Chapter Text
Charlotte chose an empty seat by a window and plopped her tote bag down at her feet. It had been a long week at school, with her students acting like feral and insolent brats. But it was the end of the year, and their behavior was to be expected. Now, on the southbound train down to Sanditon, she just wanted to let that all go and focus on the summer. Georgiana was having a huge birthday bash tomorrow night, and Charlotte couldn’t wait to see all her friends.
She missed them! She missed Georgiana’s carefree spirit, Arthur’s adventurousness, Mary’s sage advice and even Tom’s never-ending schemes. They were good people. Solid friends. They helped her pick up the pieces mid-summer last year when a certain guy had blown her off after a hot and heavy romance.
Charlotte was holding out hope that maybe he wouldn’t come back this summer at all. Maybe he would stay home and throw even more of himself into his startup. It would certainly make it easier for her to move around town without bumping into him or sweet little Leo.
Georgiana said she invited him to the party; Tom was insistent. But nobody thought he would come. Word on the street was that his company was getting ready to ink a merger with a tech industry giant. Then he’s probably sleeping at the office these days, she thought.
Time had softened most of the heartache from last July, and Charlotte was feeling significantly more confident than she was all those months ago. She was finally feeling like her old self again. After two consecutive relationship disasters, she was done leaning on guys who couldn’t make a commitment to anything other than their business interests.
This summer would be for late nights, fruity cocktails, wild dancing, lazy beach mornings, and plowing through a stack of beach reads. She even looked forward to rainy afternoons spent with the battered Scattergories game that Georgiana held together with tape and binder clips.
So she was not prepared when her phone chimed and the message awaiting her was from the one person she did not want to see in Sanditon.
X: I’m coming tomorrow night. I thought you should know. Tom wants me to meet some American tech bros that are gonna be there.
C: Ok.
X: I will try to keep my distance.
C: You don’t need to do that.
X: I don’t want to ruin your good time. You & G deserve to have fun with your friends.
C: What you do or say will have very little impact on my good time.
X: Ouch.
C: You made yourself perfectly clear. You don’t have time for anything but Leo and work.
X: I made a mess last summer. I’m sorry. Did you get the flowers I sent on your birthday?
C: Yes. But I can’t have lilies around my roommate’s cat. So I threw them away.
X: Ouch again.
C: Augusta texted me Wednesday. She said you two aren’t speaking.
X: Yeah, I messed that up too.
C: Well, she dumped Eddie last weekend. It’s over. You got what you wanted anyway.
She wants to come down for the summer. Work at the bookshop.
X: Leo would love that. I would too.
C: She asked if she could stay with me. She doesn’t want to live in your “prison.”
X: Really? She’s more upset than I thought.
Can you talk to her? Encourage her to stay at HP with us? I already apologized. I want the chance to make it up to her.
C: Do you even know how to do that?
X: I’ve been working on it. Really. I have a lot of things to make up for. I’m spending a lot less time at the office. Sam is taking a bigger role.
C: Save it. We’ll chat tomorrow night. I’m not gonna wade through all that junk right now on a train full of strangers. I’m wearing two coats of mascara.
X: Tomorrow then.
Charlotte turned off her phone and slid it into the top of her bag. She needed to decompress, and scrolling mindlessly on her phone wasn’t going to help. She closed her eyes. But this news that he was coming after all would not vacate her thoughts.
There’s no way Xander’s done a 180 from where he was last summer. He has too much baggage. And all he thinks about is that damn company and Leo. And he basically ignores Augusta, except when he wants to hold her trust money hostage because he doesn’t like her boyfriend. (Ok, Eddie was bad news.) But still. He’s never had his priorities right. And he never thinks about how his life and his decisions affect everyone around him.
She forced her mind to focus on what lay ahead in Sanditon: loyal friends, lots of free time, wide sandy beaches and crashing waves, a cozy home-away-from-home in the Parkers’ guesthouse. This summer is about me. What I want to do. Where I want to go. The people I want to spend time with, and those who value my time in return. Screw Alexander Colbourne. He’s not going to ruin another summer in Sanditon for me.