by SJ McCoy
She smiled and touched her glass against his. “I hope this marks a wonderful new beginning for you, Alastair. I really do. You deserve to be happy.”
He nodded. “I will be, and so will you.” He pursed his lips. “Is it going to be a new beginning for you? Are you going to go forward in life, or are you going back?”
Charlotte shrugged. “I’d like to go back. You know that.”
“I’ve always known that. It’s not as though you didn’t tell me right from the beginning that you still loved him. I just wish I’d believed you. I wish I’d understood just how powerful a love like that can be. I thought you’d forget him … I thought ….”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m trying to say I’m sorry. If I’d understood it was possible to feel what you felt—what you still feel—I would never have put either of us in that situation. I’m sorry that I let what I wanted deafen me to what you were telling me. You told me you still loved him. I wanted you to love me more, and I believed that you would.” He gave her a sad smile. “I guess my ego couldn’t accept that I wasn’t enough to make you forget him.”
“I hoped you would.”
“So did I.” Alastair sucked in a deep breath. “But here we are.” He lifted his glass again. “I wish you only the best, Lottie. I hope you and Ben can fix what you broke and have a happy future together.”
“Thank you. I hope you find someone who’ll love you the way you deserve to be loved.”
He smiled. “Me too. I hope we’ll always be friends?”
Charlotte nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’d love to, but I don’t feel like I deserve your friendship.”
Alastair scowled at her. “Come on, Lottie. This is hard and it’s sad, but don’t go turning into one of those women who thinks she’s not worthy. It wouldn’t suit you. We might not have made it as a couple, but we’re still two pretty amazing people. I don’t want to lose you completely.”
She smiled and squeezed his hand. “I don’t want to lose you, either. I’d love for us to stay friends.”
“Then we will.”
After they’d eaten, Alastair looked at his watch. “I suppose I’d better get going.”
“Okay. Thanks for having lunch with me. I’m glad we did this.”
“We needed this. Let’s do it again before I leave?”
She nodded. “I’d like that.”
“Me too.” Alastair sighed. “I promised myself I wouldn’t ask you this, but how is Ben? What are your plans?”
She met his gaze and sighed. “I haven’t been in touch with him.”
Alastair raised an eyebrow. “Still?”
“No. He respected our marriage. He didn’t want to …” She shrugged. She didn’t know what words to say, and she didn’t think Alastair would want to hear them anyway.
Alastair nodded. “He’s a good guy, isn’t he?”
Charlotte nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
“Well,” he gave her a forced smile, “now the divorce is final the two of you can get on with it.”
Charlotte flung her arms around his neck. He hugged her back and kissed the top of her head. “Good luck, Lottie.”
Chapter Two
“How’re you doing, hon?” Missy asked as Ben approached the table with a pot of coffee.
He smiled. “I’m good thanks, Miss. How about you?”
“Yeah, doing great.”
He filled her coffee cup and raised an eyebrow at Dan who smiled and nodded.
“Who’s coming this morning, do you know?”
“Jack and Emma are on their way,” said Dan.
Missy nodded. “I think Smoke is. Laura’s away at the moment.”
Ben nodded. “Yeah, I believe she’s in London.”
Missy wrinkled her nose and gave him a meaningful look.
Ben shook his head. He didn’t want to go there.
Missy shrugged. “I won’t push it then, but be warned, Em’s got a bee in her bonnet about getting godparents lined up.”
Ben sighed. Emma had been dropping hints about godparents for weeks now. He knew she wanted to ask Charlotte. She also wanted to ask Charlotte to come to the lake. But Charlotte wasn’t going to come until he asked her himself. And he wasn’t going to ask her until she was a free woman. And he didn’t know when that would be. He didn’t know anything because he hadn’t heard from her in months. He set the coffee pot down on the table and sat down beside Dan.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” asked Missy.
Ben made a face at her. “What do you think?”
Missy patted his hand. “I think Charlotte is taking too damned long. I think I should call her and see what the hell she’s playing at. I think we need to put you out of your misery once and for all!”
