12. Chapter 12 #2
“He sent you,” Mayor Chevalier said gallantly. “We can’t but be grateful. You are … American, right?”
Charlie nodded. “From Florida.”
“Florida. Very different from Chamonix, but both beautiful places.”
Charlie was grateful he didn’t ask how she’d ended up in the valley.
“The children are still talking about the visit to meet the PGHM,” Charlie said, and this part required no performance. It was easy to speak the truth. “They benefited tremendously from the visit.”
“Community partnerships are essential. Especially with budget discussions coming up,” the mayor said shrewdly.
Charlie nodded. The conversation went on for a few more minutes, until Beau and the mayor excused themselves, leaving her alone with Lorenz once again.
“Thank you for that,” Lorenz said.
Charlie shrugged. “I only told the truth. It was a genuinely good thing you did for those kids. I know it might seem like nothing to you, but for them, it’s a piece of the real world that they rarely get to see.”
“I didn’t volunteer to be there that day,” he admitted. “But I would have. If I’d known you were going to be there.”
Charlie laughed despite herself. “Okay. That’s honest, at least.”
“I’ll always be honest with you, Charlie.”
She didn’t know what to say to that, so she chose silence. The quiet wasn’t uncomfortable per se, but it opened up more questions than Charlie was happy answering.
Around them, snow had started falling, soft and soundless, settling on the railing in front of her, on the sleeves of his dark suit jacket.
“Let’s go back inside,” Lorenz said. His hand hovered by her back, not quite touching her, but close enough that she could feel its warmth. “You’re shivering.”
She nodded, shivering as she took off his jacket.
“Thanks for this. I need to find my friend Carmen and make sure she’s okay.”
“Of course.”
She stepped back into the warmth and noise of the party, already searching the crowd for Carmen’s dark ponytail.
It didn’t take Charlie long to find Carmen. She found her chatting animatedly with Kat, the red-haired gendarme from Les Bois, and two tall men, one dark-haired, the other blond. The two lawyers she’d left her with were nowhere to be seen.
“Is that your friend?” Lorenz asked.
Charlie nodded.
“It looks like she found my colleagues. Come, I’ll introduce you.”
Charlie hesitated.
“Are you sure?”
The words slipped out before she could stop them.
She didn’t know if it was a good idea to further entangle herself in Lorenz’s life.
She looked at the group—at Kat, with her easy smile, at the dark-haired man leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, and the blond one gesturing at something Carmen had said.
They looked like they were having fun. And she could blow it all up into smoke.
Other than Carmen, these were Lorenz’s people. What would they think when they found out who she was? Would they hate her for it, pull him aside later to ask what she was doing here, warn him to be careful?
The worst part was that she wasn't sure she’d blame them if they did.
She’d been the one to ask for the divorce.
She'd told herself that it was the right thing to do.
The honest thing. At the time, she'd half-hoped he wouldn't accept it so easily, that he would fight for them—but she should have known better.
That wasn't Lorenz's style. He'd never want to get between another person and what they needed, never assume that his need could outweigh theirs.
It was one of the things she'd loved most about him, once. She should have known that before she asked for the divorce. She should have known he’d let her go if she asked.
Lorenz tilted his head slightly, in that way he always did when he was trying to understand something.
“Charlie?”
His question held no judgment. Once again, he wasn’t going to push her.
Charlie forced a smile and drew in a breath.
“I want to meet them,” she finally said.
“Charlie!” Kat said warmly, stepping back to widen the little circle. “Carmen mentioned you were here. How are you enjoying our small gathering?”
Charlie glanced around the crowded room, laughing. “If this is a small gathering, I’d hate to see one of your big parties.”
“Let’s hope nobody gets lost in the mountains tonight,” the blond man said. He stretched out an enormous hand in greeting. “Bastien Marchand. Megève Fire Department.”
He flicked a quick glance at Charlie’s friend, which Carmen returned warmly.
Something there for sure.
“Don’t worry,” Kat said. “Damien, Drake, and Hiro are on duty tonight. If anything happens, we’ll hear about it.”
The dark-haired man straightened and offered his hand. “Hugo.”
“Are you also a firefighter, Hugo?” Charlie asked.
Hugo looked faintly offended. “Me? A firefighter?”
Bastien grinned. “Careful now, my friend.”
“PGHM, through and through. I wouldn’t waste my time down in Megève.”
“Waste your time?” Bastien said. “I’ll be sure to tell my captain you said that … next time you get stuck on a ski lift and need help getting down.”
“That only happened once,” Hugo said, laughing.
“Twice,” Kat corrected.
Bastien sighed. “You see what I deal with?”
Carmen leaned toward Charlie and quickly whispered in her ear. “I like them.”
The whole time, it didn’t escape Charlie’s notice how close Lorenz was standing to her. Close enough that, if she shifted her weight even slightly, their shoulders would brush.
And he still hadn’t explained who she was.
She had to get over herself. Maybe he wasn’t looking for anything serious, so there was no need to explain.
“Where’s your wife?” Kat asked Hugo. “I wanted to say hello.”
“Jo couldn’t make it tonight,” Hugo said. “Rébé has a cold, so she stayed home.”
“Luc’s at home as well,” Kat said. “Knowing him, they’ve probably already turned the living room into a fort.”
“I don’t know how you guys do it, that whole kids thing,” Bastien said, with the look of someone who had zero interest in knowing.
Kat and Hugo chuckled, as if sharing a private joke.