Page 41 of The Billionaire's Promise

I made a face at her and admitted, "Okay, yes. I think. At least, we’re going to try. I'm not . . . I'm not sure what I'm doing."

Charlie took my hand in hers and squeezed. "You can talk to me, honey. I'm on your side, I promise."

"Vance is your cousin, and I know you guys are close." Charlie shook her head and squeezed my hand again. "We are, and he is. I want him to be happy, and I've never seen him as happy as he is with you. So yeah, I like the idea that the two of you are together. But I care about you, Maggie. You're my closest friend, the only close friend I'm not related to, and I want you to be happy, too. It would be nice if you could be happy together.”

I sat back and thought about what to say as a waiter delivered our food. I was tired of measuring my words and second-guessing. I opened my mouth and everything spilled out.

How I was afraid I was in love with him, how I didn't trust him, and how I was sure I was going to end up with my heart broken.

Charlotte ate her burger and listened patiently until I ran out of words. When I was finally silent, she swallowed the last bite, washing it down with a sip of her own lemonade, her eyes fixed on a spot somewhere over my shoulder, apparently thinking.

"I want to promise you everything's going to work out, but if I did, I'd be lying," she said. "No one can promise you that. Shit happens, even when people really love each other."

I was reminded, again, of everything the Winters family had been through. From all reports, both sets of parents had been deeply in love and it had still ended in tragedy. Even a happy ending didn't guarantee a happy ending.

"I know," I said. "It's just that this seems so convenient. Rosie shows up, his whole life changes, and all of a sudden, he wants to be in a relationship with me? He knows I've always wanted a family. He's even given me a hard time for dating Brayden because I want that family so badly, and then as soon as he has one—when he's overwhelmed and needs me—he offers me everything he thinks I want."

"Is it everything you want?" Charlotte asked.

I rubbed my thumb against a spot on the distressed wooden table top and thought about her question. I shook my head. "I don't know anymore. When I looked at Brayden, that's what I saw. A husband and children. A family. But then I found out he'd been cheating on me, and I realized a husband and children didn't necessarily make a family. If I'd married him, if we’d had kids . . . he probably still would've cheated on me.

"I don't mean that I changed my mind about wanting a family, but I guess I realized it's not as cut and dried as I always thought it would be. As I wanted it to be. And Vance has never given any sign that he has any interest in a relationship, much less a family."

"That's the tricky part, isn't it?" Charlotte said. "The funny thing is when we were kids, little kids, he was always so good with us—the younger ones, I mean. Aiden and Gage never had any time for us, busy with their big kid stuff, but Vance—and Jacob too—they were patient. They'd play with us. I always figured Vance would get married young. I always saw him with a house full of kids."

She took another sip of lemonade and looked away, letting out a sigh. "Then everything changed. Vance changed. Aiden told me once that he was really close to his mom when he was a kid and that after she died, he kind of transferred that to my mom, and whenshedied . . .” Charlotte swallowed and shook her head.

"We don't have to talk about this, Charlie," I said.

Charlotte shook her head again. "But I want you to understand. He changed after my mom died. We all did. Losing my parents was . . . none of us knew what to do, how to go on from that. And Vance did a total 180 from a sweet, chilled out guy who was into his art and girls and his family to this man-whore, heavy drinker we barely recognized.

"But that guy—the guy who's nailed half the women in town when he wasn't drinking anything he could get his hands on—that guy isn't Vance. The guy he's been since he stopped drinking, that's the Vance I remember. And that guy? That guy has some serious feelings for you.

"I can't promise you he's not going to fuck it up. You're right. He has a shitty track record with women. And he's an alcoholic, which is tough. You're coming off a breakup with a total asshole who took you for granted and cheated on you, so you're not exactly in a great mindset to start a relationship either. Plus, all of a sudden, there's a baby. Who the hell saw that coming? There are about a million reasons why the two of you should not start a relationship right now."

"Too late for that," I interrupted.

“True enough. But, on the other hand, I think Vance has been planning this since you broke up with Brayden. Maybe even before. And I'm not sure you would've taken the risk on him if you weren't all shaken up from the breakup and Rosie showing up out of the blue. So maybe he saw his opportunity, and he took it. I don't know, honey. I wish I could give you a guarantee. I'm just saying that Vance is a good guy, and he cares about you."

"I know he is," I said. Even at his worst, I never doubted that Vance was a good guy. "And I know he cares about me. He's one of my best friends."

"But you have to take care of you," Charlie said, surprising me. She went on. "In my very humble opinion, you did a crappy job of that when you were with Brayden. This time around, you have to look out for yourself. I don't think Vance has had a relationship since he was a teenager. He was dating a sweet girl his senior year when my parents died. He broke up with her right after, and he never had another girlfriend until now. I'm sure he's great in bed, but he's probably a terrible boyfriend. I mean, he wouldn't cheat on you, but—"

"But there are a lot of ways this could go wrong that have nothing to do with him cheating," I finished for her.

"Yeah. Still, all the warning signs aside, I don't think he's willing to fuck this up. Not with you."

"I hope not," I said. I don't know that Charlotte's words were reassuring, except that they reminded me of two important things.

One, I had to remember to look out for myself. And two, she was a really good friend. No matter what, Charlie would have my back. As uncertain as everything was, that meant a lot. Now it was my turn to be a good friend, even though she'd get annoyed with me for it.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

MAGNOLIA

"Thanks," I said. "Now you go. I'm going to eat my burger, and you're going to tell me what the hell is going on at work." Getting Charlotte to talk was like pulling teeth, but I was determined. I took a huge bite of my burger and pinned her with my eyes.

She let out a gust of air and said, "Okay, I can't really say that much, but we have a client—kind of a client and kind of a business partner—and he's breaking a few laws. Intentionally and repeatedly. I'm working with Aiden on it, and we're easing out of the relationship between his company and Winters Inc., but that's not enough."