Chapter Twenty-Three
Charlotte wandered around at the reception chatting with everyone.
There were many old familiar faces she hadn’t had chance to catch up with yet.
Many of them were interested in her business.
It seemed like online marketing had not yet reached the Lake, but every small business owner was interested in learning about and taking advantage of it—with help.
It seemed she would have a thriving business in no time.
She was also starting to piece together a plan in her mind whereby she could maybe teach some of the women at the center how to work with her.
She caught sight of Ben talking with Smoke and Laura.
It was a good thing she wasn’t a wallflower or the kind of woman who needed to tag along with her man.
He was kept busy talking to everyone and occasionally popping behind the bar to help or solve any issues that arose.
She caught sight of Angel sitting at a table by herself and went over to join her. “Are you having fun?”
Angel looked up and smiled. “I am, thanks. Are you? Every time I see you you’re on your own. Where’s Ben?”
Charlotte laughed. “He’s around. We were never the kind to be joined at the hip.”
“I can see that. I’m realizing more and more that what I liked about him was my idea of what he was. Not what he really is. I think I’m needier than you. I like my man to stay by my side.”
Charlotte smiled. “We’re all different, I suppose. But I do feel a little relieved hearing you say that. Ben wouldn’t be any good for you if that’s what you need.”
Angel nodded. “Yeah, I can see that now.” She smiled. “It makes me feel better and I was wondering, would you have a problem if I stay?”
“Not only would I not have a problem, I’d like it.”
“Thank you.”
Charlotte looked around. She was glad to finally feel completely at peace with Angel, but she didn’t want to spend all the time sitting here with her.
She was hoping to spot Ben and maybe get a minute with him.
He was no longer talking to Smoke and Laura.
Smoke was talking to Jack and Laura was nowhere to be seen.
She was glad when Angel got up to leave before she did. “I’m going to have a word with Luke.”
“Luke?” Charlotte raised an eyebrow. “Who’s he? I don’t know him.”
Angel smiled. “I don’t know him too well yet either, but he seems nice. He’s one of the student pilots over at the flight school.” She pointed over to a group of good-looking guys Charlotte didn’t know.
“Oh!” Charlotte grinned at her. “Good luck. I’ve seen them around, but I don’t know them. It’s like they’re the new gang, and I’m part of the old gang. You should go talk to him,” she said when she noticed one of the guys was watching Angel and gave her a little wave.
Angel nodded. “I think I will.”
Once she’d gone, Charlotte got up and went to see Smoke. Perhaps he’d be able to tell her where Ben had gone. He looked wary as she approached.
Jack smiled at her. “I was wondering where you were. Where’s Ben?”
“I was hoping you might be able to tell me,” she said to Smoke.
He shrugged. “Beats me.” He picked up his beer. “Excuse me.”
Charlotte raised an eyebrow at Jack. “Is it my perfume?”
Jack laughed. “I don’t think so. He can be a bit gruff sometimes. Plus, I think he’s a bit out of sorts. Laura’s disappeared, and I know he’s getting antsy; he thought the two of them would be married by now.”
“I can sympathize with him there, it’s hard to watch everyone else doing the things you thought you’d be doing a long time ago.
” The words surprised her as they came out of her mouth.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to whine to you. I’m grateful that Ben and I even have a chance again.
For the longest time, I didn’t think we would. ”
“No need to apologize. I can’t say I understand, but I can imagine. I think the two of you are back where you need to be now, though.”
Charlotte smiled. “I hope so.”
~ ~ ~
Ben grinned at Laura when they pulled up back in the square. “Thanks so much.”
“Don’t you dare thank me. It is absolutely my pleasure, I’m honored to be a part of it. And I’m thrilled that you were able to find just what you wanted.”
“I can’t believe you had it. I remember when we were kids, she used to show me pictures all the time of what she liked. I just hope her taste hasn’t changed too much. I know the old Charlie would love this, but I don’t know for certain that she will now.”
Laura smiled at him. “I’m sure she will. It’s a beautiful piece, but don’t worry if she doesn’t. We can always change it for something that she does.”
“Uh-oh, looks like we’re in trouble,” said Ben with a smile. Smoke was striding across the square toward them. “I hope I didn’t keep you too long.”
