Julian’s phone buzzed with a call. “Speak of the devil.”
“What do you mean?” Charlotte sat back. “It’s Sloane?”
He nodded as he sent the call to voicemail. He didn’t want to take it in the coffee shop. “Have you talked to her recently?”
“No. I’ve been wanting to reach out. It’s just... I’m afraid she’s mad at me. We got into an argument about Cliff the last time we talked.”
“You know Sloane. She’s passionate and excitable but quickly forgives and forgets,” he said while he texted his sister that he was with Charlotte and he’d call her back in a few minutes.
Charlotte shifted in her seat. “Was that my name? You told her you were with me?”
“I did.” Sloane would already know he’d been in contact with Charlotte again, except he’d been avoiding his sister. His mother had been badgering him to tell her about his diagnosis, but the more people who knew, the more real it became, and he wasn’t ready to shoulder his twin’s sadness along with his own.
“And?” she prompted.
He turned his phone so she could read Sloane’s response.
That asshole Cliff better hope I never get hold of him.
“I’d say she’s still on your side,” he said wryly, but that only made Charlotte choke up.
“I don’t deserve her support. Or yours,” she said. “I let my own friends and family down trying to appease my husband.”
“You’re feeling terrible enough already. Let’s not worry about that,” he said and stood up. There was a middle-aged woman eyeing them from the corner. “Grab your cup and let’s get out of here,” he said.
But the other patron got up, too, and hurried over, catching them just before they went out the door.
“Aren’t you Charlotte Jackson, Clifford Jackson’s wife?” she asked. “I’m ahugefan—loved your book! Can I get a picture with you?”
Charlotte looked as if she wished she could disappear, butJulian accommodated the woman by taking a selfie of all three of them.
“Thank yousomuch!” the woman gushed.
“No problem,” he said. “Be sure to post that and tag Cliff.” He wanted to make it clear that Charlotte wasn’t going to put her life on hold just because Cliff didn’t want her to be seen with another man.
The woman looked a little startled by the request but quickly acquiesced. “I will!”
“Are you trying to get me in trouble?” Charlotte whispered as they left the shop and started across the parking lot.
He put his arm around her. “I’m trying to get yououtof trouble,” he said.
chapter 5
Sloane typed Clifford Jackson’s name into Google and pulled up several more articles. But they all said essentially the same thing as the one that’d caught her attention while she was sitting at her desk eating the lunch she’d grabbed from the Thai place next door. They showed a picture of Charlotte with Julian outside a restaurant in Los Angeles, stated that Clifford Jackson and his wife were separating and speculated that both of them were already seeing other people.
Charlotte and Cliff had split up? How could that be? Charlotte had been so committed to him!
The phone rang and her brother’s name popped up on her screen. Julian was calling her back. Rory was still out to lunch, which meant she was running the store alone, but she didn’t have any customers.
She hit the green button. “Julian, what’s going on? It’s all over the internet that Charlotte and Cliff are no longer together. Is that true?”
“I’m afraid it is,” he replied. “We’re in her car right now. Want me to put the phone on speaker?”
“Of course.”
When Charlotte spoke, she sounded subdued. “Hey, Sloane.”
“Char, are you okay?” Their last conversation had been over a year ago, and it hadn’t gone well. Sloane had called to see if Charlotte would be interested in meeting her in San Francisco for a “girls’ weekend,” but Cliff had decided he didn’t want her to go, even though he’d be out of town himself. The fact that Charlotte wouldn’t fight him on it made Sloane mad. Cliff rarely let them see each other. And if Charlotte was going to allow him to stand between them, there was nothing Sloane could do to maintain the friendship.
