Page 20 of Keeping Happily Ever After

“You don’t understand.” He cut her off. “I won’t leave. Not without you.”

That made Charlotte cry again and Jeremy silently cursed himself. He had no idea how to handle the situation. They’d had some basic training with the fire department a few years back on how to approach a domestic abuse victim, but this was different.Verydifferent. This was hissister.And that meant all bets were off.

But Charlotte had made him promise to leave it alone. To leave Billy alone. “It will only make it worse,” she pleaded. “I just want to come home.”

Jeremy couldn’t argue with that. If she wanted to come home, he’d make it happen. That’s what brothers did. And that’s whathewould do. He just didn’t know how yet.

They spoke for a few more minutes, Jeremy gathering as much information as he could from her.

They determined it would be best to contact her at the coffee shop she worked at because Billy checked her phone all the time. Jeremy had to take a deep breath at that bit of information.

What kind of man was so insecure he needed to control his girlfriend’s phone?

It didn’t compute. He simply could not understand the mind of a guy like that. Not that he wanted to. But by the sounds of it, he would have to try if he wanted to get Charlotte home.

“Okay,” he said finally. “Let me talk to Mom and—”

“No.” Charlotte’s voice was laced with panic. “You can’t tell them anything. I know them. They’ll freak out and make everything worse.”

“Char.” Jeremy worked to keep his voice calm. He reached around and squeezed the back of his neck in an effort to release the tension that was quickly beginning to build there. “I have to talk to them. They already know something is up and—”

“That’s the problem.” She cut him off again. “Billy was not happy with their visit. He’s so suspicious of them now. He won’t even let me mention them. It’s…just don’t, okay? Can you just handle it?”

He nodded and then, even though he had no idea how, he promised her he would.

She gave him her work schedule for the next few weeks and the number for the shop.

Jeremy scribbled down the details on a pad of paper. “Okay,” he said when she was done. “Don’t worry, Charlotte. I’ll work something out, okay? Just sit tight and I’ll be in touch as soon as I can with a plan.”

“Thank you, Jer.”

He could sense the relief in her voice, an entire continent away, and he hoped like hell he wouldn’t let her down.

He had no idea how he was going to make it happen, but without a doubt, he knew he would.

That had been two days ago, and he still didn’t know how he was going to get Charlotte home. He’d tossed around a few ideas, but there was nothing definite. Short of flying to Halifax himself, picking her up and physically putting her on a plane, he couldn’t think of anything that would work. Not without alerting her boyfriend that she was planning something. And from the sounds of it, she was sure he would try everything to stop her. The last thing Jeremy wanted was to make the situation worse before he could make it better.

Every day that went by, Char was in danger. A fact Jeremy was acutely aware of. He’d promised her he wouldn’t tell anyone. And Jeremy was a man of his word. But he was also not a stupid man. And he knew enough to know when he needed help.

Jeremy knocked on the office door and waited.

“Come in, Davis.” Ed Walker, the fire chief, called out through the shut door. The man had an uncanny sense of knowing who was there and what they needed, often before they did. It was one of the things that made him such a good chief. He’d be impossible to replace if the retirement rumors were true.

Jeremy opened the door and walked into the small office. The walls were covered in a mixture of photos of crews over the years and framed artwork from Ed’s granddaughter. “How did you know it was me?” He shook his head as he took a seat across from his boss. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you have some sort of sixth sense.”

“I don’t know about a sixth sense.” Ed laughed. “But you’ve been walking around for the last few days in a bit of a daze. You’re clearly thinking about something. What’s going on?”

Jeremy let out a breath he felt like he’d been holding since getting off the phone with Char and started to talk. “It’s my sister, chief. She needs help.”

ChapterSeven

“We are now officially celebrating!”Stephanie declared the moment Bella joined her at the table at Birchwood. She’d already called ahead and sweet-talked the owner—and most amazing chef—Brody into making them a special lunch. After all, it wasn’t every day that your friend landed her very first roleandit was in what was going to be an absolute smashing successandyou were the co-star. No, it was not every day that happened.

Plus, now that she’d officially told Jeremyandthe announcement had been made by the studio, they deserved to celebrate. Which was why the champagne Steph had preordered had just been delivered to the table.

Bella blushed and shook her head. “Steph, this is too much. We had drinks the other night. We don’t need to—”

“Are you kidding?” She paused while the waiter popped the cork. Steph clapped a little as he poured them each two glasses. “That didn’t count. And this isn’t even enough.” She raised a glass and waited for Bella to do the same. “We should be having a proper party. Maybe Faith and Logan can do something at Ever After. Oh, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before.”

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