Page 38 of More Than Friends

I know I should probably look at my appearance in the mirror before opening my bedroom door and stepping out to the hallway, but I don’t. I miss Ava, and I want to check in on things.I don’t know if I should be nervous or relieved that Charlotte let me sleep that long.

“C’mon, sweet girl,” I hear from what I think is the living room. I haven’t made my way down the hallway yet to find out. “Give me that smile,” Charlotte continues in a high-pitched baby voice that makes me smile before even seeing her.

I stop in the opening of the hallway before leaning a shoulder against the wall. Charlotte hasn’t spotted me yet, and I want it that way. For a moment, I soak in the sight of her with Ava.

She’s moved the coffee table to the side and laid out some sort of play blanket we purchased at the store. She holds a camera up as she continues to talk to Ava in a baby voice.

I fold my arms across my chest and take in the moment.

It feels like someone’s reached inside my chest and squeezed. I can barely breathe because of the intensity of it.

An overwhelming amount of gratitude washes over me that I’m lucky enough to bear witness to this moment.

“Let me see that smile, Ava girl,” she coos, reaching down and tickling Ava’s belly. “So close!” she excitedly mutters to herself. She beams while continuing to hold the camera to her face, and I already know that I wear a matching smile.

If you’d told me a year ago that Charlotte would become one of the most important people in my life, I wouldn’t have believed you. It was about a year ago that I met Charlotte because my best friend, Cal, hired a private chef who happened to be Charlotte’s best friend. He’s now engaged to that chef, Lucy, and the closeness of those two meant Charlotte and I became close as a result.

We developed a fast friendship. My usual charm didn’t have any kind of effect on her. She didn’t fawn over me the way other women did. She told me from the very beginning that nothing would ever happen between us. I wasn’t used to the honesty, and it drew me to her even more. When summer ended last yearand everyone left the Hamptons, I found myself coming back here more and more in the off-season just because Charlotte was here.

I don’t know what it is about her, but I’m drawn to her. I’ve always found myself wanting to spend as much time with her as I can. And now with this new season of my life, I can’t imagine figuring it out with anyone by my side but her. I’m lucky to have her. And walking out this morning to catch this moment between her and Ava is just another reminder of that.

“Oh.” Charlotte lets out a sound of surprise, which pulls me out of my thoughts. I blink and focus on her, finding her staring at me, still wearing a smile. “Good morning.”

I push myself off the wall and head toward her and Ava. “You didn’t have to let me sleep that long.” I give her a smile, hoping it conveys my gratitude.

Charlotte shrugs. “You needed to sleep, and we were having fun. Weren’t we, Ava?” She looks down at Ava and tickles her belly.

Ava excitedly kicks her legs. I think I’m still too far away for Ava to see me, but I’m able to take in the pink outfit Charlotte’s changed her into. It’s one of the ones I picked out at the store, but what really catches my attention is the giant bow on her head.

“Oh my God.” I laugh, closing the distance to my daughter. I bend over and grab her from the blanket and lift her up. “That bow is as big as your head, baby girl.”

Ava gives me the biggest smile, and I swear all the exhaustion leaves my body, and my world makes sense for the first time in I don’t know how long.

“Ah!” Charlotte yells from my side. A clicking noise fills the living room as she must begin to take pictures as I stare at my daughter with a matching grin on my face.

“Did you just smile at me?” I ask, even though she can’t answer me.

It feels like my heart swells in my chest as Ava shows off her deep dimples. She lets out an excited squawking noise as she continues to smile at me, almost as if she’s excited to see me.

“I’ve been trying to get her to smile like that for thirty minutes,” Charlotte says from my side. The camera continues to make clicking noise after clicking noise as she captures another moment where my daughter completely steals my heart.

TWENTY-THREE

CHARLOTTE

It should beillegal to witness Jude with bed head fresh after waking up. His hair sticks up in different directions, and it makes me wonder if it’d look the same if my fingers had been pulling at the longer strands at the top all night.

And the hair isn’t the most illegal thing about him right now.

It’s the damnglassesagain.

The same gray sweatpants.

No shirt.

A raspy morning voice.

All of it combined makes my cheeks heat and my mind go to places it shouldn’t be going.