Chapter 29 Charlotte
Charlotte
For Charlotte, life had suddenly become easier.
Grandma’s passing had left a massive void in her life, not to mention setting her back at work, leaving her with a mountain of sorting out to do, and a dog to find a friend for.
All of a sudden, everything seemed to be neatly slotting back into place.
She had managed to catch up at school, she had found Clive to help with Harry, a couple of Grandma’s friends had come over on Sunday afternoon to help her sort out some of Grandma’s things, and there was Jacob.
Jacob, Jacob, Jacob.
She had told Kelly on the phone that Jacob had stayed the night, and Kelly, being Kelly, had taken some convincing before she would believe that absolutely nothing had happened, that the only person Jacob had even kissed had been Harry, and that had been by no intention on his part.
Charlotte wasn’t jealous at all. Well, maybe just a little bit.
When he had got up to leave, everything had felt natural.
He hadn’t wanted to overstay his welcome; she didn’t want to appear needy or clingy.
He had hugged her, and she had waited, but the kiss had never come.
At first, she had felt disappointed, but in retrospect, she was happy about it.
It made the anticipation all the greater.
Kelly—who had a lot more experience—always claimed the first kiss was the best, that you should wait as long as possible.
Charlotte was in no hurry, and there was enough chemistry between them that it was only a matter of time.
Alone, though, she had started to let the doubts creep in. What if he cooled on her? What if he had seen something he didn’t like, like how many shoes she had, the way she dressed, how tidy she kept the house?
And of course, there was the secret. Kelly told her it was stupid, that no one would care, but it had derailed every one of her previous relationships, mostly because they had begun at some other point of the year, and she had waited until Christmas came around before letting it slip.
Jacob seemed nice now, but how would he feel when she told him what she really believed about Christmas? Would he drop her?
No one got it. No one understood.
The next time she was expecting to see Jacob was at the children’s home on Wednesday. On Tuesday night, Kelly stopped over for coffee after work.
‘Come on, Charlotte, he’s completely besotted with you. You could tell him you’ve got a unicorn in your closet that you ride across the moors at midnight and he’d probably say something like, “Oh, how cute. Can I come next time?’’’
‘You think so?’
‘Just tell him, get it over with. He probably won’t break up with you. Like me, he’ll probably just accept your delusion for what it is.’
‘It’s not a delusion. It’s real.’
Kelly gave her that condescending smile that she always did when the subject came up. ‘You don’t always have to have the same beliefs,’ she said. ‘I mean, it’s a personal thing, isn’t it? Although, of course, some are more realistic than others.’
‘Don’t make fun of me.’
Kelly sighed. ‘I’m not, Charlotte. I love you exactly the way you are, and it doesn’t matter to me what you do or what you believe, as long as you don’t become a serial killer or start dressing as a frog and hopping everywhere when we go out.
I’m pretty loose on my boundaries, but there are a couple out there. ’
‘How about on Halloween?’
‘The frog suit would be totally acceptable then.’
‘Great.’
‘Talking about Halloween … have you heard anything from you know who?’
Charlotte sighed. ‘He sent me a couple of messages. I don’t know what to do. He said he’s looking forward to seeing me again.’
‘And what did you say?’
‘I didn’t say anything.’
‘Oh, Charlotte. You must be careful not to lead him on. He knows where you live, doesn’t he?’
‘Yes.’
‘That wasn’t clever.’
‘I know; it was just easier.’
‘I stalked him online a couple of days ago. According to his website, he’s got a European tour starting in January, lasting right until the spring. If you can just keep your head down until after Christmas, he’ll be out of here.’
‘That’s a little underhand, isn’t it?’
‘A natural tactic, one that a guy like him probably deserves. Alternatively, you could just tell him that you’re no longer interested.’
‘You mean, like dump him?’
‘You had two dates. Sure, they involved Paris, a helicopter, a Rolls Royce, and a sleigh, pretty much an entire relationship’s worth of special treatment, but that’s beside the point. You were hardly an item. Just cut him off. Ideally before he sees you with Jacob.’
‘You think that would be a problem?’
Kelly sighed. ‘Oh, Charlotte. If you were putting problems into categories, with the explosion of the sun as a Category A, letting James find out you’re dating the stepbrother he thinks tried to ruin his career would probably be up there in a B or C.’
