Nick
Things were moving quickly. Almost too quickly. Nick barely had a chance to keep things straight in his head. After discussing it at length with his legal team and getting a little bit more advice from Damon and Katie, Nick’s first response had been to hire someone to be his girlfriend or fiancée. Or whatever made sense. And that was the entire problem. None of it made sense.
He couldn’t hire someone. It was ludicrous. And the idea was dismissed.
The only option would have been if he had a female friend who was willing to turn their life upside down for him and Amelia. But he didn’t. It was way too big of an ask for Stephanie, and she was right. She was way too famous for it to work with her.
There were no other options. He’d made his decision, and Chris had filed the paperwork with his current—and truthful—situation. He was single. And now he’d have to face the caseworker.
He’d been hoping to put it off a little longer, but it seemed that the universe had a funny way of working. Because as soon as Chris processed the application for adoption, it had immediately triggered the system, and a caseworker had already been in touch for a preliminary meeting.
Apparently it didn’t usually happen so quickly, but there was something about an opening and the woman passing through town and it all worked out. Nick didn’t question it because as far as he was concerned, the faster they could get everything done with, the better. Or in this case, as soon as they could get started with what would surely be a huge fight and ongoing legal battle for him to convince the courts that even though he was a single man with a history of partying and womanizing, with no biological relation to the child, he was absolutely the best candidate.
Even he had trouble buying it.
He’d been hoping to get to Sweetie Pies early for his meeting to find a good table, get Amelia set up in a high chair and most importantly, get himself a strong coffee, but as was way too familiar these days, he was running behind. He’d made the rookie mistake of dressing Amelia before feeding her and of course, the baby chose today to smash yams all through her hair and pretty dress that Katie had brought over for the occasion. After a quick bath and a change of clothes, he’d be lucky at this point to have enough time to order before Susan Johnson arrived.
Mercifully, the bakery was surprisingly not busy when he got there. And after a quick scan of the room, it looked as if he’d beat Susan there as well. Nick wheeled the stroller to a table by the window, and leaving Amelia where he could see her, he went to the counter to give his order.
As always, Georgia’s smile was warm and flirty as she took his order, and the ridiculous thought flashed through his brain that maybe he could ask her to fill in as his fiancée. But he dismissed the idea almost immediately. He barely knew her. Although she seemed like a genuinely nice woman, she could have some sort of sinister past that he had no idea about and would only make everything a million times worse. It wasn’t likely, and Nick felt bad for thinking something so terrible about the woman who handed him his coffee, but he was not in a good state of mind.
She finished preparing his order and when he held out his cash, she waved it away. “It’s on me.”
He tilted his head in question and she grinned.
“In fact,” Georgia said. “I was thinking maybe we could go out sometime.”
Oh shit.
He couldn’t even begin to process what dating Georgia would mean right now. Hell, what dating anyone would mean. He had one focus and— The subject of his focus, Amelia, let out a shriek of delight behind him. Coffee forgotten, he spun on his heel to see his baby girl laughing and hitting her stuffed toy against the bar of her stroller in pure glee. He followed her gaze to see what was making Amelia so happy and reflexively, he, too, smiled.
Charlotte.
Charlotte
She couldn’t help it. The moment Charlotte saw the baby in her stroller, it was like a gravitational pull. Amelia smiled and when Charlotte stuck out her tongue, she giggled, and then…Charlotte couldn’t be stopped. Her need for caffeine forgotten, she moved closer to the stroller and started making faces at Amelia.
Every time Amelia laughed, Charlotte laughed, which caused the baby to laugh even louder. When finally Amelia let out a shriek in the small bakery, Char glanced up toward Nick at the counter.
Her eyes met his, and she shrugged, using a series of gestures to ask whether she could pick the baby up. Nick nodded with a grin, and it was the only invitation Charlotte needed.
“Aren’t you just the cutest little girl in the whole world?” she murmured as she unclipped Amelia and lifted her into her arms. The baby giggled and Char lifted her up so she could blow a raspberry on her belly, making her laugh even harder. “You are the sweetest thing in the whole wide world, aren’t you?”
