Trent Igot to the coffee shop a little early, still trying to figure out if I was doing the right thing, but at least the place Stella had told me to be at actually existed. It wasn’t some abandoned lot or a murder house. Instead, it was a cozy little shop with sun streaming through tall windows, overflowing bookshelves against the walls, and knitting needles with wool in baskets next to some couches set up in the corner. The scent of espresso and pastries hung thick in the air, the low hum of chatter interspersed with the clicking of the needles as some people knitted while waiting for their orders. I scanned the room, not really sure who I was supposed to be looking for. Everyone inside was paired up, chatting quietly over their drinks or scrolling on laptops if they weren’t knitting. Nobody seemed particularly interesting, and no one waved at me or even looked up as if they might be looking for someone too. Great. She’s not here yet. After grabbing a coffee, I took a seat near the door and then waited. And waited. And waited some more. A tall blonde walked in, her hair bouncing as she moved. I straightened instinctively, thinking maybe that was my cue, but she drifted toward a group by the window and disappeared into their conversation. I sighed, drained the last of my coffee, and thought it over for a beat before I decided to give up. This whole blind date thing had been a bad idea, and obviously, the girl wasn’t even going to show, so ultimately, it was a complete waste of time. Standing up, I dropped some cash on the table and left, a bell tinkling cheerfully above my head as I walked out. When I st epped onto the sidewalk, however, hurried movement caught my eye and I turned my head to see Charlotte racing down the sidewalk. Alex’s sister, Charlotte. That Charlotte. She was hurrying down the street toward me, her rich brown hair slightly disheveled, her cheeks pink, and her shoulders tense. She stopped when she saw me, her eyes scanning left and right as if she was plotting a getaway. My eyebrows lifted. She looked flustered for some reason and I reckoned that if Alex had run into Sadie looking like that, he’d at least have made sure that she was okay, but I still approached slowly, my hands in my pockets and my voice cautious. She hadn’t seemed too keen on me the other night. “Hey.” As if she’d only just realized I was right in front of her now, she jumped slightly at the sound of my voice, then blinked up at me with those de ep blue eyes. “What... what are you doing here? At my coffee shop?” I squinted. “Yours?” She waved a hand, definitely flustered and clearly mortified by her choice of words. “No! I just mean it’s just my favorite. I don’t own it or—” Cutting herself off with a frustrated sigh, she gave her head a sharp shake. “I can’t really stop and chat. I’m supposed to be meeting someone.” I tilted my head. “I was supposed to meet someone too, but they didn’t show up.”
She frowned at me when I gave her a half-smile, trying to seem casual, but I was intrigued. Flustered like this and away from her family, little Charlotte Westwood didn’t look so little anymore. Instead, she looked like a wildflower caught in the first rays of the rising sun. Really, really pretty. Dark brown hair piled messily on top of her head, steely blue eyes, tall and lean in jeans and a tank top with sneakers on her feet. Her outfit was a far cry from the designer dresses and heels I’d seen her wear recently. Her eyes narrowed on mine. Then they widened like she’d just remembered something that made her growl under her breath. A trait she shares with her brother, evidently. Without another word, she shook her head again and practically sprinted past me into the coffee shop. I watched her through the glass for a beat before I followed her back inside. She moved straight to the counter and ordered her coffee. I st epped up right behind her and did the same. She slipped into a corner table, looking longingly out the window. I slid into a chair a table away, trying not to seem like she was the only reason I’d come back in here, but my curiosity was doing all the heavy lifting. Finally, she glanced at me with a sheen of suspicion in her eyes. “Are you stalking me?” I laughed softly. “No. I told you, I was also supposed to meet someone, but they didn’t show. Seeing you running down the street made me realize that sometimes, people are just late.” Her gaze flicked back toward the window, then returned to me with a mix of disbelief and hesitation. Maybe