by SJ McCoy
Missy laughed. “At least we hope so. She never was too big on being punctual.”
“Or reliable.” Ben turned at the sound of Pete’s voice. He hadn’t even realized that he and Holly had arrived.
“Don’t you start!” Emma scowled at Pete.
Pete held his hands up with a smirk. “Don’t you start, Em. I don’t want to incur the wrath of the pregnant lady.”
Emma shook her finger at him, but Ben could see she was laughing.
“How about we all get a table?” suggested Missy. She looked at Ben. “I’m assuming Charlotte really is going to be here any minute?”
“She should be.” Ben closed his eyes for a moment as he realized that even now there was a sliver of doubt in his mind. He couldn’t guarantee, not for Missy, and especially not for himself, that Charlotte really would even be here. That made him sad. It reinforced for him that she was right that they did need to take their time. He didn’t only need to learn who she was now. He also needed to learn to trust her again. No, that wasn’t fair. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her; it was more that he didn’t dare believe his luck.
The others made their way outside and pulled a couple of the big picnic benches together to make room for everyone. He hung back by the bar wanting to catch Charlotte the moment she came through the door and to get her to himself for a minute. He checked his watch and was relieved to realize that she wasn’t late. It seemed all the others had shown up early. He made his way to the doors, hoping to spot her as she arrived. It felt wrong to him that all his friends arrived with their partners, they’d come out as couples. He and Charlie were the longest standing couple around, but they weren’t a couple yet. His heart raced when he saw her car pull into the square. His heart neither knew nor cared about the whole couple thing; his heart just wanted to be next to hers.
She climbed out of the car and grinned when she saw him. “Hey, I’m not late, am I? I was just trying not to be as early as I was last night.”
“No, not at all. I guess I’m just a little overeager.” He shrugged. “You look beautiful, Charlie.” She did, too. He’d always thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world. She’d grown into the most beautiful woman. She was still slender, despite the amount she ate. Tonight, she was wearing skinny jeans and a simple tank top and she looked fantastic.
“Thanks. You don’t look half bad yourself,” she said with a laugh and pushed at his arm.
That made Ben smile. She may look like a sophisticated lady, but she still behaved like a kid in some ways and he loved that about her. “Are you ready to go in and face them? I have to warn you that there is a lot of interest in us.”
“Hey, you know I can handle it.” She looked up at him, her eyes filled with concern. “Can you? We can get out of here, go somewhere else, if you prefer.”
Ben thought about it. He’d like nothing more than to have her to himself for the evening, but he knew it would only prolong the curiosity about the two of them. He made a face and gave her a rueful smile. “You know I’d much prefer to go somewhere else, but for one thing I’d rather get this over with, and for another I have a feeling you’ll enjoy it.”
She laughed. “I will, but not as much as I’d enjoy an evening for just the two of us.”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and dropped a kiss on her nose. “I hope we will get one of those soon, but for now we should probably get this over with.”
“I hope we’ll get lots of those soon.” The way she smiled at him made his heart beat faster—and made him hope that soon they would share all their evenings together.
It took them forever to make their way through the bar. Everyone they passed wanted them to stop and talk. There were plenty of folk who remembered Charlotte and plenty more who were simply thrilled to see Ben with a woman. Charlotte laughed and chatted with all of them, greeting old friends and making new ones with her easy, outgoing manner that Ben loved so much.
By the time they reached the table where the gang was sitting, Emma looked as though she was about to burst. She struggled to her feet and flung her arms around Charlotte. “It’s about time too!”
Charlotte laughed. “You look amazing, Em! I’ve missed you, my friend, but it looks like I made it back just in time.” She eyed her huge baby bump. “When are you due?”
“Any time now, and you know there’s something I’ve been dying to ask you.”
“Give everyone else a chance, Em! Come on, Charlie, come sit down,” said Missy. “We’re all waiting to say hi, and there are lots of new faces to introduce you to.”
