by SJ McCoy
Lily gave her a knowing look. “Let me guess, you heard that everyone thought there was something going on between him and Angel?”
Charlotte took a deep breath and nodded. “I didn’t need to hear what everyone thought, I saw him with her my very first morning back care. It was obvious that she cares about him, and much as I hate to say it, he cares about her.”
“She’s a good person. I didn’t want to, but I like her. I hate to say this to you, but I can see how she and Ben would be a good fit.”
Charlotte closed her eyes. ‘Unfortunately, from everything I’ve seen and heard of her, I can see that too. It made it difficult for me. Much as part of me wants to scream and shout and scratch her eyes out, another part of me, the better part of me, only wants what’s best for Ben. It hurts to think she might be better for him than I am.”
“But you can think whatever you like, and she can be whatever she is, what really counts is what Ben thinks and what Ben wants.”
Charlotte smiled, and her heart filled up. “That’s what he keeps telling me. I wanted to give him a chance at a fresh, new, and uncomplicated future with her. But he says he’d rather wade through the pain of the past with me on our way to building a new—but probably still complicated—future.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. You’re all he’s ever wanted. Uncomplicated might be appealing, but it can’t compete with a love that’s lasted a lifetime despite being so very complicated. You know, if you get to know her, I think you’d like her.”
Charlotte made a face. “I’m trying really hard, and I think I’m doing quite a good job at being mature about all this, but I don’t think I could handle getting to know her. I’m glad you have though, it seemed like most folk were giving her the cold shoulder.”
“Oh, they have been. I felt sorry for her. I mean, it’s not exactly her fault, is it? She didn’t know she was walking into the middle of a long-lost love story, did she?”
Charlotte shook her head slowly. “I didn’t even think about that. Can you imagine? I can’t imagine what it must be like to be in her shoes. Damn! Now I feel bad.”
Lily laughed. “There’s no need for that. It is what it is. No one ever claimed life was fair. And it’s not like she’s losing anything she already had. All she’s losing out on is a hope and a possibility.”
“Yeah. I stand to lose a whole lot more than that. Anyway,” she smiled brightly at Lily, “I stand to lose the hope and the possibility of a new client if we don’t get down to work. We’re supposed to be talking about your website and marketing, not about my personal life.”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry,” Lily gave her an apologetic smile. “I’ve just been dying to catch up with you.”
“We’ll have lots of chances to catch up. And I’ll look forward to that dinner invitation. But for now, let’s get down to work, shall we?”
“Okay.” Lily opened her laptop. “Let me show you what I’ve been doing and then you can tell me your ideas on what we can do.”
It was almost lunchtime by the time they’d gone through everything. Lily had done quite a good job of setting up a basic website for herself. Charlotte was overflowing with ways she could connect with both locals and visitors to the resort to draw in more business.
When she finally sat back in her chair, she smiled at Lily. “So, what do you think?”
Lily grinned. “I think I may need to hire another instructor if this works as well as we think.”
“That’s a good problem to have, and I’m sure we’ll get you there. It amazes me that there is so little competition for online traffic around here. We should be able to get you ranking and showing up in the search results easily.”
“Great. Well, I know you said you were going to see Holly after me.” She checked her watch. “And it will take you a little while to get over there from here. So, I’d better let you go.”
“I’ll draw up a plan and a budget and I’ll email you tomorrow.”
“That sounds awesome. I’ll talk to Nate about when’s a good night for you and Ben to come over for dinner. Even if it’s not this week, I’ll see you on Saturday night, right?”
“Saturday night?” Charlotte raised an eyebrow.
“Renée’s bachelorette party. Are you going?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t been invited. This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’re invited.”
Charlotte shrugged. The look on Lily’s face made her feel a little uncomfortable. She raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”
Lily shook her head. “I’m sure it’s nothing. It’s probably me being silly. It just struck me, I know Renée has invited Angel …”
Charlotte thought about that for a moment. “And you think she might not invite me because Angel’s going?” She found that hard to believe. She met Lily’s gaze. “People don’t act like that around here. Renée has certainly never acted like that, she likes to include everyone, take care of everyone.”
“I know, I know. Like I said it’s probably just me being silly. I have to tell you something though, you say people don’t act like that around here. But I’m afraid we have. We were all guilty of not being very welcoming to Angel. In fact, most of us gave her the cold shoulder. I know I did, and then when I talked to her I felt guilty about it. She thought she was coming to this nice welcoming, small-town community, and yet, instead of being welcomed, she was treated as an outsider or worse an intruder.”
Charlotte sighed. “I want to feel really bad about that, but a little part of me is grateful. I already know it was only because people were looking out for Ben and me.”
Lily nodded. “We were. I just wish it wasn’t at Angel’s expense.”
“Me too. Thanks for telling me.”
“No problem. Now, get going or you’re going to be late for your meeting with Holly.”
~
Ben looked up at the sound of a knock on his office door. “Hey, Nate. Come on in. What can I do for you?”
