Charlie's Angel

by Jennifer Grayson

  Charlie’s Angel

  By Jennifer Grayson

  Charlie’s Angel - Copyright 2013 – Jennifer Grayson

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ___________________________________________________________________________________________

  Also by Jennifer Grayson

  Cowboy Angel

  Available in the US at

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B0MPF52

  And in the UK at

  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00B0MPF52

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 1

  CHARLES FOSTON was an accounting manager at a large firm in the city. He loved the city and couldn't wait to get back after recently going back home for the wedding of his best friends Will Masterson and Hannah Matthews. He had spent his childhood and teenage years on a farm and was always itching to leave and head for the bright lights and at the first opportunity he had done so. That had been fifteen years ago. The wedding ceremony and meeting old friends was wonderful, but it hadn't made him miss the farm at all.

  Living in the city had been only part of his dream, however. The other one he hadn't yet seen through. That was to find the perfect woman, one who would become his wife, and someone who he could spend the rest of his life with. Though he wasn't getting any younger, his luck in love never seemed to come through. Sure he'd dated, here and there, but none of them had ever been the one; the girl who set his heart on fire, who made him think of nothing else or as Will had said at his wedding to Hannah, “I knew as soon as I scooped her out of the car after the accident that I loved her. It was weird, but there was just something about her as soon as I saw her.”

  Charlie had asked Will to explain more, “I don't know how to really explain it Charlie, “Will had said, “but she just, I don't know, I just loved her from the start. Protecting her and taking care of her as she got better, it just made me love her even more,”

  Will had met Hannah in the most unusual circumstances. She had been travelling south to visit her Aunt when the weather had intervened and she ended up being involved in an accident. Will had been the only person in the area and had rescued her, cared for her and fell in love with her. Perhaps that was the answer, Charlie thought. Perhaps only fate can bring you together with the woman of your dreams, your soul mate. Maybe that’s why some people spend their life lonely and unloved – they just haven’t had that chance meeting, or for some reason they missed it and the opportunity was gone.

  None of it had made sense to Charlie. He had never felt that way about a woman and, it seemed, most likely never would. Here he was back in the big city and wondering if love would ever come to his door. It was getting close to Christmas time and he would be spending it alone again now that Hannah wasn’t here and he was seriously thinking of accepting her invitation to spend the holidays on the farm with them. It wasn’t the most appealing option – he always felt he was intruding, although they would never make him feel unwelcome. But the truth was being at home alone was an even more depressing outlook. Plus Hannah was pregnant with their first child now, and he knew she couldn't help out on the farm anymore. So perhaps he'd go down and lend his friend a hand with the chores. Getting a bit of physical work under his fingers wouldn't hurt any. He was in reasonable shape, but after sitting behind a desk he had started to gain a little flab and he could do with a good workout. Added to this he noticed a few flecks of gray sneaking into his brown hair as he looked in the bathroom mirror. There weren't many, but they were the first signs of advancing years. Before long he wouldn't be much good for any woman and would never have the children he’d always dreamed of.

  The holidays would soon be here and he either had to book the flight out soon or spend a silent and lonely Christmas at home. It was no contest as far as Charlie was concerned so decided to call the airline and reserve a flight and rental car for the following month as soon as he was in the office. If he happened to meet someone in the meantime, well he could always bring them along. Will and Hannah wouldn’t mind – in fact they would positively encourage it.

  He had met Hannah when he first moved to the city and they had become true friends, like brother and sister, and she took their friendship seriously; always looking out for his interests, even as far as his choice of women was concerned. He had never understood why they had never become romantically involved, but, as it turned out, it was for the better. She was a beautiful woman with a fantastic personality and now she had met Will. She was happy and, now she had moved out of the city, he missed seeing her so often.

  Charlie had been successful in business, but unlucky in love since first arriving in the city and Hannah was always concerned that he was attracting the wrong type of woman. Looks were important to him and he very often overlooked any faults as long as they look good on his arm. He had an eye for the beauty of a woman and never looked deeper and very often let the looks of a woman turn his eye and cloud his judgment.

  Hannah had told him long ago that it was personality that counts the most and that if you have nothing in common with a woman the relationship was certain to fail. Charlie was finding this out the hard way, to the point where he was beginning to think that he was the one that was at fault. He enjoyed the attention he got, though, when he had a beautiful woman on his arm when attending the various functions that was part and parcel of his job. Problem was it was a different woman every time and people were beginning to talk. Many thought that you needed a stable domestic arrangement to be successful and trustworthy in business.

