The morning light filtered through the curtains of Kate’s guest room long before Audrey’s cries filled the room. Normally, Charlotte would feel nothing short of gleeful at a rare, luxurious morning to sleep in, but not today. Today she longed to be busy, preoccupied with something other than dread and regret.
So much for this being a fresh start and a new and improved, put-together Charlotte. She still hadn’t learned her lesson, no matter how heavy the price.
Her chest felt heavy as she swung her legs over the bed. Kate and Alec were sitting at the kitchen table when she reached the last stair, her hand still lingering on the banister. They were sitting catty-corner, nestled in the bay window that overlooked the backyard, their voices low and hushed. They both looked up when they saw her in the entranceway, plastering almost identical smiles on their faces.
Charlotte pressed her lips together and forced a small smile as she walked to the coffee maker. “Audrey’s still sleeping,” she informed them as she filled her mug. She lifted the lid on the sugar bowl and helped herself to two heaping spoonfuls, knowing that if she kept this up she’d never get back into her prebaby clothes.
“We’re not used to having a baby in the house,” Alec said as Charlotte pulled out a chair at the table and dropped into it. He reached over and grinned at Kate. “Good practice.”
Charlotte frowned at this. She couldn’t help it. Of course Kate would find someone who wanted a family, someone who was committed to her and their future. While Charlotte…Well, she was still paying for her mistakes.
She stopped herself and took a sip of the coffee. It was wrong to be jealous of her sister’s happiness like this. It was this kind of thinking—this need to feel just as important and special—that had led to her sleeping with Jake. And after what Charlotte had done, Kate deserved to be happy. And Charlotte wanted that for her, more than anything.
It was just…She wanted to have that for herself, too.
“I’ll be out of here by January,” she promised, as she had last night. It had been too late when she’d arrived to explain the whole truth. All they knew was that she had to move out of her apartment and would be finding a new one. The pipes, the heat…She couldn’t even remember the excuse she’d given. But there would be no excuse today. Today she was telling Kate the truth.
“Don’t rush on our account,” Kate said. “Besides, Mom and Dad will be back soon and it will be fun to all be under the same roof for Christmas.”
Charlotte was skeptical. “What about the stress of the wedding?”
“When am I not stressed about something?” Kate said with a wink, and Charlotte’s guilt skyrocketed. Her sister was of course stressed about her wedding, and having houseguests was never easy, not when one cried for half the night. Unlike Greg’s, Kate and Alec’s home was of modest size, with three cozy bedrooms and a hallway bathroom.
“I’m here to help,” Charlotte said. She noticed she’d spilled some sugar on the countertop and hastily brushed it into the sink.
“Just focus on the Frost party,” Kate said. “That’s most important right now.”
Charlotte looked down into her mug, feeling the return of that hard knot in her stomach.
She had to face him sooner or later. She’d worked too hard to let another man stand in the way of a better life for her daughter or her relationship with her sister.
Charlotte sighed, not even caring that Alec and Kate were sitting in silence, observing her. All she wanted to do was bolt. From this town, from Kate, from Jake, and now from Greg. But she couldn’t. She owed Kate more than that. And she owed Audrey a stable life.
And until she got the second half of her payment from Greg, there was no chance of either.
“I should probably get to the office,” Alec said, pushing back from the table.
“Tell William I say hello.” Kate smiled and lifted for a kiss.
Charlotte averted her eyes and slid into a chair at the opposite end of the table. She glanced at the clock on the far wall. Audrey would be up any minute, hungry and in need of all sorts of things. When Kate and Alec started a family, they’d be able to share the responsibility. Just once Charlotte thought it might be nice to have someone pat her shoulder and tell her, You sit, I’ll handle this.
Kate waited until Alec had left before sliding into his chair, directly facing Charlotte. “I’m concerned about you.”
Of course. When wasn’t Kate concerned? When would she finally prove to Kate that she was fine, just fine? She didn’t warrant special attention. And she sure as hell didn’t deserve it, either.
“I told you. It’s just the old furnace.”
Kate frowned. “I thought you said the pipes froze.”
