Chapter Twenty-Two
Charlotte jumped at the sound of a knock on the front door.
She looked around feeling guilty. She was supposed to be working on Laura’s website, but she’d gotten distracted somehow and spent the last twenty minutes looking at houses online.
She scrambled to her feet, wondering who it might be.
She opened the door and smiled when she saw April standing there.
“Hi, I’m sorry to disturb you. I just wanted to come see how you’re doing.
I was so thrilled when I realized you were living next door to me.
I thought we’d get to hang out together, but it hasn’t worked out that way.
I’ve been so busy with the women’s center and the bakery, and then in the evenings with Marcus and Eddie, that I just haven’t found the time to come over. ”
Charlotte smiled. “Come on in. It’s lovely to see you, and don’t you go apologizing. I’ve been super busy myself. I thought it would take me a while to build up my business, but instead I’m struggling to keep up.”
“I don’t have to stay if you’re busy. I don’t mean to disturb you.”
“No, it’ll be nice to take a break. In fact, I’d gotten distracted anyway. And chatting with you is more constructive than what I was doing. Would you like a drink?” Once Charlotte had poured them each a soda, they settled on the sofa.
April eyed the computer which was still displaying a list of houses Charlotte had favorited, in the hopes that she and Ben might go and look at them soon. “Are you house-hunting?”
“Yes. We’re starting to, anyway. I think it’s going to take a while to find something that will work for us. I want to live on the water, and Ben really needs to be close to the resort
April looked around. “And you don’t like this place?”
“I do; I love it. But to me it’s more like a vacation rental than a forever home, you know? And it takes Ben a little while to get to the resort from here. We’d like to be closer, if we can. And what about you? You’re renting next door, right?”
April nodded. “We are, but we’d like to buy it. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s homey. Homey is much more important to me. I’ve lived in fancy before, but my life was miserable then. A fancy house can’t make you happy if you’re not.”
“Oh, believe me, I know that.” Charlotte smiled. “But if you already are happy and get to live in a fancy house too, there’s nothing wrong with that is there?”
April laughed. “No, there isn’t. Nothing wrong with that at all.”
“You certainly seem to be happy these days. I knew in Vegas that Mr. Band Man was interested in you. He seems like a really good guy, and you’re happy, right?”
“Happier than I’ve ever been,” said April with a smile. “He’s so good to me, and he’s so good to Marcus. If you’d told me a year ago that my life would turn out like this, I wouldn’t have believed you. I wouldn’t have dared believe that life could be this good.”
“And how are things going at the women’s center?”
“It’s going really well. I feel as though I have finally found what I’m supposed to be doing with my life.
It’s amazing to be able to help women who are going through hard times.
I lived through some hard times of my own.
I was the one who needed help, and for the longest time, I was too afraid to ask for it.
I love that now I get to be the one who helps others.
It’s not like I can do anything for them personally, but that’s not what it’s about.
It’s about helping them find ways to stand on their own two feet and supporting them as they find their own solutions.
” She smiled, looking a little embarrassed.
“And of course, I still get to provide them with doughnuts in the morning.”
Charlotte laughed. “Don’t you downplay it, I think what you and Renée are doing is fantastic.”
“Thank you and don’t be surprised if we rope you in to help out at some point. We’re asking all our friends to share whatever skills they can. I have a feeling you could be a great help teaching women all the good stuff they can do on the computer.”
Charlotte nodded. “Just let me know when. I’d be happy to help out in any way I can.”
“It won’t be for a while yet. Everything’s a bit crazy this week with Renée getting married on Saturday.”
“I’ll bet. And what about you? Are there wedding bells in your future?”
April smiled. “I hope so, we’ve talked about it, but it will be a little while yet. I have my final divorce to go through yet.”
“I know how that goes. It seemed to take forever for me, but it was such a relief when it was final.”
“And now you can get on with the rest of your life, and be with the man you’re meant to be with.” April raised an eyebrow. “Do the two of you have any wedding plans?”
