Page 141 of The Charm of You

I’d hate to think Caroline’s being pressured into returning to Sapphire Creek sooner than she’d planned. Sure, I’d love to take her back with me. I’d fucking love for her to move back, but I also want it to be her own choice. I want it to be right for her.

I enter the frame on the screen, and I’m greeted with a round of gasps and cheers that seems to come from more than just Paulette.

“Austin, so glad to see you made it safely and that you and Caroline made up.” Paulette beams.

I give her a tight smile. “Listen, I think Caroline has enough on her plate right now. She just got back to the city, and I’m sure she has multiple job offers waiting for her. We shouldn’t push her?—”

“I quit,” Caroline says, and I snap my head to the side to face her. “I mean, I was offered my old job back, but I turned it down. I haven’t looked for anything else, and I don’t want to.”

My brain short-circuits.

More clapping sounds from the other end of the phone, and finally, my mom appears next to Addie.

“What is going on over there?” Caroline asks. “Are you all meddling again?”

Addie nudges her way to the front and takes the phone away from Paulette. “It’s more of a scheme. They didn’t let me spearhead said scheme, or else we wouldn’t have made the mistake of tricking you into selling Daphne’s house, after which you’d fall in love with residential real estate and living in a small town again.”

Caroline leans her temple on my shoulder. “What did you have in mind?”

“I’d trick you into buying the house yourself, but I’d make it seem like it was your own idea by casually dropping hints and stats of increasing interest rates up North. I plotted to rave over the newest list of the best places to live too. I was ready to point out all the small towns in the South before zeroing in on Georgia, specifically.”

“Evil genius.”

Addie’s smug grin accompanies a shrug. “Child’s play.”

Behind her, Paulette and my mother share what can only be described as a squeal. One of them goes on about how much better Addie’s idea is.

“It’s a big house to live in by myself…” Caroline chews on the inside of her cheek as she flashes her wide eyes at me.

Something stirs in my chest, and it feels like the answer to her unspoken question claws at my heart.

“You could have a home office,” my mother chimes in.

“And a guest room,” Paulette adds.

Addie lists several other things Caroline could do with the extra space as well, including a yoga room, an arts-and-crafts space, and many, many more, spoken in screeches and decibels not meant to be heard by humans.

Her mother nudges her way back to the front of the screen, tears filling her eyes as she says, “Don’t you think it’s time for you to come home, sweetheart?”

“It is,” she whispers and never takes her eyes from me.

I grab the phone and tell the nosiest women of the South that we’ll call them back later.

With a flick of my wrist, I toss the phone onto the couch and hold onto Caroline’s shoulders. “What are you saying?” I ask, my voice loaded with enough emotion to fill this tiny apartment.

A slow smile spreads from one cheek to the other. “I think I like the home office idea.”

Relief seeps into every one of my tense muscles.

“What do you think?” she whispers as she steps into my embrace.

As she looks up at me, her eyes clear and hopeful, I read between the lines. She’s asking what part I’ll assume and how I fit into this “scheme.”

The truth is, I fit with Caroline, and any place we move into, no matter what we decide to do with the extra space, it’ll be a home because we’ll be there together.

My mom is happy with Karl, and since she and I talked, I don’t feel the urge to stick around right next to her house. I could use more space, especially if it means filling it with Caroline’s and my things.

I dip low to grasp her hips and hoist her off her feet. As she wraps her legs around my waist, I whisper, “A home office sounds perfect.”

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