‘Charlotte,’ Louisa said, gently, as if she was the bearer of bad news. ‘Harrison’s wife, Elly, passed away two years ago. The day before yesterday was the anniversary of her death. It’s why we’re here.’
She finally understood the true meaning of wishing the ground would open up and swallow her. A line of sweat beaded across Charlotte’s upper lip and her entire body felt clammy as she digested the news.This was the reason for the annual trip? This is the personal matter he was referring to from the day before?So, it hadn’t been her flirting that had been off, it was the fact that he was a widower.‘I’m sorry—he, Harrison,’ she cleared her throat, trying to straighten it all out in her mind. ‘He had awife?’
Charlotte wished her voice didn’t sound quite so high-pitched, but the surprise news seemed to have stolen her usual deeper tone. Why wouldn’t he have told her? Why would he have kept something like that a secret from her when she’d told him so much about her own family? He’d encouraged her to open up, but she could see now that he’d barely told her anything, that she knew scarcely anything about him personally.
‘Elly was my best friend,’ Louisa said, her voice cracking slightly as she took a big breath. ‘I was bridesmaid at their wedding, and we promised Elly before she died that we’d never let Harrison be alone on the anniversary of her death, that we’d do anything to make sure we were all together, especially for his sake.’
‘This year is easier than last year,’ said Luke. We were surprised to see how well he’s doing, and we wondered…’
‘No,’ Charlotte said, firmly, realising what he was hinting at. ‘We’re colleagues, acquaintances, whatever you want to call it, but there’s nothing romantic, we’re not…’ She stopped talking. Why was everything always so complicated? ‘We’ve been getting to know each other, that’s all.’
‘If you were,’ Louisa said carefully, as if she was trying to coax a small child to do something they didn’t want to do, ‘it would make us happy. Don’t think it wouldn’t, because I’m telling the truth when I say that all we want is to see Harrison’s smile come back. If you’re the person who does that, then we’ll love you for it.’
Charlotte let Luke pour her a little more wine and she took a grateful sip, trying to process what they’d just told her.
‘What happened?’ Charlotte asked, realising that everything suddenly made sense now. The way he’d encouraged her to see her father, the hesitation for anything to happen between them, the way his expression always changed when they’d talked about loss or family. It had been there; she just hadn’t taken the time to piece it all together. ‘May I ask how she died?’
‘Elly had brain cancer,’ Louisa said. ‘They thought she’d beaten it, but when it came back, she only had a few months, and then she was gone. She chose not to have any more surgery, but to just live for the moment and enjoy what little time she had left.’
‘We’d all been friends since we were first dating. There was no Luke and Louisa without Harrison and Elly, so we go back a long way,’ Luke told her. ‘We think he took this job to get away from London and all the memories there. It’s been great seeing him immersed in a project, and I think the change has been good for him. Honestly, when he told us he had plans for us tonight, we couldn’t believe it.’
‘Right,’ Charlotte said, feeling completely out of her depth, not to mention extremely uncomfortable. Her hands were still clammy and she had the most overwhelming feeling that she was going to be sick. ‘Well, I’m pleased you’re here for him. It shows what good friends he has.’
When she looked up and saw that Harrison was headed back towards them, she rose, not wanting to be sitting there when he came back. She’d single-handedly inserted herself into their annual anniversary get-together by inviting them for dinner, not having any idea what a special occasion it was, and now she had no idea how she was even going to look at him without bursting into tears.He had a wife. Here she’d been, dreaming of a summer fling with the man, and he was grieving his wife and probably wishing she’d stop flirting with him and leave him the hell alone.
‘Don’t walk away,’ Louisa said, catching her around the wrist and holding her there. ‘It should have been Harrison telling you, not me, but for what it’s worth, this is the first time I’ve seen him happy in a long time. If I was to guess, I’d say that he didn’t tell you, or maybe anyone here, about what he’d been through, because it gave him the chance of a fresh start. Everyone back home knows what happened and it all got too much for him. He particularly hated the looks of pity everyone gave him.’
So that’s why he’d understood why I didn’t like that look. He was used to being on the receiving end of it himself.
Charlotte hesitated, her heart sinking when she saw the big smile Harrison gave her as he walked towards them.He doesn’t know I know, and he doesn’t need to know. Louisa was right, it should have been him telling her, and she respected him enough not to ruin the evening. She took a deep breath, refusing to run away even though she wanted to.
‘Please,’ Louisa said, ‘just, just give him a chance to tell you himself. He will have had his reasons for keeping it a secret, but I know he won’t keep it from you forever.’
Charlotte met her gaze, knowing she was right but finding it hard to stay seated anyway.
‘Maybe he just didn’t want to be the guy whose wife died, for once,’ Louisa whispered. ‘Please, let him be that man, at least for tonight.’
Charlotte quickly turned and dabbed at her eyes, not wanting him to see her tears.
Harrison sat down. ‘So, what did I miss? And also, how is that entire bottle of wine gone? That’s our third one!’
Louisa looked at Charlotte, and she forced a smile, not able to resist a glance at Harrison’s ring finger, wondering if she’d missed a mark where his wedding band had once sat and knowing immediately how silly that was. She quickly lifted her gaze.
‘I was, er, just telling these two that I’ve decided to take the job,’ Charlotte lied, hoping her voice didn’t sound forced. ‘I love it here. Being back, this kitchen, the hotel.’ She sighed, hating that she was feeling so emotional. She brushed another tear from the corner of her eye before it could escape, only this time she didn’t have to hide it, because she knew he’d presume that it was related to the job. ‘You know, if I could tell the little girl in me that she would be standing in a kitchen like this one day, that she would have creative control of designing a menu from scratch as executive chef? I don’t think she’d believe me. Part of me still doesn’t.’
Charlotte hoped that her emotions were disguised behind her words, and Harrison certainly didn’t seem to think that anything was amiss as he held up his glass.
‘To the new executive chef of Nordic Hotel Oslo,’ he said.
The others toasted her as Charlotte took a sip of her drink and then excused herself, intending on bringing out the dessert that she’d forgotten about. She’d been so eager to get to the table, not to mention that desserts weren’t her forte; but still, she didn’t want them to leave without a little something sweet to finish the evening with.
‘Hey,’ came a voice from behind, followed by a warm hand on her shoulder. ‘Is everything all right? I know this must feel like a big decision for you.’
She nodded and cleared her throat. ‘Of course. I just, it’s a lot. I’m sorry about my little emotional outburst.’ Charlotte didn’t want to turn around and she most definitely didn’t want to look at him, but instead of keeping his usual distance between them, Harrison caught her hand.
‘You deserve this, Charlotte. If you’re doubting yourself, don’t,’ he said, his fingers squeezing gently against hers. ‘I know how I felt when I was offered this project. It would have been so easy to tell myself I couldn’t do it, but it’s become the highlight of my career, and I know you’ll feel the same way about this job. Sometimes things just happen, opportunities present themselves, just when we need them.’
She forced another smile, but in truth all she could think about was the way he was touching her, especially in the light of what she now knew.
