Chapter Twenty-Five #2
Her dad was smiling widely now, looking at Marin with approval in his eyes.
“It’s a pleasure to officially meet my daughter’s girlfriend.
Please call me James, and I definitely hope to get to know you better, but first, I understand you two need to have an important conversation, so I’ll leave you to it.
” With a wave, he headed down the walkway toward a silver Mercedes parked on the street.
Marin stepped forward. “Charlotte, wow . . .”
Charlotte flung her arms around her and held her tight. “I’m sorry, so fucking sorry. Please come in so I can apologize properly.”
Marin nodded, inhaling Charlotte’s familiar scent.
They were going to be okay. They had a lot to talk about, but .
. . this was fixable. As she followed Charlotte into the house, the knot of tension that had been lodged in the pit of her stomach since Charlotte sent her home from the sheriff’s department two days ago finally loosened.
“I was just on my way to see you,” Charlotte said. “I was talking to my dad—a really good talk, as you might have noticed—and I realized how desperately I needed to apologize to you. We opened the front door, and there you were.”
“Here I am.” Marin stood facing her in the living room. “And I want to hear all about your conversation with your dad. I’ll take the rest of that apology, too, but first . . . I have a few things to say.”
Charlotte’s brow furrowed. “Okay.”
“I had a lot of time to think these last few days, while I waited for you to get in touch, and I realized something. You told me once that you’ve spent your life searching, but I think you’re a runner, Charlotte.
When things get hard, you run and hide, but .
. . I don’t think anyone’s ever chased after you before.
When you left Middleton after high school, no one tried to stop you, not your dad or your friends.
You ran from your feelings for Elena, and she just let you go.
Darren didn’t fight for you after college or when you left DC last fall. ”
The wrinkle in Charlotte’s brow had deepened now, and tears shone in her eyes.
“So here I am.” Marin’s voice had grown rough with her own tears. “To tell you I love you, and I’m here to fight for you, Charlotte, because I think you’re worth fighting for.”
Tears streaked Charlotte’s cheeks. “Oh, Marin . . .”
“Unless you tell me to leave you alone, of course, because I’m not a stalker.” Marin laughed, her throat tight.
“Never,” Charlotte whispered.
“I get that you aren’t used to talking things through.
I think maybe you’ve always handled difficult things alone, but you don’t have to do that anymore, because you have me.
And it sounds like maybe you have your dad now, too, which is fucking fantastic.
” She smiled, tasting salt from her tears.
“I couldn’t talk about my feelings for a long time, either, when I was closeted, but the difference is, I was fighting for the freedom to speak my mind, and I think you’ve been running from these conversations your whole life.
So I’m here to ask you to stay this time.
To fight for what we have. To love me and let me love you. Will you?”
“Yes.” Then Charlotte was in her arms again. “God, yes. That was maybe the most romantic speech I’ve ever heard, and I’m so fucking sorry for how I acted at the sheriff’s department. I panicked, which is no excuse.”
“I know you panicked, and your apology is accepted, but . . . you can’t shut me out like that again, okay? That’s not the kind of relationship I want. We’re adults, and adults talk things through.”
“You’re right. They do, and I want us to have that kind of relationship.
” Charlotte’s voice shook. Hell, her whole body was shaking.
“I guess . . . I spent thirty years searching for answers about my mom, and when I got them, I didn’t know how to process it.
I don’t know who I am without that search looming over my head, you know? ”
“I can only imagine how overwhelming that was for you.”
“And on top of that . . .” Charlotte gulped.
“I watched you lose your relationship with your sister, which was so scary for me as I was coming to terms with my sexuality. After finding out my mom was dead, I was terrified I’d lose my dad, too, if he found out about us, and I handled it in the very worst way. ”
“You did, but you’re here now.” How overwhelming that must have been for Charlotte . . . Sometimes Marin forgot just how fast Charlotte’s journey from sapphic awakening to committed relationship had progressed. She’d had so little time to process any of it.
“You’re right that I’ve been running . . . hiding.” Charlotte swiped at her tears, but more kept falling. “I’m a total mess, but I want to be better.”
Marin folded Charlotte back into her arms and held her while she cried. She held Charlotte until she stopped shaking and the tension left her body. “You can stop running now,” she murmured into the blond depths of Charlotte’s hair.
Charlotte nodded against her shoulder, her breath hitching before she exhaled in what sounded like relief.
“What happened at the lake made me realize I still have some trauma from the accident. PTSD, maybe,” Marin said. “I’m going to start seeing a therapist, and . . . maybe you should think about it too.”
“Me?” Charlotte peeked up at her through her hair, then sighed. “Maybe I do need help, so I can process what happened to my mom and truly stop running, because I want to be able to keep my promises to you, Mare. I really do. Okay, let’s both look for therapists.”
“Our healthiest couple decision yet, I think.”
“Yes.” Charlotte pulled back far enough to meet Marin’s eyes, her own still brimming with tears.
“Most of my life, I’ve felt adrift, like I was just .
. . looking for something. I needed to find my mom, but it turns out she was here all along, and I .
. . I think my journey was meant to lead me to you.
It all comes back to you, doesn’t it? We met on that bus, and somehow that horrible day led us to the same small town in Vermont, where I happened to be your Realtor, and you’re it, Marin.
You’re what I’ve spent my life searching for. It’s you.”
Tears spilled over Marin’s cheeks. “Oh, Charlotte . . .”
“I feel like I say this a lot with you, but what are the chances? Of us meeting on that bus? Of reconnecting like we did? What are the chances of any of this?”
“Not very high, that’s for sure.”
“One in a million, I think,” Charlotte declared.
“If you want to be particular, based on the current world population, it’s one in eight billion.”
Charlotte’s eyes crinkled with a wide smile. “Then you and I are meant to be. There’s no other explanation.”
“I can’t argue with that.” Marin leaned in for a kiss, as everything inside her seemed to settle. “I love you so much.”
“Same.” Charlotte smiled against her lips. “I’m so glad fate brought us together.”
“Me too . . . and that you convinced me fate is real.”
“It all started with a horoscope . . .”
“And it ends with you . . . naked . . . in bed with me.”
Charlotte’s eyes heated. “Yes, please. Take me. Right now.”