“Not plans, as such; we’ve talked about it. Like I said, we’re looking for a house to buy together. I think we’ve both been skirting around talking about actually getting married. We want to, or at least I do, and I’m pretty sure Ben does. We just haven’t had that conversation yet.”
“I’m sure you will, when you’re both ready.”
“Yeah, we will. We’ve had so much to deal with in the short time I’ve been back.
It’s been wonderful and at the same time painful to be around for the arrival of little Isabel and William.
We’ve both had to deal with our feelings around babies.
And now with Gabe and Renée’s big day coming up on Saturday, I have a feeling we’ll both have to deal with our feelings about weddings too. ”
“Hopefully those feelings will be much happier and much easier to deal with,” said April with a smile.
“You just have to promise me, that when the two of you do get married, I’ll be invited.
I know I haven’t known you very long. I’m not one of your original gang of friends, but I do care about you.
I’m just as excited as everyone who’s known you for years. ”
Charlotte smiled. “Of course you’ll be invited.
If it weren’t for you, we might never have gotten back together.
We might not have known each other that long, but you’re important to me.
Very important. I hope we’ll still be good friends when we’re old and gray and watching our grandchildren together. ”
April laughed. “I like the sound of that.”
Charlotte’s phone rang and she picked it up the coffee table. “Hi, Ben. What’s up?”
“Nothing’s up. I just wanted to remind you about dinner with Nate and Lily tonight.”
“That’s okay, I hadn’t forgotten. We’re supposed to be there at seven, right?”
“Yep, that’s right.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be ready to go.”
He laughed. “Good. I just wanted to make sure you hadn’t forgotten. See you later. I love you.”
“I love you. Bye.”
April smiled at her as she hung up. “You sound as though the two of you have been together forever.”
Charlotte shrugged. “In a way, we have. And in other ways, we’re starting all over from the beginning."
~ ~ ~
Ben caught his breath at the sight of Charlotte coming downstairs. She was wearing a cornflower blue dress that hugged her figure in all the right places and brought out the color of her eyes. “You look amazing, Charlie.”
She smiled. “So do you. I don’t know about going to this wedding, I think I’d rather stay here and get you out of that suit.”
He laughed. “I’m sure we’ll get around to that when we get home tonight.”
“Oh, we will, mister. Have no doubts about that.”
“We’d better get going. I don’t want to be late.”
On the drive to the little church down by the lake Ben couldn’t stop his mind from wandering.
He and Charlie were supposed to have been the first of all their friends to get married.
Now here they were helping Gabe and Renée celebrate their happy day.
Most of their friends were already married, and now some of them had children of their own, too.
“What are you thinking?” asked Charlotte. “You look like you’re a million miles away.” She looked concerned.
He shook his head. “I’m right here. I guess maybe I’m just a little envious of Gabe and Renée getting married today.”
She reached across to touch his hand as he pulled up in the parking lot.
She didn’t speak, just squeezed his hand.
He had a feeling that she too, was envious of them, but she could hardly say so, could she?
It was up to him to make things happen. He leaned across and pecked her cheek, then smiled, his mind made up.
They made their way inside the church, smiling and waving at all the familiar faces.
Lizzie Morgan waved at him from her place up at the front where she was sitting with Megan and baby William.
Missy beckoned them over to come and sit with her and Dan.
Ben smiled as he slid in beside them. He loved that most of the gang was sitting on the bride’s side of the aisle.
They’d been friends with both Gabe and Renée all their lives, but Gabe had family, friends and acquaintances from all around town and from New York.
Renée had no blood family left, but she had plenty of friends who were as good as family.
Emma leaned forward in her seat at the end of the pew and waved to them. “I’m staying down here in case Isabel makes a fuss, so I can sit outside and not disturb things. I’ll catch up with you later.” She grinned. “And you can tell me when it’s going to be your turn.”
Ben caught Charlotte’s eye and she smiled. He couldn’t wait for it to be their turn. The look on her face told him she couldn’t either.