Laura laughed. “You were quicker than I thought was humanly possible.” She got out of the truck and Ben came around to meet her. She grinned up at Smoke when he reached them. “And don’t you worry about this big, jealous jerk, anyway.”
Smoke scowled at her. “That’s all the thanks I get, is it? I cover your ass for you, then come out to warn Ben that Charlie is looking for him, and I get accused of being a big, jealous jerk?”
Laura reached up and planted a kiss on his lips. “Aww, would you like a medal instead?”
Smoke rolled his eyes at Ben. “Do you see what I have to put up with? Sometimes I don’t know why I bother. Maybe I should just go find myself a sweet little thing who’d appreciate me and wouldn’t give me this kind of grief.”
Ben laughed as Laura slapped Smoke’s arm—hard. “You wouldn’t last two minutes without me now, and you know it. You can’t stand sweet little things, you need a challenge and I’m nothing if not challenging.”
“You can say that again,” said Smoke with a smirk. “Anyway, the point is you need to get back in there, Ben. Charlotte’s looking for you.”
“Thanks, guys. Thank you so much.”
He made his way back inside hoping that Charlotte wasn’t looking for him because she wanted to go home. He spotted her sitting with Joe and Gramps and made his way over to them.
“Where’ve you been?” asked Joe. “You can’t just go off and leave your lady like that. One of them pilots might make a move on her.”
Ben sat down beside Charlotte and smiled at her. “I think I’m safe. I don’t think she’d go off with one of them now.”
Gramps laughed. “She’d better not. We’ve all ridden the roller coaster with the two of you. We’ve suffered all these years alongside you. We’re all waiting for our happy ending. We won’t be cheated out of it now.”
Ben stared at him wondering if this was the moment. He looked at Charlotte then at Joe, and decided against it. This was Gabe and Renée’s day. It wouldn’t be right. “We’re working on it.”
Charlotte smiled. “And I’m hoping we can work on it at home. I’m about ready to get out of here, if you don’t mind?”
Ben nodded. “Sure, we can go home.”
“Forgive me for sticking my old nose in,” said Joe, “but just where are you calling home? That place on Lexington that you’re renting? I know it’s not the apartment because I never see either of you there.”
“It’s home for now,” said Ben. He was a little surprised that Joe would ask. He’d already told Joe that he was staying at Charlotte’s place, and that they’d started house-hunting.”
Charlotte smiled at Joe. “You’re not worried I’m corrupting him, are you? Because you know, if you are, you’re too late. I corrupted him years ago.”
Joe laughed. “I know that, little girl. What I’m worried about is the two of you living in some little rented house. We need to talk about that.”
Ben wasn’t sure what he meant, but he really didn’t want to stick around to discuss it now. Charlotte had said she wanted to go home and he was more than happy to take her. He hadn’t wanted to ask her here, but he did want to ask her tonight. “Can we talk about it tomorrow?”
Joe nodded. “Yep. I think we’ll have a lot to talk about tomorrow, won’t we?”
Ben met his gaze; he’d swear his grandpa knew what he had planned. But that shouldn’t surprise him. It seemed that Joe had been able to anticipate his moves his whole life. He nodded. “Probably.”
He and Charlotte made the rounds saying goodnight to their friends. He stopped when he spotted Angel sitting in a corner talking to one of Smoke’s student pilots. They looked quite cozy.
“I’m not going to ask if that bothers you,” said Charlotte with a smile.
“I had a chat with her earlier and it turns out that now both she and I understand that she wouldn’t be what’s best for you anyway.
I am, and I know it.” She reached up and planted a kiss on his lips. “And you’d just better get used to it.”
Ben hugged her to him and smiled. “I plan to spend the rest of my life doing just that.”
Angel smiled at them and waved, and Ben felt a sense of peace.
“You’re not leaving already, are you?” asked Renée when they found her and Gabe.
“We are. We just came to say congratulations one more time.”
“We’re so happy for you both,” said Charlotte.
“You can’t go yet. I haven’t even throw in the flowers.” Renée smiled at Charlotte. “April and Lily are in the running, too, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you.”
Charlotte laughed. “That’s okay, let one of them catch them. I don’t need them.”
