Chapter 13
C harlotte poured three cups of coffee in her parents’ kitchen and pulled the last pieces of bacon from the frying pan to go with the eggs and toast she’d made. She’d decided an actual breakfast would make her stomach happier than only eating a cinnamon roll later.
“Good morning,” she sang when Mom and Dad strolled into the kitchen. She gestured at the different platters with her tongs. “There’s eggs, toast with butter and jam, and bacon. Oh and your coffee.”
“Are more people joining us for breakfast?” Richard asked, grabbing a piece of bacon.
“Ha-ha,” Charlotte said. “I’m making sure we all have plenty of protein and a solid meal. Some of us are starting a new job today.”
Mom put down the plate she was making and hugged Charlotte. “You are ?”
Charlotte detected the lack of surprise despite Alice’s enthusiasm. Of course Gregory would have updated her relatives last night. “Wait, Uncle Frank and Aunt Marianne told you already, didn’t they? You are all the worst.”
Alice went back to assembling her breakfast. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, honey,” she teased. “They’re excited to have you as a full-time member of the team and we’re excited for you and to know you’ll be in town for longer.”
Charlotte smiled, thinking about her aunt and uncle being so pleased that they had to tell her parents first thing. It further affirmed she’d made the right decision by accepting Gregory’s offer.
“I’ll be here until Under the Waves opens, so you’re stuck with me until the end of May. I’m happy that they’re happy. We’ll see what Emily says.”
Mom shrugged. “You know your cousin.” Emily didn’t have any kind of beef with Charlotte’s parents, but they were aware of Emily’s thoughts on all things Charlotte. “Anyway, I’m glad Marianne and Frank deemed Ever Fund a worthy partner.”
“It all seems to have worked out like it was meant to,” Dad added. “Congratulations, Charlotte. We know you’re the right person to help see things through. It means so much to my brother—Lands always has, you know that—and it’s . . .” Richard stared into his coffee cup. “It means a lot that you’re doing this.”
“It’s my pleasure,” Charlotte said. She got to assist her family, make some magic for all the guests who came to Lands, and add opening a new themed land to her experience. A real win-win situation for everyone. She sat down at the table with her family and started slathering apple butter on her toast when her phone buzzed on the table. Charlotte picked it up and saw Chad’s name and dropped her butter knife. Then it buzzed again, this time with Gregory’s name appearing. What did she do to deserve not one, but two annoying men bothering her during breakfast?
She put the phone on the table face down without looking at either message. They could both wait ten minutes.
Her dad must have noticed the change in her demeanor. “Everything okay?” he asked. “Hopefully you don’t already have work drama.”
“Um. Not drama,” Charlotte said as she considered the best way to answer him. No need to mention Chad. Her parents were excellent at reading her, and she didn’t want to hint at anything yet. “I’d say the venture capital firm’s representative is interesting.”
“Interesting?” Alice probed.
“Yeah,” Charlotte answered. “Interesting. But hey, he holds the proverbial purse strings, so I can work with interesting.” And the near-simultaneous message from her ex was a timely reminder to keep her work life and personal life separate.
Alice nodded. “You sure can. Besides, I know you handled a lot of egos along with bigger budgets and projects at DreamUs. You’ll do great and you’ll be a huge help to Frank and Marianne in bridging the gap between Lands and this venture capital firm.”
Charlotte was confident she could accomplish all those things, but she’d take all the words of encouragement to help battle the first-day jitters that had arrived with no warning. This was her family’s labor of love, a place her uncle and aunt had dedicated most of their lives to. What if she did ruin it, like Emily asked her not to? What if she couldn’t stop Ever Fund or Emily from making bad choices—or worse, what if she made bad choices by stopping their choices and then the park had to close without even opening Under the Waves?
She tried to continue a pleasant breakfast with her parents without sinking into panic. Panic that came on in full when she opened her messages while her parents cleaned up. Gregory was texting to confirm their meeting time; she replied with a thumbs-up. Then she opened Chad’s text.
Chad: Hey. Good to see you at the Cosmic opening. I’m making some Paris plans and want to run something by you.
