Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR

"T HE DENTIST CHAIR at Doc Wight's office gave me hemorrhoids and cellulite," the woman said. "I deserve legal compensation for that, right?"

Charlotte sighed, and she wanted to curse. She checked the time again. But she suspected Velma Sue Parsons wouldn't pick up on the subtle hints of time-checking and sighing. After all, Velma Sue hadn't paid a fleck of attention to the fact that when she'd waltzed into the law office Charlotte had been on the verge of waltzing out of it.

Or rather hurrying out of it.

Charlotte had had her purse hooked over her shoulder, her car keys in hand, and she'd had one thing in mind. Going to Saddlebrook Ranch to talk to Cal face-to-face about this notion of them convincing everyone they were engaged. There were oh-so-many pitfalls with that plan—hence the face-to-face deal—but Velma Sue had temporarily thwarted Charlotte's exit. Now the woman was blocking said exit by standing directly in front of the door.

Today, Velma Sue was wearing her usual pink yoga pants and top. Pink sneakers, too. And her hair had a pinkish tinge to it as well. Probably not by design, though. Charlotte knew from gossip that Velma Sue preferred to dye her own gray hair, and the results varied from month to month.

"It would be very hard to prove a dental chair gave you those things," Charlotte said, hoping beyond hope that would be enough to appease Velma Sue.

It wasn't.

"What's hard is that blasted chair. You can bet your sweet patootie on that," the woman countered. "Certainly you've had other clients who've complained about it and asked about legal compensation?"

Nary a one , Charlotte wanted to mutter. Then again, Velma Sue made a habit of encountering things that had offended her in some way. Last month, it'd been the toothache she'd gotten from the double scoop of Rocky Road she'd purchased at the town's candy and ice cream shop, the Jolly Lolly. The month before that, it'd been the water-weight gain from Sconehenge, the bakery that specialized in goodies guaranteed to sock on the pounds.

"No complaints about the dental chair," Charlotte said. "But if it's that uncomfortable, you should let Dr. Wight know. He might be able to add a pad or something for your next checkup."

Velma Sue made a hmm-ing sound. "I won't be getting back in that chair," she declared. "Not without legal compensation. Those ads on TV always make it sound easy to get money for wrongs, and hemorrhoids and cellulite are wrongs."

Again, Charlotte managed to hold back checking the time. Not the sigh, though. It came despite her efforts to squash it. "You should maybe try calling the number in the ads. I'm a small-town lawyer, but those city attorneys might take your case. Or you could try Carson, Elder and Carson just up the street."

Velma Sue's mouth tightened. "Already been there. They sent me here 'cause you work cheap and all."

That was true, and Charlotte could thank inheritance number two for that. She'd been left enough from one grandparent to pay for Port in a Storm, but she had inheritance number two from another grandparent that basically gave her enough of a modest monthly income to live on, which meant she didn't have to charge an arm and a leg for those needing legal services.

Velma Sue Parsons didn't need legal services.

Instead, the woman should opt for doing pretty much nothing that might cause her any distress, weight gain or other issues.

"I guess I could call the number in the ads," Velma Sue muttered.

And Charlotte decided to latch on to that as an exit line. She did check the time, gave her purse an adjustment and opened the door. "I hate to rush you out, but I have somewhere I need to be," she told Velma Sue.

Velma Sue got moving, at a snail's pace. "Guess you're busy because of your engagement to Cal Donnelly."

Good grief. If Velma Sue knew, then so did everyone in town. Yes, she had to speak to Cal ASAP, and when her phone dinged with a text from her mother, Charlotte realized she'd need to speak to her as well. Especially since the text didn't have any words but rather a string of question marks. If it hadn't been business hours, her mom would have almost certainly called to voice that particular punctuation.

"How'd Noah take you dumping him for his best friend?" Velma Sue asked.

"Noah dumped me first," Charlotte muttered without thinking. She wished she'd thought because that lit the gossip light in Velma Sue's eyes.

Since Charlotte couldn't think of any damage control or go back in time to change what she'd said, she just continued out the door. Velma Sue thankfully did as well, and Charlotte locked up. She got in her car to drive to the ranch, figuring that soon, very soon, it'd be all over town about Noah dumping her. That would lead to gossip about a rebound engagement and such, and maybe Cal would be able to help her figure out how to deal with it.

Of course, she'd need to do some dealing, too.

