by Jen Gilroy
“I married Trevor. I loved him. I still do.” She looked at Charlie as if daring Charlie to contradict her. “Then before I knew what hit me, I had a husband and four kids under six.”
“You’re a great wife and mom.” Charlie stopped at the pain in Linnie’s eyes.
“I love my girls.” Linnie twisted her hands together. “But I’m thirty-six, and I’m still working part-time at the Firefly Lake Market, same as I did in high school. Talking to the same customers about the price of eggs and the best way to cook pork chops.”
“I never thought you wanted anything else.” Charlie wiggled from under the blanket to put an awkward arm around Linnie’s tight shoulders.
“I did, but my folks told me not to be silly.” Linnie’s shoulders slumped. “My brother’s the smart one. He went to college, and he teaches math at the high school. End of story.”
Charlie sucked in a breath. How could she not have guessed how Linnie felt? “I always thought you were smart. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have gotten me out of trouble so many times when we were kids.”
Linnie leaned into Charlie. “But now it’s too late for me.”
“Of course it isn’t. I’ll help you any way I can. What do you want to do?” Not that she was one to offer advice. Charlie toed off Naomi’s ruined sneakers. Not when she’d made enough mistakes herself.
“I don’t know. What I do know is in ten years I’ll be nearing fifty. The girls will have left home and that pink polyester uniform Jerry makes us wear won’t look any better on me than it does now.” Linnie tried to smile, but tears shimmered deep in her eyes.
“You work for Jerry Roy? He’s ancient. He’s run that market since forever.” Charlie’s mouth dropped open in astonishment.
“Hardly. He’s only in his early fifties, but the men in that family all went bald young.” She grinned, a real smile this time. “Trevor and Sean have sure kept their looks. At least I had the good luck to marry a guy who was hot in high school and has stayed hot. Even after all these years, he’s still fantastic in bed.”
Charlie’s face flamed. Sean had been fantastic in bed. How fantastic she hadn’t realized until she’d been with guys who weren’t. “I, uh…”
“Sorry.” Linnie stood and brushed sand off her shorts. “I forgot you never wanted to talk about stuff like that.” She whistled, long and low.
“What?” Charlie flipped her head around as Mia’s car pulled into the driveway. When the BMW bumped to a stop, Naomi got out and ran toward Ty. Mia followed, holding Emma’s hand, and picked her way across the rough ground. Although she oozed effortless chic in white designer jeans and a simple black T-shirt, the sadness in her face tugged at Charlie’s heart.
“Look at those sneakers. Jimmy Choo?” Linnie elbowed Charlie in the ribs.
“How would I know?” Charlie elbowed Linnie back. “And how would you know?”
“I read the celebrity magazines when it’s slow at the market. I may not live in the bright lights, but it doesn’t mean I don’t follow what’s going on in the world.” She sobered and hooked Charlie into a one-armed hug. “Thank you. I’ll think about what you said.”
Returning Linnie’s hug, an embrace both familiar and new, Charlie remembered something about having a friend she didn’t work with. She could talk with a girlfriend in a way she couldn’t with a work colleague. And if she was a true friend, if she was someone like Linnie who’d known her since childhood, she was the kind of friend you could count on.
Mia tapped a black sneaker on the sand, her phone wedged to one ear. “I need two rooms. For tonight and probably all next week.” She glanced at Charlie. “You look pale. No wonder.”
“I’m fine.” Charlie tried to sound convincing to silence the doubts telling her maybe she’d never be as fit as she was before. If she wasn’t, how could she go back into the field and be the kind of journalist that defined who and what she was?
“Lean on me.” Mia wrapped an arm around Charlie’s waist. “There’s a golf tournament at the Inn on the Lake. They said they’re all booked.”
“They probably are.” Charlie made herself stand straight. “I can stay here. It’ll be like camping.” She clasped Emma’s hand and tried to make the little girl smile.
“You can’t stay at the cottage. They won’t even let us inside until the insurance company comes out and the building…you…what?” Mia spoke into the phone again.
Linnie linked an arm with Charlie. “You know I’d have you stay with us, but we have a small house and the girls have friends over this week.”