Her heartbeat accelerated. Was this it? The door to DreamUs swinging back open right after she’d made other plans?
Charlotte: Hey there. I’m all ears.
Charlotte couldn’t bring herself to lie and say that it was good to see him, too.
Chad: Okay if I send you an email?
How very Chad to send a text asking to send an email.
Charlotte: Absolutely. I’ll keep an eye out.
The anxiety over her new role and an incoming email from Chad about something to do with Dreamland Paris hadn’t dissipated by the time she got to Lands of Legend, and Charlotte had to wipe her clammy hands on her pants before she got out of the car. She’d parked in this spot and made this walk past Owen’s security station and into Lands countless times in the past—including yesterday. Sure, today she was beginning a position that would help determine the park’s future—or if it had a future—but it was fine. She was fine.
She stepped into the park with time to spare before her meeting with Gregory. A lap around Emily’s Carousel, she decided, would set her right. The ride was filled with dazzling mounts from the pages of fairy tales: a carved frog wearing a gold crown, a bench seat featuring the three bears who were, in the contemporary version, far too nice about finding Goldilocks invading their home, Puss in Boots, a unicorn that would look like it sparkled during golden hour.
She’d memorized each of the creatures and stories when she was a kid and rode the carousel on every one in order to choose her favorite, which ended up being the frog from “The Frog Prince.” Seeing the figure soothed her nerves, so, Charlotte reasoned, climbing over the closed carousel’s barrier and sitting on the jaunty frog would clearly erase her confidence issues and make everything okay. No one would see her since the park was opening on the later side today.
Charlotte set her bag on the ground inside the metal barrier and swung one leg over carefully—
“Charlotte? What are you doing?” a voice called from across the path. Specifically, Gregory’s voice.
Of course he would be early, too.
She finished climbing over the barrier and turned to look at him. His tall, lanky body was silhouetted in front of Fairytale Land’s buildings, the sun hitting him in a way that made him appear to be glowing. Him and his full-ass suit , Charlotte corrected in her head, today with the addition of a gray pea coat to ward off the chill. The sun would return later in the day, allegedly.
“I’m visiting a friend,” Charlotte said.
Gregory turned his head left and right to look for said friend and crossed over to the carousel. “I don’t see anyone else here, Charlotte. Are you allowed to be in there? It’s closed.” He nodded toward the locked entry gate.
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “First of all, yes, of course I can be in here. Nothing’s running right now, it’s perfectly safe.”
He gave her a skeptical look.
“And there.” Charlotte flung her arm in the direction of her frog. “My friend is right there. He was my favorite when I was little and I haven’t said hello in a while.”
Gregory leaned forward over the barrier. He peered past Charlotte into the carousel and then shook his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Charlotte hadn’t even officially started the position and she had elicited quite the irritated tone from Gregory. It was kind of satisfying. “Come in here and I’ll introduce you,” she said. “Besides, you should get a closer look at one of our classic and most beloved rides.”
Crinkles formed around his eyes while he considered. “Maybe, uh, we could wait until it’s open?”
“Why would we do that when we could have it all to ourselves now?” she goaded.
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Fine,” he muttered. “And then after this can we get to work?”
“I would argue that this is work, but yes, we can go plan all the things afterward,” Charlotte said. She extended her hand across the barrier. “Now, come on.”
He ignored her hand and unbuttoned his blazer before stepping over the barrier with ease—it was only a tall step given his height—and then setting his shiny briefcase next to Charlotte’s well-loved backpack. His voice resigned, he said, “Lead the way.”
“Look at you, breaking the rules on your second day here.”
He froze, eyes open wide. “I thought you said it was fine for us to be back here.”
This was too easy, Charlotte thought. She cackled. “I’m teasing.”
“Oh. Funny.”
“I have my moments,” she said. “We’ll board the carousel around this way.”
As she led Gregory to the back, she went into a little of the ride’s history. “So this opened with the park and then when Uncle Frank and Aunt Marianne had Emily, they changed the name. Uncle Frank worked with a local builder to design and craft every animal you see here. They’re all from fairy tales and Frank evaluates them every season and picks one to restore or repaint so they all get the chance to look their best. We have backups in storage past the office so the ride is never a mount down while he’s doing repairs.”