Char could lose herself all day in the sweet sounds of a baby laughing. There was something so profoundly pure and innocent, as if nothing else mattered. It was quickly becoming her favorite thing to do. The idea boards, paint and fabric samples she’d tucked into her bag to show Stephanie Starz were all temporarily forgotten as she lost herself in the baby.
“Excuse me.”
The voice behind her jarred Charlotte from her focus on Amelia. She pulled the baby close to her chest and turned to see a large woman with an even larger bag draped over her arm, standing directly behind her.
“My name is Susan Johnson. I’m the caseworker,” the woman said, as if that were supposed to explain everything. “This must be Amelia.” She reached out and tried to tickle the baby’s chin, but Amelia immediately shied away and tucked her face into Charlotte’s chest.
Char glanced to the counter where Nick was watching, almost frozen in place with wide eyes, and all at once, everything fell into place.
The legal system is definitely not designed to make things easy for a single dad trying to secure custody.
She looked back to Susan, and then the baby cuddled tightly in her arms. She owed Nick a favor. A big one. And hadn’t he just told her without really telling her that he needed help?
“Yes. This is Amelia.” Char shifted the baby and extended her hand. “And I’m Charlotte.”
“Charlotte?” Susan shook her hand. “And who are you to baby Amelia? Are you a friend of Nick Newton’s?”
A friend? Yes. She was definitely a friend. A friend who owed him a favor.
Looks like I need a wife. You want to marry me?
She didn’t even know what she was agreeing to, or what she was doing. All she knew was that there was a little girl whose well-being depended on a lot of things going right. “I guess you could say that,” she heard herself saying as Nick joined them, coffees in hand. She put the biggest, brightest smile on her face that she could. “I’m Nick’s fiancée. I’m so glad you could make it out to meet with us.”
Nick
Fiancée?
Nick almost choked. Had she…what had she…
He glanced from Charlotte to Susan back to Charlotte.
He put the coffees down on the table to keep from dropping them—which, by the way his hands shook, was going to be a very real possibility—and extended his hand to the caseworker. “Hello,” he said as smoothly as possible. “You must be Susan. Thank you for coming out so quickly. And I didn’t realize you’d have a chance to meet…” He glanced to Charlotte.
“Your fiancée?” Susan finished for him and gave him a strange look.
“Right.” He recovered quickly. “Sorry, it’s still all so new, and you know…”
“I didn’t know you were engaged to be married.” Susan watched him with one eye while she pulled out a folder and scribbled something down. “I would have expected that would be in the file here. It’s an important detail.” She looked up at first Nick and then Charlotte, who was the first to recover.
“Like Nick said, it really is all still so new. We decided to just go for it and we’re so thrilled, but we haven’t been able to find a minute to even get a ring.”
A ring?
Shit.
Nick glanced to Charlotte’s unadorned left hand. He hadn’t thought of that. But to be fair, he hadn’t thought Charlotte was going to jump in to be his fiancée. No, when he’d woken up, that was definitely not part of the plan. But…wow. If he could get his brain to catch up to what was happening, he might be able to start thinking logically and understand the ramifications of what she’d just done. But right now, he was in total survival mode. “Sorry,” he said to both women, no longer really sure what exactly he was apologizing for. “It’s just been so…well, you know how it is with a baby. The sleep deprivation will be the death of us all.”
He smiled at Amelia, who waved her arms in his direction. His heart instantly swelled and he remembered exactly why he was putting himself through all this. It was for her. All of it. The lies and stories would be worth it if it meant she got to stay with him permanently.
“Oh, I remember those days myself.” Susan smiled kindly as she sat heavily in the chair. “If she’s keeping you up at night all of a sudden, she might be working on a tooth.” She directed the comment toward Charlotte, who didn’t miss a beat.
“You know, I think she might be.” Charlotte smiled at Amelia, who immediately giggled.
Nick stood, transfixed, and more than a little stunned at how things were playing out. But he needed to get hold of the situation. And soon. He needed to— “Susan, do you want to hold her?”
