by K. C. Crowne
But I’d have to handle it all on my own.
I’d figure it out.
I did have to wonder though, “How is Mom responding to it? Have you heard from her?”
Before I took off, I’d sent my mom and a dad a message saying that the wedding was off and that I was leaving town for a bit. I knew if I had called, my mom would have tried to talk me out of it. They both had tried to call me since, but I’d ignored their messages, merely sending them texts saying that I was okay and just needed time to think.
I didn’t need their guilt trips weighing on me too. I was a grown woman; I didn’t need their permission or approval to leave an abusive relationship.
Alexis sighed, but she seemed to be calmer now. “Mom doesn’t really talk to me much, you know that. But she did call the day after you left and asked if I had any hand in this.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her I supported you, 100% and that Peter was an asshole.”
I chuckled, knowing full well that Alexis likely used that exact language when describing Peter too. She was always rather colorful in how she spoke, even as our parents tried to tell her how uncouth it was.
“Her response?” I asked.
“She didn’t say anything. Which really surprised me.”
“Huh.” That surprised me too. Any time I had gone to my mother with concerns about my relationship, her message had been the same - I was expected to stand by my man. Of course, she didn’t know he would eventually punch me, she was responding to what likely felt like small complaints to her. After all, she hadn’t married my father for love, but because he could give her the kind of life she had always envisioned for herself. If his eyes wandered, or he got caught with his pants down with yet another nanny, she looked the other way. It worked for her; she was happy. But that kind of life wasn’t for me.
My mom didn’t understand how anyone could turn up their nose at the chance at being a kept woman.
“I need to go. I’m sorry, Charlotte,” she said. “Luna and I are heading to an art gallery opening in Buckhead.”
“Oh, you’re back in Atlanta already?”
“Figured we might as well head home. No reason to stay in that crappy town if you’re not there.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be. This gallery opening is better than watching you get married to that prick, trust me. It’s an adorable indie place, and I’m hoping they will take on some of my prints in the future--” there was a muffling on the other line as she spoke to Luna in the background. When she came back on, she said, “Sorry, we’re running late. But I love you, sis. I hope things are going well with you and Eli in Utah.”
There was a hint of teasing in her tone, and I knew she meant well, but it still stung.
I ignored that part and just said, “Love you too, sis. Have fun and we’ll talk soon.”
I hung up the phone but kept it in my hand. I stared into the distance - past the fountain and to the mountains in the distance. There was still snow on some of the peaks. The fresh air held a bit of chill, causing me to wrap my arms around myself.
How on earth was that woman, the one talking to Eli earlier, wearing a damned sundress?
My phone buzzed in my hand, nearly scaring me because I wasn’t expecting it. I checked the number, half expecting it to be my persistent ex, but it was a number out of Nashville. A number I thought I recognized.
“Hello, Charlotte Grey speaking,” I answered.
“Charlotte? This is Anita Behr with the city of Nashville. How are you doing?” Her voice sounded strained.
“I’m doing well. How are you?” The entire time, my heart was racing. Anita and I had worked together on a number of projects in the past - smaller parks around the city, mostly. And I had submitted a proposal to work on a community garden for the city - a place where city-dwellers could grow their own little garden, with plants also being there to provide food for those who were food insecure. It was a passion project of mine, a dream. The fact that she was calling was hopefully a good sign.
Except, something in her voice made me think otherwise.
“Well, I can’t complain,” she said, sighing deeply before continuing. “I did want to talk to you about something I’ve heard. They’re just rumors, but I have to ask if they’re true.”
“Rumors?” I stammered. Red River and Nashville were a few hours apart. I couldn’t imagine a city that size would care about the gossip mill of a little town in the middle of nowhere. “Could you elaborate, please?”
“I guess you haven’t been online today?” Anita asked.
“I haven’t. I’ve been busy,” I said.
“Well, you might want to take a look. There’s some very concerning allegations out there, a lesser-known landscape architect is claiming that you stole her work and submitted it to jobs as your own.”
“What? No, that’s ridiculous. You have to believe that I wouldn’t do something like that.” Anita and I had worked together for years. She was practically a friend of mine by now.
Anita’s voice sounded heavy. “You know, I want to believe that Charlotte. I really do. I know you’re very skilled, but the allegations -- well, take a look at them, because they’re not only concerning, but it seems she has proof. We were ready to hire you for the community garden job, your proposal was the best, but with everything going on, my bosses have told me we can’t take the risk that the designs and plans aren’t stolen. There’s just too much liability at stake here, and until your name is cleared, we will have to look at other proposals.”
My heart literally dropped into my stomach. I opened my mouth to speak but no sound came out.
“I have never stolen any design, ever. I can prove it, Anita.”
“There’s just too much negative press surrounding your name at the moment, Charlotte. My hands are tied in this matter.”
I was shaking. Not from fear, but from a burning rage moving throughout my body. It felt like lava was running through my veins.
I knew who had to be behind this.
