The true measure of a person's
worth lies not within what they can offer you but what you have to offer them.
No matter how desirable, are they worth your time, patience, forgiveness, loyalty,
friendship, love, respect, understanding, compassion, trust? If not,
they are worth more than you have to offer.
They deserve for you to let them
go.
Charlotte Roberts and Augustus (Auggie)
Caffrey may never have known each other, if it were not for William Caffrey.
They would have simply moved on with their own lives without the anger and
resentment that followed, when William fell for Charlotte almost six years
ago.
Under
the pretense of introducing Trace Delgado, her soon to be fiancé, to
her adoptive parents, Emerson and Amila Roberts, Charlotte arrives back in her
small southern hometown to personally collect on the forgiveness William
promised he would give her if she ever returned.
Spending his days at the hospital with his
brother William and his nights tending bar at The Dog House, Auggie knows it is
only a matter of time before he loses the brother he has tried his entire life
to protect.
When
Auggie finds out Charlotte is in town, to no doubt torment his brother on his
death bed, he wants her to stay as far away from William as possible. All
Charlotte wants is to be forgiven and move on with a clear conscience. While,
William's dying wish is to ensure the two people he cares about most
step outside of their comfort zones and see that life is not as cut and dry as
they think it is.
Charlotte's
guilt and Auggie's brotherly devotion compel them to, secretly, follow
through with William's last requests forcing them to begrudgingly spend
time together. The more time they spend together, the closer they become. And
the harder it is to keep what is taking place between them
secret.
Late
nights visits and stolen moments cause Charlotte to fall hard. But when a
reminder of what brought them together stops Auggie dead in his tracks, he
starts to question how far he's willing to go with someone who was his
brother's first.
From
Ch. 4~Deal
Leaning
onto the doorframe through the open door, Charlotte crossed one foot in front
of the other and greeted, "Well this is a
surprise."
Clearing
his throat as he looked her over, Auggie questioned, "Do you really
know how to do this?" holding a green ledger book up to
her.
Drawing out
a "Yep," she looked him up and down.
Auggie was consistent if nothing else. The
only thing that varied was his choice of shirt and even then it was still
plaid. And what was with the beanie? Clearly he wasn't going bald, she
had seen him at the cemetery without it and although it was fashionable to wear
them, he didn't strike her as keeping up with
trends.
Just about
the time she started to think about what was hidden by his ugly shirt, Auggie said,
"Sundays are my only day off."
"And?" she questioned, wanting him to come right out and ask
her for help.
"That's the day I work on this
stuff."
Rolling her
eyes as she turned to walk back into the living room, Charlotte replied,
"Thanks for sharin'."
Auggie followed her into the house,
already frustrated by the way she was acting.
Closing the
door behind himself, he griped, "You said you knew an easy way to keep
books. Are you gonna show me or what?"
Continuing
to the couch, she sat down, crossing one leg over the other, saying,
"That depends."
"On what?"
Fluttering
her eyelashes at him, Charlotte proposed, "Ask me
nicely."
Narrowing
his eyes at her, he snapped, "Kiss my
ass."
Slowly
shaking her head, Charlotte leaned back rebutting, "I do believe
it's my ass you should be kissing, Augustus."
"You must be high out of your mind if you think I'm
kissin' anything of yours."
Feeling a
bit insulted, she sat up straight and offered, "Look, you
don't like me and I don't like you so let's lay our
cards on the table and help each other out."
Suspicious,
he scowled, "Alright."
Charlotte
patted the spot on the couch next to her, saying, "Have a
seat."
"Yea, no thanks."
Fluttering her lashes as she rolled her
eyes at him, she stood up with a loud huff.
~
Auggie watched as Charlotte
made her way to a chair facing the couch. With a sarcastic expression, she
motioned for him to sit on the couch by himself.
Taking the
offer, he sat before asking, "You wanna get dressed
first."
Crossing
one of her long legs over the other, she replied, "I am
dressed."
The
spot where he sat on the couch still smelled like her, making him wish she
would go put more clothes on.
"Let's hear it."
Placing her
hands on the arms of the chair, Charlotte stated, "I made your brother
a promise before he died and I need you to keep
it."
Running his
last conversation with Will over in his mind, Auggie asked, "Oh yea,
how's that?"
She was silent for a
moment before sharing, "He wanted me to make an effort with you. Since
he loved us and we cared about him, he wanted me to be here for
you."
Instantly
furious, Auggie stood up correcting, "I didn't just care about
him, he's my brother. I don't need anything from anybody and honey,
if I did, you're the last person on earth..." until she cut
him off, arguing, "Really? Then why are you
here?"
Asking himself that same question, Auggie
remembered Will making him promise he would look out for Charlotte while she
was here.
Glaring at her, Auggie sat back
down. He didn't want to spend time with her. He didn't want to
have anything to do with her at all. Will had really screwed him over with this
one.
"What did you have in mind?"
GoodReads
Giveaway
Charlotte
by M. Sembera
Giveaway ends October 03, 2014.
See the giveaway details at
Goodreads.
M. Sembera was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and
now lives in Brazoria, Texas with her husband, three kids, three dogs and two
cats. After writing her first short story when she was in high school, M.
instantly fell in love with writing. However, life sometimes gets in the way of
aspirations and it wasn't until years later, when her life calmed down,
M. was able to start writing again.
'For me, each new book I write or
character I create feels like the first time and I find myself falling in love
with writing all over again'
www.BrokenBirdMedia.com
Thank you ❤️
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