He surprised himself with the question, but the woman seemed delighted by the offer. “I…well…yes,” she finally settled. “I think that’s probably a good idea.”
“Great.” Nick nodded at Charlotte, who handed the baby to Susan. “Char, can I get your help for a second? I want to grab some cream and sugar.” He raised his eyebrows and thankfully Char followed him quickly without question.
As soon as they were far enough away, Nick whispered, “What are you doing?”
“I told you I’d help you however I could.” She kept a smile on her face, but Nick didn’t miss the flash of doubt in her eyes. “You mentioned how hard it is for a single dad to get custody. The opportunity presented itself, so I’m helping.”
“I didn’t…” He stopped himself at the look of intense concern written all over her face. She had no way of knowing that he already had things figured out. Her motives were good. She really was trying to help. Besides, it wasn’t the time to go into the details of it all. “Okay. But you know you’re committed now.”
She hesitated but nodded. “Anything you need, we got this.”
Together, they gathered up a little jug of cream and a selection of sugars before they turned to head back to the table. Char stopped him before they moved. “I’m supposed to meet Stephanie Starz here for a meeting. Should I call her and—”
“No.” He shook his head quickly. “This shouldn’t take too long.” He sure hoped it wouldn’t, because if Susan asked any questions that they didn’t have answers for—which would be all of them—they were going to be in big trouble. “Follow my lead here, okay? If she asks any questions about…well, anything.”
“Got it.” Char nodded. “I know I probably should have thought it out first…but I’m here to help, Nick. I’m sorry if I—”
“Don’t worry about that right now, okay?” He reached out and lifted her chin gently so she was looking at him. It was a tender touch and if it had been under any other circumstances, he might have followed it up with…no. He couldn’t even let himself think of Charlotte in any other way. Especially now.
Nick waited until Char’s eyes cleared. She nodded and offered him a small smile. “Great,” he said, releasing her and immediately missing the feel of her skin under his touch. “Let’s go dazzle.”
They probably didn’t dazzle, but to Nick’s pleasant surprise, they did make Susan laugh a few times. Nick did his best to keep the conversation light and focused primarily on Amelia.
“Okay,” Susan finally said as she set her now-empty coffee cup down and reached for her notebook. “Let’s talk next steps.”
“Next steps?” Nick nodded knowingly despite the fact that he didn’t know anything. “What does that look like?”
“Well, it’s my understanding that you’ve requested an expedited process.” She looked up to meet his eyes. He nodded sharply and she refocused on the notebook, scribbling something down on the pages. “So, the next thing is we’ll have a home visit, where I can assess you all in your home together and—”
“That could be difficult,” Nick interrupted. Realizing how it sounded, he amended quickly, “It’s just that I’m temporarily living in the guest suite of a friend’s place. I’m having—we’re having—” He shot a smile at Charlotte, who’d grabbed his hand under the table. If he hadn’t been so distracted by the panic coursing through him at the idea of Susan visiting their home when it wasn’t actually theirs at all, he might have been able to appropriately respond to the feel of her skin on his. As it was, it was probably a good thing that he was distracted because having any actual feelings for Charlotte was definitely not part of what was turning out to be a whole lot more complicated of a plan than he’d originally thought. “We’re having a house in town renovated,” Nick continued. “Our guest suite is pretty tight and we’re—”
“That’s fine.” Susan grinned. “I’ve made a note that it’s only temporary. I’m sure that with your financial means, your permanent residence will be more than adequate as well. But that’s not what this visit is all about.”
“It’s not?”
“No.” Susan spoke while she scribbled notes that Nick desperately wanted to see in her notebook. “It’s more about getting a feel for the family and their dynamic. Just to assess the vibe of the family and the general fit.”
The vibe?
Nick just swallowed and nodded. “Of course. Makes sense.”
He squeezed Charlotte’s hand under the table, which had the unexpected effect of calming him. That had never happened with a woman before. Even if it was completely unplanned, it was nice to know that she was there for him and no doubt would help him do whatever it took. Including a home visit. “Why don’t we schedule that for next week sometime?” Nick suggested as he looked over to Charlotte. “Does that work for—”
“Oh no,” Susan interrupted. “We don’t schedule these visits.”
