“Anyway,” she said. “I don’t know where you’re headed, but this is the street that takes me back to my apartment. Thanks for walking with me.”
Declan shook his head, “I’m walking you to your door, Charlotte. You can’t get rid of me so easily. Besides, I have a thought.”
“A thought?” she asked, skeptical. “And what would that be?”
“Well,” he said. “Just hear me out. Because I know we just met and this might come off very strange.”
Charlotte sighed, “If you did all of this just to get me to come home with you, it’s a waste of time. I’m not interested.”
He paused for a moment and then laughed, “No! I mean, not that… Charlotte, that’s not what I am getting at. Shit. Did you think I did this to score a hook up?”
Charlotte shrugged, “Yes. No. I guess I’m not your type.”
Declan sighed, “Charlotte, you’re every man’s type. But that’s not what I’m getting at. Also, what a way to deflate a guy’s ego. Anyway, I wanted to mention… I live at my parents’ house on Meeting. And they have a carriage house that they’ve rented out to friends of mine before, and my buddy that rented it this semester is traveling abroad to Florence for the summer. So it’s free. And you happen to need a place, so I thought… Maybe you’d be interested?” He looked down at his sneakers, not sure what else to say, and wanting her to say yes to his offer, more than he’d want to admit.
She was quiet for a moment.
“I mean,” she said. “It’s an awfully nice offer. I would normally decline… But. I really am kind of desperate. How much would it be?” Charlotte looked at him, clearly anxious about the answer.
“Whatever you pay at your apartment now,” Declan said. “Or less, if that helps. Our place has long since been paid for, so it’s not a big deal. Whatever works for you.”
He was sure she was going to say no. I mean; they’d known one another barely an hour. But he couldn’t help but think that their encounter wasn’t just by chance. That maybe he could somehow fix it so she never had to cry on a bridge again. At least not over something like where she would live.
“Okay,” she said. “I can’t believe this, but yes. And thank you. I can’t express…” Her voice caught for a moment, but then she composed herself. “I can’t express to you how grateful I am. But only if you’re sure.”
Declan grinned, “I’ve never been surer.” Of anything, he finished saying in his mind.
Chapter Four
The drive seemed to be taking forever. Charlotte was tired of listening to talk radio, and she had played every CD she had, which admittedly wasn’t many. Yet she still had a while to go.
She already missed Vanessa. They’d never lived apart except for Charlotte’s time at the College of Charleston. Now that they were both adults, Vanessa had become her best friend. They’d been through it all together and no one understood her like her sister did.
Which is why it was so hard to not be completely honest with her about why she left Nashville. But being secretive was for the best. Telling Vanessa what was really going on would have added unnecessary complications to her life. Or at minimum caused her stress that she didn’t need. Vanessa was just starting her life. She had so much to look forward to and Charlotte didn’t want to mess that up.
So she’d gotten in her car, and without looking back, she drove away.
********
She’d finally arrived in Charleston around dinner time, slowly driving down King Street and allowing nostalgia to fill the interior of her Passat. She watched young girls in Herve Leger dresses, teetering in heels on the sidewalks, laughing drunkenly as they hopped from bar to bar. The energy in the air was palpable; as always, Charleston was its best self at night.
She thought about turning around and driving down Meeting and past Declan’s house, but she reconsidered. It was better to leave it be. She wasn’t here to dig up the past. She just needed a familiar place to hide for a while.
Charlotte drove up East Bay and the memory of her first meeting with Declan hit her as she pulled onto the Ravenel Bridge to go toward Sullivan’s Island, where she was renting a small cottage for the next month. She would never forget how he’d looked at her as they took that first fateful walk. His kind eyes, his handsome features, his beautiful, chiseled body. There had been no choice for her when it came to him.
There never would be.
********
By the time she reached the house, it was starting to get dark. When she stepped out of her car she could hear the sound of the Atlantic lapping against the shore. It was her favorite sound in the world, one she hadn’t heard in too long, and she couldn’t help but feel at ease. She was home.