“I understand.” Charlie glanced toward the driveway where Sean walked Sarah and Ty to a blue Ford Taurus. Naomi tagged behind.
“I can’t stay there, not with two young girls. My sister can’t either.” Mia put a hand over her phone. “They’re calling Shady Sands, the motel with the bar out front, where the road crew—”
“Shady Sands would be fine for me.” Charlie smothered a smile as she remembered some of the places she’d stayed. She’d have missed a lot of stories if she’d been holed up in some fancy hotel with the rest of the media pack.
“Shady Sands is full too.” Mia tightened her grip on Charlie. “As is the Cozy Pines Bed and Breakfast and every other place between here and Kincaid.” She swiveled to look at Linnie. “I managed to get one room at the Inn on the Lake. Over the kitchen with one bed for the girls and me to share.”
“I’ll call around,” Linnie said, “but folks come from all over for the golf tournament, and the fair’s coming up. Most of us have people staying.” She glanced at her watch. “I need to get home. I can drop stuff off later if you two need to borrow clothes or anything. If you’re really stuck, I’ll put a couple of the girls in a tent in the backyard so Charlie can at least have a bed.”
“Thanks,” Charlie said.
“Naomi?” Mia called to her daughter, who still stood in the driveway with Ty. “Come back here. I need you and Emma close.”
Charlie squeezed Emma’s hand again. “The inn will be fun. There’s a swimming pool and maybe your mom will let you order room service. You can take your Barbie dolls with you too. It’ll be an adventure.” Over Emma’s head, she glanced at Sean coming up the driveway, his stride purposeful.
“I guess.” Emma’s lower lip wobbled and she clutched her Barbie bag in one small fist. “But I like it here with you. I was scared when I saw the fire and the policeman wouldn’t let us drive down the road. What if the fire comes back?”
“The fire’s all out, honey. I like it with you too, but at the inn you won’t be far away from me. Please don’t cry.” Panic curled in the pit of her stomach and Charlie looked for Mia, who was on the phone again. Crying children were her sister’s department.
Linnie, who would have known what to do, was already halfway down the driveway, her SUV spraying gravel.
“Hey.” Sean knelt beside Emma. “Those dolls are special to you, aren’t they?”
“That’s why Auntie Charlotte saved them. She’s a heroine.”
“Exactly.” Sean looked Emma over. “She needs you to be a heroine and help your mom and your sister. Can you do that?”
“I’ll try.” Emma looked at Charlie and then back at Sean. “The fire’s really out? You promise?”
“Pinkie swear.” Sean linked his little finger with Emma’s.
“But the fire could still come back, and if Auntie Charlotte can’t stay at the inn with us she won’t have anybody to look after her. She’ll be all alone.” Two tears spilled out of Emma’s blue eyes and trickled down her face.
“Your auntie Charlotte won’t be alone, sweetheart. She’ll stay with me. I’ll keep her safe.” Over Emma’s head, Sean’s gaze met Charlie’s and held.
Emma skipped. “You’ve got a real big house. Crystal showed me the day we…” She clapped a hand over her mouth.
“But—” Charlie began.
“Emma, please tell your sister to get off the phone and come back here.” Mia had disconnected her call. “I
know Sean wants to help, but you can’t stay with him,” she added when Emma was out of earshot.
“Why not?” Charlie glanced at Sean, but his expression didn’t give anything away. Only his stance, watchful and wary, told her he held himself in check.
“People would talk.” Mia’s skin was stretched tight across her sculpted cheekbones.
“I’m a grown woman and—”
“Gossip still hurts no matter how old you are.” Mia made a soft sound and stared at the lake. “Besides, I could’ve lost you today.” She dropped her phone into her purse with a jerky motion.
“You didn’t.” Warmth bloomed in Charlie’s heart. This was the Mia she remembered, a mother hen worried about her chicks.
“Sean saved you.” Mia shot him a look of gratitude. “People will talk anyway, but if you stay at his house, they’ll talk even more.”
“Whether I stay with him or not isn’t anything to do with anybody else.” Charlie pressed her lips together.