Charlotte stiffened. “That too. I’m going to find a better place for a January lease. Too many problems at that place.” Like being evicted. “The holidays are just slowing the work down. But honestly, you were right about that place, Kate. I think I’ll start looking for something better next week.” Her spirits rose a bit at the thought of that building in the center of town she’d been eyeing. If the party went well and Kate decided to give her more clients of her own, she could even stretch a bit, upgrade to a bigger apartment with in-unit laundry or a little balcony where she and Audrey could plant flowers…
Oh, who was she kidding? She could barely take care of herself or her kid. The plant wouldn’t last a week.
“It’s not the living situation I’m concerned about,” Kate said. “You know you and Audrey are welcome here as long as you need to stay.”
Charlotte felt hot tears spring to her eyes at that. She blinked and stared into her mug. “Then what has you so worried?” Unlike her, Kate was no fool. Even if Kate didn’t know how far Charlotte had taken her fake engagement, she could sense something was amiss. No matter how much Charlotte tried to hide her pain.
“I want to know what’s going on with Jake, Charlotte. I know you don’t bring his name up around me, but you don’t have to worry about that. Honestly.”
“What’s there to discuss?” Charlotte asked, feeling tense.
“Well, I personally feel like he should have stepped up last night. His child was living in an apartment with no heat. Why didn’t he help out?”
Charlotte hesitated. It was now or never. And she couldn’t flat-out lie to her sister. Evading the truth had been hard enough.
“Jake has never helped out,” Charlotte said quietly.
Kate frowned. “But…I thought we had that all straightened out. Over the summer, when you moved back. You said you were going to hire an attorney.”
“I said I would. I did say that,” Charlotte said wearily. “But then I started thinking about the things he’d done and the things he’d said. He doesn’t want to be Audrey’s father, Kate. And I don’t want to force him to be. Audrey deserves more than that.”
“But it’s still his child. His responsibility. He owes her something.”
“At what cost?” Charlotte said, shaking her head. She’d already thought this all through, a dozen times over. “So she can know this man and sense how much he doesn’t care about her? I can’t bear it. I can’t bear the thought of my child feeling unloved by her parent.” She drew a breath, energized by that terrible thought. “I won’t do that to her, Kate. Jake doesn’t want to be Audrey’s father. So she has me. I can’t provide everything for her, but…I’m trying.”
Kate reached over the table and gripped Charlotte’s hand. “Oh, Charlotte. I wish you’d told me sooner.”
“I didn’t know how. So much had happened, and…it’s important to me that we get back to the way things used to be.” She hesitated. “There’s something else you should know.”
Kate paused. “Something tells me I am not going to like this.”
Charlotte couldn’t agree more. She pulled her hands into her lap and started at the beginning, the very first time she rang Greg’s doorbell, and finished with last night, wincing.
Silence fell over the room.
Finally, Kate spoke. “Thank you for letting me know. As for the Frost account, I will be taking over.”
“But—”
Kate was already on her feet. She held up a hand. “I thought you and I were in a better place, Charlotte. But now I know I was wrong.”
Charlotte sat in the empty kitchen long after her sister had left the room, staring out onto the snow-covered backyard, listening to Kate’s little dog squeak his toy and scamper across the floorboards. She could have said a hundred things to try to defend her actions, but none of it mattered.
She’d messed up. Again.
* * *
Greg closed the door behind the deliverymen and stared at the boxes at his feet—dinnerware and glasses carefully packaged and sent over ahead of time by the catering company.
Greg wandered through the rooms, noting their transformation. The entranceway was stunning, heavily decorated with garland and lights and wreaths. A second tree had been set up in the arch of the stairs; high tables covered in crimson cloths dotted the space. Half the furniture in the living room had been cleared out, and the largest room in the house now seemed more spacious than ever. A buffet table stretched along the front wall, and the floor was cleared for mingling.
It would be a wonderful party, but did any of that matter without Charlotte here?
He knew he could call Rebecca. Get back together with her, as she so wanted. It would certainly clear up the predicament with his mother’s need for a family image.
He sank down on the sofa facing the tree, remembering the night Charlotte had knocked it down. He smiled; then, feeling inexplicably nostalgic, he let his gaze drop to the albums that were still out on the coffee table. He pulled a different one onto his lap this time and opened it to the first page.
