Love Renewed (Love Trilogy) (2 page)

Now Jack lived halfway across the country and had a job doing what he loved. Charlotte knew he had no desire to live back here and took advantage of the opportunity in front of her.

"You just want to run off, with me? Are you sure?
 
Why don't you talk to Trevin first before making any rash decisions?
 
I have to leave this evening as it is which is pretty fast."
 
Jack was pretty sure Charlotte wasn't going to change her mind and tried to dissuade her because he didn't think this was such a good idea.

Charlotte looked up at him then, her eyes red and swollen thanks to crying.
 
She pleaded with him.
 
"Please Jack, take me with you."

In that instant, Jack could see that if he didn't take her with him, she was probably going to end up leaving on her own and ending up in an even worse situation so he caved, nodding at her with sympathy in his voice as he spoke

"Finish packing," he told her. "I am due back to work in three days so we have to get on the road."

When she had finished packing as he’d told her, Charlotte went downstairs to talk to her parents. After telling them what happened with Trevin, she simply told them she wanted to get away. They tried to talk her out of it, to wait and see what Trevin said, but Charlotte refused to consider it.

He cheated on her, and she had seen it with her own eyes. He would deny it and unless she chose to believe him, she'd still be stuck here in this town and running into him all the time when all she wanted to do was yell at him. No, she told her parents, she was better off leaving and starting a new life where Jack lived so at least she'd have support.

They were sad but they loved her and wanted her to feel happy so they let her go without putting up more of a fight.
 
Charlotte asked her mother not to tell Trevin where she went or who she had left with and after her mother agreed, they were on the road.

As they were driving away, Charlotte couldn't help but look back, hoping to see Trevin chasing after her even.
 
Of course, there was nothing but darkness behind her, so she turned back around, hoping her future would be brighter than she could summon up the energy to imagine at this point.

~*~

The situation at the college had taken longer than Trevin had thought it would. He finally arrived back at his father’s house around eleven p.m.
 
He was staying there for the weekend, as his father needed some work done around the house and wanted Trevin's help. He thought it was probably too late to call Charlotte but did so anyway.

Her voicemail picked up once again.

"Charlotte, please call me back. I am so sorry about earlier. It wasn't what it looked like, and I know that is a horrible line but it is the absolute truth. I would never hurt you; I love you and want to marry you. I left to come after you but got an emergency call from the school and had to leave immediately.
 
I have left you two other messages telling you what happened. Please call me, Sprite. I will be waiting for your call but will call your parents' house tomorrow if you don't call me back."

She didn't call him back by the next morning, so he rang up the house phone.

"Hello?" It was her mother, Anna.

"Hi, Mrs. Reylin, this is Trevin. Is Charlotte there?"

"No, she isn't Trevin and she told me not to tell you where she'd gone."

"Gone? What do you mean gone?"

"I said gone, as in she is no longer here. She left a few hours after she found you kissing another woman. We tried to talk her out of it but she wouldn't change her mind." Her tone was accusatory and he knew that Charlotte had told her everything.

Trevin squeezed his eyes shut at this point, looking down slightly while pinching the bridge of his nose.
 
He felt like crying in that moment and was trying to hold off the flow. "It wasn't what she thought. I even left her messages on her phone, hoping she'd call me back but she hasn't called me back."

Her mother scoffed. "Oh yes, I'm not surprised to hear you say that but the point is, she saw it and decided anywhere else was better than being here.
 
Also, Charlotte doesn't have her phone, it is laying right here by me. So she's gone and obviously doesn't want to listen to your excuses in person or on the phone. I'd recommend you not to call me again, especially since you have hurt my daughter so bad she has left town!" She slammed the phone down and Trevin winced.

After several moments, he went into his bedroom, closed the door and sat on his bed. So angry at Shelby in that moment for doing what she did and angry at himself for not ignoring that call so he could go see Charlotte without interruption, he put his head in his hands and cried for the first time since he was a child.

At Charlotte's house, her mother turned on her phone and listened to the messages that Trevin had left on voicemail. By the end of the third message, she was crying too.

Chapter One

10 years later...

It was a bleak day. Rain was
tap-tapping
rapidly against the house, like a woodpecker against a tree; the sun was nowhere it could be seen, missing as it had been for the last week.
 

With the storm raging outside, Charlotte Reylin sat at the table staring out the window of her kitchen, sipping some tea while pondering her day.
 
The rain was coming down so hard you could barely see the tree that was nine feet away from the window.

The bleakness seemed like it was competing with the amount she felt in her heart.
 
Today was the one year anniversary of her husbands' death and she wasn't sure what to feel.

She didn't think she was wrong to feel this way. Her perfect marriage had been an illusion; a house of cards built on a foundation made of quick sand that she hadn't known about. Jack was the one who had proposed, declaring his undying love for her in a way she'd found cheesy and endearing, impossible for her to resist when he'd been so kind to her.

When Charlotte found out that Jack had only wanted to get married to hide the fact he was gay, her whole world and that of their child became turned upside down.
 
He had tried those first few years of their marriage, but after they had a child, he became more distant; enough that she became suspicious and completely determined to figure it out. One day she had stumbled upon the proof - emails with login information to sex sites that had profiles with his picture, describing what he was looking for in a man.

Jack had tried to deny it and rather poorly at that. She wasn’t hearing it and she told him so - she had printed out all the proof and told him that he just needed to fess up. Ultimately, he told her the entire story but no discussion of the future took place at that time.

A few days later, Jack told her he wanted a divorce, so they could both "find someone whom they deserved and whom deserved them." The papers were never filed though - Jack died in a tragic car accident during a unexpectedly strong storm a week later.
 

