Chapter 7
SEVEN
The Carriage House was almost unrecognizable in its new modern splendor. The groomsmen and bridesmaids were meeting here for a celebratory glass of champagne before going our separate ways, and I hoped it would serve as a good distraction for Lacy.
Savilla had hired workers to clean out the space and scrub it from top to bottom.
The walls gleamed, and the cement floor had been painted a shimmery gold, glazed, and then covered with ivory rugs that looked soft enough to fall asleep on.
She’d installed thousands of small circular bulbs that hung from the high ceiling, and just for that night, she opened the floor-to-ceiling door that had once been used to allow carriages and vehicles in and out.
From inside the doorway, the mountain view was framed like a giant landscape painting.
I noticed that even in her jacket, Lacy shivered as we entered, but I was pretty sure it was from the nonsense she’d just witnessed.
Perhaps the room, already buzzing with the excitement of the evening ahead, would help calm her nerves and remind her of the other, more sane people excited to celebrate her nuptials.
My heart did a little flip when we walked in and I saw Charlie, his head turned halfway to the door as if he was on the lookout for me. Unaware of the drama of the past hour, he winked at me as soon as I stepped inside, and then I noticed his eyes trail along my body. Heat traveled up my neck.
“You want a drink?” I asked Lacy, trying to set aside my own desires.
“Sure,” she said, her voice strained, even though I could tell she was trying to rally.
“I’ll be right back with libations,” I said with a playful smile.
I tried to readjust my own expectations for the evening as I approached the table holding rows of filled glasses and the ice buckets of champagne—which just happened to be right next to Charlie.
My heart beat more rapidly and I could practically feel my cheeks glowing as a wide grin spread across my face.
I was so stinking happy to see him, and if it hadn’t been my best friend’s bachelorette party, I would have pulled him into a room and had my way with him right then.
The look he was giving me said he would like to do the same.
I’d never had this kind of craving for another person. Something about Charlie’s arms around me let me lay down my worries about what came next. Shyly, I’d told him as much after I’d arrived in town for the holidays two weeks ago, when he’d picked me up at the airport.
“I feel like I can finally breathe when I’m with you,” I’d mused aloud in a moment of vulnerability, as he’d driven us toward the highway for the hour and a half drive to Aubergine. “Like, something unknots in my stomach.”
“So, you’re saying you like me?” Charlie had teased, raising an eyebrow playfully as he glanced at me.
I must’ve been caught off guard by his cheeky smile because in that moment I’d laughed and, without thinking, declared, “Like you? I love you!”
As soon as the words were out of my mouth I’d wished that I could rewind to ten seconds earlier.
I would’ve made a joke, maybe some kind of innuendo about how I liked every part of him.
Alas, it was too late. My real feelings had sprung out of my mouth and into the car to sit with us for the rest of the drive.
Gone was Charlie’s amused expression as he used his blinker and veered past a slow eighteen-wheeler. In an instant, he’d turned inward, and I’d had no idea what was going on in his head.
My feelings for Charlie had been growing fast, and knowing an offer for the fellowship was coming had really made me consider our future together.
Though it went against all of my feminist tendencies, Charlie was a factor in my decision.
He’d already told me back in October that he was all in.
At first I’d been taken aback, but over the next weeks, a realization had dawned: I was all in too.
I’d stepped a toe into a couple of relationships in the past, but I’d never given my heart and soul to anyone.
Maybe it was because I’d never seen Aunt DeeDee or my mother in an actual long-term relationship.
Sure, Aunt DeeDee had kept a few men at arm’s length, but Momma had never let a man so much as cross our threshold.
The times she’d gone on a date—which I could count on one hand—she’d either met the guy at a restaurant or made him honk in the driveaway like a teenage boy.
She’d told me once that she never wanted to bother me with a potential new father without a long vetting process first. Apparently, no one had made the cut.
In the car on the way home from the airport, I’d tried to backtrack, even if it was disingenuous, even if I did actually love this man. “I didn’t mean to imply that I…”
“I love you too,” Charlie had said, cutting me off before I could take back my words.
“You can’t love me,” I’d said too quickly, my eyes wide with fear.
Not only would it make my decision about where to live much more complicated, it would also mean that Charlie and I were serious.
“Why not?” Charlie had chuckled. “You love me, so I get to love you back.”
I hadn’t known how to answer that. He was right. I did love him, but I hadn’t meant for him to know that… at least not yet.
“It’s too soon,” I’d protested. “We’ve only been dating for six months.”
“Ah.” Charlie had nodded, keeping his hand steady on the steering wheel. “And what is the appropriate length of time for love to blossom?”
“A year,” I’d suggested. “Maybe two?”
“Two years?” He’d frowned, but there was a playfulness about his lips. “And if I just so happen to find myself head over heels before then, what should I do? Keep my big mouth shut?”