“It’s something to do with me, Sunshine.” Sean moved in close, and his voice was a sexy whisper. “I want you to stay with me, and I won’t take no for an answer. For once in your life don’t argue.” He grinned before he turned to Mia, his expression firm. “If any of the town gossips say one word, tell me and I’ll deal with them.”
“I…” Charlie’s tongue got wedged to the roof of her mouth. She recognized Sean’s teasing banter. That firmness too. Sean always took a stand for people he cared about.
“Thank you. I didn’t mean…” Mia hugged her purse. “I don’t want Charlie to get hurt. Or anybody to get hurt.” She glanced at Sean and then Naomi, still watching the driveway where Ty and Sarah had disappeared. “If Charlie comes over to the inn with me, I’m sure we could borrow a folding bed for a few nights.”
“No.” Charlie’s stomach knotted.
She didn’t want to share a room with Mia and the girls. Not with the nightmares that still plagued her and woke her with a silent scream, disoriented and drenched in sweat.
Charlie looked at Sean for a long moment. She didn’t want anybody to get hurt either. She’d broken her heart over Sean once, and she’d be foolish to let herself get drawn into his life again, or into Firefly Lake either. The close-knit web of family and community was as much a part of him as breathing.
She turned to her sister to make her understand she wasn’t choosing Sean over her. “I’ll call you later, okay? Staying with Sean will only be for tonight.”
“Sure.” Mia hugged Charlie, the bones in her arms sharp. “You look after her, you hear? I can’t lose her.”
“I will. I promise.” Sean’s voice was low, and he and Mia exchanged a look Charlie couldn’t read.
“I don’t need you to look after me.” It had been a long time since Charlie had let anyone look out for her, a man most of all.
“You may not need it,” he said, “but I want to.”
Charlie opened her mouth and then closed it. Even though she shouldn’t, she wanted it too. Wanted the comfort and care she’d once found with him. Which they’d once found together.
After giving Charlie one last hug, Mia walked back to the car. She walked with a sexy little wiggle of the hips that Charlie used to envy and had never mastered. Now, though, her sister didn’t look sexy. Even from behind, she looked tired and forlorn. Her shoulders were hunched, and her body was rigid.
Charlie stumbled forward and stopped. “I’ll call you later.”
Mia gave a jerky wave and got into the car, leaving Charlie alone with Sean, the ruined cottage, and a leaden weight the size of a basketball lodged in the pit of her stomach.
Sean parked the MG in the space behind his house and cut the engine. “Here we are.”
Charlie huddled in the passenger seat. She’d wrapped a blanket around her like a cape, and her chin was tucked into her chest. She opened her eyes and blinked at him, like a sleepy owl.
Protectiveness rolled over him. “My house. We’re here.” He tried to see his place through her eyes. The soft gray clapboard with a big stone chimney to one side, the wraparound porch, and the bay windows upstairs and down; a new house nevertheless part of the Vermont landscape, solid and rooted in place.
Sean rubbed his palms across his temples as the reality of the day and what he could have lost hit him afresh. He steadied his breathing. Charlie was stubborn and hard-headed, but she was also so damn sexy that every time he got close to her he was like a horny teenager again.
“Oh.” She struggled to sit up straight. “I’ll be fine once I shower and change. I texted Linnie and asked her to loan me some clothes.” Her bright smile didn’t fool him for a second.
He got out of the car and came around to Charlie’s side to open her door and grab her stuff from behind the seat. Only he wasn’t a teenager, and something had changed between them today, something he wasn’t sure he was ready for. He slung Charlie’s backpack over his shoulder and took her arm to help her out of the car.
“I can manage.” Charlie stepped forward and bumped into Ty’s skateboard, propped outside the back door.
“Humor me. I promised your sister I’d look after you.” Sean righted the skateboard and bit back a grin at the shocked expression on Charlie’s face. Mia was looking out for Charlie to protect her in a way he hadn’t expected, a way he respected, since it was rooted in love.
“What will your mom say when she finds out I’m staying here?” Charlie’s expression became wary.