She was upset that he had lied and deceived her, but she still missed him.
 
They'd been married nine years and if nothing else, he had been her friend.
 
They also had a loving and sweet son, named Douglas, who would never know his father or his secret, because she hadn't said a word to anyone about it or the subsequent mention of divorce after his unexpected death. She didn't find it necessary to malign his memory.

One she'd settled his affairs, she had called up her mother and asked if she could come home. Of course, her mother said yes so she packed up her and Douglas' things and returned home.
 
Her mother had missed her after she'd moved away. Charlotte felt like bringing her son back to live close to his grandmother was her way of apologizing for all the problems she had caused by leaving so suddenly all those years ago before her marriage to Jack.

Charlotte knew she would never make up for the pain she had caused everyone but she would try really hard to forge a new life for herself and her son.
 
Coming home seemed like a good plan, as the area was a small town in which she should have never left.

Sighing, she set down her tea and looked at her watch. Noting that it was time to get her son off to school and for her to start the rest of her day, she stood up and walked over to the sink, placing the cup inside it. Walking out into the hallway, she grabbed her jacket and put it on.

"Douglas!" She yelled up the steps, which let him know that she was ready to go and waiting on him. It was a routine they had been working on to prepare for the school year. "Are you ready for school yet?"

Douglas pounded down the stairs like the five year old he was.
 
One shoe was not tied while the other was in a haphazard bunny ear tie.

He looked up at Charlotte, blue eyes wide.
 
"I can't tie my shoes!
 
I tried mommy but I can't get them just right!"
 
His lower lip quivered.

Charlotte knew Douglas struggled with this, so she gave him a soft smile.
 
"It's all right darling.
 
Just sit down so I can show you again."

As she demonstrated how to tie the laces once again, Charlotte couldn't help but try not to cry.
 
Douglas did remember his papa, and he often came crawling to her bed at three a.m. crying for Jack.
 
He looked just like Jack had as a child, a thought which made Charlotte feel a surge of anger at Jack for what his secret would have done to their family and then he had died, leaving them anyway.

She pushed the thoughts to the side, smiling at Douglas when they'd finished tying his shoes.
 
"Okay, ready to go!"

After she grabbed her purse and keys, they were out the door to begin their day.

~*~

Douglas was apprehensive about leaving her at the door of the classroom, standing back while gripping his mother's hand.

Charlotte crouched down to his level and looked at him in the eyes.
 
He instantly shied away, looking down at his feet.
 
She tilted his face up gently, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek.

"Don't worry, sweetheart.
 
You will have a great day and hopefully make some new friends.
 
I will be here waiting for you at the end of the day and then you can tell me all about it!"
 
She tried to sound upbeat, so he wouldn't know how much his growing up affected her.
 
She wasn't ready for him to go to school either.

Douglas nodded and then gave her a hug.
 
"I love you mommy!" he exclaimed as he walked over to the teacher by the classroom door, stopping to glance back at his mother to make sure she was still there. Then he glanced at the teacher who was smiling down at him.

"Hello, Douglas! Welcome to my classroom, we will have so much fun!" The teacher said this so cheerfully that Douglas giggled his little shoulders relaxing. He waved to his mother and then stepped inside.

Charlotte nodded as the teacher smiled at her, closing the door so they could start the day. Wiping her eyes, she walked away and towards the exit.

Charlotte exited the school building and instantly raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun that was now shining brightly, the storm gone as if it had never been.
 
As she was walking toward her car, she heard a familiar voice call out to her.
 

"Charlotte?
 
Charlotte Reylin?
 
Is that you?"
 
The voice was deep and smooth.
 
It was the same voice that used to whisper naughty things in her ear, making her shiver with anticipation for when they would be alone.
 
Even now, just hearing his voice made it hard for her to breathe.

She paused in her walking and turned around, hardly noticing she had held her breath at the sound of his voice, which she let out in a rough whoosh.
 
That's when he walked into her line of sight, and she drank him in.

"Trevin Green. What are you doing here?"
 
She looked up into his green eyes and smiled slightly, trying to ignore the slash of pain from events long past.

He flashed a grin and shoved his hand through his hair nervously.
 
"I live here. I actually never left. This is the first I've seen of you though."

Charlotte nodded.
 
"I moved back about nine months ago.
 
I am staying with my mother and haven't gone out much."

Trevin looked confused.
 
"I see. I don't know where you were before so I'm going to assume you're living with your mother until you can get your own place?"

"Yes. I've got a job and everything but it is easier to live with my mother for now. Until recently, I had lived with my husband but he died last year," she informed him, watching his eyes go wide.

"I didn't know you'd gotten married. Hell, I should have figured you wouldn't have stayed single all this time. I suppose it was bound to happen in the past ten years. I'm sorry to hear that he died. What happened?"

She ignored his question. "It's all right. I hardly expected you to have stayed up on my activities all these years. Although, I did figure my mother would have told people about me, especially people she'd known all her life. This town is too small for secrets."

"Aw, come on Charlotte.
 
You know your mother had taken your side before you left - and after as well.
 
She probably told all her friends about you over the years but made them promise not to let the information get to me. People hold grudges for a long time it seems."
 
He made a face, as if he couldn't believe he'd deserved such treatment and in Charlotte's eyes he did.

Charlotte scowled at him, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her foot.
 
"Oh, because you don't feel that you deserved that?
 
She was trying to protect me after you'd thrown our relationship in the trash.
 
I'm not here to rehash the past though, thanks.
 
I have stood around long enough and I've got to get going."