But she’dnever, not in all of the times she’d culled and cultivated her jewelry collection, been able to get rid of the beautiful sapphire earrings. They perfectly matched her eyes, just like the necklace now did. She’d never been able to forget the way Charlotte had said those words when she’d given the gift to Sutton or the way she’d felt.
So seen. So appreciated.
She understood whyshehad those earrings.
But what she couldn’t understand was?—
“You kept this? For thirteen years?” She breathed the question out, as the backs of her eyes stung with tears, her throat feeling tight.
Charlotte nodded, rolling her lips, before she said, “It never felt right to get rid of it. They were a set. For you.”
Charlotte had held on to this necklace for over a decade.For Sutton. She’d held on toherfor over a decade, and Sutton closed her eyes so tightly at the thoughts, at the feelings that bubbled up. At the intent, wanting expression on Charlotte’s face, the beautiful sincerity in her luminous eyes.
She closed her eyes, so tightly, against the tears that she didn’t want to leak out.
“Sutton?” Charlotte asked, clearly concerned, as she shifted closer.
But Sutton only shook her head, bringing her hand up over her mouth as the other wrapped around her stomach.
“You make it sohard,” she pushed out, her voice thick, as she blinked open her eyes. “So hard,” she repeated. “You’re so… perfect.”
Charlotte’s tentative smile at her words didn’t reflect at all how Sutton was feeling.
Charlotte was so perfect, she made it far too hard for Sutton to pretend like she had any semblance of control. She made it hard for Sutton to go about their relationship like there was any way of getting out of this unscathed.
She made it so very, very hard for Sutton to not fall in love with her all over again.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Charlotte typically didn’t experiencedéjà vu, but she was living through the most extreme example of it currently as she stared up at the grand Spencer family home on New Year’s Eve.
Back then, she’d been rattled and anxious when approaching Sutton’s childhood home because she’d been reckoning with the depth of her feelings. She was terrified of those feelings, of what they meant, of how undeniable they were, of what they might do to her life or her career.
Right now, over a decade later, she was rattled and anxious for entirely different reasons.
Mostly, they boiled down to the fact that Charlotte wasconfused.
Charlotte never enjoyed being confused—ever—but certainly not in the way she’d been confused in the last week. Since Christmas.
The information Charlotte had right now was this:
She’d spent an incredible Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Sutton. They’d had mind-blowing sex, she’d shared so much of her vulnerable thoughts and feelings about her childhood and her family, and Sutton had given her a gift that had rendered her speechless.
Sutton had cried when receiving Charlotte’s own gift. Real tears, streaming from her beautiful blue eyes.
She’d called Charlotteperfect.
Charlotte hadn’t known just how much it would mean to hear that. Not in any way related to sex, where she’d been praised by Sutton and other women many times. Not in any way related to her work, where she’d been praised by too many to count.
Sutton had called Charlotte perfect because of the romantic gift she’d given her. Because of the vulnerability she’d shared with Sutton when giving her a gift… and Charlottehadfelt vulnerable when she’d given it to Sutton.
She hadn’t realized until the moment she’d handed Sutton the necklaceeverythingit said.
That Charlotte had held on to Sutton for thirteen years. That while Sutton had moved on and found a different life with a different woman—as she deserved to—Charlotte never had. That there was a part of her that, clearly, hoped they would find one another.
Sutton had trusted Charlotte with her manuscript, something so personal and held so close to herself that no one else had ever read it. Not even her mother, not even Regan.
Charlotte felt like they’d amplified their connection that morning. She’d left Sutton’s house that day, heading to New York but feeling closer to Sutton than she ever had before.
