Page 45 of Live Like There's No Tomorrow
“Just a couple of weeks, hopefully.” She turned to smile up at Michael. ‘I’m more than ready for the baby to be here now and, apparently, I’m getting a little crabby.”
Michael laughed. “You, little one? Crabby? Whoever told you that? I’ll get them for you.”
Megan shook her head at him. “Then you’d better beat yourself about the head.”
Michael rolled his eyes. “I think I’ve been doing that for a while now, darl’.”
“Leave her alone,” said Missy. “She’s entitled to be a bit hormonal.”
Megan smiled at her gratefully and Michael waggled his eyebrows. “Maybe it’s just me that’s getting a bit crabby, since I do have to leave her alone.”
Megan blushed and Missy slapped Michael’s arm. “Too much information, Mr. Morgan.”
Michael shrugged and put his arm around Megan’s shoulders.
“How long are you planning to stay, Charlotte?” asked Pete.
Ben groaned inwardly. Why couldn’t Pete just leave the tough questions alone? Tonight was supposed to be fun; it was Charlie’s first chance to catch up with everyone. She didn’t need interrogating about what her plans might be.
To his relief, she turned a big smile on Pete. “This is it. I’m back for good.”
Pete looked surprised at that. “Wow! I didn’t realize. And what are you going to do for work?”
“I’m in the process of figuring that out.”
“That sounds about right. Make it up as you go along, huh?”
Charlotte shook her head. “It’s not as bad as you make it sound, Mr. Planner. I do all kinds of online marketing. I’ll continue to work with some of my clients, they’re dotted around the world anyway. And hopefully I’ll pick up a whole bunch of new ones.” She smiled around at everyone. “So, if any of you need any help in that department, I’ll be happy to help.”
Ben was surprised by the reactions around the table. Lily, Emma, and Holly all started talking at once. They stopped and smiled at each other.
“Sorry, but can I go first?” asked Lily. “I managed to get a website set up for the riding stables, but now I need to get into all the social media and set up a real marketing strategy.” She smiled at Charlotte. “I’ve even set aside a budget for it.”
Charlotte grinned. “Well, in that case, let’s set up a meeting. I was planning to come up to the stables to see you anyway.”
“Give me your number then. I have some free time Monday morning, if that will work for you?”
“That’ll be perfect,” said Charlotte.
“And when you get done with Lily,” said Holly. “Maybe you’d like to come out to the Plaza to see me. I’m in the same situation. I had this web developer build me a beautiful website for the store, but it just sits there in Internet oblivion, since I have no clue how to get any traffic to it.”
“I’d love to. I’ve heard about the Plaza, but I haven’t seen it yet.”
“Great, I’ll be happy to show you around and we can have lunch too, if you have time?”
“I’ll make time,” said Charlotte with a smile.
Ben felt a little uncomfortable. It was crazy, but he was hoping that she wouldn’t run into Angel while she was over at Four Mile.
“And if you still feel like working after your lunch with Holly,” said Emma, you can carry on up to North Cove and come see me. I finished my book, but I’m planning to self-publish it, and apparently, I need to build myself an online brand and audience before I do.”
Ben had to smile at the way Charlotte’s eyes lit up at that news. “Oh, that will be an amazing project, Em. We can have so much fun with that.”
Jack looked a little concerned. “I thought you were going to wait?”
“I just want to get the ball rolling,” said Emma. “It’s not as though I need to do huge amounts of work to get started. But it seems to me that if I want to build a readership, the sooner I get started the better. Isn’t that right, Charlie?”
Charlotte nodded eagerly. “That’s absolutely right, Em.” She turned to smile at Jack. “And don’t worry, she’s right, it really won’t have to take up too much of her time. But if I get an idea of where we want to go before the baby arrives, then I can keep working on that and growing her audience while the two of you are focused on your new arrival.”
