Page 11 of Finding My Charming

“Thanks, Dad.”

He nodded and folded up the wrapper. “I got lucky today, and we were able to settle pretty quickly, so I decided to come back and have lunch with you guys. If you don’t mind?”

Sherrie stood and pulled another chair up while I took my new lunch out of the bag. We ate in silence for a few minutes before my dad wiped his mouth and looked at me expectantly.

“What?” I swiped my napkin across my lips, too, thinking I had something smeared on my face.

“Have you two come up with any possibilities yet?”

I knew what he was talking about without him being specific. He assumed I’d caught Sherrie up with the morning drama and my missing soul mate. She’d been around long enough for the necklace to pass from my mom to Beth and then to me. I was actually surprised she hadn’t noticed the color had changed already.

“Not yet. We’ve been working.”

Dad laughed and began cleaning up. “Well, if anyone can help you figure things out, I know it’d be her.”

Sherrie looked between the two of us, obviously annoyed she was left out of something. “Well? I’m not getting any younger sitting here listening to you two speak in code. Someone tell me what the big mystery is!”

Dad kissed the top of my head and put his chair back in place. “I’ll let you two work on things.”

Without another word, he disappeared back into his office, and Sherrie sat facing me, waiting.

I pulled my necklace through my fingers and held onto the now-red stone. After a few beats, her look of confusion turned into pure delight.

“Elise Benson! Why on earth have you been sitting her all morning like you don’t have the biggest announcement of your life to share? Who is it? How did you meet him? Tell me everything!”

Suddenly, the sixty-year-old woman in front of me transformed into a teenager.

“I would tell you everything if I could, but I have nothing to share.”

She looked completely confused. Join the club.

“I didn’t realize it changed until April noticed it this morning. I went to a graduation party at Ari’s last night, and I guess it happened then.”

“What do you mean you guess? How do you meet your soul mate and not notice?”

I slumped into my chair and looked down at the traitorous charm. “There were so many people there! No one’s standing out in my mind. Isn’t that a bad sign?”

“Oh, honey. You know I don’t know much about all of this.” She waved her hand in front of the necklace. “I don’t know how it works. You’re probably the first and only wearer to not see when it changed, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to figure out.”

“Sure seems like it. I don’t know why everyone is making such a big deal out of it. Yeah, the necklace changed, but if it was truly meant to be, fate would have stepped in last night. Maybe I don’t remember meeting him for a reason. Maybe he’s just one of the many loves of my life. Maybe it wasn’t just wasn’t the right time.”

Sherrie looked at me like she was ready to argue, but the more I thought about it, the more right it felt. If I was really supposed to meet and fall in love with this guy, it would have happened.

Chapter 5

ari swung the front door open before I’d even stepped out of my car. Normally, her enthusiasm was contagious, but not this time.

I’d prepared myself on the drive from the office to let her know I wasn’t planning on tracking down the mystery man. If only I had access to real armor to protect me from the fight she was no doubt going to give me.

I had to get her to see it my way. She would become unbearable if I didn’t. Ari was the only one stubborn enough to fight me on things, and this wasn’t going to be something she let go of easily.

“Hurry up! I’ve been waiting all day for you to get off.”

I passed her in the doorway. “By that, do you mean you were at the lake or the pool?”

She slammed the door behind us and led the way up a spiral staircase to her bedroom. I’d practically been a member of her family since elementary school, but in reality, our families couldn’t be more different.

She was an only child. I had too many sisters. Her dad was some sort of international businessman who spent most of his time in Asia or Europe dealing with his clients, and her mom traveled with a group of her equally wealthy and neglected girlfriends. Where she had a mansion and staff to watch over her, I had a modest home with a tight family. When we needed space, we went to her house, but when she was lonely, we stayed at mine.