Page 35 of Charlie and Her Sweet Escape
“We have plenty of time to work out the details,” Rosie said dismissively.
“The wedding is in four days!” I gripped my hands painfully in my lap, very aware that Bennett was right there, listening to all this.
Rosie gently placed her hands over mine. “You know this is right.”
Did I know that? I looked at Bennett. What answers could he give that would make it okay for me to agree to this?
“Rosie, I think you should go to the bathroom again,” Bennett said, not taking his intense stare away from me.
She hopped up and left the room without a word, though her smile spoke volumes.
“Are youreallysure?” I studied his face, looking for… something. Doubt. Resentment. Irritation. One flicker of any of those emotions, and I’d smother the hope I’d let build.
He took my hands and linked our fingers together. I stared down at the crisscross pattern that connected us. I squeezed tightly, gripping him like I was being flung from wave to wave, and he was my buoy.
“I want to do this for you, Charlie.”
It was suddenly hard to breathe, waves crashing unrelentingly over me. Mayday. Mayday. That vulnerable hole in my chest was looking for something to fill it, and I needed a reminder that he was getting something out of this too. Stat.
“You want this foryoutoo, right?” I said, somewhat desperately.“So you can fix the shop.”
“Yeah, that too,” he said sincerely.
Okay. Okay. His thumb absently brushed across my palm, dipping in and out of my hand, making breathing something I had to really think about.
“What about you?” His thumb stilled. “We don’t have to do this. I’ll get someone to cover my excursion tomorrow and spend all day helping you cancel everything. Jules said he would be your lawyer and work withWildto get you out of as much trouble as legally possible. And Rosie will get you out of as much trouble asillegallypossible.”
They would. These Forresters had my back, whether I deserved it or not. I pictured me and Bennett in the wilderness, surviving on nothing but the land. We always had a great time together, and our strengths complemented each other. The two of us together might even have a chance of winning. Plus, we both needed the money. We could do this.
I could marry Bennett Forrester.
Way, way too easily.
I exhaled shakily. “Let’s do it.”
13
BENNETT
Ihadn’t spent a lot of time imagining my wedding day, but in those moments when I’d contemplated it—back when I was still dating Lily—I definitely didn’t see this: a tiny group of our closest (and very confused) friends and family settling into the white church on Main Street … and multiple camerapeople pressing lenses inches from our faces.
It had been a whirlwind few days, getting a marriage license, letting our families know there’d been a significant change in plans, and working withWildon a new contract that had my name on it and not Greg’s.We had Jules handle that one, and he said they didn’t question it as much as he thought they would. Small miracles.
I spent the day before our wedding out at sea, doing an excursion for a family with four teenagers. They spanned the attitude spectrum from excited to surly, and it made me think of my own family—the four of us always there for each other. We had to be. We’d lost a lot, but I never questioned how lucky I was to have those three in my corner at all times.
Each of the teens caught a fish, and by the time we made it back to shore, everyone wore an exhausted smile. The parentswere holding hands, the fine lines by their eyes crinkling as they watched their children compare fish sizes. Longing tugged at me. I wanted this. My own family. Children. Someone to grow wrinkles and gray hair with, and to share inside jokes and wordless conversations.
I shuffled my feet as I waited for Charlie to walk through the church’s double doors and come down the aisle on her mother’s arm. My brothers, Jules and Haydn, stood next to me, their suits freshly dry-cleaned. Rosie and Lily, as Charlie’s two bridesmaids, were standing up front as well. Charlie didn’t want any reminders of her cancelled wedding, so their bridesmaid dresses were matching black slacks and white button-up shirts. Rosie complained that they looked like servers, but it was the only matching outfit she and Lily had.
Lily and I were doing a good job of not making eye contact, something we’d perfected over the last couple of years, but she and Charlie were close. Lily hadn’t even tried to talk Charlie out of marrying me, which was a relief, but it stung as well.
In the front row, Charlie’s grandma was already dabbing at her eyes. She’d taken the groom pivot remarkably well and had helped smooth the way with her enthusiasm. I winked at her, and she waved her handkerchief at me with a happy grin. Mrs. Mabel was there with her smug grin. Sheriff Savage—out of uniform, something I rarely saw—and his wife. He was glaring at me hard, so I didn’t let my gaze linger on him.
Haydn’s wife, Lia Halifax, was there—much to the joy and shock of theWildproducers. Lia’s bodyguard had needed to step in and remind them that they were here to film me and Charlie, not her. Dylan, Rosie’s husband (and Charlie’s cousin), had one arm flung across his mom’s shoulders, and he grinned at me.
Some people were confused that Charlie was marryingmeinstead of Greg. Some people were extra confused that we had a camera crew filming the entire thing. But there was an overall,pervasive feeling of relief in that chapel. No one had wanted Charlie to marry Greg.
“Ready?” Haydn straightened my tie.
