Page 59 of Eighteen Bowties and Counting
Maybe this was what love felt like. Charlotte wasn’t sure, but she catalogued the feelings to analyze once Beau had taken some medicine and gone to bed.
Evenings later, Charlotte raised her head when someone knocked on the cabin door. Beau had already gone to bed, and Charlotte should be heading that direction herself. Instead, she moved Pepper off her feet—the dogs stayed with her until she gently opened Beau’s door when she went to bed. Then, Pepper and Ruby went to sleep with their master—and got up.
The door opened as she rounded the couch, and while it surprised Charlotte, it didn’t scare her. Especially not when she saw Kelly Ackerman entering with a huge pot in her hands.
“Hey,” Charlotte said.
“We brought you dinner.” She advanced toward Charlotte, who backed up to give her room. Squire came right behind her, carrying a plastic grocery sack in one hand and a big container of apple juice in the other.
“Beau loves apple juice,” he said as he lifted it.
“I brought chicken tortellini soup,” Kelly said. “Squire’s got salad and rolls.” She groaned as she lifted the obviously heavy pot onto the counter. “Should be good for a few days.”
Squires wares joined Kelly’s, and Charlotte looked at the food and then them. Gratitude filled her, and she stepped into Kelly’s arms to hug her before she started crying. “Thank you.”
“You’ve been eating cold cereal for days, haven’t you?” Kelly laughed, but Charlotte didn’t.
She stepped back and grinned. “It’s just so nice to have someone else thinking about you.” And not in a way that made her feel weak. Like her heart wasn’t good enough to do anything.
“We know you haven’t been to town and couldn’t have much. Then Ben came and spied for us, and sure enough, he said y’all needed food.” Kelly smiled at Squire. “Is Beau in bed already?”
Charlotte nodded. “He’s going to the doctor tomorrow, finally. He’s just not getting better, and the over-the-counter stuff isn’t helping much.”
“And you haven’t gotten it?” Squire asked.
She shook her head. “So far, no. Thankfully.” Charlotte had actually thanked the Lord she hadn’t gotten whatever bug had bitten Beau. If she got sick, Mason would insist she come home and let Felicity nurse her back to health. Or maybe he wouldn’t. Charlotte wasn’t sure anymore.
They’d been getting along just fine since the incident in the feed store, and he hadn’t been texting as much now that she thought of it. She simply hadn’t noticed, because she didn’t have the time or energy to deal with one more emotional thing. Who knew falling in love would be so time-consuming and an emotional rollercoaster?
Maybe it wasn’t like that for everyone, but for Charlotte, it had been. So far.
“You and Beau are gettin’ along?” Squire asked.
Kelly swatted his chest. “Squire, what a question.”
“What?” he asked. “I’m just making sure everything is okay here.”
“You made it sound weird.”
Charlotte laughed, as she enjoyed their bickering. “Beau and I are getting along great,” she said, glancing down the hallway like he might appear. “We had some rough spots, but we’ve smoothed them out.”
“Beau is pretty smooth,” Squire said with a smile.
“Okay, we’re leaving,” Kelly said.
“What did I say now?” Squire moved as she nudged him toward the door. “It’s true. Beau is a cool cat.”
“You made it sound like he’s not real,” Kelly said. “Charlotte, Beau is one of the most genuine, caring, hard-working men we have the privilege of knowing.” She put both hands over her heart. “I swear.”
Charlotte blinked at her. “I know that.”
“See? She knows that,” Squire tore his unhappy gaze from his wife and nodded to Charlotte. “We hope the food goes to good use.”
“I’ve already eaten tonight, but I’m going to have some anyway,” Charlotte said, putting on the best smile she owned. “Thank you so much, really. You’ve saved us from starvation.”
Squire chuckled then, and he stepped out onto the porch. Kelly went with him, pulling the door closed behind her with a “Goodbye, Charlotte. We’re so glad you’re here at Three Rivers.”
Charlotte stared at it for a moment, wondering what had just happened. “You were just reminded that you belong here,” she said. Then she stepped over to the soup pot and lifted the lid. The scent of cream and herbs filled her nose and made her mouth water.