“I understand, Anita. I promise, I will get this cleared up.”
“And I hope you do. I always enjoy working with you, which is why I wanted to personally call you and tell you why we had to reject your bid. I do hope we can work together again in the future, Charlotte.”
“Thank you, Anita. I hope so too.”
We hung up, and I realized that if this was hurting my ties with a city that I had built up a good relationship with - what about the others?
I envisioned a string of rejections in my future. Maybe I was getting ahead of myself, but in that moment, I feared that my entire career could be over.
I wasn’t thinking as clearly as I should have been. I didn’t even bother to Google and see what I could find, I couldn’t take it. I was already on the verge of throwing up and feared reading the news would just make me violently ill and cause me to break down in tears right there in the park.
No, what I did instead was dial the number that had been messaging me for days.
Peter answered on the first ring, unsurprisingly.
“Charlotte--” I could hear the sneer in the voice.
“Peter, what have you done?”
He cackled on the other end, and it only made the rage inside me grow.
“I did what I had to do to protect my reputation, darling. If you come back to me and marry me as planned, we can write all of this off as a mental break and repair your reputation. Otherwise, I’m just getting started.”
He hung up the phone, and even though my hands were shaking, I decided to do some research. I typed my name into Google and found the Twitter account of the person accusing me.
Jennifer Hancock. Her name was familiar to me.
Jenny-- Really? After all that I’ve done for you?
Chapter 8
Eli
“Hey, have you seen Charlotte?” I asked Penny and Sam. Last I’d seen her, she was feeding Lily and seemed to be doing okay. Then sudd
enly, she vanished. Even though I didn’t think her ex was a true threat, my heart was racing at the idea that something could have happened to her. I shouldn’t have let my guard down.
Penny shook her head. “No, last time I saw her was over half an hour ago, she walked away, and I think she went toward the bathrooms.”
“Thanks, Penny.”
I headed toward the bathroom just as Megan walked my way. I tried to act like I didn’t see her, but she was persistent.
“Hey, there you are,” the brunette cooed, taking my arm in her hands.
I pulled it away as gently as possible. We’d hooked up about a year ago, right before I decided to get back on the straight and narrow, but Liberty was a small town and she wasn’t eager to give up on me that easily, apparently.
I almost started to think she was following me. Just showing up at the park like this? Wearing a sundress when it was barely fifty degrees outside, with her hair and makeup done up professionally? Yeah, I wasn’t buying that she was just taking a stroll and ran into me.
“I have to use the restroom, just give me a minute.” I quickened my pace and didn’t dare look back to see if she was following me until I got to the bathrooms. I stood there, at the men’s room for a second, and then looked back. She was talking to Danielle now. Great. She just pushed herself into my family like she was invited.
But I didn’t have time to worry about that now.
I stepped around the bathroom and stopped in my tracks.
Not too far away, facing the lake, was Charlotte.
Her red hair was blowing in the wind, and she was holding herself as if she were cold. She stared down at her phone in her hands.
Relieved that she was okay, I debated giving her some space. But before I turned and walked away, I heard a sound.
A sniffle.
Was she crying?
I couldn’t leave her like that, alone and crying on a park bench far from home. I had a feeling I was the last face she wanted to see but decided that she needed a friend. I closed the distance between us and said, “Hey,” as to not scare her before sitting down beside her on the bench.
She still jumped at my words and wiped at her eyes.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Everything okay?”
Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were still damp. I already knew the answer to my question.
“Yeah, I’m good,” she said, obviously lying.
“You sure about that?”
She let out a shaky breath and straightened her back. Pushing her chin out confidently, I thought she might continue lying to me, telling me she was good, everything was fine...and then what? I didn’t want to push the matter. If she didn’t want to talk to me, she didn’t have to.
“It’s just-- Peter is trying to ruin my reputation.”
I raised a brow, surprised she opened up to me.
“Oh yeah? How?”
“Well, first it was just stuff around town - trying to make me look bad to save his reputation and his ego, which was bad enough but--” She took another breath. “But now I think he’s trying to sabotage my career. Someone has claimed that I’ve stolen her designs and used them as my own, and I’m already losing clients over it- and not just any clients, but long-term relationships that I had built up, people that should believe me.”
Bastard, I thought to myself. My fists were balled up at my side, but I tried to hide the anger boiling inside of me for Charlotte’s sake. It was a good thing the asshole wasn’t there, however, since I would have had a hard time not knocking him into next week.
Charlotte continued, explaining everything that had happened, and everything she had found online. “The worst part? This girl used to work for me. I gave her a job even though she had no experience, nothing. It was her dream, and I thought I was doing her a favor, but then she pulls this shit.”
“You think Peter put her up to it?”
“He had to. I don’t think this is a coincidence, and--” She hesitated and looked over at me, as if gauging what my reaction might be to the next bit. “Well, I called him and asked him about it too. He didn’t confirm what he did but--”
“You called him?” I interrupted her.