Since Cal had shown up at her office, she hadn't exactly had a moment to herself to process Noah breaking up with her, Becker's mule-headedness and the engagement ruse. But the ten-minute drive to Saddlebrook got her started on all of that.

She wasn't ready to start looking at alternative sites for Port in a Storm, but Charlotte had to concede that she might have to do just that. Especially if Becker heard this was all a ruse. Becker needed the money, or so the gossips had said, so if he sold the place, she could try to buy it from the new owner. Not ideal, but it was a backup, and no engagement ruse would be needed. That would get both Cal and her off the hook, especially since it was obvious Cal had his own worries.

With that checked off her list of things to process, Charlotte moved on to the whopper news of the day. Noah sending Cal to break up with her. She had to put that on pause for a moment when her phone dinged with a text from Taggert.

What's going on?

Charlotte would need to respond but not until she'd settled things with Cal. Ditto for the next text she got from her good friend and work assistant, Mandy Mendoza, who repeated Taggert's question. Charlotte put those replies on the back burner and returned to her musings about Noah breaking up with her.

She scowled, not because she was upset but because she wondered why Noah hadn't just waited until he could end things in person. Maybe there was an urgency because he'd met someone? Charlotte had always considered the possibility of that.

Not just for Noah but for her.

But then the years had sort of just melted away, leading them to keep the same relationship status as they'd had in high school, complete with on and off periods where they'd both seen and dated other people. Even when she'd dated others, though, most people just assumed she'd get back with Noah. And she had.

Overall, it had sucked but had been a comfortable status that had probably stopped either of them from having a deeper relationship. It certainly had done that for her, even though she knew one thing for certain. She wasn't in love with Noah, and she wasn't heartbroken now that it was over. She was...

Relieved.

That was the first thing that popped into her head. The next word popped, too, but she instantly tried to nip it in the bud. Because that word was Cal .

Yes, Cal.

Charlotte could blame the kiss on that particular thought. A kiss that was simply meant to fool Becker into believing that Cal was her fiancé. But it had backfired. Because the kiss had sent a trickle of heat and interest from her hair roots to her tippy toes. And neither the heat nor the interest should be there.

Nope.

Cal wouldn't want it. She shouldn't, either. But her body seemed to have a different notion about that. That meant she'd have to tell her body to take a chill pill. Not now, though. It'd have to wait because she pulled into the driveway of the sprawling Donnelly ranch and saw the reason for the heat and interest. Cal was walking toward one of the ranch's many barns.

He had his hands crammed in the pockets of his jeans, and his shoulders were slumped. Definitely not the straight posture he'd sported since he went into the military. When he turned toward the sound of her approaching vehicle, Charlotte got a good-enough look at his face to see that he wasn't his usual cheery, easygoing self.

Though he was still drop-dead hot.

Sighing, she had to shove that aside. Hard. And she thought she might have to keep shoving. What the heck was up with her? She'd been around Cal too many times to count and had never had this reaction. Then again, she'd never been around him as an adult who hadn't been in a semirelationship with his best friend.

She parked, and he stopped walking, clearly waiting for her, and she watched to see if this visit was making his mood worse. It didn't appear to be. In fact, Cal seemed pretty rock-bottom right now, and she hoped his notion to make everyone believe they were engaged wasn't playing into his mood. If so, she could at least give him an out on that and maybe ease his mind.

"Three texts," he said when she started toward him. He didn't clarify what those texts were about, but Charlotte figured he was getting the same questions as she was.

"Ditto. There'll be more," she warned him.

He nodded in a not-a-news-flash sort of way and tipped his head toward the pasture. "I was going to take a look at some new horses."

She spotted the trio of magnificent Andalusians with their glossy pearl-white coats and manes, and while they certainly deserved some looking at, Charlotte figured this trek had more to do with Cal needing a moment to think things over as she'd done on the drive.

Or getting away from someone.

She glanced over her shoulder and spotted a whole bunch of people looking out the various windows on that particular side of the house. Cal's brothers and their partners. His grandmother and Maybell. And from the second floor, his father peered down at him. The one person who was missing was Audrey.

"I can come back at a better time," Charlotte offered. "I just wanted to talk to you about the engagement thing."

She patted his arm and turned to leave, but he took hold of her hand. Briefly took hold. Their gazes collided, and he let go of her darn fast.

"Walk with me to see the horses," he said, "and we'll talk."

