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“It’s just…you haven’t dated a lot, Char. Just because he’s the first man who comes along and sweeps you off your feet doesn’t mean it’s a forever love.”
“Is there a number of men I need to date before that will happen?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then why not him?”
“It’s just—he’s—honestly, I’m surprised you guys get along as well as you do. He just doesn’t seem like your type.”
“What would be my type?”
“Charlotte.”
“No, I’m serious, Mace. We had such a great time on his birthday, and I think I’m falling in love with him. But I’ve never been in love before, and I’m….”
Scared. Confused. Worried.
Any number of words could fill that pause, and thankfully, Mason didn’t run his mouth and try to do it.
“Trying to make sense of things,” she said. “I’m trying to make sense of things.”
“Just take it,” Mason said, and Charlotte wasn’t sure what was happening. Then Felicity came on the line with, “You think you’re in love with him?”
“I don’t know,” she said with a sigh. “How do you know?”
“Okay, honey, listen to me.” Felicity had her Mom-Boss voice turned on, and Charlotte actually smiled. “Love is not something you can write on your clipboard, Charlotte. It’s not something you analyze or find a rational pathway through. There are no checklists or numbers of men you need to go out with.”
Her smile widened, because surely Felicity had just shot a death glare in Mason’s direction.
“It’s something you feel,” Felicity said. “You have to allow yourself to feel it. It just comes, and when it does, Char, it’s so beautiful and wonderful. And you’ll just…know.”
“What if I’m past feeling?” Charlotte asked. “You know how I am, Felicity. I’m so harsh sometimes.” Tears filled her eyes. “What if it’s there, and I just can’t feel it?”
“Being stubborn and harsh is not the same as being a sociopath.”
Charlotte burst out laughing, her tears still stuck in the corners of her eyes, but everything so much happier now. “A sociopath.”
Felicity giggled with her, then sobered. “Seriously, Charlotte. Just let yourself go. Then you’ll know.”
“Thank you, Felicity,” she whispered.
“Do you want to talk to Mason again?”
Charlotte considered it for a moment, really trying to listen to that voice that sometimes entered her head. It didn’t come. “No,” she said. “I think I’m good. I love you guys. Kiss the kids for me, and tell them I’m going to come visit really soon.”
“We all miss you terribly,” Felicity said. “I’m putting you on speaker. Kids, it’s Charlotte. Tell her you love her!”
Yells and shouts of adoration came through the line, and Charlotte let herself feel those. They sank right into her soul, and she knew she was so loved.
Now, she just had to figure out how to let herself feel her own feelings and decide if they were love or not. She ended the call and opened her eyes, the gentle breeze only slightly cooling the evening heat.
“There you are,” Beau said a few minutes later. “I thought you’d run off.”
She got to her feet, because she knew he didn’t want to sit outside and bake. She didn’t really want to either. She approached Beau, who grinned at her in that impish cowboy way he had. “Guess what I found in the freezer?”
Charlotte climbed the steps to join him on the back deck. “What?”
He held up a gallon-sized Ziplock bag. “Cookie dough. Come on, we’re bingeing on oatmeal chocolate chip tonight.”
