Page 63 of One More Chance
Chapter 25
CHARLOTTE LOVED THEquiet of the early Sunday morning city streets. While everyone was still in bed recovering from their Saturday night, she was up at the crack of dawn. She still had the glow in her cheeks from her hot yoga class when she reached her office at seven. She was back in workaholic mode. The first thing on her to-do list: arrange the photography for her Sugar Peaks home. She scrolled through her phone but couldn’t find the photographer’s contact info. She texted Kate and impatiently tapped her nails on her desk, waiting for a response. After one full minute of waiting, Charlotte marched into her assistant’s office, sat down at her desk and clicked on her computer. Kate was impeccably organized, and it only took Charlotte a couple of minutes to find the number she was looking for. She scribbled it on a piece of paper and as she pushed the chair back, something glittery in Kate’s wastebasket caught her eye. She plucked out a piece of heavy pink cardstock with embossed gold writing; a baby shower invitation. Charlotte shrugged, but just as she was about to flick the invite back into the bin, she noticed the date: today. Charlotte sank back in the chair and felt guilt wash over her. Kate’s sister’s baby shower was tonight, but she was going to a hockey game with her boss.
She tapped the invitation on the desk, torn. One of Charlotte’s biggest regrets was not spending more time with her family. Here she was making Kate miss her sister’s baby shower, all because she was being a coward. Instead of tossing away the invite, she leaned forward and pinned it to Kate’s bulletin board.
She grabbed the sticky note and headed into her own office. She kicked off her shoes and pulled her feet onto her chair underneath her. She texted Kate to tell her to take the night off, then she composed a quick email to the photographer.
Her office usually provided her with a sense of comfort, but today it felt cold. She wondered what book Tabitha was reading and whether she had gathered up the courage to get on the ski resort’s rooster chair. Was Lauren making headway against the resort expansion? She picked up the photo of her, Lauren, and their mom and realized that she had always chosen work over them now and here she was hiding in her office, letting a man scare her away from what really mattered. Family. Her sister and niece were sitting in Chance Rapids and for the first time in years, Charlotte wanted to be with them, more than she wanted to be working.
She picked up the phone and called Lauren. If she couldn’t be with them, she was going to bring them to her.
***
CHARLOTTE’S MAIN HOMEcouldn’t be more different than her Chance Rapids cabin. The city home was a heritage Victorian, complete with leaded glass windows and parlor. The interior had been renovated, but she had instructed her designer to keep the character details of the home, like the thick crown molding and tin ceilings.
Her city housekeeper, Suzanna, had the day off, so Charlotte set to work getting the spare rooms ready for Tabitha and Lauren. She walked down to the kitchen, held open the fridge door and stared into the well-stocked refrigerator. She sighed and closed the door, turning to the takeout menu drawer instead. A strong independent woman she was. One that knew how to cook, she was not.
***
LAUREN AND TABITHAarrived at the same time as the pizza delivery.
“Perfect timing,” Lauren said, eyeing up the pizza box.
Charlotte paid the delivery man and all three of them sat down in her kitchen. Charlotte handed out plates and they dug into the warm thin crust pizza. Lauren moaned, “Now this is something you can’t get in Chance Rapids.”
“Thanks for coming down here you two. You drive me nuts, but I really missed you.”
“Feeling’s mutual,” Lauren replied. “What do you want to do tonight?”
“I have something planned, but I’ll fill you in later,” Charlotte said. She knew that attending the Chance Rapids’ away game would open a floodgate of questions from her sister that she wasn’t ready to answer.
“Oooh. Intriguing.” Lauren replied.
Charlotte and Lauren’s phones both chimed at the same time. Charlotte tilted her phone to see who was texting them both. “It’s Melissa,” she said.
“What could she want?” Lauren asked.
Charlotte brushed off her hands and clicked on the message. “It’s a link to something. She’s sent it to both of us, and Megan.”
“What is it?” Lauren asked, picking up a second piece of pizza from the box.
Charlotte clicked on the link and gasped when it took her to Serena Cruise’s social media account. “It’s Serena Cruise’s account,” she whispered. “Ugh, I don’t know if I want to see this.” She held her finger over Serena’s latest post. Could this be the moment the world finds out she’s the unidentified lunatic?
“If you don’t know what it is, you won’t be able to mitigate it properly,” Lauren replied. Always the lawyer, Charlotte thought to herself. So pragmatic.
Charlotte turned up the sound on her phone, tapped the video, and all three of them leaned in to watch as Serena’s face came into focus. “Hi, guys.” Her valley girl voice rang out through the phone’s tiny speaker. Charlotte looked at Lauren and they both rolled their eyes. She continued, “Just wanted to let you know, ‘cuz I know that y’all were worried about me, that some of my friends got together and decided to punk me. Can you believe it?” Charlotte raised her eyebrows and kept watching. “So, like that incident, the other day was all planned, and that was like an actor. Wasn’t she great?” Fake giggle. “I’m fine. There’s no crazy woman like trying to like get me.” She continued rambling about some new dress, blah, blah, blah Dolce & Gabbana, but Charlotte wasn’t listening. She clicked off the video. “What the fuck?” she whispered. “Shit, I mean. What the frick?”
Tabitha giggled.
“She needs earmuffs around you.” Lauren pulled Tabitha in close to her and kissed her on her head. “But she knows that those are bad words.” Over the top of Tabitha’s head, Lauren mouthed, “What the fuck?”
“An actor? Why is she letting me off the hook?”
“Who knows? There has to be a reason though,” Lauren replied. Charlotte knew that she was right. What had happened?
The three of them finished off every slice of pizza and flopped onto Charlotte’s expensive down filled sofa.
“I hope you have a movie night planned because I think I’m going to have to undo my top button,” Lauren groaned and rubbed her stomach.
