Page 63 of Sweet Surprises

“I’m lonely too,” Olivia said at last, her voice barely a whisper.

Charlotte nodded, wanting to tell the girl that she was also lonely sometimes, that everyone was. But Olivia needed a moment to open up, to look inside herself instead of connecting with Charlotte right now.

“And it makes me so mad that I can barely see straight sometimes,” she went on.

“Do you want to talk to me about it?” Charlotte asked.

“No,” Olivia said.

“Then get up there,” Charlotte told her. “Show me instead.”

The girl was on her feet in no time, pacing again, but this time with purpose.

Charlotte waited for her to begin speaking her lines, but she didn’t, though tension rose off her, tight as a wire.

“Are you angry?” Charlotte asked her.

“Yes,” Olivia yelled back.

“What are you mad about?” Charlotte asked.

“I’m mad at my dad,” Olivia yelled. “I’m mad about being in this play, and most of allI’m mad about my mom.”

The sound of someone sucking in a breath made them both turn to the doors, where Tag’s tall form was silhouetted against the sunset outside.

Instinct had Charlotte up on her feet in an instant, running to him to make sure he knew that this was a breakthrough in an acting exercise, not a judgement on his parenting.

But when she got close enough, she could see his expression wasn’t the open look he’d taken to giving her lately, or his annoyed demeanor from before they became friends. It wasn’t even the white-hot fury she’d seen on his face Saturday.

The blank, expressionless look on his face tonight was worse than any of those.

“Tag, we’re just practicing for the play,” she told him quickly. “We were only trying to?—”

“Dinnertime,” he said coldly, turning on his heel.

“Tag,” Charlotte breathed, her heart breaking for them both.

“I hate you, Dad,” Olivia screamed after him. “You ruin everything. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you…”

But Tag was gone, and Olivia was weeping with helpless anger.

19

CHARLOTTE

Charlotte headed up to her room the next night, after a full day of work that was busy, but never quite busy enough to distract her from the events of the weekend.

She had helped Olivia calm down enough to go eat dinner, but skipped the meal herself. It felt like a better idea to spend the evening in her room instead, trying to read and convince herself to relax.

Earlier, she had talked with Ellis Johnson to see how soon she could move in above the shop again. He’d explained that the apartment was on the middle floor, so he’d had to take up some floorboards as well as putting holes in the walls and ceiling in order to reach the rooms above and below. She was going to have to wait until the whole job was done before he could close it all back up.

I can do that,she told herself.I’m not going to run from my romantic disappointment again.

Not that it was ever all that romantic anyway. It had beenonekiss. And even if that kiss had been life-changing for Charlotte, it was clear that Tag didn’t feel the same.

And other than Tag Lawrence, life here was good. She had actually turned the shop around, at least temporarily. And she was growing to love the town and the people.

She wasn’t going to let one grumpy cowboy run her off.

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