“Actually, it’s more a case of what I can do for you. I just got off the phone with Lily, and she wanted to know when we can invite you and Charlotte over for dinner.”
Ben smiled. For the last couple of years now he’d watched his friends return to the lake, pair off, and settle down. All the couples invited each other over for dinner. He was often invited and always welcome, but he’d always felt like something of a spare part. Being there as one of the gang was very different from being there as one half of a couple. Nate didn’t know it, but he’d just extended Ben the first invitation to step into what he hoped would be his new life with Charlotte.
Nate smiled back at him. “I take it, from the look on your face, you like that idea?”
Ben nodded. “More than you know, bud.”
Nate grinned. “I feel that something of significance is going on here, but you’ll have to forgive me, I have no clue what it is.”
Ben laughed. “Don’t worry about it, it’s just me being a dork. All you need to know is that yes, please, I’d love that.”
“Great. I don’t think we’ll be able to fit it in this week, but is there a night that works for you next week?”
Ben thought about it, mentally running through his schedule. “Would Wednesday work for you?”
“Yep. That sounds good to me. Looks like we’ve got ourselves a date.”
“I’ll look forward to it. I’ll bring the wine.”
Nate grinned. “In that case, I’ll look forward to it, too. And I’ll see you on Saturday night, right? At Giuseppe’s, for Gabe’s stag night.”
“Yep, I’ll be there. If I don’t see you before, I’ll see you then.”
Once Nate had gone, Ben picked up his phone. Charlie had been on his mind all morning. She was out visiting potential clients. He smiled, loving that her potential clients were their friends. He dialed her number, hoping to catch her between appointments and see how she was getting on.
“Hey, how are you doing this morning?”
“I�
�m great, it’s business as usual around here. Busy, but that’s nothing new. I wanted to see how your day’s going. How are you getting on?”
“Wonderfully so far. I spent the morning with Lily and now I’m on my way over to see Holly. I’m excited about what we can do for the riding stables. And I love that I now get to go on to a new and different challenge with Holly. She said she already has a website up and running and I’m interested to see what she’s set up. Retail websites can really help a business if they’re done right. Though, if they are not, they can be a waste of time. I’m hoping the site is good so that all we need to focus on is getting traffic to it.”
Ben smiled to himself. “I love that you’re so engaged with what you do. I remember when we were kids and you didn’t know what you wanted to do. It makes me happy that you found something you enjoy and it’s even better that it gets you out and about working with and helping all our friends. You know, when you get a minute I’d like for us to sit down and see what ideas you might have for the resort.”
“Wow. I wasn’t sure if you’d want me to get involved.”
“Why not? It’s what we always talked about, isn’t it?”
“It was, yeah. And I’d love to. I’d love to think that I could help you grow the place, be a part of it.”
“You know only too well how happy that would make me.”
“I do, but I think it’s like us sleeping together. It’s something we both want, but once we go there we’re making a decision, a commitment, you know?”
Ben nodded to himself. “I do know. And I don’t want to rush you or anything, but I think, what I’m saying is I’m ready to do that. I want to make that commitment. I hope you do too.”
She was quiet for a long moment and he started to worry. Maybe she wasn’t ready. Maybe he wanted too much too soon.
“I do.”
He couldn’t help the smile that broke out on his face. “And while we’re talking about commitments, I have to be honest and say I’m hoping to hear you say those two words someday soon, too.”
He could hear the smile in her voice when she answered. “I’m hoping for that too, Ben. You know it’s still what I want.”
His heart felt like it might explode in his chest. He hadn’t known for sure, all this taking it slowly, all her concerns that perhaps he should get to know Angel better, had had him worried, more worried it seemed, than he’d acknowledged—even to himself, judging by the relief he felt now.
“We’ll get there, Charlie.”
“I believe we will. We were in such a hurry when we were kids. I think that’s why it feels important not to rush in madly now, but I think we’re back on the same track we were on. The track that leads to the life we were supposed to live.”
Ben closed his eyes against the sting of tears, but these were happy tears. The tears he’d feared he would never shed.
Chapter Seventeen
It took a little longer than Charlotte had expected to get over to Four Mile Creek. When she pulled up in the parking lot, she looked around. The place was impressive. She’d seen photos of it online, but they didn’t do justice to the real thing. She didn’t have time to stop and admire it now, though. She’d need to hurry if she was going to be on time for Holly. She just made it. She walked into the store at eleven-thirty on the dot. There were a couple of customers browsing the racks of clothes. Holly looked up from where she was sitting behind the cash register and smiled.
“I’ll be with you in just a few.”
Charlotte nodded, and wandered around. She could see herself coming back here to shop; the lines Holly carried were gorgeous. She took down a cornflower blue dress and held it up against herself.
“That’d really suit you, you know your colors.” Holly was now standing behind her and met her gaze in the mirror.
Charlotte smiled. “I don’t know about that, I know I love this blue.”
“It suits you. But you’re not here to buy clothes, you’re here to help me figure out how to sell more of them. Come on through to the back. I’ve been looking forward to sitting down with you.”