“I had to, Eli. I know you said I shouldn’t engage, that it would only make things worse, but I had to know why.”
“You know why, Charlotte. He’s an asshole who wants to hurt you, and you’ve let him know it worked.”
I thought she might argue with me, but instead, she looked down at her hands and said, “I know. It was a mistake.”
“So, he confirmed he did this?”
“No, he didn’t say what he did - I couldn’t get him to admit anything specifically. He just said that he did what he had to do to protect himself, and that if I married him, he’d work on re-building my reputation and we could write everything off as a mental break.”
“What an asshole.” I hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but I did mean it.
“Yeah, tell me about it. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I fear this is the end of my career.”
“These rumors, they’re clearly lies. And the truth will come out. She has to prove that you stole the work, and that proof doesn’t exist.”
“She says she has it. I don’t know what she has that could prove it since it didn’t happen, but who knows what Peter concocted.”
“There’s no way she has proof that could hold up in court if she’s lying.”
“But even if we do go to court and I win, my name will be tarnished and there will always be doubts.”
Her eyes filled with tears again, and it broke my damn heart. I couldn’t bear to see her cry. Without even thinking, I put an arm over her shoulders and let her lean into me. She buried her face into my chest as I stroked her hair.
There was a crackling sound toward the bathrooms, and I turned to look. My mother was standing there, watching. Smiling. When she caught me staring, she ducked back behind the building and into the bathroom.
“Thanks, Eli,” Charlotte said, lifting her head and wiping her eyes. “I know you’re right. I can get through this. Whatever Peter throws at me, I can manage.”
“And you know, you don’t have to do it alone. My brothers and I, we got your back. If you need some dirt on anyone, we can pull it up.”
A smile crossed her lips for the briefest of moments. “Maybe we should get back to the party. I’m sure Skyler misses you.”
She stood up and started walking slowly in that direction. I sat there a second longer and just watched her walk away, her hair blowing in the wind. She glanced back over her shoulder to see if I was coming, and that look nearly sent me into cardiac arrest.
How could she still have so much power over me, after all these years?
I got up from the bench and caught up with her, walking back toward the party.
Ooo000ooo
“Do you remember that time we snuck whiskey from Grandad’s and snuck down to the river?” Mason asked, keeping his voice low enough that Mom didn’t hear him.
We were all sitting together, and it took two benches to hold just my brothers, their wives and Charlotte. Megan was sitting down at the end, having implanted herself into my family’s gathering.
Charlotte smiled, as did Penny, because they had both been there.
“I nearly got my ass whooped for that one,” I said, taking a long swig from my Coke.
“Nah, you’re grandpa was all talk,” Charlotte said. “But on the inside, he was a big softy.”
Megan stood up from the bench and walked over to me. She squeezed between Sam and me on the bench, inching ever so close to me.
She batted her eyelashes. “So how do the two of you know each other?” She faked a smile and pointed at Charlotte.
Charlotte and I exchanged a look. “Well, we used to date. She was my high school sweetheart.”
“Oh, how cute.” Megan spoke through gritted teeth. “So Charlene--”
“It’s Charlotte, actually,” Charlotte said with a
dry laugh.
“Sorry.” Though I got the impression Megan wasn’t the least bit sorry for the mistake. Hell, it might have been intentional. “So what brings you to Utah all of a sudden? Just feeling like reconnecting with an old flame?”
“Uhh--” Charlotte looked at me.
“That’s really none of your business, Megan,” I said firmly. “Can I speak to you for a moment? Alone?”
I stood up and walked a few feet away from my family, Megan following behind me. She touched my arm again and leaned in close, too close for my comfort. I stepped away and put my hands up to signal I wanted her to stay at least a couple feet away and not invade my bubble. “What the hell is going on here? We had one date over a year ago, and now you’re introducing yourself to my family and pretending we’re dating or some shit. It’s weird, and frankly, a bit creepy.”
“I’m sorry, I thought your family seemed nice, that’s all. I thought you were nice too, Eli, but I guess I was wrong. Guess I should have taken the hint when you never called me back.” She started to walk off but stopped and turned around. She spoke louder this time, loud enough that the entire park could hear. “Guess it’s true what they say - men are only out for one thing. At least that’s true for you, huh?”
She turned back around and stalked off.
Shaking my head, I was about to head back to my family when Graham stopped me. “What was that about?”
He hadn’t been sitting with the rest of us, choosing to stay at the grill and continue flipping burgers even though we’d all had more than enough.
“Nothing. She seemed to get the wrong idea about us.”
“Ahh another one of Eli’s many exploits, I see.”
“I don’t know what your problem is, Graham. We went on one date over a year ago, and she didn’t mean as much to me as she seemed to think, that’s all.”
I wasn’t in the mood to continue this argument. Sure, my brother was likely just joking with me - like he’d done many times before. But I wasn’t feeling it. The entire day, Graham had kept his distance, only providing icy looks and short responses toward me ever since I came back from the bench with Charlotte.