Despite her mission, Sutton paused. Crossing her arms and leaning against the doorframe, she watched as Charlotte continued to mutter to herself as she stood at the counter. Her back was to Sutton, so she couldn’t quite see what Charlotte was working on, but it didn’t really matter.
She didn’t have to see what Charlotte was doing for the sight of Charlotte working determinedly on something to make her heart flutter in her chest.
The set of Charlotte’s shoulders was the same right now as it would be in a boardroom or behind her desk, firm and strong, under the long-sleeved shirt she wore, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows.
It was the same shirt she’d put on this morning when she’d gone to work at the foundation. Only, when she’d kissed Sutton goodbye, this outfit had been perfectly maintained. Not a wrinkle in sight, of course.
Now, after having worn it through several meetings that she’d unfortunately had to go to on a Saturday morning, there were signs of wear. And the blazer she’d put on was missing as well. If Sutton were a betting woman, she’d wager that she’d find that blazer neatly folded over the wooden footboard of their bed.
Somehow it was still so crazy to her, at times, the fact that she was living this life withCharlotte. That she and Charlotte had bought a house together, that they’d gotten married, that they were raising her daughter together. That Sutton knew all of the little intricacies in Charlotte’s daily routine, down to a science.
She’d cited that in her wedding vows to Charlotte, seven years ago:
You were the first person I ever fell for. Truly, deeply fell for. And as much as I’d thought all of me had moved on from you, I was so, so wrong. Every day that we’re together feels like a dream. Loving you and being loved by you is everything I wanted but never thought I’d have. Being with you feels like something I’d imagined so long ago. I’d written this dream off as the naïve fantasy of a young woman who didn’t know any better, but it’s not. It’s real. You, Charlotte Thompson, really are the person I’d always dreamed you were. You really are the dream come true. And now I get to live the rest of my life with you, and I’ll never take that for granted. The reality is that I can’t imagine being happier than I am with you. We both went down other avenues in life without each other, and they didn’t work. We could exist in those other realities, but I would never be as happy as I am here, with you.
She’d thought about those other realities sometimes. Occasionally, her mind would still wander.
What if she and Charlotte hadn’t spent so long apart? What if she and Charlotte had found their way back to one another sooner? What if, what if, what if?
She used to get caught up in those what-ifs. When Charlotte had broken her heart all those years ago, she’d dwelled in so many of them. When she’d been going through her divorce, she’d errantly thought about Charlotte and wondered, before she’d promptly cutthattrain of thought right off. Even when she and Charlotte had reconnected, she’d had those fleeting wonderings.
But as she and Charlotte had paved out their path together, she’d thought about what-ifs less and less.
Because she wouldn’t change a thing they had.
If things had been different, would she have ever been on the receiving end of Charlotte’s beautiful proposal? If things had been different, she couldn’t imagine that Charlotte would have stood last in line at Sutton’s book signing, lingering until they were alone. She couldn’t imagine that Charlotte would have slid her copy of Sutton’s romance novel onto the table, giving her a smile that gave awaynothingand asking her to sign it.
Sutton had already known what she’d inscribe to Charlotte in that moment. She’d already known that she was going to thank Charlotte for encouraging her to fulfill her writing dream. For reading every draft Sutton wrote and offering feedback. For asking Sutton to write her biography in the first place, forcing Sutton to reallywriteagain.
She’d flipped the book open to the dedication page—For Charlotte, for giving me the real-life romance novel experience—only to swiftly stop upon seeing that there was already writing on the page. Charlotte’s neat handwriting read:
Darling,
We both know that, unlike you, I’m not a clever writer. But I love this novel. Granted, I love everything you write, but I love it because it’s amazing.
Because YOU are amazing.
I’m not much of a romance reader, you know that, but when you write it, I feel swept up in it. I have to believe it’s because you, Sutton Spencer, have changed my views on love. You are the romantic who swept me off my feet over a decade ago, and I’ve never been the same since. So it only makes sense that your romance writing makes me feel the same.
I know you weren’t sure how to write their proposal, and we talked through so many options. You wanted it to feel authentic to the characters, to the lives they live, to the love they share.
I want our proposal to be the same.
And what better way than for me to ask you here and now, at a book signing? You did, after all, come back into my life to write my story. You just didn’t know at the time that you’d rewritten the course of my story long ago.
There is no one else for me in this world. There is no one else I want to support, to lean on, to cherish, to challenge and be challenged by. There is no one else I would ever dream of marrying. But I want to marry you, Sutton.
Please tell me you feel the same way, and that you will marry me.
Sutton hadn’t known at what point she’d started crying, but she could feel the tears falling down her cheeks as she’d wordlessly looked up at Charlotte, already nodding.
“Of course,” she’d managed. “Of course I feel the same way, love.”
Charlotte’s smile had been tinged with nerves then, but as Sutton had been reading, she’d pulled out the ring—a sapphire with diamonds studded around the gem. Whatever decorum Sutton had managed until that moment was destroyed, and she’d truly started crying as Charlotte slid the ring on her finger. She didn’t even remember how she’d gotten around the table, but she knew that she was blessedly close enough to kiss Charlotte and throw her arms around her shoulders to pull her in for a tight hug.
“That’s amazing. Because Lucy, Regan, and Emma are all waiting at home for us to share the good news and celebrate,” Charlotte had whispered in her ear, her own voice hoarse.
If things had been different, Sutton didn’t know if she would have Lucy, and she couldn’t imagine a world without her.