curiosity. As soon as she’d said she was meeting someone and then proceeded to sit down alone, I’d started putting the pieces together, and now I was watching her try to compose herself as she did the same thing. “Lottie?” Her eyes went wide, but that told me I’d hit the nail right on the head. I’d heard Alex call her Char the other night. Lottie must be the nickname her friends used. It has to be. Her lips pressed into a thin line. She shook her head so quickly, I thought her dark hair might topple out of the messy bun on her head. “No. No, no, no.” “Are you waiting for Tony?” I asked, ke eping my tone light. Her eyes flicked down to her coffee, then back to me. “Uh, yeah. I guess. I’m supposed to meet him here this morning, but he’s not... he’s just...” “Just a blind date your friend set up?” I finished for her. Her eyes widened again and she groaned, resting her forehead in one hand and shaking her head r epeatedly. “Stella. Of course.” I let a small smile spread my lips. “Right. Stella Marquise. She ambushed me in line at that coffee place around the corner from W&S the other day.” Her gaze flicked to the side, then back to me. “So you’re Tony?” I chuckled. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I wasn’t going to give my real name to some girl who refused to let me say no to going on a date with her friend.” “This cannot be happening,” she muttered, groaning again before resting her face in both of her palms and shaking her head once more. “If you tell Alex or Jameson about this—”
“About the fact that I accidentally went on a date with their baby sister and cousin?” I scoffed down a laugh. “You have nothing to worry about, Lottie. My lips are sealed.” “I wasn’t trying to trick you or anything. This was—” “A setup by a friend who had no way of knowing that we already know each other,” I said. “Don’t sweat it. You have a different nickname when you’re with your friends. I get it.” She finally lifted her face out of her hands and looked over at me again, those blue eyes so big and clear that it was almost like staring at the summer sky back in Texas when I really looked at her. God, she really has become beautiful. “Not only a nickname,” she mumbled. “I basically have a whole other identity.” “You’re not the only one,” I said, surprised that I was telling her this, but what the hell. We were here now. “When we were your age, Jameson was very different when he was with the family too. Same with Alex. Hell, I was different too.” “When you were my age,” she r epeated, her nose crinkling before she rolled her eyes. “Of course, because you’re so much older and wiser. You’re Jameson’s age, right? Basically the same as Alex?” “Thirty-three,” I said. “You’re, what, twenty?” “Twenty-five.” Her chin lifted ever so slightly, her eyes lighting with a challenge for me to tell her how much of a baby she was. “I’m twenty-five. It’s not that big a difference.” “Maybe not to you,” I mused out loud. “To be fair, you do seem a lot more mature than we were back then.” “Fifth graders are more mature than you guys were back then.” I opened my mouth to deny it, but then I realized she probably wasn’t wrong. We’d been young and dumb, and some of us had made bigger mistakes than others because of it. “Fair enough.” Her eyebrows rose like she was surprised I wasn’t arguing, but then she sighed and reached up to tug at her messy bun. We fell into a quiet pause, each of us sipping our drinks. “So, why were you late?” I asked, weirdly pleased when that made her look back at me. “Did you have some kind of—I’m sorry. I don’t even know what you do for a living. Work emergency?” “In a manner of speaking.” Her shoulders hunched, her jaw tightening a little, that same spark of a challenge in her eyes. “I don’t expect you to understand this, but one of the girls in my program had a rough week. She called and asked me to come over. It took longer than I expected.” I cocked my head. “Your program? Rehab?” “Big Sister,” she said, glaring at me. “I mentor some girls around the city. Help them with school stuff. Life stuff. Whatever they need. Field trips, fundraisers. You know, normal volunteer work. Not drug rehab, you jerk.” I shrugged, trying to gauge why she was reacting so defensively. She was nervous about this, careful, but there was pride tucked between her words. “That’s really cool. Admirable, even.” Her gaze met mine and I couldn’t read it at first, but it seemed guarded and even a little sk eptical. “Are you serious right now or are you making fun of me?”