Ben laughed. That was his Missy. She didn’t mess around. “Thanks, but you know I’m not going to let you do that.”
“I know! And I’m not going to, but you asked me what I think, and I’ve been biting my tongue for so long, that it’s just a relief to be able to tell you. I know it’s up to you what you want to do. I know I can’t interfere.” Dan let out a short laugh and she gave him a dark look. “I interfere in everything, I know.” She shrugged. “It usually turns out pretty well, if I do say so myself. But this …” She looked at Ben. “You and Charlotte?” She shook her head. “Even I know I have to stay out of it. I can’t say the same for Em, though. I’ve been holding her back as much as I can, but I think impatience mixed with hormones is about to push her over the edge.”
Ben nodded. “I know. You’re all impatient and frustrated, how the hell do you think I feel? But I told Charlie I couldn’t do anything while she was still married. I didn’t even want to talk to her.” He shrugged. “I’m wishing I hadn’t said that now, but she’s only doing as I asked.”
Missy blew out a sigh. “I suppose.”
“Hey everyone, happy Saturday!”
They all looked up to see Angel standing there smiling brightly at them. Ben hadn’t even heard her approach.
“What are all the serious faces about?”
“Nothing,” said Ben a little too hurriedly. Missy shot him a suspicious look. “What are you up to this morning?”
Angel looked a little uncomfortable. “I came to get some breakfast before I head over to the lodge.”
Ben stared at her. She didn’t mean she wanted to join everyone for breakfast, did she? That could get awkward. He’d managed to keep her away from the gang most of the time. He only did it for her sake; they hadn’t been too receptive to her.
“Take a seat,” said Missy with a smile. “There’ll be quite a crowd of us soon, you should join in.”
Ben caught Missy’s eye. Was she just being Missy—welcoming to everyone? Or did she have some ulterior motive?
Angel looked at him. “Oh, that’s okay, thanks. I didn’t mean to intrude. I was just saying hi.”
Great, now Ben either had to insist that she stay and join in or let her walk away to eat by herself—which would leave him feeling like an asshole! “Come on, sit down. You can’t eat by yourself.”
Angel grinned and slid onto the bench to sit beside Missy. “Thank you. This is great. I haven’t had chance to get to know many people yet.”
Missy smiled. “Don’t let him work you too hard. Just because Ben lives for his work, doesn’t mean you have to.”
“Oh, I don’t mind. I think we’re kindred spirits in that respect. Work is all I have.” She smiled. “And I do love it.”
The way she smiled at him, and the way she called them kindred spirits, made Ben feel a little uncomfortable. It didn’t get by Missy either. The way her eyes narrowed at him reminded Ben of Chance. He smiled. “You need to find your feet, make some friends and have some fun. Take it from me, when you work too much everyone gets on your case about it.”
Missy smiled. “We just want to see you happy.” She turned to Angel. “How are things going over there on the other side of the lake?”
; “They’re going great.” She smiled at Ben. “It was a stroke of genius on Ben’s part to do a soft launch for the lodge. We’re running at low capacity, but that means we get to iron out the wrinkles as we go. It also means that we can give a lot of attention to the few guests we have. They’re loving it and we’re getting more bookings than we planned for, just from word of mouth recommendations alone.”
“That’s great.”
“Morning.”
Ben looked up to see Smoke standing there smiling at them. It seemed everyone was sneaking up on him today. “Hey, bud. Do you want some coffee?”
Smoke nodded and sat down. “Please. I need caffeine this morning.”
Missy grinned at him. “What’s up? Did you sit home and drink away your sorrows last night since your lady’s not here?”
Smoke laughed. “No. If you must know I tossed and turned all night because I couldn’t sleep and I feel crap this morning.”
“Aww.” Missy laughed. “You miss her so much you can’t sleep without her?”
Smoke shook his head and gave her a rueful smile. “Something like that, yeah.”
“Well, if you’re at a loose end this weekend, I’d love to go up for another flight lesson,” Dan said hopefully.
