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Fancy shook her head at Charlotte. “You don’t need to bash Marc on my account. Or Case’s. I’ll say it again in case you didn’t hear me before. He’s not the bad guy. We’ve moved on. And part of moving on is letting go of grudges.”
“And he was going to help us with this mess,” Morgan said. “Now what are we going to do? We’re going to have to start back at square one and find somebody else to help us.”
“I’m sorry,” Charlotte spit out, feeling the heat of five pairs of eyes focused on her like laser beams. “I don’t like the guy. And I know you say things are over and done with, Fancy, but he caused a lot of pain and heartache.”
“So did I,” Fancy sa
id in a soft voice. “I thought we’d moved past this. It just feels like you’re holding on to it.”
Charlotte immediately regretted causing Fancy any upset. She could tell by the crushed expression etched on her face and the shaky tone of her voice that she was distraught.
Charlotte got up from her seat and rushed to Fancy’s side. She threw her arms around Fancy and whispered, “I’m sorry for dredging things up, Fancy. When someone hurts my brother I just get so twisted up inside about it.”
Fancy addressed Charlotte. “I know how much you love Case, but honestly, Marc shouldn’t be the scapegoat for this. He really has gone through an awful lot.”
“I apologize for ruining things,” Charlotte said in a small voice. “I shouldn’t have baited Marc. It was childish.”
“We can all agree on that one,” Hope quipped.
“I have a way you can make things right,” Olivia said, her face twisted with irritation.
“Uh oh. Something tells me I’m not going to like this very much,” Charlotte said, nibbling at the end of her nail. It was a bad habit of hers whenever she got nervous.
“You can hunt Marc down and apologize. And get him to agree to work for us in this investigation of Grayson Holloway,” Olivia said in a no-nonsense voice.
“W-what?” Charlotte sputtered. “Apologize? I didn’t really say anything that bad. Not really.”
“It was fairly aggressive,” Morgan said, shooting Charlotte an incredulous look. “And evidently he didn’t take too kindly to it, since he up and left.”
“Come on, Char,” Callie said to her cousin in a coaxing voice. “Put your big girl panties on and deal with this head-on.”
Five pairs of eyes gazed at her. Not a single one of her friends seemed inclined to let her off the hook. Charlotte let out a loud groan. “Are you saying I have to track him down now?”
Charlotte watched as Callie wrote something down on a piece of paper, then thrust it at her. “This is the address for Marc’s office in downtown Savannah. It’s a small space off Bull Street.” As soon as she heard the street, Charlotte shuddered.
“If you hurry you can probably beat the lunch traffic,” Morgan suggested.
“Just great,” Charlotte mumbled as she took the piece of paper from Callie. She looked around at the women. “Anyone want to come with me? We can have lunch on River Street. My treat.” She really didn’t want to go to that area alone. It would bring up way too many bad memories.
“I really have to get back to work,” Fancy said. “I need to get on a conference call with the furniture store in Raleigh. They may be able to track down a few of the pieces I’ve been searching for.”
Olivia chimed in. “Mary is at the front desk but she might be overwhelmed since she’s a new employee.”
Since Savannah House was doing so well they’d hired a few part-time employees to help out with the inn. Most of them were college students looking for an opportunity to make some income. It was the perfect win-win situation for all involved.
Morgan looked at her watch. “I really need to get back in the kitchen. Before I know it the guests will be gathering for lunch.”
As the women scattered from the parlor, Charlotte let out a tremendous sigh. “Me and my big mouth,” she muttered. “Why couldn’t I just let sleeping dogs lie?”
Charlotte grabbed her purse and made her way to the front door of Savannah House. Whether she liked it or not, she was going to have to track down Marc Cabron at his place of business. The very thought of seeing his smug face set her teeth on edge. But, like Callie had told her, she needed to put her big girl panties on and act like a mature woman.
“Easier said than done,” she reminded herself as left Savannah House in order to head to downtown Savannah.
* * *
Marc drove back to Savannah in a foul mood. He wasn’t really the type of man who allowed his emotions to rule his head. He considered himself the calm, cool and collected type. He let out a laugh. Although he wasn’t prone to fits of anger, he did become emotional where love was concerned. He’d done it on a few occasions, most recently with Fancy.
And from the moment he’d met his fiancé, Gretchen, his heart had been wrapped up in her. He felt a tight sensation spread across his chest. His heart still ached for the loss of the woman he had loved. The woman he had wanted to marry. Happily ever after hadn’t been their destiny. He missed her friendship and loyalty each and every day.
