Marrying the Billionaire - Macie St. James Page 0,24

had made much more sense for breakfast in the hotel. It didn’t make as much sense eating outdoors on a dock on the river.

“Which is why this weekend can help you. If you let it.”

He was no therapist. He was winging it here. But those two sentences popped out before he’d really thought them through. Once he stopped to think about them, though, he realized they made total sense.

“Closure,” she said.

Nicholas smiled. She was getting it now. That was exactly what she needed.

“So what?” She laughed. “Show up for the reunion tonight in my bathing suit?”

Now he laughed. “That might do it. But I’m thinking confront it head-on.”

The server set down their drinks, giving them a brief break in the conversation. When she walked away, Charlie had that contemplative look on her face again.

“It’s my only chance, isn’t it?” Charlie lifted her gaze to meet his. “I should say something.”

“Just walk up to them and speak your mind.” Nicholas shrugged and took a generous sip of his water. “No big deal.”

“Right. No big deal. Only confronting all my demons in one evening.”

“I can do it for you if you’d like. I’d love to say something that wipes that smug smile off Shellie’s face.”

Jamie would probably be a better target. He had a feeling she’d be more receptive to whatever he had to say. He could even warm up by pretending he wanted to talk to her about something else, then spring the conversation about Charlie on her.

“No, this is something I need to do. But what do I say?”

Nicholas sat back in his seat, thinking it through. “Start by making sure Shellie and Jamie are standing next to each other. Then walk up and tell them how hurtful their words were. Point out that despite their efforts, you became a confident, successful, beautiful person. Then say you hope they find some inner peace because tearing down others is just rotting them from the inside.”

Too far? From the look on Charlie’s face, he thought maybe so. Her eyes widened and her perfectly pouty lips seemed frozen in a puzzled frown.

“Wow,” she said. “That’s intense.”

But her mouth broke out in a smile. She liked it, but only in a theoretical sense, he figured. She’d never say something like that.

“That’s how I see it,” Nicholas said. “The way she treated you says far more about her than you.”

“Is this where you’re going to say she was jealous because that’s not the case at all—”

“No. Just that people like that, well, I feel sorry for them. They sit around looking at others, talking about them, because they don’t have enough going on in their own lives. Do you gossip about other people?”

Again, Charlie stopped to think. It was an instinct, and he hoped he was right. Mostly because he wanted to be able to make this point.

“I guess I don’t, really. Brooke and I talk about her relationship, shows we like. Wait—do celebrities count?”

He thought about that for a second. “No. Celebrities don’t count.”

“Maybe they should. If your point is gossiping is bad for us, gossiping about celebrities is the same. I’d be a far more productive, useful person if I channeled that energy elsewhere.”

Nicholas nodded. He could see that. He never spent time gossiping. It just wasn’t his thing. Even as a teenager, he’d been a little too focused on his own life to worry about what other people were doing.

“You can see, though, that Shellie might have her own issues, which was why she picked on you,” he said.

“Yes. I see it. Jamie, too. You know how sometimes the rational part of you says something, but you don’t listen to that rational part? That’s how it is the second I see the two of them.”

“Which is exactly why I don’t go to my high school reunions. It’s like you slip right back into those dynamics. You’re a teenager again, with all the insecurities. Except for the people who loved high school. I guess they go right back to whatever they felt at that age.”

Charlie studied him while he talked. Was it his imagination, or had her expression changed? It was in her eyes. There had been a shift, but it was a shift back to the cool confidence he’d seen when he first met her, back at her office.

“Closure,” she said with an assertive nod as their sandwiches were set down in front of them. “That’s exactly what I’m going to get.”

11

When Charlie had heard the reunion was being held at the