“What?” It was Charlotte who asked. “What does that mean?”
The older woman smiled as if she enjoyed keeping people on their toes, which she probably did. It was part of her job, after all. “The idea is to make sure you’re natural and not overly prepared, so we can get a real idea of what things are like in your home. So, we’ll give you a window of…” She scratched a few more things down. “No later than three to five weeks.”
“Three to five weeks?” Nick couldn’t help the outburst. “I thought you were expediting things?”
“I assure you, Mr. Newton. That is expedited. And you never know, I could pop in anytime.”
Nick was about to complain, but fortunately for him, Stephanie chose that moment to walk into the bakery for her meeting with Charlotte.
“Normally in situations like these—is that…”
Nick knew without turning around who had just walked in and he couldn’t help but smile.
“Stephanie Starz?”
“It is,” Nick said as Stephanie spotted them and raised her eyebrows in question. No doubt wondering why Charlotte was sitting next to him when he’d decided that there were no options but the truth.
Still, the professional she was, Stephanie’s face instantly smoothed into an easy smile. She offered them a little wave and made her way to the counter to place her order.
“You know her?” Susan was completely star-struck. “Do you think maybe I could meet her?”
“Normally, I’d say yes,” Nick said with a glance to Charlotte, “but she’s actually here to meet with Charlotte about a business opportunity and—” He didn’t bother saying how Glacier Falls was Steph’s safe place, where hardly anyone bothered her with her celebrity status and he wanted to respect that for her and not exploit his famous friend, but Susan got the point.
“Oh, of course.” Susan tried and failed to hide her disappointment. “Maybe some other time?”
“You know what?” Char gave his hand one final squeeze and stood. “The meeting can wait a few minutes, I’m sure. I’ll go ask her if she can spare a few minutes.”
Nick jumped to his feet, his hand still in Charlotte’s. “You don’t have to—”
“Don’t worry.”
She turned to him so casually and with such a sweet, natural smile as she reached over and touched his cheek gently, that, in a heartbeat, everything with Charlotte felt one thousand percent real. But when she leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss on his lips, he was completely hooked. It was the quickest of kisses, only lasting a fraction of a second, but it might as well have lasted hours for the feelings and sensations that passed between them in that instant. Nick knew she felt it, too, because when she pulled back, she looked a little stunned before blinking hard.
And then, once more her sweet smile was in place. “I’m sure she won’t mind,” she finished. “I’ll be right back.”
Nick watched Charlotte approach Steph and have a quick conversation as next to him, Susan prattled on about how she was Stephanie Starz’s biggest fan and had seen all her movies, as if she hadn’t even seen what had just transpired between Nick and Charlotte, which likely was exactly the case. After all, they were supposed to be a couple. An innocent kiss was expected. But not for him. And even when Steph turned in their direction with her trademarked dazzling smile, it took all the focus he could muster to return the smile and lift his hand in a wave before both Steph and Charlotte joined them.
Charlotte
Having Stephanie show up right when she did turned out to be exactly what Charlotte needed. With the caseworker completely star-struck and distracted, Char could make her exit and take a few minutes to catch her breath. Although she was going to need a whole lot more than a few minutes to catch her breath. She’d said her good-byes and retreated to the bathroom to compose herself.
The moment the door shut, she leaned back against the door and took a breath.
What had she just done?
Char ran the water in the tap and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Had she really just told a stranger—a caseworker—that she was Nick Newton’s fiancée? Had she really just put his entire custody fight at risk because she thought she was doing him a favor?
She blinked hard.
He’d gone along with it, but he’d been surprised. Very surprised. Had she screwed things up?
And what did it mean now that she’d publicly declared they were engaged?
So many questions. And no doubt, there would be some kind of major debrief. There had to be. But she still had the meeting with Stephanie Starz to get through. The meeting that Nick had helped arrange. The whole reason she’d felt as though she owed him in the first place.