“Preferably,” I’d said, realizing that I’d done just the opposite. I sounded ridiculous. I should have been happy that this sharp, witty, sexy man loved me. He loved me! And I loved him! Why wouldn’t I be happy? Thrilled? Ecstatic? Once again, I was being my own worst enemy.
“I love you, Dakota Green, and if you’d like me to set my calendar to tell you that in another six months, I can pretend you didn’t just let your true feelings slip.
” There was traffic up ahead, so Charlie had slowed to a near stop, allowing him to reach over and wrap his hand around mine.
“But just know: I don’t plan to go anywhere between now and then, so I can wait. ”
Except for the tears I’d shed over Momma’s diagnosis and eventual death, I’d never been a crier.
Like, once every six months, I would have a good seven-minute sob and then carry on, but the gentleness in Charlie’s voice—and the willingness to stick it out with me even if I was too pent up to tell him on purpose that I loved him—had brought tears.
I’d taken my hand from under his and wrapped it around his neck, leaning into his shoulder. I couldn’t make eye contact quite yet, but this time I said it for real. “I love you, Charlie Strong.”
He’d kissed my forehead and smiled so peacefully that, even though we had another sixty miles to Aubergine, I already felt like I was home.
Now in the refurbished Carriage House, Charlie handed me a glass of champagne as if he’d been waiting just for me.
“I’ll need two,” I said, grabbing another from the makeshift bar as I lifted my chin in the direction of Lacy. Savilla had come to her side and was handing her a steaming mug of something. Good. If anyone could be a conversational distraction for Lacy, it was Savilla.
Charlie wrapped a hand around my waist. He wasn’t always one for public displays of affection, but he was off duty this entire weekend—or at least as much as one could be when serving as sheriff for a county comprising three small towns.
I was grateful to feel the solidness of his hand on me.
“You look ravishing, Ms. Green,” he said, as his eyes fixed on mine.
I tilted my head and let my gaze linger on his. “Thanks, Sheriff. I was hoping one man in particular might notice.”
He leaned into my ear and whispered, “That dress seems rather tight though. If you’d like me to help you out of it later, I’m at your service.”
Tingles ran down my neck, and my lower belly pulsed with an anticipation that I could do nothing about for at least the next twenty-four hours. Unless I found a way to slip away after Lacy fell asleep tonight. But no, I couldn’t leave her alone after tonight had gone so awry.
I inhaled deeply and tried to fix my mind on the evening ahead. I was the maid of honor. I had responsibilities, and Lacy came first. I gently nudged Charlie away, lifting my glass and clinking it against his as I said softly, “To a few minutes alone together. Later, much later.”
“To sooner rather than later,” he said, as I reluctantly pulled away from him.
“Are you excited about the wild night ahead?” I teased, knowing that “wild” wasn’t exactly in the sheriff’s vocabulary.
“You know me,” Charlie said easily. “I’ve planned for the jet to get us to Vegas and back in the next twenty-four hours.”
I laughed at the idea of Charlie, Anton, Joe Larson, and Will Hurt living out their own version of The Hangover, much less Charlie stepping foot in Vegas. That city wasn’t made with my man in mind.
Regardless, Charlie and I had both found it strange that Anton had asked him to be the best man, and thus plan the bachelor party.
For whatever reason, Anton hadn’t seemed to want to pull in friends from earlier years, but after that sampling of his Texas hometown, I thought I might now understand why.
“Cigars, brandy, and pool, as we discussed. Oh—and I ended up hiring that professional dealer for a few rounds of poker.”
I feigned shock at the suggestion that Charlie would do anything so scandalous. “Gambling? Isn’t that… illegal?”
“It isn’t illegal to play in a residence as long as that residence isn’t typically used for poker.”
“Did you look that up to double check?”
Charlie raised a glass to me, indicating that I already knew the answer and should celebrate his meticulous planning rather than make fun. “Speaking of which, have you seen the groom?” he asked, looking over my head toward the door.
“A few minutes ago. He was in the garden with his mother, discussing”—I wasn’t sure how to finish the sentence—“discussing the weekend.”
Charlie could tell by my intonation that both the location—outside in the cold darkness—and the “discussion”, had not necessarily been pleasant.
“Well, I’m sure things will figure themselves out, and tonight will be great.” He gave me a lingering kiss on the cheek as he squeezed my waist. Then, he turned to Joe and Will, the other two groomsmen.
“Gentlemen,” he said in a cheerful voice, “looks like we need to go find our groom.”
Will’s face was drawn and stubble dotted his jaw, as if he hadn’t slept in some time, but Joe was freshly shaven and smiling.
Joe put down his champagne glass while Will refilled his to the brim, and then the three of them started toward the door, Charlie giving me one last longing look before he trailed behind them.
With a sigh, I made my way back to Lacy.