“It’s none of her business.” Although his mom had made it clear she didn’t want him having anything to do with Charlie because she was a Gibbs. When he’d asked why, she’d snapped her mouth shut like one of the turtles in the mudflats along the river outside town and refused to answer.
He handed Charlie the dry-cleaning bag, then opened the door and led her through the garage, past his work truck, and into the mudroom, where Shadow greeted them with a frenzy of barks and tail wagging.
He leaned against the kitchen door. The bravado on her face, mixed with vulnerability, twisted his heart. As if sensing that he was trying to figure out what she was thinking, she dropped to her knees beside Shadow.
“Hey, girl.” She rubbed under Shadow’s chin. “How did you get in here?”
“Once the fire was out, Trevor needed to get her out from underfoot. He brought her up to the house.”
“Oh.” Charlie rested her face against the dog’s head, and Sean’s stomach somersaulted. “I bet you were real scared today. It’s okay,” she whispered. “All okay, precious.” She stifled a yawn. Her eyes were purple-shadowed. Her shoulders slumped as if her head was too heavy for her body, and she rested her weight on her right side like she did when she was tired, when her leg hurt and she didn’t want anybody to guess.
Sean let out a breath he hadn’t realized he held. “I’ll show you around and let you get settled.”
She stood and followed him into the kitchen, Shadow ambling beside her. “Nice.” Her eyes widened as she scanned the bright, airy room with state-of-the-art appliances. She ran a hand across a granite work surface and checked out the maple wine rack he’d built himself.
“You hungry? I can barbecue steaks.” Even though there was at least a foot of space between them, Sean sensed the warm softness of her skin. Her wariness and shallow breathing told him she was as affected by him as he was by her.
“I don’t eat meat anymore.” She turned away from the patio door leading to the wide deck and gave him a dry smile. “You go ahead. I’m not hungry anyway.”
“Oh.” He was a meat, potatoes, and gravy kind of guy. “If you change your mind, there’s salad fixings in the fridge and tomatoes from Linnie’s garden. I got bread at the bakery in town earlier.”
He moved out of the kitchen into the living room, which ran along the western side of the house and overlooked the lake. The setting sun reflected off prisms in the light fixture he’d hung from the cathedral ceiling and bathed the simple wooden couches topped with plump green cushions in a rosy gl
ow.
“You like it?” He didn’t analyze why it was important she like his place. Only somehow it was.
Her head swung around, and her eyes were a warm brown with no guile. “It’s like a cottage.” The corners of her lips turned up. “A very special cottage.”
“That’s the idea.” He’d wanted a house that fit into the north woods like it had grown out of them, so he’d found an architect to design it.
“Did you and Sarah live here together?” She walked toward the big fieldstone fireplace that anchored one end of the room.
“No. We had a house in town. Sarah never liked it out by the lake.”
“Sarah was with you today after the fire?” Charlie studied the wooden duck decoys on the mantelpiece.
“She was.” Sean came close beside her. “Did that bother you?”
“Of course not.” Charlie shrugged and stuck her chin out.
“She’ll always be Ty’s mom, but Sarah and I were over a long time ago.” He cupped her chin in his hands. “What you and I had, I never found with anyone else.”
“Me neither,” she whispered.
“But I’m still a small-town guy and you’re…” He shut his mouth fast.
“We’re both who we are. Not who we were.” She touched his hand before she moved away, swaying.
“Come on. You’re asleep on your feet.” Logic won over his heart, and he led her up the wide stairs to the landing. “Ty’s room.” He pointed to a closed door. “I’m on the other side at the front.” He showed her the main bathroom, another room he used as an office, and the guest room. “You think you’ll be comfortable?”
“It’s great.” She poked her head into the guest room decorated in blue and white, a brass bed tucked into one corner. “I can even see the lake.” She pointed to a rectangle of blue through the window before putting the dry-cleaning bag over his grandmother’s rocking chair. He followed and set her backpack in the middle of the carpet.
“There’s a bathroom in here.” He opened a smaller door tucked into the eaves. “Towels and toiletries are in the cabinet under the sink. A robe’s behind the door.”
