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Except...she’d never dreamed she could still hurt Charlie.
Lifting the skirt of her dress to capture more of the cool air, she told herself last night was over and there wasn’t anything she could do about it now. The past was the past.
Yet she couldn’t stop dwelling on the ramifications. Charlie had always been close to his mother, and his mother and hers were dear friends. For years they’d served together in various community programs. That was part of the reason her mother had been so mortified when she’d run away instead of taking her wedding vows. Talulah didn’t want Carolyn to know what’d happened with Brant. But she had no doubt Charlie would tell Dinah, who would email if not call her mother.
Here she was in Coyote Canyon, a place she’d sworn she’d never return to, because she was trying to help her family. She’d thought that maybe, finally, she’d get to be the hero for a change.
Instead, she’d embarrassed her parents again—and on almost her very first night. To make everything worse, Charlie would tell his sister, too, and Averil would be glad she’d cut off all contact with Talulah.
“I donotknow what I was thinking,” she mumbled.
Her phone buzzed more loudly than usual because she’d left it on a cardboard box. Paul was calling back. He’d tried three times so far. She had to pick up eventually, and the longer she waited, the odder it would seem that she hadn’t checked in with him.
Drawing a deep breath, she tried to put some energy into her voice as she answered. “Hello?”
“There you are! Where’ve you been? I’ve been trying to reach you.”
“Sorry about that. I don’t always keep my phone with me while I work.”
“No problem. I was just...missing you.”
“I miss you, too,” she said, feeling guiltier than ever. “How’s the diner?”
“Everything’s going great. We were absolutely slammed last night. We should consider opening another location.”
He’d mentioned that before, many times. He could be so insistent. “I’m not ready for that,” she said.
“It won’t be as hard to get up and running as this place was.”
“I think we need to pay off our debts and get in a stronger financial position before we take on more risk.”
“By then we could lose first-mover advantage.”
She couldn’t think about those kinds of business decisions right now. “We can look into it when I’m back, if you want. Provided we find the perfect location, and it’s in a spot we can afford...maybe,” she said, putting him off for the time being just to avoid an argument.
“Okay. At least you’re open to it. Have you run into Charlie yet?”
“Charlie?” she repeated as if she didn’t recognize the name.
“Yeah. The guy you almost married. He’s the reason you didn’t want to go back to Coyote Canyon, isn’t he?”
She’d been completely transparent about her history and her difficulty with commitment, so at least he’d been warned. She’d also rebuffed every advance he’d made—refused to even let him take her out—until the past year. “Oh, yeah. I just...” She squeezed her eyes closed as the memory of Charlie calling her a whore only a few hours ago echoed through her mind. “I don’t think I’ll see him.”
“But it’s such a small town. You said you were almost guaranteed to run into him.”
“I’m hoping that’s not the case.”
“You don’t think he’ll come to the funeral?”
“He was part of my great aunt’s church, so...it’s a possibility. It’ll depend on how well he knew her. A lot of church members will be there.” Including his mother and possibly other members of his large family. Talulah had no doubt of that.
“I wish I could be standing by your side.”
That didn’t ring entirely true. She’d sort of wanted him to come, had mentioned it once or twice, and he’d said it would be better if he stayed to manage the diner. Anyway, if Paul came, he’d probably be theonlyperson by her side, especially now. The fact that Charlie had found Brant at Phoebe’s house—her house at the moment—had pulled the past into the present. “It’s much more important that you look after the diner, like you said before. Thanks for holding up that end of things.”
“Of course. When will the funeral be?”
“Someone from Phoebe’s church is coming over today and we’ll decide.”
