After everything he had seen between the Sheridans and the Montgomerys, all he wanted in the world was a family who loved each other, one that knew how to forgive.
“I’ll get on the first flight tomorrow,” he told her.
“Thank you, Everett. I’ll make another apple pie, just for you.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Charlotte appeared at the Sheridan house that Monday morning with her head full of adrenaline. Somehow, knowing that that message was in her inbox, she had gotten Rachel ready for school. Somehow, she’d managed to shower herself, feed herself a yogurt, and check the news for even more information about the Ursula and Orion wedding.
Somehow she had done all that.
But now, she had to check this message.
She entered through the back door without knocking. It was still pretty early, which meant that Christine was probably over at the bistro, Lola was probably still sleeping, and Susan was probably up at the Sunrise Cove Inn, operating the desk. Charlotte would take whoever was around for moral support.
Message from Everett R.
As if there were any other Everett R’s in the world.
Actually, she told herself that if there was another Everett R, and he was the one to contact her on her website, she would scream into a pillow for a full hour.
To her surprise, Lola, Christine, Audrey, and Susan all sat around the kitchen table, drinking coffee and nibbling on croissants.
“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes!” Lola called.
Charlotte nearly burst into tears but managed to hold it back and laugh instead. Funny how similar those actions were.
“We were just talking about you,” Susan said. She burst to her feet and walked toward the coffee pot, where she poured Charlotte a mug and passed it over the counter. “You look like you got at least a little sleep?”
“I did, yeah. Still exhausted from the weekend,” Charlotte said.
“I don’t think that will go away very quickly,” Christine said with a laugh.
Audrey stood and grabbed another chair for Charlotte, placing it between herself and Lola. “How are you feeling? The entire internet exploded after what happened over the weekend.”
“Yeah. People keep memeing it. Especially that photo of Ursula coming in all drunk and announcing the wedding was off,” Christine said.
“What’s a meme again?” Susan said from the kitchen.
“Don’t worry about it, Aunt Susie. The less you know about the meme world, the better,” Audrey said.
“I guess I’ll ask Amanda, then,” Susan said sarcastically, returning to her seat.
“Anyway. Have you heard from Ursula?” Audrey asked. “She keeps posting videos from her and Orion’s trip to the Bahamas. It’s beautiful.” She turned her phone around to show Ursula and Orion, out on a white strip of sand, drinking fruity drinks. “The woman is a menace, for sure, but she knows how to party. I can appreciate that.”
“Ha. Yes, she wrote to me yesterday,” Charlotte said.
“And?”
“She just thanked me again for everything we did. I don’t know. She seems like a good person. She just lives a very different kind of life than the rest of us,” Charlotte explained.
“That’s true. And the money came through all right?”
Charlotte had, in fact, been paid handsomely. She had never felt more comfortable in her life. She nodded, feeling her cheeks burn.
“Then why do you seem so sad?” Audrey asked.
That moment, another person entered through the back door. They spun around to find Claire, ambling through, a big smile on her face.
“I checked your house and figured you would be here,” Claire said.
Charlotte was so grateful to see her sister. She latched her arms around her and tugged her down.
“We were just asking Aunt Charlotte why she’s sad,” Audrey said, splaying her hand across her pregnant belly.
“You’re sad? Why are you sad?” Claire asked, furrowing her brow. She grabbed a croissant from the table as Susan rose to pour her a cup of coffee.
“I’m not really,” Charlotte said.
“I see it written all over your face,” Audrey said. “You look like my roommate last year when that frat boy broke her heart.”
“I know why. It’s because of Everett,” Lola said.
Charlotte’s nostrils flared.
“That’s it. It’s so obvious now,” Christine said.
“What happened on Saturday?” Claire asked.
“Nothing really,” Charlotte said.
“But you two actually saw the wedding between Orion and Ursula,” Lola said.
“Sure. We did. It was kind of a miracle. We were just out watching the snow.”
“Just out watching the snow,” Susan said, teasing her. “Come on. Something must have happened.”
Charlotte felt just as she had a million years ago when she had first kissed Jason and she’d felt her life change for good.
“I don’t know. We kissed, I guess.”
“You kissed!” Every single woman at the table howled with excitement.
“I don’t know what to say. You kissed Everett, and then you let him just fly out west?” Claire demanded.
“Oh my gosh, Claire. I’m a grown woman. I can kiss people and let it be over,” Charlotte said, giving her sister a nasty glare.
I mean, I wish I was like that.
“The way you looked at him was different,” Claire said. “You looked at him like he meant something to you. I don’t think that comes around every day.”
Charlotte shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, does it? It’s a good story. A great one, even. But he lives on the west coast, and I live here.” She swallowed, anticipating the world collapsing when she said the next bit of information. “The thing is, I think he wrote to me through my website last night. And I’m freaking out.”
Yep. Every single woman at the table burst into yelps and exclamations. It was like sitting at the lunch table in middle school.
“Chill out, you guys!” Charlotte cried out. She was starting to get annoyed with each of them.
“Read the message. Right. Now,” Claire demanded.
“You heard your sister,” Lola said. “I always listen to my sister when she tells me what to do.”
“That’s obviously a lie,” Susan said with a laugh. “But I hope you’ll read it to us, anyway.”
Charlotte did. She read the entire note aloud, and then she read