But what he saw wasn’t a photo. It was a card. A Frost card. One he had forgotten about.
He picked it up carefully, turning it over in his hands as the memory came back to him.
He must have been seven, maybe eight years old, and it was the last week of school before summer break. The teacher had them make Father’s Day cards, and when he refused to participate in the project, the teacher sent a letter home. He remembered being scared to hand the letter to his mother, wondering what she would say, refusing to make a card of all things, when he was a Frost! He was a greeting cards heir, as Rita liked to proclaim. Her frown deepened as she read the note and then set it on the counter with a heavy sigh. She didn’t say a word about it, and that night she took him out for pizza and ice cream, and she didn’t even care when he spilled the chocolate sauce down the front of his shirt. The next morning before she left for work, she handed him a five-by-seven envelope, embossed with the Frost logo, and told him to give it to his teacher. “She wants you to make a card?” Rita quipped. “Show her how we Frosts make cards.”
Greg smiled now as he remembered how he felt that day, the confidence he felt handing in the card, among the construction paper junk the other kids had created. He felt like he had an ally. Like he and his mother were in cahoots. A two-person team that didn’t need anyone else. Not even a father. But above all else, he felt loved.
He took the card from the envelope now, surprised at what he saw. It wasn’t a Father’s Day card at all. He’d been too young then to notice that. Maybe too distracted to care.
It was a card without words, but the picture said everything. An old man, his hair graying, his back hunched, and a young boy, looking up at him, holding his hand.
His grandfather.
Right. Greg stared at the card for several more minutes before tucking it back into the envelope and into the album.
He had a matter of days to get the Burke’s proposal tightened up and win that holiday spot. And so help him, he would do it. Not just for himself. But for his mother. And for her father. And for the company they all represented.
* * *
The doorbell rang at three o’clock, when Greg was finishing up some paperwork. He’d decided to work from home that day. It was the best way to avoid distraction. At the office, he’d be called on for last-minute advice or thoughts on a project, but in the comfort of his home office—make that his grandfather’s former home office—he could focus on the holiday party and how he intended to win the Burke account.
He waited for Marlene to answer it, but then a thought occurred to him. Charlotte.
Quickly, he pushed back his chair and hurried into the hall, but the woman Marlene had opened the door to was not Charlotte at all. It was her sister.
“We met at the tree lighting,” he said uneasily.
Her smile was strictly professional as she held out a hand. “Kate Daniels.”
He shook it, all at once wishing it was Charlotte’s instead. Kate’s eyes were blue, not green, and her smile wasn’t quite as mischievous. But there was something about her, something familiar. Something he’d come to know.
“I’m taking over the account,” she explained, before he could ask. She eyed him watchfully. “My sister told me about your arrangement.”
“Did she tell you anything else?” Greg asked, detecting the hope in his tone.
Kate’s expression remained neutral. “My sister made a mistake in agreeing to this…ruse.”
“Don’t blame her,” Greg said. “I suggested it.”
“And she took it to another level,” Kate said, no doubt referring to Charlotte staying with him for the last week and a half. “As I’m sure you can understand, my company is very important to me.”
“I understand that. And so does Charlotte.” Sensing the doubt in her eyes, Greg said, “She did this for you.”
Kate frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“The arrangement…It was my idea and she went along with it. But she didn’t do it for herself. She did it because she wanted my business, and I guess I made it seem like there was no other way. And she wanted to make you proud of her.” He motioned to the living room. “She’s done an amazing job in a very short time.”
“My sister doesn’t always think things through,” Kate replied, shaking her head.
“I’m not sure she made this choice with her head at all,” Greg agreed. He gave her a pointed look. “I think she made it with her heart.”
Kate’s expression softened, and she nodded before turning her attention to the living room. “It really does look beautiful.”
“She’s not coming back, is she?” His stomach knotted every time he thought of the hurt in her eyes. He could have stopped her, could have called out or reached out and grabbed her, tried to explain, but instead, he had just let her go.
“I thought it best that I take over. As for your arrangement—”
“I don’t care about the arrangement anymore,” Greg replied, and Kate’s eyes opened in surprise. “I just want Charlotte to be happy.”
Kate gave a sad smile. “That makes two of us, then.”