Page 19 of One More Chance
Logan eased back into the couch. He was right. “Well, no. I just, I should’ve had all the details, that’s all.”
“If it makes you feel any better, she doesn’t know yet.”
That made sense. Billie Jo, or rather, Charlotte seemed genuinely shaken to see him on the chairlift.
“We were going to tell you both before the Stag and Doe, I swear.”
Shit. The Stag and Doe party was only a couple of days away. “Yeah. And see, I told you about it, with two days to spare. Game’s back on.” Freddie pointed to the screen and unmuted the sound.
Logan saw the players skating around the ice, many of them friends of his but his mind wasn’t on the action. It was reeling. The one woman who had meant anything to him, the one that had caused such heartache in his life, had reappeared. And he was going to be walking down the aisle with her.
Chapter 10
CHARLOTTE CHECKED HERwatch which read 11 p.m. She peeked through the glass panel beside the large wooden door and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Megan’s trademark giant pompom hat.
“Meg, is everything okay?” Charlotte said as she opened the door.
“Actually, I came by to ask you the same thing. I kind of dropped a bombshell on you today,” Megan whispered.
“You don’t have to whisper. Lauren and Tabitha sleep like logs. Come in.” Charlotte stepped aside and pulled Megan into the house by her arm.
“Sheesh, how much wine have you had Dracula? Your lips are purple.”
“Lauren and I split a bottle, although she’s a lightweight. I think that I had most of it.” Charlotte had a nice little buzz from the wine. “Want some?” Charlotte held up another bottle.
“No, thanks. I just wanted to apologize for surprising you with that news about Logan.”
Charlotte sighed and sat down on the couch. She patted the cushion beside her, and Megan joined her. Charlotte plucked some dog fur off Megan’s yoga pants.
“It’s a losing battle,” Megan sighed. Megan and Josh had a husky and as much as Megan loved Timber, she was constantly covered in white fur.
Charlotte brushed the fur from her hands. “Meg, this is hard for me. I worked so hard to forget my old life. As a matter of fact, it feels so far gone that I don’t even know that girl anymore. I thought I had moved on until I saw Logan. Seeing him brought back insecurities that I didn’t even know I still had. I must’ve buried them deep.” Charlotte had never vocalized these feelings, and as the words spewed out, she realized that Logan represented the weaker, more vulnerable side of her. A side that she thought she’d bidden farewell to years earlier.
“But you’re not that girl anymore. You’re not Billie Jo. You’re Charlotte now,” Megan smiled warmly.
“I know, I really thought I’d left her in the past. Meg, you saw where I grew up.” Back in the fall, Charlotte had driven Megan past her childhood home. The clapboard house sat on the wrong side of the tracks with a half-collapsed front porch and chain link fence. The neighborhood was now part of Chance Rapids’ seedy underbelly, inhabited by crackheads or meth heads, Charlotte wasn’t sure if she could tell the difference between the two.
