Page 38 of Secret Cinderella
She snorted. “Yeah it is. You’re sweet and kind and for some reason you think you love me.”
Think? He froze and his hair stood on end. “Charlotte, you’re the only girl I’ve ever trusted.”
She sighed and said, “I stopped you from finding love because I was always hanging around.”
How could she believe that? She was the only one that mattered. “I never wanted anyone else.”
Stepping back, she rocked on her heels. “Yes, you did, and you will again.”
If he lost her now, he’d lose his compass in life. “Charlotte, no I won’t. We’re getting married.”
She wiped her eyes. “Just give me a minute to get dressed. We need to talk.”
That didn’t sound good. His stomach was in knots. What would he do if she cancelled their engagement? She was the one truly good thing he wanted in life right now. Charlotte Masters was the one he’d always loved. She had to know that she would break his heart if she left.
Chapter 15
Charlotte went into the bathroom to change. Even the marble tub was out of her price range. She'd borrowed Jack's band shirt from a country festival they’d gone to together, as this was more her style, and a pair of jeans that were way too fancy, but better than the dress she’d worn earlier.
He could keep the rest.
Charlotte left the bathroom, her hand heavy from the gorgeous solitaire band around her finger. If she ever really did get married, she should wear a fake diamond set in silver.
Yes, her father had wanted her to marry and have children and be happy, but she shouldn’t just get to have the wonderful guy…she’d lost everything that had mattered.
Eventually Jack would see that she didn’t fit in his new rich world or life and then he’d hate her for dragging him down. It was impossible for them to live happily ever after. The truth was that dreams die and Jack deserved better.
He was the only good thing in her life…and she'd never be able to twist herself into his glamourous world. She'd destroy him if she stayed.
She grabbed her parents’ picture and shoved it into a complimentary hotel bag for the room as she wouldn’t take anything else. Jack sat quietly on the bed, watching her, and it broke her heart. Charlotte walked over to him and kissed his cheeks. He hugged her waist. “Jack, I love you.”
He glanced up at her and the pain in his blue eyes would haunt her for years. “Good, because I love you.”
If only that was enough. Earlier she’d hoped it would be…now, she wasn't sure. She let him go and patted his back as she sat beside him. “But-”
“Don’t do that, Charlotte.” His leg against hers was familiar. “We can fix whatever the problem is.”
The mess was all hers. It wasn’t his fault. She shook her head. “No, no we can’t. You can’t just buy happiness.”
He massaged her lower back like he always had for years and a tremble raced through her. She sat back to stop him from touching her. “We’re not," he said. "We’re fixing your dad's store.”
Dreams never come true. And believing in happily-ever-after with Jack would be too big of a dose of reality when it burned around her leaving her dead inside. She stood and took the ring off her finger. This was it. She placed the diamond in his hand and closed it. “No. You told me that in order to be happy I should just walk out the door of the store and live my life.”
He jumped up from the edge of the mattress. “I always intended to go with you, even then.”
No—that couldn’t be true. Jack had one year left for college and then he’d have left. That was always his plan, not to run away with her. She stepped back and picked up her small bag. “That’s not true. It couldn’t be. I would have known.”
He ran his hand through his hair like he was frazzled and needed to find his words, like he'd done a few times before. “It is. Look, I worked there, not for the paycheck, but so I could spend time with you.”
Jack was making this very hard. Her body squeezed together like she might shrink into the floor boards. “You needed the money.”
He came closer. She smelled his woodsy cologne mixed with his essence and her toes curled. “It's college. I could have taken a job on campus but I chose to be with you.”
Goosebumps grew on her body. If that was true, maybe she was making another bad choice. Or she wasn’t. She’d save him if she left. He deserved someone capable of love and right now all she saw was how her dreams always died and she’d hurt him if she stayed and let that happen. Or something awful happened like when her mother and father died. Who knew what disaster waited. She couldn’t let that happen to how she felt about Jack too. It was better to just go. She adjusted the bag over her shoulder. “'Cause you could pick up more hours.”
He reached for her shoulders. “Because I wanted to be with you.”
If only that was enough. But if she stayed, and lived in his fairy tale, eventually he'd see the truth about her, and leave her. Once again she'd be alone, like she'd been after her father died.
