Page 38 of Charlie and Her Sweet Escape
“What do you want to do?” he asked me, his gaze hard on Greg. It felt good—really good—to have someone on my side.
“Do our interview and then eat my weight in spaghetti …” I bit my lip as I watched Greg pace. “But I should talk to him first.”
“You don’t have to,” Bennett said.
“I know.” But I kind of felt like I did. Greg and I were supposed to getmarriedtoday. We’d been together for a long time. I owed him that.Heowedmethat.
“Want me to come with you?”
“No. I’ll be okay.” I inhaled deeply for courage, especially as the stares of my closest friends and family burned pointedly into my back.
“Everyone!” Rosie clapped a few times to get their attention. “Icy Asps is ready for us! Let’s give Bennett and Charlie a few minutes.” Bless her. We took our mics off and handed them to the camera crew, and Rosie effectively corralled them toward their rental cars.
The murmuring crowd dispersed with a few glances back at me and Greg—and I’m pretty sure my grandma flipped him off—and then it was just the two of us.
Greg sneered at something over my shoulder. “Are you going to call off yourhusband?”
I turned, surprised to find Bennett standing about ten feet away, his arms folded, watching us. A sheepish smile crossed his face, as if he hadn’t expected to get caught sticking around. But by his firm stance, I could tell he wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon.
“No. I don’t think I will,” I said with newfound courage.
Greg’s frown deepened. When was the last time I’d said no to Greg? Had I ever done so? My heart raced as he moved into my space and lowered his voice. “How long have you two been together behind my back?”
I stumbled back a step, shocked. “We weren’t.”
“He agreed to marry you on a whim.”
“Yes.”
He scoffed.
A comfortable, familiar urge to make nice with Greg—to make sure he didn’t get upset and to keep him happy—washed over me. “I would never do that to you.”
“You’d just marry someone else onourwedding day instead?”
Raw emotion clogged my words. “You didn’t come after me.”
“I thought I had time, Charlotte!” The words exploded from him, and he threw his arms out. “I didn’t think you’d run off and marry the first willing victim you found.”
I heard a shifting behind me. Bennett had to be bristling with this conversation, but I appreciated that he wasn’t intervening.
“You knew I was getting married today.” My voice shook, but I wasn’t going to let him put this entire thing on me. He’d been sent the contract termination agreement fromWild. He’d signed it.And in a town this small, nothing was a secret.
Obviouslyhe knew. He was here.
He pressed his fingers into his closed eyes like this entire conversation was giving him a headache. “Yet another test I’ve failed.”
“What?”
His mouth curled down in contempt. “You make me choose between you and everything else, over and over again—it’s a classic Charlotte move.”
I reared back. “That’s not true.”
“Insisting we stay here foryourwork when you know I’d be more successful in Juneau. Giving all your time and energy to your strays and expecting me to support it. Applying forMarried in the Wildwithout telling me. And now, with this dog thatattackedme, you can’t even take my side.” Greg’s muscles were taut as he stared down at me. He was so much taller, bigger, and so angry that I struggled not to shrink away from him. “I’ve done nothing but give in this relationship, and I’m exhausted from trying to prove to you how much I love you. You either believe me or you don’t, and it looks like you don’t.”
I sank deeper into myself with every accusation hurled at me. The false high I’d been riding from telling him no at the beginning of this conversation now felt embarrassing. Juvenile.
I’d married Bennett before Greg had a chance to even attempt to make things right. I’d begged Greg to stay here in Winterhaven so I could have my dream job, even though it meant fewer opportunities for him.