Ben had to bite back a smile at the way Missy scowled.
“Sorry, Dan. I’ve got office work to do all day today. Catching up on the books at the flight school.”
“You’re the one who runs the flight school?” asked Angel.
Smoke nodded. “Not just me. My partner Jason and his wife Rochelle.”
“Have you two been introduced?” asked Missy.
Ben felt bad. He should have introduced Angel to the gang a long time ago, but given the prickly reactions they’d had to her, he hadn’t wanted to.
Angel shook her head and held her hand out to Smoke. “I’m Angel. I’m managing the lodge over at Four Mile. It’s nice to meet you.”
“I’m Smoke,” he said as he shook with her. “As you now know, I run the flight school and I fly for Pete and Jack.”
Ben felt bad again that Angel wouldn’t even know which ones Pete and Jack were. Smoke made him smile as he continued.
“My fiancée, Laura, owns the jewelry store up at the plaza. You might have met her?”
Angel shook her head. “I haven’t really met anyone yet.” She smiled at Ben. “We’ve been too busy.”
Smoke turned to him and raised an eyebrow that Angel couldn’t see. Ben shook his head slightly. Smoke—of all people—should know that he hadn’t been getting that kind of busy with her! Over Smoke’s shoulder he spotted Pete and Holly, and Jack and Emma making their way across the square. He didn’t think he wanted to stick around for anymore questioning looks—and certainly not for whatever Emma might have to stay. He stood up and poured the rest of the coffee into Missy and Dan’s mugs. “I’ll go fill this up.”
Once he was in the kitchen he set the coffee pot down and rubbed both hands over his face. He felt bad leaving Angel out there to fend for herself with people she didn’t know—and who weren’t exactly open to her. Well, that wasn’t fair. Missy was nice to everyone, Dan didn’t tend to say much to anyone, and Smoke didn’t really care. He sighed. Emma might be a problem when she joined them, but Jack and Missy would no doubt keep her in check.
He was surprised to see Smoke stick his head into the kitchen.
“What’s up?”
Smoke shrugged and came in. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”
“Nothing. I’m just getting coffee for you.”
Smoke pursed his lips. “Yeah, right. It’s not as though you were getting your ass out of there when you saw Emma coming, or anything like that, is it?”
Ben smiled. “Nah, nothing of the kind.”
Smoke laughed. “I didn’t think so. Come on, what’s the deal with this Angel chick?”
“There is no deal!” Ben was aware that his voice sounded higher than it should.
Smoke gave him a skeptical look. “She’s hot.”
Ben frowned. “I wouldn’t let Laura hear you say that.”
“Laura thinks she’s hot too, she’s said so, and she wouldn’t mind me saying it, because she knows it’s just an objective observation. I only have eyes for Laura, so saying another woman is hot, is like saying that a painting is beautiful.” Smoke shrugged. “And besides, I haven’t been hanging out with this Angel chick and I haven’t been keeping her away from my friends.”
Ben frowned. “I haven’t been hanging out with her. I’ve been working with her.”
Smoke raised an eyebrow.
“She works for me, right? She’s managing the new lodge, remember? I have to spend time with her getting everything set up. And I haven’t been keeping her away from you guys.”
“Yes, you have.”
Ben sighed. “Okay, so maybe I have, but only because it seemed like everyone took an instant dislike to her. I didn’t want to subject her to the girls when they seem kind of hostile toward her.”
Smoke smirked. “Yeah, I always thought Emma was a little sweetie, but I don’t think I’d like to get on the wrong side of her. And Kenzie? Damn, I can’t blame you for not wanting to leave Angel alone with her. But the way everyone else feels about her and acts toward her isn’t really important. What matters is how you feel about her.”
Ben stared at him. “What do you mean?”
“Do you like her?”
Ben shook his head.
Smoke stared him down and waited.
Ben shrugged. “Of course I like her. She’s good people. She works hard. She knows what she’s doing. She’s more than capable and she has a lot of great ideas. She’s been in this business her whole life, she gets it. She gets me!”
