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“Okay,” she said.
He wasn’t used to giving an accounting of what he was doing and why, so he left her there. “What’s she going to do?” he wondered. Of course she’d have to change out of that pretty party dress. Take off her makeup, maybe. Beau didn’t rightly know what women did to “dress down” and get more comfortable.
They’d spent last night eating dinner and watching TV, and he figured they could do the same tonight.
When he returned to the kitchen, the scent of coffee beckoned to him, and he wore a pair of gym shorts and a gray t-shirt with the Three Rivers logo on it. He didn’t see Charlotte anywhere, but he figured he could pour himself a cup of coffee in his own cabin.
He’d no sooner done that before his phone chimed. He picked it up and saw Charlotte had texted. I made coffee, so help yourself.
Do you want to be alone tonight? I’m fine to stay in my room to give you your space.
He looked up from the texts to find his dogs both sitting beside their food bowl. He was late feeding them, so he flew into motion to do that. Did he want to be alone tonight?
Beau honestly wasn’t sure. He didn’t want Charlotte to feel like she had to sequester herself in her bedroom, but he was used to having free rein of everything in the house.
After feeding his hounds, he typed out a message to Charlotte. You can do what you want. I’m fine. We’ll go help the vacation crew feed the horses in about an hour. Or I will. You don’t have to do anything until tomorrow.
Her official start date.
She didn’t answer, and Beau turned to the fridge, though he’d eaten a full meal only an hour ago at the wedding.
“I’ll come,” Charlotte said from behind him, and he nudged the fridge closed as he turned to face her. She wore a pair of jean shorts that went all the way to her knee and a tank top the color of the apple-y scent she put off. Bright red.
“You don’t have to hide in your room,” he said. “Ever. This is your house too.”
“I thought you might want your space.”
“If I don’t want to be around anyone, I can go to my room.”
“Fair enough.” She moved to the other side of the counter. “Is it hard? Having him get married?”
Beau blinked, the question out of left field for him. No one had ever asked it outright like that. “Yes,” he said just as bluntly. “He’s been my roommate and best friend for a long time.”
She nodded, her expression unreadable. “Are you dating anyone right now?”
His eyes widened now, and he leaned back against the fridge. “Am I dating anyone right now? Do you think I’d hold your hand if I was?”
“I don’t know.”
Irritation foamed through him. “Okay, well, I wouldn’t. Who would do that to someone—both the person they were dating and the person they weren’t? Or wanted to? Or…I don’t know. It’s a weird question.”
Charlotte finally dropped her gaze, her cheeks turning bright red in the next moment. “You’re right. It was a weird question. I haven’t been out much lately.”
“Out much? Like in public or with a man?”
“Both.” She turned away from him. “I’m going for a walk.” She wore the sneakers to do it too, and Beau simply watched her go.
“Okay,” he said when she opened the door. She didn’t say she’d see him later, and he honestly wasn’t sure what had just happened. Once the door sealed him back in his cabin alone, breathing did feel easier. “Maybe she’s just a little awkward,” he told himself.
But she hadn’t been awkward in that dress or heels. She knew how to greet strangers and ask them about themselves. She’d been a full participant in the wedding, the conversation at dinner, and all through the dancing.
“So maybe she’s exhausted too,” he said. And maybe she hadn’t been out with anyone in a while. He’d learned to gather as much intel as possible over the years, but there was no way he was going to text Mason and ask him about his sister’s dating history.
Absolutely no way. Mason had already made it quite clear that he didn’t want Beau to take his relationship with Charlotte past professional, and his fingers tingled where she’d touched them.
“You’re both adults,” he told himself as he sat on the couch and held his phone in front of him. He had other people to text, and he busied himself with that until it was time to go feed the horses. Charlotte didn’t show up, and Beau let himself turn into the fanciful dreamer he’d always been.
And he saw the two of them horseback riding, running and laughing through fields, before they came back to this cabin together and he kissed her good-night.
