again. Somehow he had to heal the wound he’d inflicted so Charlotte wouldn’t be uncomfortable with him living next door.
He’d tried to apologize earlier, but even to him the words had fallen short. How did he express how sorry he was for leaving her alone on what should have been their wedding day? He’d known at the time that the note he’d scribbled at the last minute had been insufficient, so he’d called her the next morning, but she wouldn’t speak to him.
When the two letters he’d written to her had been returned unopened, he should have taken that as a sign of just how hurt she’d been and kept trying to reach her but he didn’t. He convinced himself that she didn’t want to hear from him and that he should honor her wish. That was a poor excuse and he’d known it at the time. His only explanation was that he’d been young and dumb and looking for an easy way out of a difficult situation. Twelve years later he was older and hopefully wiser. He wouldn’t walk away after one effort to beg her forgiveness. So he hadn’t let more than the hour it had taken to unload the truck and talk to his Realtor pass before he made a second effort.
The door swung open. “What are you doing here?”
“I hoped we could talk.”
“I hoped to never see you again, yet here you are.”
“Charlotte, we were friends once. I know I ruined that friendship and that you don’t owe me anything. But can we talk for a few minutes? Please?”
She was quiet so long he wondered if she had any intention of replying. “Five minutes. I’m only agreeing to this so you’ll leave me alone. Got it?”
He backed up, letting her step outside. Although she had two chairs on her front porch, she leaned against the wall and folded her arms over her chest. Despite the serious conversation he wanted to have, he couldn’t help noticing how sexy she was. How good she smelled.
He steered his mind back where it belonged. Five minutes wasn’t long, so he cut to the chase. “I shouldn’t have left you alone at the church, Charlotte. I should have been there beside you.”
“So why’d you do it?” Her voice was so soft it barely carried to him, but the pain and confusion came through loud and clear. Regret made his heart ache.
“Honestly? I was scared that I’d give in to the pressure. I wanted my father’s approval in the worst way. The same way you wanted your father’s. But I came to realize getting married and sacrificing our dreams in order to fulfill theirs was too high a price to pay.” He heaved a sigh as he remembered the pressure he’d been under at the time. Even at twenty-two he’d known a marriage under those circumstances was doomed. He just hadn’t known soon enough. “We would have been miserable. I thought if we presented a united front and told them we didn’t want to get married they’d have to agree we were making a mistake. But I couldn’t convince you to stand with me.”
“So you’re saying it’s my fault you didn’t show.”
“No. Not at all. The fault was all mine. I took the coward’s way out and you were left all alone to face everyone. No one could ever fault you for what I did.”
Charlotte blew out a breath. “My father accused me of doing something to drive you away.”
“What? That’s insane. You didn’t do anything wrong. We shouldn’t have been forced to marry just to suit them. They didn’t need us to be married in order to merge their businesses.”
“And yet the merger didn’t happen.”
“Not our fault.”
She shrugged. “Are we done?”
“Do you accept my apology?”
“What difference could it possibly make now?”
He looked into her beautiful eyes, hoping he could see some emotion there. He didn’t. If she felt anything, she wasn’t willing to share it with him. “Haven’t you ever done something you regretted? Hurt someone you cared about? Wouldn’t you want their forgiveness, no matter how late your apology was in coming?”
She closed her eyes. “Fine. I forgive you. Now if there’s nothing else...”
He wished he believed her, but he knew she was saying whatever it took to get rid of him. Gaining her forgiveness would take time.
“Just one more thing. I want you to know that I contacted my Realtor and tried to get out of my lease. I can’t. So as much as I hate to do it to you, we’re stuck as neighbors.”
She blew out an exasperated breath. “That it? Or do you have some other bad news to drop on me?”
“No. That’s it.” He’d pressed her as far as he dared. He needed to give her space. Besides, he needed to get back to Bobby. “Good night.”
She didn’t answer, but then, he didn’t expect her to. After the way he’d hurt her, he didn’t deserve forgiveness that easily. But it was a start. At this point, he would take it.
“How long is this going to take?” Bobby asked as Rick parked in front of the medical building the next morning. Bobby had been grumbling since Rick told him he couldn’t stay home alone. The town was small and safe, but Rick wasn’t comfortable leaving his son on his own for more than a few minutes. Once he and Bobby got settled, he was going to find someone to watch Bobby until school started.
“Not long. I told you I want to get a look around and see what I need to do.” Agreeing to set up the practice sight unseen had been risky, but Rick saw this as both a professional and personal opportunity. He’d relied on information provided by the mayor in conversations over the past several months and photos provided by the real-estate agent. This was the first time he would see his building in person. Hopefully those pictures were accurate.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“I told you to plan on occupying yourself. You could have brought a book. If you don’t plan—”
“Yeah, I know. I’ll get waylaid and end up where I don’t want to be. Like here.”
“Bobby.”
“Never mind. I’ll just sit in the car and listen to the radio.”
“Not a chance.” Rick removed the key from the ignition and stepped out. After fixing Rick with a glare and heaving a sigh so heavy he must have pulled oxygen from his toes, Bobby got out of the car and slammed the door just in case Rick hadn’t picked up on his annoyance.
A man of about Rick’s height was walking in their direction. He smiled. “Are you Dr. Tyler?”
“Yes.”
The man offered his hand. “I’m Lex Devlin.”
“Mr. Mayor. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Call me Lex.” He turned his attention to Bobby. “Hi. You must be Bobby.”
To his credit, despite how annoyed he was with Rick, his son was polite. “Yes. It’s nice to meet you, sir.”
Lex nodded. “I’m here to answer any questions you might have.”