But the kiss. The kiss? She’d kissed him because not only did it seem like the right thing to do in that moment, but she’d wanted to. If she was honest, ever since she’d met him, she’d wanted to kiss him. Even though she’d met him almost immediately after returning home to Glacier Falls in the worst of situations, she’d always felt a draw to Nick. And…then with this situation, it just felt right. After all, they were trying to convince this woman they were a couple, right?
She could justify the kiss any way she wanted, but it wasn’t the actual kiss that was the issue; she knew that. It was the way he’d looked at her after. It was in that moment she knew that he’d felt it, too. They might be entering into the biggest game of pretend she’d ever played, but underneath it, there was definitely something real. She just had no idea what that was, or what she was ever going to do about it.
Char shook her head in an effort to clear her thoughts.
It didn’t work. There was no way she’d be able to think straight for this meeting.
Char bent down and splashed the ice-cold water on her face before turning the taps off and pulling a paper towel out to pat her face dry. The cold water helped. She took a deep breath, inhaling through her nose and exhaling hard from her mouth the way her therapist had coached her.
Inhale calm.
Exhale stress.
Repeat.
After a few moments, she wasn’t feeling calm exactly, but she was no longer feeling as if she might jump out of her own skin. An improvement, to be sure.
Charlotte readjusted her tote bag on her shoulder, took one last deep breath, and headed back out to the coffee shop.
Stephanie was just finishing up with Susan, and was signing her notebook. The same notebook she’d been scribbling notes about their meeting in. She could only hope that was a good sign. As she rejoined the small group, Nick reached out and, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. He bent and whispered into her ear, “We’re going to have a lot to talk about, aren’t we?”
It was a huge understatement. Charlotte couldn’t help but giggle as she nodded.
Amelia was asleep in her stroller now, a thumb in her mouth. So innocent. So peaceful. With no idea that her whole world could potentially be turned upside down.
Not if I can help it.
The thought filled her with unexpected passion. Char still wasn’t even one hundred percent sure what her role would be, or what exactly she was going to be able to do about anything, but whatever she could do, she would. Of that much she was sure.
The conversation around her was wrapping up, and Char forced herself to refocus.
“It was really nice meeting you,” Steph said to Susan with a practiced smile. “But I really do need to steal Charlotte here for a quick meeting. Maybe we’ll see you again?”
“Oh! I…well…I mean…maybe…” Susan’s face blazed red, but it was easy to see that she would love nothing more than to see Stephanie Starz again. In an effort to regain her professionalism, she turned to Charlotte. “I will definitely be seeing you again.”
“Yes.” Char nodded. “I look forward to it.”
“Enjoy your meeting,” Nick said. “I’ll see you at home.”
Home.
Char nodded as Nick pressed a kiss to her temple. Such a small, simple action. One that couples everywhere did without even thinking. But they weren’t a couple, and the kiss fired through her entire body in a sizzle.
Somehow, she managed to keep it together long enough to follow Steph across the small bakery to a table in the back corner where they could have a little bit of privacy. Up until an hour ago, it was this meeting she’d been all worked up for, and now…she could barely process the feelings and emotions slamming into her at a shockingly intense rate.
“You good?” Steph smiled and sat across from her. “Do you need a coffee?”
“Maybe something stronger?”
Stephanie laughed and the sound dissolved some of the lingering tension.
“It might be a little early for that,” Steph said. “But I wouldn’t blame you for needing a stiff drink. I assume that you…well, I know Nick’s situation, and if you just volunteered for what I think you did…damn. I’m impressed.”
Char shook her head, still not entirely sure what, in fact, she had just volunteered for. “I don’t know if you should be impressed,” she said honestly. “I really hope I didn’t screw things up for him and…well…you know…maybe we should talk about your cabins.”
The shift in topic was exactly the distraction Charlotte needed. She pulled out her portfolio with the stack of ideas she’d been working on for Steph to check through. For the next hour, the two women pored over Char’s idea books, sketched out some new thoughts about the direction Steph was hoping to go with, and completely immersed themselves in all things design to the point that Char was able to forget, even if only for a few minutes, about the mess she’d just gotten herself tangled up in.