s voice is soft and a little tight.
“Oh. Uh, I think he ran into one of his patients! I’ll go find him.” Esme looks dismayed as the boy trots off.
“You. I. I should get going,” he waves his creamer awkwardly at her as if that’s an explanation to something.
“I’m sure Carlisle would like to say hello,” she looks a little surprised as if her voice started without her consent. “He is… very personable. He loves to talk to people, he will be here soon.” She looks ineffectually around her.
Charlie grasps for something to fill the silence: “Don’t understand that. I’d much rather be home. Or out in nature or fishing or…something.” So it’s not just her husband, he can’t be coherent around her either.
“As would I,” her eyes lighten. He could be imagining it, but she seems to relax slightly. “My father used to take me fishing. I loved how it allowed for silence and contemplation. However, I was not enamored of killing the fish.” Her face looks wistful as if remembering some long gone memory.
His fingers on the ground beef twitch a little. He hopes she’s not one of those vegans that’s offended by people eating meat or something. Fish are dumb as fuck. Charlie doesn’t feel particularly bad about gutting them. Although, he can understand not hunting. His father had been a bastard who had insisted Charlie learn to shoot, and had been very disappointed when his sensitive kid cried when he felled a deer. Charlie shakes off the memory and watches Dr. Cullen and his son approach. They resemble each other in a curious way. Especially if the kid is supposed to be adopted. Huh.
Charlie prepares to have more polite conversations. Quickly, his eyes meet Esme’s and he feels like an understanding passes between them as she smiles, what he thinks is the first genuine smile she has graced him with. The ensuing conversation is polite and relatively painless.
Later that night, as Charlie puts his creamer and meat in the fridge, he realizes he forgot to buy coffee. Too distracted by the ethereal Cullens. Well shit. He’s going to have to go back to the grocery store tomorrow.
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