Ben was grateful to Missy for stepping in. He knew Emma desperately wanted Charlotte to be godmother to the baby. What he didn’t know was how Charlotte would feel about that. The two of them had skirted around it last night, but with both Emma and Megan almost ready to give birth, the subject of babies was laying heavy on his heart. He had to imagine that Charlie might feel the same.
Everyone scooted along to make room for the two of them to sit. Ben looked around at all the happy smiling faces and started to introduce Charlotte to those she didn’t yet know.
When he was done, she laughed. “It’s so amazing to be back here, to see so many familiar faces.” She smiled around at everyone. “I know at least half of almost every couple here.”
“So, what do you think, are you going to stick around and even up the numbers?” asked Pete.
Ben closed his eyes and let out a low breath. Why the hell had he asked that? Charlotte didn’t need that kind of pressure. He needn’t have worried. She smiled and met Pete’s gaze. “It’s good to see you haven’t changed, Hemming.” She turned to Holly. “I probably need to apologize to you in advance,” she said with a smile. “Pete never was my favorite, and I was never his. So, if … no, actually when I’m rude to him, please don’t take offense.”
Holly laughed. “Don’t you worry about that. I understand completely and it’s always nice to see someone put him in his place.”
Charlotte grinned. “I think we’re going to be good friends!”
Pete groaned. “Great. Just great. Now I’m going to have the pair of you ganging up on me, right?”
“Absolutely,” said Charlotte with a grin.
Holly leaned against him and batted her eyelashes. “Aww, what’s the matter, Perfect Pete? Are the girls being mean to you?”
Pete shook his head. “Not yet, no. But I think it’s about to start.”
“You can bet your arse on that one,” said Charlotte.
Michael laughed. “I love the way you say that, Charlie. I haven’t heard it in years.”
She laughed with him and so did Emma. “It’s arse, not ass, right Charlie? Not like a mule or a donkey.”
Charlie nodded. “You got it, Em.” She smiled at Megan. “You look fabulous, too. How long have you got to go?”
Ben loved that Charlie somehow seemed to know that she needed to draw Megan into the conversation. Megan rarely spoke up voluntarily unless there was something important that needed saying, but right now she was smiling back at Charlotte, looking relaxed and happy.
“Just a couple of weeks, hopefully.” She turned to smile up at Michael. ‘I’m more than ready for the baby to be here now and, apparently, I’m getting a little crabby.”
Michael laughed. “You, little one? Crabby? Whoever told you that? I’ll get them for you.”
Megan shook her head at him. “Then you’d better beat yourself about the head.”
Michael rolled his eyes. “I think I’ve been doing that for a while now, darl’.”
“Leave her alone,” said Missy. “She’s entitled to be a bit hormonal.”
Megan smiled at her gratefully and Michael waggled his eyebrows. “Maybe it’s just me that’s getting a bit crabby, since I do have to leave her alone.”
Megan blushed and Missy slapped Michael’s arm. “Too much information, Mr. Morgan.”
Michael shrugged and put his arm around Megan’s shoulders.
“How long are yo
u planning to stay, Charlotte?” asked Pete.
Ben groaned inwardly. Why couldn’t Pete just leave the tough questions alone? Tonight was supposed to be fun; it was Charlie’s first chance to catch up with everyone. She didn’t need interrogating about what her plans might be.
To his relief, she turned a big smile on Pete. “This is it. I’m back for good.”
Pete looked surprised at that. “Wow! I didn’t realize. And what are you going to do for work?”
“I’m in the process of figuring that out.”
“That sounds about right. Make it up as you go along, huh?”
Charlotte shook her head. “It’s not as bad as you make it sound, Mr. Planner. I do all kinds of online marketing. I’ll continue to work with some of my clients, they’re dotted around the world anyway. And hopefully I’ll pick up a whole bunch of new ones.” She smiled around at everyone. “So, if any of you need any help in that department, I’ll be happy to help.”
Ben was surprised by the reactions around the table. Lily, Emma, and Holly all started talking at once. They stopped and smiled at each other.