As they finally made their way back out into the cool night air, Ben had to wonder what she’d meant by that. Whatever she’d meant, he was about to find out. “Do you want to go home because you’re tired, or because you’d had enough?”
“I’d had enough. I love being back with everyone, but I still want you to myself every chance we get, and if I remember rightly I was going to get you out of that suit when we get home.”
Ben grinned. “You’re definitely not mistaken about that, and much as I love that dress on you, I’d much rather see it off you. If you’re not tired, though, I wondered if you wanted to go for a walk before we go home.”
She nodded. “Where do you want to go?”
“Down to the beach.” Even saying the words brought a lump to his throat.
They’d walked on the beach the last night they were together as kids.
They’d gone down there to watch the sunset that night before she left for Mexico.
He’d said she needed to be careful. The first few months were the riskiest time.
And she’d said perhaps it wasn’t a bad idea to take some risks.
That was the night that their lives had taken a turn.
A turn that it had taken all these years to recover from.
It just seemed right that they should go back to that place.
He wanted tonight to be the night that they got their lives back on the right track.
Charlotte searched his face. She seemed to understand the significance. “We haven’t been down there since I came back.”
“I know, and now I think it’s time.”
When they got there, they walked in silence down to the water’s edge. Charlotte clung to his hand. “You remember what happened here?”
He stopped walking and put his hands on her shoulders, looking deep into her eyes.
“Of course I do. We can’t change everything that happened.
You were the one who told me we can’t change the past, but we can change the future.
I wanted to come here because the last time we were here we changed our future for the worst. This time I want to change it for the better. ”
She wiped the tears away from her eyes and nodded.
“How do we do that, though? I mean, everything changed for the worse in a moment. I know how that happened. But how do we—can anyone ever—change things for the better in just a moment. Doesn’t that take time?
Isn’t it a process that happens over weeks and months and years? ”
“It is a process, and yes it takes weeks and months and years. In fact, I hope for us it will take the rest of our lives. But it starts with a moment.” He drew in a deep breath and knew that that moment was now.
He fished around in his pocket for the little box he’d brought back from Laura’s store earlier.
Then, taking hold of her hand, he went down on one knee.
“Charlotte, it’s taken us sixteen years to get back to this point, I don’t want to waste any more years.
In fact, I don’t want to waste another day.
I want you to marry me, I want you to be my wife.
Please, say that you’ll finally marry me. ”
She dropped to her knees in the sand beside him and cupped his face in her hands. “Yes! Yes, Ben, I will marry you. I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make up for all the years we lost, and doing my best to be a good wife and to make you happy.”
“You don’t need to try, Charlie. You make me happy just by being you, by being with me.
And I don’t want us to try to make up for the years that we lost. That’s impossible.
We can’t change yesterday and we know better than anyone that we’re not guaranteed tomorrow.
All we can do is live the hell out of every day we get together.
” He opened up the box and showed her the ring before taking it out.
“Oh my God! It’s beautiful, Ben. It’s just like I always dreamed about. When I was a girl I used to look at rings like that.”
“I know,” he said as he slid it onto her finger. “I remember.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she smiled up at him. “Ben Walton, you are the most amazing man. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you. I don’t feel like I do deserve you, but I’m going to do my best every day to make you happy.”
“I’m going to do my best every day to make you happy. I want to be your husband, and I don’t want to wait any longer. I want us to get married.”
She nodded. “Then let’s do it, let’s do it soon. It’s not like we need anything big or fancy, we just need our friends and our family. We should organize it as soon as we can.”
Ben smiled, hoping that she meant that. “How about next weekend?”
Her eyes widened. “Next weekend? But how …? What will we …? Yes! Let’s do it!” She laughed. “You’re right. We don’t need to waste any more time.”
Ben hugged her to him. “I already called your parents and mine. Just in case you said yes.”
She slapped his arm. “As if there was ever any doubt.”
Ben shrugged. “I’ve learned to never take anything for granted. I will say that for the first time in my life I’m happy that our parents are willing to travel at the drop of a hat. They all said they’ll be here next weekend, if that’s what we want.”
Charlotte kissed him deeply and then sat back on her heels and smiled at him. “It’s what we want. It’s what we’ve always wanted.”