Page 61 of Live Like There's No Tomorrow
She was quiet for a long moment and he started to worry. Maybe she wasn’t ready. Maybe he wanted too much too soon.
“I do.”
He couldn’t help the smile that broke out on his face. “And while we’re talking about commitments, I have to be honest and say I’m hoping to hear you say those two words someday soon, too.”
He could hear the smile in her voice when she answered. “I’m hoping for that too, Ben. You know it’s still what I want.”
His heart felt like it might explode in his chest. He hadn’t known for sure, all this taking it slowly, all her concerns that perhaps he should get to know Angel better, had had him worried, more worried it seemed, than he’d acknowledged—even to himself, judging by the relief he felt now.
“We’ll get there, Charlie.”
“I believe we will. We were in such a hurry when we were kids. I think that’s why it feels important not to rush in madly now, but I think we’re back on the same track we were on. The track that leads to the life we were supposed to live.”
Ben closed his eyes against the sting of tears, but these were happy tears. The tears he’d feared he would never shed.
Chapter Seventeen
It took a little longer than Charlotte had expected to get over to Four Mile Creek. When she pulled up in the parking lot, she looked around. The place was impressive. She’d seen photos of it online, but they didn’t do justice to the real thing. She didn’t have time to stop and admire it now, though. She’d need to hurry if she was going to be on time for Holly. She just made it. She walked into the store at eleven-thirty on the dot. There were a couple of customers browsing the racks of clothes. Holly looked up from where she was sitting behind the cash register and smiled.
“I’ll be with you in just a few.”
Charlotte nodded, and wandered around. She could see herself coming back here to shop; the lines Holly carried were gorgeous. She took down a cornflower blue dress and held it up against herself.
“That’d really suit you, you know your colors.” Holly was now standing behind her and met her gaze in the mirror.
Charlotte smiled. “I don’t know about that, I know I love this blue.”
“It suits you. But you’re not here to buy clothes, you’re here to help me figure out how to sell more of them. Come on through to the back. I’ve been looking forward to sitting down with you.”
Charlotte followed her through to the office in the back of the store.
“I thought we should spend some time going through the website and talking about how I build an online presence before we go for lunch,” said Holly. “Otherwise I can see us spending all afternoon sitting and talking and not getting any work done at all.”
“That sounds like a good idea to me. It’d be far too easy to just go and have a girly afternoon.”
“I’m hoping we’ll get lots of chances to do that, but I thought we should start out on the right foot. I’ve had people working on the website for months and it’s never gone anywhere. I’m banking on you being the one who makes it all happen.”
“That’s what I do,” said Charlotte with a smile. She pulled up a seat at the computer. “So, let’s see what you’ve got.”
A couple of hours later she sat back and smiled at Holly. “What do you think?”
Holly grinned. “I think it sounds awesome. Tell me what you need and how much it’s going to cost, and I say we get started as soon as possible. I also think you need to talk to Laura, Smoke’s girlfriend; have you met her?”
Charlotte shook her head. “She’s been away, in London I understand, since I arrived.”
“Well, you’ll meet her this weekend at Renée’s party. I knowshe’ll be back for that. She designs jewelry and her store is just a couple of doors down from here. We’ve been moaning to each other for months that we need to figure out the online thing. I know she’ll be as thrilled as I am to get to work with you.”
“Neither of you can be as thrilled as I am. I can’t believe I’m stepping back into life here and getting to help everyone out by doing work I love.”
“It seems to me that it’s a win-win for everyone involved,” said Holly. “And I just love those.” She looked at the clock up on the wall. “Wow! I didn’t realize it was so late. Do you still have time to come for lunch? Or do you need to get over to see Emma?”
“I’d love to have a quick lunch. Emma said she was fine for me to get there anytime this afternoon or tomorrow.”
“In that case, let’s go. I’m starving.” She picked up her purse and led Charlotte out into the street.
When they reached the main square of the Plaza, Charlotte smiled. It was beautiful. “It really does look and feel like a little Mediterranean village.”
Holly laughed. “Be sure to tell Jack that when you see him. He’s the architect and Mediterranean village is exactly what he was aiming for.”
