Maureen and Georgina hadn''t been aware of the shift in Thorne''s attitude toward Charlene.


    They were a little surprised to hear he''d stayed in her room for so long, but they quickly dismissed it. After all, they''d heard that Thorne and Charlene, despite being married for years, rarely shared a bed. He simply had no interest in her.


    So, even if he lingered in her room a little longer than expected, they didn''t believe for a second that anything would happen. Besides, with Thorne''s devotion to Vesta, even if something did happen, Charlene was no threat to their rtionship. With that in mind, what was there to worry about?


    Seeing that Coy shared their perspective, they tactfully avoided prying any further into Thorne and Charlene''s affairs.


    The next morning, Charlene woke up to a message from Stewart exining what had happened the night before. She sat on the edge of her bed and tried to recall the events, but her mind was aplete nk. She did, however, notice that her skin was clean, her makeup had been removed, and she was dressed infortable pajamas.


    She replied to Stewart, who was already awake. He called her as soon as he saw her message. "How are you feeling? Any headache?"


    Charlene rubbed her temples. "Just a dull ache. It''s manageable."


    "That''s good," he said, his tone shifting from concern toint. "What is Thorne ying at? Even if he wasn''t there, we have people at PrimeStar who could have taken care of you. When did it be his business to interfere? You have no idea what people were thinkingst night. They nearly thought I''d made some kind of shady deal with him using you!"


    Charlene didn''t overthink it. "I''m Minnie''s mother," she said calmly. "He was probably just worried something would happen to me and wanted to make sure I was safe, for Minnie''s sake."


    Stewart supposed that made sense. He huffed, chatted with her for a few more minutes, and then hung up.


    retreatsted until


    The corporate retre


    Sunday afternoon. For two days, she


    didn''t see Thorne at all. However,


    as


    she was leaving the hotel on Sunday, she saw the Spencer Hawkins families. They barely gave her a second nce, looking away as if she


    were invisible. Only t


    unable to contain her anger, shot her


    a vicious re before getting into


    her car.


    Charlene ignored them and left in her own vehicle.


    Not long after she got home, her phone rang. It was Kenton.


    When they''d had dinner previously, he mentioned she might be needed at the facility sometime this month She had been waiting for the call for weeks and now, just as her and Thorne''s cooling off period was about to end, he finally called.


    Learning that the people Kenton sent were already on their way to the Ross residence, Charlene sent Thorne a text: [I have to go out of town for a bit. I''ll probably be back a few days after the cooling-off period ends Ill contact you as soon as I''m go to city hall to


    back, and we can go


    finalize things.]


    More than half an hour passed before Thorne''s reply came through: [Okay, got it.]


    Charlene looked at the message, didn''t reply, and slipped her phone back into her pocket.