  What used to annoy Hannah was Charlie’s apparent lack of respect for women. He came across as the ultimate chauvinist and to him women were just entertainment at the end of a hard working day. He very rarely had to deal with the opposite sex in his business dealings because despite all the progress society had made in equality in the workplace, business, especially at the highest levels was still very much male dominated.

  “But I don't want to date just a plain old Jane. You know I need someone who looks good on my arm; hell the partners in the firm would expect me to have a model for a wife,” Charlie would always say.

  “Looks aren't everything, Charlie, one day you'll understand that,” Hannah would say to him.

  Looking in the mirror once again, he stared at his clean shaven face and blue eyes. His short, brown hair, now with a bit of gray on the edges completed the image. It was a face that he didn't find all that attractive, but, according to Hannah, it had the classic good looks that many women found attractive.

  The phone rang and he picked it up. It was Will. “So, have you decided if you’re coming down for Christmas yet?”

  “Yeah, I guess I'll come down, I have nothing better to do.” Charlie said.

  “Jeez, that makes me feel so much better.” Will said.

  “I didn't mean it that way, it’s just that I thought I may have had plans of my own by now,” Charlie admitted, “like finding somebody to spend Christmas with here. But it hasn’t worked out that way.”

  “You'll find someone, don't worry. You never know, we might have a bit of a surprise for you when you come down.”

  “Please no blind dates,” Charlie pleaded.

  “You know Hannah; she's always looking out for you. There’s no stopping he
r when she puts her mind to something,” Will said.

  Yeah, I know. Listen I’ll be booking my flight when I get to the office. I’ll let you know the details later on.”

  “Good, talk to you later. Hannah is going to be so thrilled,” Will said.

  “Yeah, I know, just tell her no playing cupid,” Charlie said.

  “I'll try, but can't guarantee it.” Will said.

  Charlie hung up the phone. He knew that Hannah would try and set him up, she'd done it before, but it had never been successful.

  Chapter 2

  CHARLIE FOUND HIMSELF whistling as he headed off to work. Why, he had no idea. Perhaps it was the thought of seeing Hannah and Will again, or just the fact he enjoyed his job.

  “Morning Janice, how are you this morning?” he asked as he headed for his office door.

  “Good morning Mr. Foston,” Janice Long smiled back. She was Charlie’s personal secretary and held a prominent position in the company despite her young age. She was extremely efficient and achieved her current position on merit and not because of her attractiveness. Many times in the beginning Charlie had flirted with her, but she had always made her position clear. She did not believe in mixing business with pleasure even to the point of insisting on addressing her superiors by their surnames. She was here to do a job to the best of her ability and nothing would get in the way of that. She was ambitious and knew that if she made herself indispensible her job would be secure and she would continue moving up the ladder of success until she reached the position her talents merited. Romance with colleagues was not part of that equation. “I’m well, thank you Sir, and you?”

  .

  “Fine, thanks.” Charlie said, passing her by and going into his office. Now that he had made up his mind to visit Will and Hannah for the holidays he was looking forward to it with anticipation, so the first thing he did when he sat at his desk was make the bookings. He decided he would stay for a week – less than that and it wouldn’t be worth the journey and any longer there was a danger of outstaying his welcome. Besides, he made the booking open ended so he could play it by ear once he was down there. He knew he needed a break, and this would be the perfect opportunity. Not that he missed the farm, but he'd been working hard lately and a relaxing week away from the office wouldn't hurt. He hadn’t had a vacation for a long time and his bosses were always encouraging him to take some time off. Now he was finally going to take them up on it.

  Once he had made the bookings he forwarded the information through the internal email and almost immediately his phone rang. Normally all calls went through Janice first, but the directors had direct lines to him.

  “So Charlie Foston is finally taking a break?” It was John Smith, the president of the company.

  “Hi, John. You saw it right I’m going home for the holidays. Things are quiet at the moment so I thought I would take off for a while”.

  “Good for you,” John said.

  Charlie liked John a lot. He was a lot older than Charlie and had been with the firm for many years, starting at the bottom and working his way to the top position. It had been John who had hired him fifteen years ago when Charlie had started at the bottom rung. He'd worked hard to make his way and John had mentored him all the way. It was because of John that Charlie found himself where he was today.

  “Just make sure you don’t forget to come back,” John said, “we need you and you are an important part of the firm now.”

  Charlie wasn’t sure if John was joking or whether he was serious. He knew he loved the city and there was nothing at home to keep him down there. “There’s no danger of that, John. I’ll be back quicker than I planned. You know me and the country.”