“Sorry, but can I go first?” asked Lily. “I managed to get a website set up for the riding stables, but now I need to get into all the social media and set up a real marketing strategy.” She smiled at Charlotte. “I’ve even set aside a budget for it.”
Charlotte grinned. “Well, in that case, let’s set up a meeting. I was planning to come up to the stables to see you anyway.”
“Give me your number then. I have some free time Monday morning, if that will work for you?”
“That’ll be perfect,” said Charlotte.
“And when you get done with Lily,” said Holly. “Maybe you’d like to come out to the Plaza to see me. I’m in the same situation. I had this web developer build me a beautiful website for the store, but it just sits there in Internet oblivion, since I have no clue how to get any traffic to it.”
“I’d love to. I’ve heard about the Plaza, but I haven’t seen it yet.”
“Great, I’ll be happy to show you around and we can have lunch too, if you have time?”
“I’ll make time,” said Charlotte with a smile.
Ben felt a little uncomfortable. It was crazy, but he was hoping that she wouldn’t run into Angel while she was over at Four Mile.
“And if you still feel like working after your lunch with Holly,” said Emma, you can carry on up to North Cove and come see me. I finished my book, but I’m planning to self-publish it, and apparently, I need to build myself an online brand and audience before I do.”
Ben had to smile at the way Charlotte’s eyes lit up at that news. “Oh, that will be an amazing project, Em. We can have so much fun with that.”
Jack looked a little concerned. “I thought you were going to wait?”
“I just want to get the ball rolling,” said Emma. “It’s not as though I need to do huge amounts of work to get started. But it seems to me that if I want to build a readership, the sooner I get started the better. Isn’t that right, Charlie?”
Charlotte nodded eagerly. “That’s absolutely right, Em.” She turned to smile at Jack. “And don’t worry, she’s right, it really won’t have to take up too much of her time. But if I get an idea of where we want to go before the baby arrives, then I can keep working on that and growing her audience while the two of you are focused on your new arrival.”
Jack smiled at her gratefully. “That sounds good to me.”
“Not a bad hustle for your first evening,” said Pete.
Charlotte made a face at him. “It’s not a case of hustling, Pete. This is one of the things I love about my work, these days almost everyone you meet needs help with building an online presence.”
Pete nodded. “Yeah, sorry, that came out wrong. I’m impressed.”
“Is there any chance I could get that in writing?” asked Charlotte with a laugh. “I never thought I’d see the day I could impress you.”
Pete smiled. “Neither did I.”
“Oh, stop it, you two,” said Missy.
“Yeah,” said Ben. “Could you please stop harassing my girlfriend, Hemming? I’m just grateful that she’s versatile enough to hit the ground running and build a new business for herself here.”
Charlotte turned to smiled up at him. She leaned against his shoulder and was about to say something, but didn’t get the chance as Emma spoke first.
“Ooh, is it official, then?” asked Emma. “Is Charlie your girlfriend? Are you back together?”
Ben’s heart raced. He hoped so, but he didn’t know so and he certainly hadn’t planned to force Charlotte to answer that question yet. He looked down into her eyes, afraid of what he might see there. She smiled up at him. “Don’t be silly, Em. I’m here, aren’t I?”
Ben looked around. He felt as though everyone had turned to see his reaction to her words. He forced a big smile. She hadn’t said no, but she hadn’t said yes, either.
Chapter Thirteen
“That was a great night,” said Charlotte as they walked back across the square. “It’s so good to be back. It’s so good to see almost everyone else is back too. I never thought Pete would end up living here. I could see him having a vacation home or something, but not dominating the world from here.”
“Yeah, that one’s the biggest surprise to me too, but I’m glad he’s here.”
Charlotte laughed. “Well, at least that makes one of us.”
“You two do all right really.”
“We do. I irritate him, but that’s okay, he irritates me as well. Don’t tell him, but I love him really. He’s like a big brother who always has to make his opinion known. And always thinks he’s right.”