Charlotte followed her through to the office in the back of the store.
“I thought we should spend some time going through the website and talking about how I build an online presence before we go for lunch,” said Holly. “Otherwise I can see us spending all afternoon sitting and talking and not getting any work done at all.”
“That sounds like a good idea to me. It’d be far too easy to just go and have a girly afternoon.”
“I’m hoping we’ll get lots of chances to do that, but I thought we should start out on the right foot. I’ve had people working on the website for months and it’s never gone anywhere. I’m banking on you being the one who makes it all happen.”
“That’s what I do,” said Charlotte with a smile. She pulled up a seat at the computer. “So, let’s see what you’ve got.”
A couple of hours later she sat back and smiled at Holly. “What do you think?”
Holly grinned. “I think it sounds awesome. Tell me what you need and how much it’s going to cost, and I say we get started as soon as possible. I also think you need to talk to Laura, Smoke’s girlfriend; have you met her?”
Charlotte shook her head. “She’s been away, in London I understand, since I arrived.”
“Well, you’ll meet her this weekend at Renée’s party. I know she’ll be back for that. She designs jewelry and her store is just a couple of doors down from here. We’ve been moaning to each other for months that we need to figure out the online thing. I know she’ll be as thrilled as I am to get to work with you.”
“Neither of you can be as thrilled as I am. I can’t believe I’m stepping back into life here and getting to help everyone out by doing work I love.”
“It seems to me that it’s a win-win for everyone involved,” said Holly. “And I just love those.” She looked at the clock up on the wall. “Wow! I didn’t realize it was so late. Do you still have time to come for lunch? Or do you need to get over to see Emma?”
“I’d love to have a quick lunch. Emma said she was fine for me to get there anytime this afternoon or tomorrow.”
“In that case, let’s go. I’m starving.” She picked up her purse and led Charlotte out into the street.
When they reached the main square of the Plaza, Charlotte smiled. It was beautiful. “It really does look and feel like a little Mediterranean village.”
Holly laughed. “Be sure to tell Jack that when you see him. He’s the architect and Mediterranean village is exactly what he was aiming for.”
“He succeeded. I love it.”
They took a seat at the table on the terrace of a sidewalk café and Charlotte nodded to herself. “This is great. I can see me coming over here for lunch often.”
“Good, count me in. Hopefully, you’ll have lots of reason to be over here, helping me and Laura.”
Once they’d ordered and the server had brought their drinks, Holly held up her glass in a toast. “Here’s to you being back here, to you and Ben being happy, and to all of us building the future of Summer Lake.”
Charlotte smiled and raised her glass. “I can certainly drink to all of that.”
“It must be really weird for you, to be back here after all this time.”
“It’s weird, but at the same time it’s not. It feels right. It’s where I always knew I was supposed to be. If I’m honest, all the years I wasn’t here felt much weirder than this.”
Holly nodded. “I can’t imagine how that must have been. In the early days, Pete and I broke up for a little while, and it was awful. I went back to my life, the life I’d been living before I knew him, but it didn’t feel like my life anymore. I knew my life was supposed to be with him.”
“Then I think you do have some idea of how it was for me. I wasted too many years, living the wrong life, in the wrong country, with the wrong man.”
“I guess all you can do is try to make up for it now. You can’t get back
all the years you lost, but you can make the most of every day now you’re back together.”
Charlotte smiled. “That’s what we’re trying to do. Ben always used to say that I was chasing tomorrow, now it’s time to live like there’s no tomorrow; make every day count, you know?”
“I do. I …” Holly’s voice trailed off and Charlotte followed her gaze. Angel was making her way across the square toward them, at least toward the café. Holly looked at Charlotte and raised an eyebrow.
Charlotte’s heart raced, which surprised her. She didn’t know what to do. It would be rude to simply ignore Angel, and yet she had no clue what to say to her. Angel took the dilemma out of her hands by putting her head down and hurrying past them. She went inside to the sandwich counter. Charlotte let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
Holly gave her an inquiring look. “I take it there’s no love lost between the two of you?”
Charlotte shrugged. “It’s not like that, it’s not like there’s bad blood or anything. It’s just a bit awkward, you know? If I hadn’t come back when I did, I’m sure she and Ben would be together by now. And I kind of feel bad.”
Holly looked surprised. “I don’t think he would ever have gotten together with her, whether you came back or not.”
“You don’t?”
Holly shook her head adamantly. “He was never going to get together with anyone who wasn’t you.”
Charlotte got up. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to go and talk to her.” She went and waited by the door while Angel paid for her sandwich. Her throat went dry; she had no idea what she was going to say. She just knew she needed to say something.
Angel’s stride faltered when she saw Charlotte standing there. She took another few steps and then stopped. She met her gaze, looking uncertain. “Hi.”
Charlotte smiled. “Hi. I just wanted …. I don’t know what I want, other than to say hello. I was
rude the other morning and I’d like to apologize for that.”
