Chapter Sixteen
Charlotte looked around as she drove up the lane to the stables.
None of this had been here in her day. It was lovely, a long leafy driveway leading up to a beautiful barn.
Ponies grazed alongside the fence. It was quite idyllic.
It made her want to take up riding again.
This wasn’t the time to think about that though.
It was Monday morning, her first morning of getting down to business.
She and Ben had made the most of the weekend, hanging out at her place.
She smiled ruefully; they’d talked and laughed and even made out like kids, but they hadn’t gone to bed.
They had somehow managed to keep to their promise to take things slowly in that regard.
She pulled up in the parking lot and was surprised to see several other cars already there. She hoped that Lily hadn’t forgotten their meeting and would have time for her. She needn’t have worried. Lily appeared out of a camper and waved when she spotted her.
“Hey, I was hoping you were still coming. I’m excited to see what ideas you have and to figure out how we can work together.”
Charlotte grinned. “Me too, I was worried you might have forgotten about me when I saw all the cars here. I thought you might be busy with a lesson or something.”
“No,” said Lily. “Alison is giving a lesson this morning and Becky is leading a trail ride, but I’m free, I’m all yours.”
“Wow! I didn’t realize it would be so busy out here. I take it business is doing well, then?”
Lily smiled. “It’s doing wonderfully, thank you. Honestly, it’s going so much better than I even hoped.”
“That’s great. I’m glad you’re back here and that things are going so well for you.” She raised an eyebrow at Lily. “And it seems that business is not the only thing that’s going well for you. Nate seems like a great guy. I’m happy for you.”
The way Lily smiled told Charlotte just how happy she was.
“Thanks. I can’t quite believe how happy I am myself.
Nate is awesome, and yet I had so many doubts about him.
We were friends for a long time, but he was such a ladies’ man I really didn’t think it was worth risking a relationship with him. ”
“A ladies’ man? Wow, you do surprise me. When I saw the two of you together the other night I had him down as totally a one-woman man. He’s a lot of fun and seems like the life and soul of the party, but he only had eyes for you. He’s totally besotted.”
Lily laughed. “That’s what I’m finding so hard to believe. It’s amazing, and I love it, I love him. It’s just such a big change from the Nate I knew before.”
“Well, love will do that to a guy.”
“Apparently,” said Lily. “But what about you? How are things going between you and Ben? It must be so strange after all this time. And yet, I don’t see how things could ever be strange between the two of you. You two are just meant to be.”
Charlotte nodded, not knowing where to start. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell Lily; it was just that she didn’t know what to say.
Lily looked concerned. “Sorry, come on inside. I don’t mean to keep you talking out here and I’ve got coffee and the computer set up in the camper.”
Charlotte followed her inside and looked around. “This is nice. Do you live here?”
Lily shook her head. “I did for a long time when I first came back, but Nate and I just bought a beautiful house over at Four Mile Creek. It’s amazing, even if I do say so myself.
It’s right down by the water’s edge with amazing views of the lake.
You and Ben should come over for dinner one evening. ”
“Thanks, I’d love that.”
“Come on, though, you have to tell me how things are going with you two. We’re all just waiting around with bated breath. I’m so glad you’re back; for a while there I didn’t think you were coming.”
“Things are going really well, it is strange. We have to get to know each other as the people we are now. We need to make a fresh start, but at the same time we have to deal with our past.”
Lily nodded. “I was thinking about that, it’s like you get the best and the worst of both worlds.”
“Yeah, it seems we do. We’ll get there, though.”
“Oh, I’m sure you will. If anyone is meant to be, it’s you and Ben.”
“You know what, Lil? I always thought we were meant to be, but now I’m not sure I believe in meant to be.
” She held up a hand at the look on Lily’s face.
“Don’t worry, I want us to be, but I think it has to be a choice based on our current reality.
It shouldn’t be, I don’t want it to be, some inevitable fate that we just accept.
We had to spend time together again, we had to deal with what happened between us all those years ago, but now that we’ve faced that, there’s nothing that we have to do.
From here we can figure out what it is we want to do.
I know I want him, I know I want to spend the rest of my life with him.
I think, I hope, that he feels the same way.
He says he does.” She smiled to herself.
“In fact, he insists he does, but I need him to be sure before he makes such a huge commitment to me.”
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.”