All Summer Long (Fool's Gold #9)(43)

Charlie saw Patience was chatting with Jo. “I know,” she said quietly. “He’s helping me. Nothing more.”

“You’re trusting him with something intimate. What you do will affect you more than you think.”

“I know myself. I’ll be fine.”

Patience returned with the fries. “Jo was saying all the hotel rooms in town are booked for the Fall Festival. That’s one of my favorites.”

“Mine, too,” Charlie said. “I’m a sucker for candied apples.”

Annabelle shook her head, as if accepting Charlie wouldn’t listen, and joined the conversation.

Charlie appreciated her concern, but knew the truth. She wasn’t at risk of falling for Clay. She knew exactly what she was doing and what was going to happen when they sealed the deal, so to speak. He was a way to get what she wanted—emotional healing that would allow her to be the best mother possible. She had no expectations for anything beyond his tutorial skills.

* * *

DOMINIQUE RANG THE bell and waited. She knew there was an excellent chance her daughter would leave her standing on the porch, but part of May’s advice had been not to give up. Dominique planned to be as persistent as necessary.

She had several pages of notes from her afternoon at the other woman’s house. None of it made sense to her, but she understood that she had to do something. The alternative was to give up and leave. An attitude that did not get one very far in life. Dominique was willing to admit she had flaws, but not being willing to do the hard work wasn’t one of them.

She waited for several seconds, then pressed her finger on the bell again, this time not letting up until Chantal flung open the door and stood in front of her.

“I was coming,” she said defensively. “I was in the back of the house.”

“You were hoping I would go away. You’ve been avoiding me.”

Her daughter’s mouth twisted, perhaps in annoyance, perhaps in frustration. But instead of denying the obvious, she stepped back and motioned for Dominique to enter.

“No bodyguard?” Chantal asked.

“He’s back in Los Angeles for a few weeks. He’ll return soon enough.”

Chantal led the way to a smallish living room. There was a worn sofa and a couple of chairs. The fireplace was nice—original, Dominique thought.

“This house has good bones,” she said, settling on a sofa cushion. “But the wall color is drab and your fabric choices are plain. Whoever you hired as a decorator should be fired.”

Charlie wore worn jeans and a T-shirt. Her feet were bare, as was her face. Her hair stood in unruly tufts, as if she’d been running her fingers through it.

Now she put her hands on her slim hips and sighed. “That’s why you’re here? To criticize my house?”

“No. Of course not.” Dominique wanted to point out she’d simply been offering an opinion. She replayed the words and thought perhaps they had sounded critical, although that hadn’t been her intent.

Chantal reluctantly sat in a chair, her arms crossed over her chest.

She looked so much like Dan, Dominique thought. The familiar ache, the pain of missing the only man she’d ever loved, returning to prod her heart. His eyes, his smile. Certainly his build.

He had loved her so much. She had been the center of his universe. And then Chantal had been born and he’d given much of that love to his daughter.

Dominique understood that it was good for a father to love his children, but she’d never understood his total devotion. She’d felt as if she’d lost the only thing that had ever mattered. Because being who she was and having all the accolades had never been as important as Dan’s love.

“Are you all right?” Chantal asked.

“Yes. Of course. I was thinking about your father. He adored you.”

Her daughter gave her a genuine smile. “He was great. I still miss him.”

“I do, as well. He was such a wonderful man.” Dominique put her hands in her lap and glanced around the room. “The windows are very nice.”

“Thank you.”

“You own the house?”

“Yes. I bought it shortly after I moved here.”

“Why Fool’s Gold?”

What she really wanted to ask was “What possessed you to choose this ridiculous little town when you could have lived in New York or Los Angeles” but felt that might sound slightly judgmental. May had told her to be accepting. To try to think about things from her daughter’s point of view.

“I fit here,” Chantal told her. “I’d been living in Portland when I came here on vacation.”

“Maine?”

“Oregon.”

“You lived in Oregon?”

Chantal smiled. “It’s nice there.”

“I doubt I’d like it. Too much rain. The weather is better here.”

“They have seasons.”

That established, they both looked around the room. Dominique was aware of the silence, of the awkwardness. How she didn’t know what to say to her own child.

Chantal drew in a breath. “Mom, are you here for a reason?”

Dominique wasn’t sure if she meant visiting at that moment or in Fool’s Gold in general, but decided it was time to speak the truth.

“I was recently diagnosed with colon cancer.”