  Chapter 3

  THE WEEKS FLEW BY and Charlie boarded the plane with eager anticipation. He was surprised as to how much he was looking forward to meeting up with Will and Hannah again. He'd missed both of his friends, and was really happy about not having to spend the holidays alone and he was glad that he made an open ended booking so that he could spend a little longer if he felt like it – perhaps even taking in the new year with his friends.

  Part of the excitement was Hannah’s pregnancy. She had asked him to be Godfather when the baby was born and he had jumped at the chance and had even spent a couple of days shopping for the unborn boy for presents to place under the tree. He admitted to himself that he had probably gone over the top and Hannah would undoubtedly scold him. But he couldn’t help himself.

  By the time the plane touched down Charlie was filled with boyish excitement. He hadn’t felt like this for a long time – not since he had gone on vacations to the city with his parents when he was a young boy. He drove cautiously when he collected the rental car, because he had arrived the same time as the snow. After what seemed like an eternity he arrived at the farm. Hannah was there to meet him and flew into his arms as soon as he stepped out of the car.

  “Hey. I've missed you so much,” she smiled.

  “Hey, be careful you look like you’re about to pop any second now.” Charlie said, looking at her very pregnant body. “You sure you’re not carrying twins in there?”

  “No, the scan shows only one boy,” Hannah chuckled, “but he's a big boy, look at Will, what did you expect?”

  They wasted no time in getting into the house and Will came up to Charlie and the two hugged.

  “Hey, glad to see you made it safely.” Will said.

  “There seems to be big storm coming,” Charlie said, “a few times I thought I might have to pull over for a bit, it was so hard to see.”

  “We’ve seen worse,” Hannah said, “and at least you've made it here safely, so how about a warm drink?”.

  “Don't mind if I do.” Charlie said.

  “Coming right up, hope hot chocolate will suit you for now,” Hannah said as she left the room.

  “So how have you been?” Charlie asked Will.

  “Been doing great, Hannah keeps me in line.”

  “Always said you needed a good woman behind you,”

  “Speaking of good women . . .,” Will started to say, but just at that point Hannah walked into the room.

  “Now don't tell him, I told you it's a surprise,” Hannah chastised Will, but with a smile.

  “I'm sorry honey, just figured I should warn him,” Will said.

  “Warn me about what?” Charlie looked at the couple, knowing that he wasn't necessarily going to like this surprise.

  “I've invited a friend of ours over too.” Hannah said.

  “Hannah, I told you no matchmaking.” Charlie said.

  “It's not like that, she's just lonely. But really I didn't do this on purpose.” Hannah said.

  “For some reason I don't know whether to believe you or not.” Charlie said.

  “Her name is Cindy and she's a dear friend. I just didn’t want her to spend the holidays alone,” Hannah explained.

  “Just as long as you don't try to force us together, I guess its fine.”

  “No, I just wanted you to know so you didn't think I set it up on purpose.”

  “Again, I'm still going to question that. You’ve got a record of trying to match me up with someone, why should now be any different?” Charlie asked.

  “Oh here's your hot chocolate, shut up and drink it.” Hannah chuckled.

  They sat and talked and caught up with each other’s lives, until eventually Charlie could wait no longer and asked the question.

  “So where is this mystery lady?”

  “She’s coming over tomorrow; she lives on the farm next door.” Hannah said.

  “The farm next door, that's ten miles away. Are you sure she'll be okay getting here in the snow?” Charlie asked.

  “We’re used to snow round here Charlie,” Hannah said, “we manage quite well, but it's nice to see you concerned.” She laughed.

  “It's only natural, and the right thing to do.” Charlie admitted. He was warming to the idea of having other company for the holiday, though.

&nbs
p; “Admit it you’re a bit interested in what she looks like?” Hannah goaded him.

  “I am a man after all.” Charlie said.

  “She has been through a lot this last year, Charlie. Please step carefully until you get to know her,” Hannah said.

  Chapter 4

  IT WAS AROUND LUNCHTIME the next day when Cindy arrived. Charlie looked at the woman who stood in the door and didn’t find the sight unpleasant. She had long, brown hair, which curled over the collar of her coat. She wasn’t slim, but neither was she overweight and her rather pleasant face was highlighted by a genuine smile as she greeted and hugged Hannah.

  Hannah made the introductions. “Cindy, I'd like you to meet Charlie.”

  “Hi, nice to meet you,” Cindy held out her hand to Charlie, “Hannah has told me so much about you.”