Smoke nodded thoughtfully.
“What?”
“She gets you?”
Ben nodded. “Yeah. What’s wrong with that?”
“There’s nothing wrong with that. I think it’s great. She sounds perfect for you.”
Ben sucked in a deep breath. “On paper, she is.”
“But she’s not Charlotte.”
Ben shook his head.
“But Charlotte still hasn’t gotten in touch with you. She still isn’t ready to come back here and you’re wondering if she ever will be, right?”
Ben nodded.
“And even if she does, she’s not as perfect for you as Angel, is she? At least not on paper.”
Ben closed his eyes. “Life doesn’t happen on paper. I’ve waited my whole life for Charlie.”
“And how much more of your life are you going to keep waiting for her? And are you going to let an opportunity for something real—something good—slip through your fingers while you wait? And how will you feel if you do, and then Charlotte doesn’t come back anyway?”
Ben shook his head. “It’s not like that, Smoke. I’d wait for Charlie till the day I die.”
Smoke nodded. “And how many regrets will you have on that day if you’re still waiting?”
Ben met his gaze, but didn’t speak.
Smoke grasped his shoulder. “I’m not saying I know what’s right. I’m not saying I know what you should do. I just hate seeing you this screwed up.”
“Thanks.”
“Do you want to do a whiskey night, tonight?”
Ben nodded. “Yeah. I’d love to. It’s been a while, huh?”
“It sure has. You helped me through my tough times. You helped me see sense. I want to be able to help you.”
Ben smiled. “Well, right now, you can help by bringing another pot of coffee out. I reckon we’ll need at least three.”
Smoke picked up a coffee pot and followed him back out onto the deck.
When he saw the look Emma was giving him, Ben almost veered away from their table and went to serve the coffee to other customers.
Smoke chuckled behind him. “You’re going to have to face it.”
Ben nodded and carried on. He greeted everyone with a smile. Gabe and Renée and Na
te and Lily had arrived while he and Smoke had been inside. Emma was glowering at Angel and only broke her death stare to turn it on Ben.
He gave her an apologetic smile, even though he had nothing to apologize for. She was overreacting. Angel worked for him. No matter what Smoke might have said about her being perfect for him, she worked for him and that was all.
“Hey, Ben.” Jack smiled at him, no doubt hoping to head Emma off before she started.
“Hey, Jack.”
“I’m glad you finally invited Angel to join us,” said Pete with a grin.
Ben groaned inwardly. Trust Pete.
“It’s lovely to be able to join you all,” said Angel with a bright smile.
Was she really oblivious to all the undercurrents swirling around her? She was a smart woman, Ben knew that much.
An awkward silence descended around the table. Ben looked to Missy for help. She grinned. “So, who’s got any news? I do, but I want to save mine for last.”
Jack seemed eager to get the conversation flowing again. He put an arm around Emma’s shoulders. “We’re hoping to have some news very soon.”
“When’s your due date?” Missy asked Emma.
“Wednesday.” Emma was tight-lipped and still eyeing Angel suspiciously.
“So you’re only a couple of weeks ahead of Megan?” asked Gabe.
Jack smiled at him. “Yep.”
Angel smiled at Emma and Ben held his breath, wishing that she’d just stay quiet. “Wow, you’re so brave! Are you the first one of your friends to have a baby?”
Emma frowned at her, and Missy stepped in quickly. “No, I beat them all to it by about fifteen years,” she said with a laugh. “And April, she’s got Marcus who’s ten, and Michael has Ethan who’s eleven now.”
Ben’s phone rang in his pocket and he pulled it out. “Excuse me, guys.”
He walked to the edge of the deck.
“Hi, Ben. It’s Dean. We’ve got a big delivery arrived early over here. I’ve been trying to reach Angel, but she’s not picking up. What do you want me to do about it?”
Ben smiled. “I’ll be right over.”
“Okay, great. Do you know where Angel is?”
Ben looked over at the table where everyone was sitting staring at each other and no one was speaking. “Yeah. She’s on her way.”
