Anyway. Maybe Autumn and Maya are going to end up having the soft zing. You never know
Charlotte—10:25 a.m.
Autumn just informed Maya that she can’t have a sip out of her water bottle even though we’re stuck in traffic with no end in sight for at least an hour and gave Maya a look as if she’d asked to cut her arm off. I think their soft feelings are safe
Charlotte hadn’t expectedthe commentary she received from Caleb, though she should have.Thatwas on her.
“Who are you texting?” Caleb asked as she answered Sutton’s latest message before setting her phone face down on her lap. Her brother’s tone implied he already knew damn well who she was texting.
Charlotte ate another bite of her pasta rather than dignify him with an answer.
“Work,” Dean surmised easily, shooting Caleb a look like he was crazy. “If it’s an ongoing back-and-forth, it’s always work.”
Caleb rested his hand on his husband’s, tapping his finger against the back of Dean’s hand as he stared at Charlotte with unconcealed glee. “No. It’sSutton.”
Even as her phone vibrated with what was sure to be Sutton’s response to her last message, Charlotte resisted the need to check it, even though it went against everything she’d felt in the last couple of weeks.
Charlotte had never been much of an ongoing texter. Who would she do that with? There was no one outside of work that she found it imperative to talk to every day, let alone multiple times a day.
But, god, if she said she didn’t eat up every word Sutton said, that her heart didn’t flutter with excitement every time she got a message signaling that Sutton wanted to talk to her, she would be quite the liar.
Still, if something hadn’t changed in…ever, it was that she didn’t want to deal with Caleb’s needling.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “And what makes you so sure?”
“Every time we’ve seen you, you’re texting,” Caleb pointed out. “And not for work. Notserious-faceCharlotte. It’s more like smitten-kitten Charlotte.”
The look she gave him for referring to her as a smitten kitten was absolutely murderous.
Dean nodded slowly. “Huh. He’s right. I hadn’t even realized, but you are always looking a little flushed. Happier, maybe?” He tilted his head at her from across the table.
She definitely flushed under his gaze at that comment.
“Sutton and I,” she spoke slowly, enunciating every syllable as she pointed her fork at both of the men in her life, “are friends.”
“Right, just like you two were friends the last time this happened,” Caleb nodded sagely—not to mention annoyingly.
Her phone buzzed again, and she set her jaw in determination not to follow her twitching fingers’ lead and check it.
She’d been telling herself that they werefriendsfor the last two weeks. She had to think about it in those terms: Sutton wanted a friendship with her, and that was it.
Still, with the looks of both Dean and Caleb digging into her, she snapped. “What is it you want me to say? Do you want me to say that it’s Sutton for me, it’s only everbeenSutton, and I can’t imagine how it ever won’t be? Do you want me to say that I’ve spent the last thirteen years with thiswantinginside, with this wondering what could have been if only I’d made a different decision? That every time we text, I feel both elated and insane, becausehowhave those feelings not gone away? Fine, there, I said it.”
She settled roughly back in her chair, crossing her arms over her stomach as both her brother and friend stared at her in shock. She felt both immensely pleased at causing the shock and frustrated with herself for voicing the thoughts she was still working through.
Caleb’s mouth opened, then closed, before he cleared his throat. “I mean… yeah. I guess I wanted you to say that?” He slid his gaze toward Dean, whose eyebrows were near his hairline.
“I never thought we would actually hear it,” Dean finished for them both.
Charlotte took in a deep breath before slowly blowing it out and sitting upright, straightening her shoulders. “Well. Now, you have.”
“Charlotte, if that’s how you feel, then…” Caleb gave her a softly encouraging look.
“Then what?” she challenged, arching an eyebrow at him. “Tell her? When she’s made it clear that she isn’t ready for more?”
It was something she was struggling with, being incredibly thrilled that she was getting this chance to become closer to Sutton while also knowing full well that she was only going to be falling for Sutton even harder.
Clearly, Sutton was attracted to her—the knowledge gave Charlotte a visceral satisfaction that throbbed through her whole body—but emotionally, Sutton didn’t seem to want her. It was an irony Charlotte was becoming very familiar with: Back when Sutton had wanted Charlotte in every way, Charlotte wasn’t emotionally equipped to manage it, and now that she was—or at least, shethoughtshe was—Sutton didn’t want it with her.