Charlotte stayed put. "Honestly, the talk can wait. You obviously have other things on your mind."

"Walk with me," Cal repeated, his tone a smidge more insistent this time. "I have a plan for making this fake engagement work."

She did walk, and as she'd done, Cal glanced over his shoulder, no doubt spotting the family spectators. He muttered some profanity under his breath and then scrubbed his hand over his face.

"I'm guessing things are a little intense with your family right now?" she risked asking.

He made a sound of agreement but didn't add anything. Cal just kept them moving until they reached the pasture. "My family knows why we're pretending to be engaged," he said. He rested his arms on top of the white wooden fence, tucking one boot on the lower rung. "You should do the same for your mom. And for Taggert. No need to make them worry."

Charlotte made her own sound of agreement. But there'd be a different kind of worry for her mom and Taggert when they learned of the breakup with Noah.

"Everyone else in town should believe we're engaged," he went on. "At least until Becker caves and sells you the place. I'll go see him to move that along, since he doesn't seem to despise me as much as he does the rest of my family."

That was certainly true. However, there was a mountain-sized but in this. "Even a short engagement will disrupt your life, and I don't want you to have to deal with that right now."

"I want to deal with it," he insisted. "I want Port in a Storm to happen. Alden and Harper can benefit from it. Plenty of others, too, I'm sure."

She certainly hoped that would be the case, but Charlotte still wasn't sure about putting Cal through this. "I can try to find someone else to buy Becker's place."

Though she had already tried to do that and had come up with a goose egg. There were only a handful of people in Emerald Creek who weren't on Becker's shit list, but so far none of them had been willing to do something sneaky like this. Added to that, it would create a lot more paperwork and cost for her to rebuy the ranch. Still, she would do it if it spared Cal any additional pressure.

"It'll be faster to go the fake-engagement route," Cal assured her. "We'll just make it clear to our families what's going on, and I'll have that chat with Becker. I'm guessing we won't have to keep up the pretense for more than a couple of days. A week at the most."

Mercy, a week. And Charlotte got a flash of that kiss again. It probably wasn't a good idea for her to play lovey-dovey with Cal even for a minute, much less a week. Still, the prize for that particular torture was a whopper. She could actually get Becker's ranch.

"All right," she finally said. "The pretense is on." She paused a moment. "I'll also tell my mom and Taggert that Noah broke up with me."

Cal immediately shifted his attention from the horses to her, and she figured he was examining her expression to see how she was dealing with the breakup. Charlotte knew for a fact he wouldn't see any distress. Because she wasn't feeling any. Not for herself, anyway. But she was starting to get plenty for Cal. She'd never seen him down like this.

"I hope this doesn't add to your troubles, but I'm worried about you," Charlotte admitted. "Just how much should I be concerned? In other words, how okay aren't you?"

When he didn't answer right away, she was ready to tell him to forget she'd brought it up and then add an apology for poking her nose in his business, but Cal spoke before she could launch into the regrets and the I'm sorry .

"I'm getting out of the Air Force," he said. "Audrey's pissed off about that. Rightfully so, since she's opened some doors for me to make rank early. She's always seen me as her protégé." He paused a moment. "The rest of my family is just confused and, yeah, maybe pissed off because they probably think I'm making a hasty decision that's clouded with emotion."

Since Charlotte had already gone for a no-holds-barred approach to this conversation, she continued it. "Is your family right?"

He looked at her now, and the corner of his mouth lifted in a very dry smile. "Yeah," he repeated. "But it's the right decision. I can't give the military my all anymore. I can't be at the top of my game."

She could feel the pain of that admission. It was coming off him in hot waves. "I'm sorry."

When she didn't add more, he continued to stare at her. "What? You're not going to tell me to give it some time, that I might change my mind? That I shouldn't throw away this dream career?" The last two words went in air quotes.

Charlotte shook her head. "No attempts at mind-changing. I had too many battles with my mom over my life choices. Remember, she always wanted me to be a doctor like her dad and grandfather. She's mellowed some about that." She repeated some and put it in air quotes as well. "And she gives me at least weekly reminders that I should press Noah for marriage. Maybe those will finally stop when I tell her about the breakup," Charlotte added in a mutter.

"Why didn't you press for marriage?" he asked.

"Because I didn't want it." In hindsight, she probably should have mulled her reply over rather than be so blunt. But this didn't seem the day for pretenses. Well, except for their fake engagement.