They’d reached the boarding spot by now, so Charlotte finished with, “It’s also one of the most popular rides with guests too, partially because of its history but also who can resist a carousel? It’s timeless.”
“I’m surprised that, in these modern times, guests don’t find the idea of a carousel boring,” Gregory said.
“Simple is the answer sometimes. Classics are classics for a reason. And in our case, having the carousel go with the fairytale theming in the land elevates it beyond the usual carousel with colorful horses—which, to be clear, are also incredible works of art and not boring.”
“Hmm,” Gregory said.
“Come see for yourself.” Charlotte wound through the quiet carousel, patting each mount on its head and naming its fairy-tale origins for Gregory before stopping in front of her frog. “This is my friend.”
Gregory circled the frog. “From ‘The Frog Prince,’ right?”
“Yep.”
“What made him your favorite as a kid?” he asked.
Charlotte thought. “Now I can look back and say I admire the frog’s persistence in the face of such a rude princess—I have no idea why they ended up together, he deserved better—but back then, I liked his friendly face and of course his crown. My uncle always kept the gold paint fresh for me. I know it might be more interesting if I had some complex reasoning, but I was drawn to him. And when I was feeling anxious this morning, seeing him calmed me down. So, here we are.”
Shit, she hadn’t intended to let Gregory in on her experiencing anxiety. To stop him from inquiring about it, she walked to the side of the frog and hopped on board.
“Ahhhh!” Charlotte swung her body with too much vigor and the momentum started carrying her off the other side of the frog. Gregory stepped over to stop her from falling off and possibly breaking more than her pride by bracing his hands against her torso.
A warm blush spread over her face and neck. “Thank you,” she said and she noticed Gregory hadn’t let go, his strong hands propping her up. She cleared her throat as she straightened on the frog’s back and held onto the pole. “I’ve got it now.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. “But I thought you were a pro at this?”
She got defensive. “I haven’t been on the carousel in a while and—”
“Charlotte. I’m teasing.”
“Oh,” she said. She was glad he wasn’t that much of a jerk. “In that case, why don’t you board that wolf right there?”
The big, bad wolf from “Little Red Riding Hood” was next to the frog. Gregory looked at it and then back at her. “Do I have to?”
“Yes, it’s part of the experience. You have a lot to learn about theme parks in a short amount of time, so you should try one new thing a day.”
“One,” he grumbled. “I’ll think about it.”
He sighed with his whole body and then swung one gorgeous leg over the back of the wolf. Charlotte’s blush got deeper as she, for reasons she couldn’t fathom, imagined him in that position in a different situation. “There. Happy now?” he asked, looking down at her from his position on the wolf. His unruly hair fell across his face and between that and the wolf, he had a kind of annoyed, feral look that was decidedly attractive according to Charlotte’s pounding traitor of a heart.
“I am, yes, I am happy now. Thank you for humoring me,” she said. “How long is it since you’ve been on a carousel, anyway?”
Gregory looked down at the sculpted pommel on the wolf’s back, made to look like fur since the animals on the carousel didn’t have saddles like carousel horses. “I can’t remember,” he said. “Like I said, I think we went to an amusement park once, but if so, I was really little. I don’t remember riding a carousel, even if I went on one. My family didn’t do a lot of stuff like that. Too much work. So, I spent a lot of time with my grandpa as a kid and he preferred to get away from people and take me camping.”
She noticed his shoulders had gone rigid, his voice quiet. That explained why he didn’t take vacations to amusement parks or even a DreamUs park; it seemed like nearly everyone in his family was and had been super committed to Ever Fund. “Well, I’m glad you’re getting the experience now,” she said. “We’ll have to come back when it’s open and ride it. This all changes when the lights and music are on.”
“I don’t know, this is nice enough.” Gregory shrugged. “I already feel silly.”
“Why? Because you’re an adult on a carousel? In a suit and tie?” Charlotte asked.