Ben nodded. “He means well.”
They were walking toward her car, but Charlotte wasn’t sure she wanted to go home yet. It had been a fun evening, but she still wanted to spend more time with Ben. He’d seemed a little quiet for the latter part of the evening, and she wanted to get to the bottom of why. She looked up into his eyes; there was a hint of sadness around them. “Are you okay?”
He stopped walking and turned to face her, putting his hands on her shoulders. “I’m good. I’m really, really good. You’re here, how could I not be?”
“I don’t know, you seem a little sad.”
“No, I’m not sad. Well, maybe a little.”
She slipped her arms around his waist and leaned against him, looking deep into his eyes. “Why?”
He rested his forehead against hers and shook his head slowly. “It’s nothing, I’m being stupid, I know. I guess I’m just in too much of a hurry. When Emma asked you if we were back together, you didn’t exactly say yes. And just now, when we said goodnight to everyone, they all went off home. They went home with their partner, back to their life. And here I am walking you to your car.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, I don’t think I gave much thought to how things would really be if you did come back. To the reality, you know? All I ever thought about was how things would be once we were together. Not how we would get there.” He leaned back and looked deep into her eyes. “And I sure as hell never questioned whether we would get there.”
Charlotte sighed, “Honestly, Ben, neither did I. All this time, I’ve dreamed about us being together. I never considered that we might have to take things slowly before we get to that place.” She took a deep breath. “Perhaps we’re both ready to speed things up. I’d love to see your apartment.”
He smiled. “I’d love to show you.” He stepped back and took hold of her hand and led her back across the square.
As she followed him up the steps to his front door she couldn’t help the shivers of excitement that raced through her. He opened the door and let her go in ahead of him. She looked around. It was a lovely place; it was very Ben. It was neat and orderly, stylish and yet understated. She turned to smile at him. “I love it.”
He stepped toward her. “I love you.”
She looped her arms up around his neck and plant
ed a kiss on his lips. “And I love you.”
For a moment, he held her close. She could feel his heart racing. Hers was doing a pretty good job of keeping up. She sunk her fingers into his hair and kissed him deeply. The way he kissed her back carried her away. His apartment, the real world, faded away as she was transported through space and time. His hand tangled in her hair pulling her head back to give him better access to her kiss. She moaned as his other hand slipped down and closed around her backside, holding her against him in a way that let her know just how much he wanted her. She clung to his shoulders and rubbed her hips against his. She wanted, no needed him to take her, to make love to her. She knew in her heart that once they made that connection, they’d never be able to break it again.
Eventually, he lifted his head, his breath coming hard, matching hers. She searched his face. “I want you, Ben.”
“Oh Charlie, I want you. I’ve wanted you all this time. But aren’t we supposed to be taking things slowly?”
She nodded reluctantly. “We are, but I don’t want to.”
“I don’t either, but if it’s the right thing to do, then we should. Remind me. Why is it the right thing to do?”
She laughed. “This is a turnaround, isn’t it? It always used to be you who had to remind me what was the right thing to do and why.”
“I guess I just don’t want to be sensible when it comes to you. You make me want to live in the moment. We missed so many moments, I don’t want to miss any more.”
Charlotte nodded. “I just didn’t want to rush you into anything. Don’t you think for a minute I don’t want to.” She closed her eyes, she couldn’t believe she was about to say this. “But I need you to be sure that I’m the one you want. I’m your past. Until yesterday morning Angel was your present. I think you need to take your time to decide who might be your future.”
He let go of her and stepped back. “Please, Charlie, can you forget about Angel? There is nothing between us, there never has been.”
She reached up and touched his cheek. “I know that, Ben. I believe you. All I’m saying is that I think there could be. And before we get back together for good, I think maybe you should explore that.” She smiled wanting to somehow make light of what she was saying, even though that seemed impossible. “You see, if I do get you back, I’m never letting you go again. So, I need you to be sure. I don’t ever want you to wonder what might have been.”