"Noah always seemed to need that adventurous life away from here," she went on, making a sweeping motion with her hand to indicate places far and away. "I always needed Emerald Creek. He never planned for kids. I did. He never wanted what I did and vice versa. I just figured eventually we'd find someone who'd be more right for each other than we were." And that caused her to pause again. "Has Noah found someone else?"

Cal shrugged but dodged her gaze again. "Can't say. You should ask him about that."

She wouldn't be doing that. In fact, from here on out everything would be just plain awkward between her and Noah. That was a shame because, along with losing her relationship status with him, she'd also lost his friendship.

Again, the hindsight kicked in, and she realized the friendship was what she would miss most. But she wouldn't miss having to stake her future hopes on her feelings for Noah deepening again. On her falling in love with him again. Or wondering if that deepening and falling happened, whether it would ever lead to marriage and kids.

Now she knew it wouldn't, period.

She didn't want marriage without that mindless, overwhelming experience of head over heels in lust and love. For some unknown reason, her mindless brain flashed her an image of Cal. Nope, she assured her brain. Even if Cal was in a mental position to jump into heat, love and such, he wouldn't be the right man. In his mind, she'd always be Noah's, and in her mind, he'd always be...

Charlotte couldn't think of a word to finish that.

It didn't help her concentration that her phone dinged in rapid succession with more What the heck? texts from her mother, Mandy and some of her other friends. Cal's phone was dinging, too, but some of those messages might not have to do with the fake engagement. It was possible that members of his family were checking on him.

Cal turned his attention back to the horses. "Have you seen Harper?" he asked.

Charlotte wasn't surprised by the change of subject, since she figured Cal was doing plenty of thinking about Harper. But she was a little puzzled, and pleased, that he trusted her enough to broach these painful, muddy waters.

"Briefly," Charlotte answered. "When she was transferred to the rehab facility in San Antonio last week, I went to see her." A gut-wrenching visit. But she wouldn't be admitting that to Cal. In fact, she took a cue from him and dodged his gaze. "I told her about Port in a Storm and said that once it was up and running, she should consider finishing out her recovery there. She agreed."

Not with words. Harper wasn't capable of speaking yet. But she'd nodded. Of course, that nod had been in a vacant "leave me the heck alone" kind of gesture, but Charlotte intended to take it at face value.

"Have you seen her?" Charlotte countered.

"Briefly," he parroted, but he didn't elaborate. However, he did squeeze his eyes shut a moment as if to clamp off some horrible memory. Maybe lots of horrible memories.

Cal took out his phone, and for a moment, she thought he was going to check some of those texts he'd been getting, but instead he pulled up a photo and held it out for her to see. Except it wasn't a photo of a person but rather a letter. And Charlotte instantly knew what it was.

The note Harper had left before she'd driven off that bridge.

Cal, the playing field is all yours now. I'm bowing out of this shit show. No more looking over my shoulder and worrying about you besting me. No more losing to you. You win .

Oh, wow. Charlotte had figured Harper had to have been in a very dark place, but she hadn't expected the woman to put her final, sole focus on Cal.

"What would you do if you got a note like that?" he asked.

Charlotte swallowed hard. "Probably what you're doing now. I'd know it wasn't my fault, but I'd blame myself anyway."

"It was my fault," he argued. Then he cursed, sighed and groaned, all in quick succession. "I knew the competition between us was intense. It fueled me. Pushed me. Made me do more than my best. I assumed it was doing the same to her. Assumed ," he repeated like more profanity. "I didn't know I was shredding her to pieces."

"You didn't know because I'm guessing Harper didn't want you to know," Charlotte pointed out. "It's like that time she peed her pants in kindergarten."

Cal looked at her again, but his expression changed. "What?"

Going with the hindsight again, Charlotte wished she'd been able to come up with a different life lesson, but since she'd started it, she continued to launch right into this one.

"Her mom had put two apple juices in her lunch box, and Harper drank both right before recess. She was on the playground and didn't make it to the bathroom in time. So she wet her pants, but instead of telling the teacher what happened, she wore the wet panties all day. She ended up getting a rash and needed butt cream to stop the itching."

Charlotte paused, frowned. Okay, definitely not the best thing she could have recalled, but the story did support her assessment of Harper not asking for help with her problems.

