“The same could be said of many small towns across America.”
“Maybe, but we’d be strangers somewhere else. I have friends here.”
“I hope you don’t count me among them.”
He had the good grace to look embarrassed. “I’d like to apologize again.”
“Again?” Her voice rose and she struggled to control it. “I must have missed the first time. Surely you don’t think sending a note by your best man saying ‘Charlotte, I’m sorry you don’t agree we shouldn’t get married’ qualifies as an apology for not showing up at the church.”
He hung his head for a minute before straightening. To his credit he met her eyes. She saw shame there. Good. He should be ashamed. “You’re right. It doesn’t. I’m sorry, Charlotte. But I couldn’t get you to agree that we shouldn’t get married just to please our fathers. I felt the walls closing in and I panicked. That’s not an excuse and it doesn’t make me look good, but it’s the truth. I know I hurt and embarrassed you. You didn’t deserve that. Please forgive me.”
“Not in this lifetime.”
“Charlotte,” he began, but she cut him off. Whatever he had to say would be too little too late.
“But don’t worry, Rick. I won’t tell your wife what a jerk you are. If she hasn’t discovered it yet, I’m sure she will soon.”
“I no longer have a wife. I’m divorced.”
“I guess she figured it out on her own. Clearly she’s smarter than I was. Good for her.”
His lips compressed, but he didn’t reply. Instead, he turned on his heel and followed his son across the grass and into the house.
Charlotte watched him leave, telling herself her blood was pounding through her veins because she’d been shocked to see Rick again, and not because she had any residual feelings for him.
As if pulled by a force stronger than her will, she went inside her house and headed toward the third and mostly unused bedroom. She always kept the door closed as if that would hold the memories at bay. Most days it worked. But not today. Not after seeing Rick. The memories were swirling around her head, poking her battered heart from every direction.
Turning the knob, she walked to the closet and opened the door. There, hanging in heavy plastic, was her wedding dress. Covered in lace and beads, it had been the most beautiful gown in the entire store. She’d known when she’d laid eyes upon it that she would feel like a princess wearing it. And she had. Until the minute when she’d been forced to face the fact that her groom wasn’t coming.
He’d talked for days about calling off the whole thing, becoming more persistent as time passed, but she’d thought he’d just had cold feet. He’d wanted her to go with him to tell their parents they didn’t want to get married, but she’d refused. Sure, their fathers had engineered the whole thing, enamored of the idea of joining their families as well as their businesses, but she hadn’t minded. She’d fallen in love with Rick and thought he’d felt the same. He’d seemed to enjoy being with her and they’d come close to making love on more than one occasion. She’d been sure that had meant something. She’d believed when he had time to think about their future together and how happy she’d make him, he’d come to his senses and they’d get married as planned and live happily ever after.
She’d been wrong.
She brushed her hands over the plastic bag protecting her dress from the elements then closed the door on the reminder of what happened when she followed her heart instead of her head. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.
Rick rang Charlotte’s doorbell then inhaled deeply as he waited for her to come to the door. He knew she was home because her car was still parked in the driveway and the sounds of Motown filtered through her open front window. He couldn’t believe they were neighbors. He’d been planning to look her up in a day or two and apologize to her, but this was better, if unexpected. He’d seen the pain in her eyes that she’d tried to cover. Guilt had clogged his throat, making it difficult to breathe.
He could tell his presence hurt her, something he didn’t want to do. After seeing her reaction, he’d contacted his rental agent about getting out of his lease, but it was ironclad. Even if he could get out of it, he’d have to find another place to live, disrupting Bobby yet again. Somehow he had to heal the wound he’d inflicted so Charlotte wouldn’t be uncomfortable with him living next door.
He’d tried to apologize earlier, but even to him the words had fallen short. How did he express how sorry he was for leaving her alone on what should have been their wedding day? He’d known at the time that the note he’d scribbled at the last minute had been insufficient, so he’d called her the next morning, but she wouldn’t speak to him.
When the two letters he’d written to her had been returned unopened, he should have taken that as a sign of just how hurt she’d been and kept trying to reach her but he didn’t. He convinced himself that she didn’t want to hear from him and that he should honor her wish. That was a poor excuse and he’d known it at the time. His only explanation was that he’d been young and dumb and looking for an easy way out of a difficult situation. Twelve years later he was older and hopefully wiser. He wouldn’t walk away after one effort to beg her forgiveness. So he hadn’t let more than the hour it had taken to unload the truck and talk to his Realtor pass before he made a second effort.
The door swung open. “What are you doing here?”
“I hoped we could talk.”
“I hoped to never see you again, yet here you are.”
“Charlotte, we were friends once. I know I ruined that friendship and that you don’t owe me anything. But can we talk for a few minutes? Please?”
She was quiet so long he wondered if she had any intention of replying. “Five minutes. I’m only agreeing to this so you’ll leave me alone. Got it?”
He backed up, letting her step outside. Although she had two chairs on her front porch, she leaned against the wall and folded her arms over her chest. Despite the serious conversation he wanted to have, he couldn’t help noticing how sexy she was. How good she smelled.
He steered his mind back where it belonged. Five minutes wasn’t long, so he cut to the chase. “I shouldn’t have left you alone at the church, Charlotte. I should have been there beside you.”
“So why’d you do it?” Her voice was so soft it barely carried to him, but the pain and confusion came through loud and clear. Regret made his heart ache.
“Honestly? I was scared that I’d give in to the pressure. I wanted my father’s approval in the worst way. The same way you wanted your father’s. But I came to realize getting married and sacrificing our dreams in order to fulfill theirs was too high a price to pay.” He heaved a sigh as he remembered the pressure he’d been under at the time. Even at twenty-two he’d known a marriage under those circumstances was doomed. He just hadn’t known soon enough. “We would have been miserable. I thought if we presented a united front and told them we didn’t want to get married they’d have to agree we were making a mistake. But I couldn’t convince you to stand with me.”
“So you’re saying it’s my fault you didn’t show.”
“No. Not at all. The fault was all mine. I took the coward’s way out and you were left all alone to face everyone. No one could ever fault you for what I did.”
Charlotte blew out a breath. “My father accused me of doing something to drive you away.”
“What? That’s insane. You didn’t do anything wrong. We shouldn’t have been forced to marry just to suit them. They didn’t need us to be married in order to merge their businesses.”
“And yet the merger didn’t happen.”
“Not our