Sutton—7:02 p.m.
I feel the very same
If she wanted to be on time to meet Charlotte across town for eight o’clock, she needed to get herself back into gear.
She wasmostlyready, thankfully, having just finished her hair and makeup. All that was left were the finishing touches. She scanned her eyes over her jewelry selection for the evening, hoping that it was appropriate for her official public debut as a senator’s girlfriend.
When her phone buzzed again, she expected—and hoped—to find Charlotte’s name on the screen once more.
What she saw in reality, was a FaceTime request from her mom.
Sutton hesitated—a hesitation she so rarely had in regard to her mother—before she answered the request, situating the phone back against her dresser before she lifted one of her earrings from its velvet-lined tray.
She wasn’t going to avoid calls from her mom, but she also didn’t have time to spare.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hi, love. You look quite lovely.” Her mom’s greeting was warm, but, as Sutton flicked her gaze down to the screen, she could see the confusion set over her mom’s expression.
Sutton cursed herself. She’d completely forgotten her mom’s Wednesday evening phone call in her excited anticipation of the night.
“I’m so sorry; I’m going to an event with Charlotte soon, but if you want to call Regan, she and Emma have Lucy tonight.”
“Oh.” Her mom paused, eyebrows slightly raised, before clearing her throat. “I will most definitely do that.”
Sutton knew Lucy and Regan would love the FaceTime check-in with her mom, whether she was present or not. And she knew her mom regularly checked in with Regan as well.
So she knew that the reserved look on her mom’s face had absolutely nothing to do with needing to circumvent Sutton to chat with Lucy and everything to do with Sutton’s plans. Or, should she say, withwhomshe had plans.
She sighed, dropping her hands after securing her second earring. “Mom, whatever you have to say, please just say it. You’ve had that look on your face whenever I’ve mentioned Charlotte for the last few weeks. I don’t want to have any unspoken issues between us.”
They’d never had that kind of relationship, and she didn’t intend to start now, in her late thirties.
Luckily, Katherine wasn’t the sort of person to beat around the bush, especially regarding people she loved.
“Honey, I want you to be happy; I truly do. I just—I’m your mother.” There was an edge of raw honesty in her voice, and she shrugged. “It is very, very difficult for me to let go of this urge to protect you from anyone who has broken your heart, no matter how old you are.”
Sutton couldn’t help but feel the steel inside of her soften at that.
“I know you are still on the fence about how you feel regarding this whole thing. And I understand,” she acknowledged. Because shedid.
Her mom had been there and seen how heartbroken she’d been before Oliver’s wedding. And while Sutton logically knew that the heartbreak had been over a decade ago, she—as a mother herself—deeply, emotionally saw her mom’s perspective.
Sutton had no idea if she would be able to easily forgive the first person who broke Lucy’s heart. Truthfully, she hoped she was never in that position.
“But the reality is that Charlotte and Iaretogether. Really, truly together. She loves me.” God, saying that aloud continued to give her butterflies. It had been nearly two weeks since they’d spoken the words to one another, and it had yet to get old in any way, shape, or form.
Even though they’d talked daily and exchangesI love yousat the end of every conversation, Sutton felt them every time.
Even though she’d rehashed the entire interaction with Regan and Emma, with the same delighted fervor she’d had back in her college days, she felt the hefty impact.
Even though Charlotte telling Sutton that she loved her—stating those beautiful, perfect words aloud now that they were both finally ready for it—hadn’t been a surprise, given how Charlotte had confessed to her feelings for Sutton on New Year’s Eve nearly two months ago now.
Sutton knew that those three little words didn’t necessarily mean anything. People threw them around in romantic relationships weightlessly. Sheshouldknow; Layla had continued to share those words with her even when they’d been hollowed and dull at the end of their marriage.
But it wasn’t that way with Charlotte, and Sutton knew that with every fiber of her being.
Charlotte Thompson was a great deal of things—so many of them big and bold and powerful—and perhaps the most powerful of all was that she meant what she said.