‘Nearly as bad as the sun exploding?’
‘Just about. An A minus if you’re really being pedantic about it. You need to deal with it, Charlotte.’
Despite Kelly’s warnings, it wasn’t easy to just deal with the problem of James. She finally plucked up the courage to reply to one of his messages, giving what she hoped was an understandable excuse.
I’m so sorry. Work has been really busy. I have to prepare my class for the Christmas festival, and we only have two weeks left.
His reply was curt. Oh, the festival. I really can’t wait.
He added a laughing emoji at the end. Charlotte, who had never really got into the whole messaging world like a lot of people her age had, wasn’t sure how to read it.
It almost came across as sinister. She wanted to show it to Jacob on Wednesday night, but she was afraid at how he might react to knowing she still had contact with his stepbrother.
Instead, she decided to just forget about it.
On Wednesday, she met Jacob at the children’s home, where they spent the evening helping the children make costumes to wear to the Christmas festival.
She took Harry along, much to the children’s delight.
There had been a couple of days of clear skies during which a lot of the snow had melted, but there was still enough for them to go outside and help the children make a snowman, Harry running in circles around it, chasing every flurry of snow.
They went home before the children sat down for dinner, and Jacob suggested they go over to his aunt’s tearoom.
It was closed for the evening, of course, but Jacob had a key, and his aunt had set out several new dishes she had asked him to test. There were pies, salads, sweet potato chips and a lemon cream meringue topped with cinnamon.
Jacob produced a small bottle of wine from a fridge. ‘This isn’t on the menu,’ he said with a smile, but since we’re closed….’
He turned on one light, then lit a candle and put it in the middle of the table closest to the window.
The flickering light, and the single ceiling light, not to mention the snowy street outside and the Christmas lights …
it was so romantic Charlotte could have screamed.
Jacob put on some light piano jazz music, then produced some dog food for Harry, and put it in a bowl beside the table.
Then they sat down to eat. The food, prepared by Jacob’s aunt and reheated in a combination oven, was unlike anything Charlotte had ever tasted.
Grandma had been a good cook, but her food had been hearty and traditional, lots of potatoes, carrots, stewing beef and pastry, her seasonings rarely straying far from salt, pepper, butter and occasionally a little ale.
Aunt Marjorie’s cuisine had the taste of a trained chef, all subtle flavours and contrasts of textures.
At times as she ate, it seemed both of them forgot to talk, focused solely on the food.
Harry, desperate for a piece of the action, waited patiently at Jacob’s feet, his own bowl licked clean.
I’m not sure how I’m going to get through the front door,’ Charlotte said, as she finished off the dessert. ‘It’s a good job it’s a long walk home.’
Jacob looked up at her. His brow had beaded with sweat, and while the most likely culprit was eating too much, he had a look in his eyes that suggested he wanted to ask her something important.
‘Do you want … do you … want … to dance?’
Charlotte almost imploded. She closed her eyes, waiting for a moment until she could say something smooth and casual without sounding either too keen or like a moron.
‘Sure,’ she said, even then standing up a little too quickly. She could imagine what Kelly would say were her friend a fly on the wall.
For goodness’s sake stop acting so keen. At least make him try a little harder.
Jacob held out a hand. His fingers were trembling.
She took his hand, letting him lead her into the middle of the room.
She didn’t know the song, only that it was light and breezy, piano jazz, a little saxophone in the background.
He held her hands, gently twisting her around.
It was clear he had no idea what he was doing from the way his feet kept shuffling, but that was okay; neither did she.
They made a gradual circle around the centre of the room, more than once bumping against the other tables.
‘Charlotte….’
He lowered his hands gently to her waist. Hers pressed against the back of his neck. She stared into his eyes—
The sudden roar of a car engine broke the spell. She glanced towards the window. Outside, a big Mercedes had pulled up, the engine revving. Jacob’s hands held her tighter, protectively, but she felt him tense as he followed her gaze.
The car sat there for a few seconds, the engine revving as though it were about to begin a race, loud enough to block out the music.
Neither of them needed to say it because they knew who owned the car, but when it suddenly lurched off with a roar of acceleration, the same word tumbled from both of their open mouths: ‘James.’