“Yeah, kinda exactly that.”
“Haven’t you heard that age is only a mindset, Gregory?”
“I’ve heard it, yes,” he said, “but I don’t believe it. Now, should we head over and start our meeting?”
“You know we don’t stand on formality here. No suit necessary.”
He wiped his hand across his face. “I know, Charlotte. But I’m representing Ever Fund and impressions matter.”
“Get ready for a lot more of doing things like this while dressed like that.”
Charlotte thought she had a ways to go before getting Gregory to understand activities like this were a vital part of the job, even more so when guests were in the park for them to observe. No amount of meetings in drab conference rooms were a substitute for being in the park and putting boots on the ground, going on the rides, trying the snacks, and playing. But today she would consider getting Gregory aboard the carousel a small triumph.
“We can go to our meeting now, but partially because I’m in dire need of a cinnamon roll,” Charlotte said. “Give me one more minute with my frog prince.”
Charlotte was hugging the frog’s neck despite its hard unyielding surface when she heard the metal barrier around the ride rattle. She craned her neck and saw Jude, one of the carousel’s operators, approaching.
“Hey, Jude,” Charlotte called out, making sure he knew they were there but failing to not startle him.
Jude recovered from the scare and walked around the carousel where he could see them. “Charlotte, hi! I didn’t expect to see anyone here, already on the carousel.”
“See?” Gregory hissed. “I didn’t think we were supposed to be here.”
“It’s fine,” Charlotte whispered to him. Then turning to Jude, “I got here early and realized I hadn’t seen my buddy for a while and wanted to say hi.”
Jude beamed; Charlotte knew he took pride in operating the carousel and helping her uncle keep the ride gleaming. “I polished his crown just the other day,” Jude said. “Would you two like a private ride?”
“Uh, absolutely yes! Please!” Charlotte exclaimed at the same time as Gregory said, “No, that’s okay, we’re good.”
Jude looked between them. Charlotte spoke for both of them. “We would really appreciate that. Thank you.”
“You got it, Charlotte.” Jude grinned. “Give me two minutes and I’ll fire ’er up.”
Charlotte smiled at Gregory. “A roller coaster yesterday, a carousel today. What will tomorrow bring?”
His mouth stayed in a flat line. “Hopefully a peaceful day of sitting in my office.”
“You’ve invested in the wrong kind of business for that. This is important on-the-ground research. In fact, you really need to go to a DreamUs park sometime and see how theming works on a larger scale. I’m going to figure out when we can go, okay?”
“We?” Gregory’s eyebrows were almost in his hair.
Charlotte wasn’t in love with the idea of accompanying Gregory to one of her favorite places, but she knew it would help open his eyes and give him needed perspective. Plus she knew every DreamUs park inside out. She would do that for Lands. “Yes, we. Who would be a better guide than me? Now hold on.”
True to his word, Jude went back to the operator’s stall and had the carousel’s systems going in no time. He gave Charlotte a thumbs-up and then the overhead lights flipped on and bathed the carousel in a soft, flickering glow that made it look like hundreds of candles were set around the space. While it was more striking at night, the lights created an ethereal vibe even in the middle of the morning.
Next, the music. Rather than a typical carousel track, her aunt had worked with a teacher at Grove Tech back in the day who had composed a custom piece of music for the carousel. It wasn’t tinny or typical; its soft bells and tinkles, a hint of sitar, and flutes made Charlotte think of ’80s fantasy films in the best way. She closed her eyes and soaked it in, all the elements transporting her back through time.
She felt a gentle touch on her hand and opened her eyes. “You okay?” Gregory whispered. He’d stretched over to nudge her.
“More than okay,” she replied, her lips curving.
“Just checking.” He straightened back into his seat. “This music is beautiful and not what I would have expected.”
“I think you’ll see not a lot about Lands is what you expected.”
“Yeah, I’m beginning to see that,” he agreed.
The carousel started its gentle movement and after a few rotations Charlotte snuck a glance at Gregory. His posture had relaxed and while he wasn’t smiling, he looked content. At peace.