Chapter One
Charlotte
I’ve never really belonged here. I’m not talking about the mountain. Ilovethe mountain, especially this time of year, when the snow is still falling and there’s a reason to sit by the fire, drink tea, and read with Dragon, my orange tabby.
Where I don’t belong is in this family.
I don’t love shopping and getting my nails done like my mother. I don’t love gossip and fancy clothes like my sister. And while I love the outdoors, the only person who enjoyed it with me passed away five years ago.
My dad was one of a kind. The kind of guy who’d make you campfire pancakes with his rifle leaned against the hunting blind window but never shot a thing. Heck, most of the time we left breakfast scraps for whatever animal wandered by. The blind was just a place for him to disappear for a while. He was a nice man, and I admired him and everything he stood for.
Truth be told, I’m not entirely sure what he was doing with my mother to begin with. They were from two different planets, and from what I saw, they argued constantly. I’m not talking about petty little disagreements. I’m talking about major arguments. Arguments where my mother would scream, holler, and question every decision my dad made.
I’ve tried not to let the facts of their relationship cloud my views of her, but it’s hard. My dad was my best friend, andI know he deserved better. It doesn’t help that my mom and my sister are a completely different breed from me. They love designer outfits, getting regular pampering, obsessing about every strand of hair, and complaining about everyone. I couldn’t care less about any of those things.
Still, I’m here trying to support my sister’s very last-minute wedding to a man she barely knows. I’m watching her try on white dresses for the millionth time. I’m going with the flow, and I’m smiling while drinking champagne out of fancy crystal glasses.
Heck, I even wore a dress today and made small talk with my mom about a sale going on at a department store in the Springs. Despite all this, both my mother and my sister have found a way to berate me at every turn.
“This boy you’re dating,” my mother leans in, her breath reeking of alcohol, “does he have plans to do anything other than construction? That’s hardly a living.”
I consider bringing up the fact that my mother married a blue-collar man who she claimed to love and care for… but now doesn’t feel like the time. Instead, I narrow my brows and tilt my head toward her, very prominently conveying my confusion. Sure, my boyfriend is fake, but I really hate how she’s talking about him. “Mom, Jake is doing really well for himself.”
My mother laughs under her breath and turns back toward my sister, who’s sauntering out in another low-cut white dress that’s two sizes too small. “And when are we going to get to meet this…Jake?Will he be showing his face at the wedding?”
Candace, my beautiful, perfect sister, does a full spin for everyone to swoon over.
“Of course he’s coming to the wedding.” My stomach churns as I say the words… mostly because Jake doesn’t exist. Well, I mean, Jake exists, I work for him, he’s one of my bosses,but he doesn’t exist beyond that. He can’t exist beyond that. It would be insanely inappropriate for him to exist beyond that.
“Good,” my mother quips as my sister disappears into the backroom for another change. “I’m excited to finally meet the man you’ve been talking about for what… two years. I was starting to think the boy was a figment of your imagination.”
I wonder if I should tell her he’s not a boy. He’s in fact a very grown man, about twenty years my senior. A man closer to her age than my own. A man I have no business talking to, thinking about, or lusting after because he’s not my boyfriend. He’s my boss.
“Earth to Charlotte!” My mother nudges my elbow, and I jump.
“Sorry. Yeah, just thinking about the wedding. Everything is happening so fast. I mean, Candace is going to be a married woman before the end of the week. That’s pretty crazy to think about. She’s only eighteen.” I know the second the words come out of my mouth, she’s going to launch into a defense.
“Your father and I got married at eighteen, and we spent forty-five years happy as can be.”
Happy as can be… yeah right. I bite back a comment on how I partly blame her for my father’s heart attack. I mean, you can’t tell me the stress she put him under didn’t add to his heart issues.
Thankfully, my phone buzzes, offering a distraction. I glance down at the screen to see who’s calling. It’s my friend Maya. She’s the other receptionist at work, and I figure I better answer considering I’m here on an extended lunch break.
I lift a finger toward my mother and pull the phone toward my ear, gesturing to everyone that I’ll be taking a call.
My mother rolls her eyes, and a few of Candace’s friends smile and nod before I slide out onto Main Street and suck in the cold January air. Fresh air has never felt so nice.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Jake and Holden just stopped in the office looking for you.” Maya’s voice sounds panicked. “They were looking for updates on the Wilder brothers project. The town ordinance guy just came around and slapped a stop-work order on the distillery.”
Oh my God…the permits!My chest tightens, and my head starts to spin. I didn’t reapply for the temporary power permits. I brush my hand back through my hair and start to hyperventilate this magically fresh air in an attempt to calm myself down, but it’s not working.
I’ve been so distracted with all my own drama that I totally spaced on the absolutely most important thing I need to do for work.
Awesome job, Charlotte.
“Were they upset I was gone?”
