Molly didn’t have that excuse. Although... she might have others.
“Hmmm.” Stretching her back with a faint hiss, Charlotte waited while he helped a partygoer. Once they were alone again, she asked, “Does Molly have any reason to be skittish with men?”
Apparently he and Charlotte were thinking along the same lines.
“Yeah.” Her father’s second life wasn’t his secret to share. Her divorce wasn’t particularly privileged information, though, from what he could tell. “Together with an asshole seventeen fucking years. Marriage ended badly. Got divorced two years ago.”
Charlotte winced. “So she’s understandably wary.”
“Yeah,” he repeated, and braced for the inevitable.
“I...” She spoke cautiously at first, testing out each syllable before she continued. “I know you’re a sensitive soul, Karl, but—”
“Holy fuck, not this shit again.” With a heartfelt groan, he stabbed a finger in her direction. “If you compare me to a chocolate egg, Charlotte, swear to Christ—”
“—maybe you need to be the one who leaps first, even though it’s scary,” she added more hurriedly, ignoring his interruption. “Because you love her, and if you let her leave without telling her, we both know you’ll regret it. Maybe forever.” She laid an encouraging hand on his shoulder. “You still have one more full day together. You’ve got time to gather your words and your courage, then make your declaration.”
Woman wasn’t wrong. Which blew.
“Hmmph.” Tugging irritably at his bow tie, he glowered into the far distance. “I’ll think about it.”
Silence. Lips pursed into a skeptical line, Charlotte raised her brows at him.
“Wasn’t lying. Thinking about it now, actually.” His main conclusion, after a quick glance at his phone display? It was way too late to have such an important conversation tonight. Such a goddamn shame. And now: time for a distraction. “Also thinking I’m pretty sure Johnathan fell asleep on the toilet again.”
That kid could nod off anywhere. A real talent, assuming he didn’t have sleep apnea. Should Karl open a browser window and get more information on that? As opposed to planning a terrifying heart-to-heart with Molly?
“Probably. If he’s not back in five minutes, we’ll check on him.” Charlotte let her hand drop from his shoulder. Didn’t step away, though. “Hey, Karl?”
Midway through a Mayo Clinic rundown of sleep apnea symptoms, he paused. Looked up at Charlotte again. “Yeah?”
“Thank you,” she said softly.
His brows drew together. “For what?”
“You’ve never shared something so personal with me before. I didn’t...” Biting her lip, she took a moment before continuing. “I didn’t realize you trusted me that much. So... thank you for telling me what happened with Molly, and thank you for listening to what I said in response.”
What the hell?
“I’vealwaystrusted you. Just knew you had a full plate for someone so young. Didn’t want to burden you with my shit too.”
She looked shocked. “Really?”
“Yes, really.” He glared at her. “Jesus H. Christ.”
Still wide-eyed with disbelief, she spread her hands helplessly. “I know you care about me and my kids, obviously. But I guess I assumed you thought of me as kind of a dumb kid too. Your personal albatross, until some other workplace took me off your hands.”
Jaw dropped in absolute bewilderment, he couldn’t do anything but gape at her.
Her lips curved into a wry, faintly bitter smile. “I mean, I was a teenage mom two times over. Then I kept quitting a good job to try to work things out with someone who clearly wasn’t ready for a family. I’m not exactly...” She paused for a moment. “How might Athena put it? I’m not exactly anexemplarof great decision-making.”
How could she have possibly believed he felt that way about her?
“Charlotte.” Reaching out, he grabbed her hand. Held tight. “Inever—never—thought that. OfcourseI never thought any of that bullshit.”
“But...” Lines scored her brow. “But isn’t that why you don’t want me to apprentice under you?”
“What?” They hadn’t discussed an apprenticeship. That much, he knew for damn sure. “We didn’t...”