"I think Harper's relationship with her father was a big factor in the way she handled challenges," Charlotte added. Maybe in the way she'd handled the wet-pants debacle, too. "You know how her father is."

Cal made a sound of agreement. Of course he knew. Everyone in town did. Paul Johansen wasn't a recluse like Becker, but he definitely fell into the SOB territory. A retired, decorated Green Beret, he'd had incredibly high expectations for Harper, and the talk was he ran his household with an iron fist. According to the gossips, that approach was the reason Harper's mother had walked out when Harper was sixteen.

"I drove out to see Paul," Cal volunteered.

Charlotte found herself holding her breath. "How did that go?" Because with Paul, you never knew. He'd always been civil to her, but then she'd always seen the man when they'd been in public. That civility might have taken a huge dive for a meeting in private.

"He wasn't home," Cal explained. "I don't have his phone number, so I left a message on his door for him to call me. So far, he hasn't."

Charlotte had no idea if that was for the best. Eventually, their paths would cross, and it might or might not turn out to be a confrontation that Cal was clearly dreading. Dreading, yet he'd gone to see the man. That was Cal, through and through. He'd never dodge anything ugly even when it was tearing him apart inside.

"Maybe this thing with Harper has softened Paul," Charlotte suggested. That wasn't a high-probability outcome, but, hey, this sort of thing could spur change. Possibly the right change.

Cal stayed quiet a long time. "I wish Harper had turned to someone. Anyone. Maybe Port in a Storm can give her the help she needs."

"That's the plan," Charlotte muttered. "Say, if you do get out of the military, maybe you can help me run it. I mean, the pay will be seriously lousy, the hours, too, but there'll be other perks. Like unclogging toilets, changing light bulbs, that sort of thing."

He turned to her again. "Are you saying this because you think I could use the services of Port in a Storm?"

"Maybe. Yes," she amended. "Do you need help?" she came out and asked.

"Probably," he said with a sigh. "I'm hoping I'll find it here at home."

Charlotte thought about that. "It might work, but if it doesn't, ask for help, okay?"

This time when he looked at her, the corner of his mouth lifted again. Not so much dryness this time. "I'm not going to do what Harper did."

"Good," she couldn't say fast enough, and she hugged him. It was a gesture of comfort. A good friends kind of thing.

Or at least that's what it should have been.

But the moment his body landed against hers, the annoying trickle of heat came again, and it caused her to tense. To pull back, too. Cal fully cooperated with the pulling back, but when he did, their gazes collided again. And held. Locked and loaded.

Moments passed. Slowly. The locked-and-loaded didn't. It stayed put, and the eye contact suddenly seemed intimate or something. As if the heat was zinging back and forth between them.

Cal frowned and muttered some more profanity. "Has this always been here?" he asked.

Charlotte couldn't pretend not to know what he was talking about. She matched his frown and nodded. "A latent thing," she admitted. "It's rearing its head now because I kissed you."

He certainly didn't dispute that, which, of course, only caused the latency to take a nosedive. The heat was coming out of hibernation and announcing itself big-time.

"It'd be a really bad idea," he muttered, but his voice came out as a drawl. All hot and cowboy-like.

"Oh, yes," she insisted. "Worst idea ever."

So why did that make her want to kiss him again? A forbidden fruit kind of thing? Maybe. But whatever it was, it definitely had a hard pull to it.

Charlotte was thankful for the ding of another text on Cal's phone, because the sound caused them to do some actual backing away from each other. Temporarily, anyway. When Cal looked at his phone screen and cursed, Charlotte moved back toward him to see what had caused that reaction.

The first thing she saw was that it was indeed a text. From Noah. And while Cal tried to pull his phone away, Charlotte caught a couple of words. Dick , TLC , Elise .

"Elise?" Charlotte had to ask.

Cal cursed some more, but this time the profanity was definitely aimed at Noah. He passed her his phone and let her read the entire text.

Feeling like a dick for asking you to do the breakup with Charlotte, but like I said, it needed to be done. Hope it went well. If she's taking it hard, do me another solid and give her a little TLC. Just whatever you do, don't tell her about Elise. That's news best left for later rather than sooner.

"Elise?" she repeated.

Cal looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but there and have to say anything but what he was about to say. "A woman Noah met a couple of months ago." He paused, did more cursing. "Noah plans to marry her, Charlotte, and Elise is pregnant."