“Why would I be making fun of you?” “Because I spend my days helping little girls with math and makeup while you guys try to take over the world.” I flat out laughed. “Darlin’, I raise cattle and count calves. I’m not sure that counts as trying to take over the world.” “Funny. I’ve heard you’re doing a lot more than that.” I shrugged. “I’m sure you do a lot more than teach little girls about makeup and math, but I don’t think we need to list our accomplishments. Unless this is secretly a job interview and you’d like my resume?” Color spread across her cheeks. Her dark blue eyes were suddenly sparkling like they had stars embedded in them. “No, I don’t suppose we do. So you are actually serious about thinking that it’s cool, what I do?” “Yeah, of course.” My brow furrowed. “Why wouldn’t I?” The corner of her mouth lifted in a smile that seemed strangely relieved. “I was worried you might think that it’s silly. Most people seem to.” I let out a low chuckle. “Maybe I did think that at first, but I’ve learned that I was wrong.” “You’re willing to admit that?” I shrugged. “Why not? If it’s true, it’s true. Sadie, my sister, and Jameson’s wife, which I guess makes her, like, your cousin-in-law now. God, that’s weird to think about, but anyway, Sadie has completely devoted her life to her foundation. It benefits animals and not kids, but yeah, I still admire the hell out of her for it.” “I’ve heard about that,” Charlotte said softly, her eyes practically glued to mine like she was still trying to figure out if I was about to start laughing. “Do you really support her, then?” I nodded. “Now? Absolutely.” “Only now?” “Y ep.” I sighed, absently scratching the side of my neck as some of that old shame rolled back in. “I wish I could say I always have, but at first, I really thought it was foolish. Just some hobby gone wrong that also happened to be a black hole for money, but after she and Jameson got together, we talked about it a lot. Eventually, I realized I was the fool.” “So you get it?” she asked almost hopefully. “Yeah, I think I do.” I looked back at her, wondering why this seemed so difficult for her to understand. It made me wonder what she put up with from her family. Maybe even her friends. I knew what Sadie had gone through and I wasn’t proud to have been part of it, but if there was one thing I knew for sure, it was that asking her about the organizations she worked with would draw her out of her shell. “So, tell me about this program of yours. It sounds really cool, getting to be there for kids. What are they like? What kinds of things do you help them with?” “They’re awesome and I help them with everything they need me for,” she said, then started talking about what she did and about the girls in the program, and it was like watching her come alive. I practically felt the ice between us melt and I realized, for the first time, she wasn’t just a Westwood heir or a rich Chicago princess. Somewhere between the piano recitals, the braces, and now, the boobs, she’d become an honest-to-God woman. A beautiful, strong, witty woman with a heart of gold and, from what I’d seen with her and Alex the other night, a backbone of steel. She was also so passionate that even I was halfway convinced to sign up to become a mentor by the time our first cup of coffee was done.
We paused for a few minutes while I got up to order another round. When I got back, she was giggling at something on her phone. She turned the screen to show me. “That’s Emily. She’s only ten, but she wants to be a comedian when she grows up. Check her out. She’s actually pretty good.” She hit play, and a few seconds later, I was laughing too, surprised that someone so young could have such a huge personality. After we’d watched the video together, Charlotte r eplied with a string of cheering emojis. Then she turned back to me with a huge grin on her face. “Oh, my gosh. You should also see Tahlia. She took part in a talent show the other day and she decided to be a mime. It’s the cutest thing you’ve ever seen.” Immediately picking her phone up again, she scrolled through her gallery and proceeded to show me more videos of the girls. Charlotte herself was in some of them, chasing after them during a fun day or posing with them after getting them ready for prom or some other event. I learned more about her in a couple hours than I’d ever known, and I’d known this girl for a damn long time. We finally left the coffee shop together, walking side by side. Charlotte’s hands were wrapped around her coffee cup and she was still talking a mile a minute. She had a way of filling the air with her stories and little observations about the people around us, and I found myself listening without interrupting, letting her voice pull me along. “You know,” she said after a story about one of the girls in her Big Sister program. “It’s exhausting, but it’s so worth it. Even when they’re driving me completely insane.” I shook my head slightly, grinning. “Ke ep talking at your own risk. Your energy is so contagious that you’re making me feel like I should be doing something productive with my life instead of just managing bulls and pasture schedules.” She laughed, glancing up at me. “Bulls and pastures? That sounds epic. You’ve got some real cowboy stuff going on, huh?” “Exc ept for the part where the rugged cowboy now also has to deal with corporate finance and shipping logistics.” She tilted her head, studying me. “Wait, so is that why you’re in Chicago?” I shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter. I’d rather ke ep hearing about your stuff. I just thought I should warn you that if you ke ep talking, I might show up there tomorrow.” Suddenly, she stopped walking. “Shit, I’ve been talking your ear off and I just realized I haven’t even asked what you’re doing here. What are you doing here?” Before I could give her some brief version of what Alex and I were planning, her phone rang. As if his ears had been burning, I saw his name on her screen. She winced slightly. “I should go.” “I understand,” I said. “It was good talking to you, Charlotte.” “Yeah, you too, Trent.” She slid her thumb across the screen and turned, ducking into the flow of pedestrians and disappearing. As the city swallowed her up, I felt my chest tighten and I wondered why my heart was pounding faster than it had for a long time. Finally turning to go in the opposite direction, I shook my head at myself.
This was ridiculous. I barely knew her, and on top of that, she was Alex’s little sister and Jameson’s baby cousin. There was absolutely no way anything could ever happen between us, and yet, somehow, I already couldn’t get her out of my head.