The Brother's Estate

Dazzlingly Blue

Charlotte sipped at the fizzing, pink champagne as she watched the sun fade away behind a large cloud that partially covered the dusky sky. The days youth was fading, but she didn't mind.

She let a sigh from her red, parted lips, and smiled. Birds flew overhead and she stopped herself from laughing, still giddy at the prospect of owning her own home. For the first time in her life, she felt a sense of freedom. She'd worked hard, and her success was off her own back. At the tender age of twenty two, she'd achieved more than she thought she could. She stood, the wedge heel of her shoes digging down into the dry grass beneath her, and made her way back to her house. Her home. Things weren't perfect, and she knew that she'd struggle, especially with the mortgage payments, but she'd done what she set out to do.

There was a delicate clink as she put the flute down onto the counter in the kitchen, and her left hand rested on her hip, a finger through the black belt-loop of her jeans. Charlotte knew that she'd need to find a new job, and fast, but she wanted to enjoy the life of luxury while she could. She turned, and gazed out of the window, her eyes fixed on the old oak tree at the end of the garden. Her new home was tiny compared to the mansions and estates that surrounded her, but it was hers, and that was all that mattered.

It was half past nine in the evening, and night was setting in. Though the electricity, gas, and water were all connected, she bit her tongue at remembering that the internet and television weren't set up. No matter, she thought. She could entertain herself in other ways, or use her data.

Boxes of things lined the floor, and the people she'd hired to help her move in had already done most of the heavy lifting with the furniture, there were a few adjustments to be made, and it would truly feel like her own slice of paradise. As she glanced out of the large glass doors leading out to the drive, she shook her head. She needed a new car. The old junker was the car she got as a gift for her seventeenth birthday.

Charlotte sat down on the leather sofa in the large lounge, and she kicked her heels off, getting mud on the cream carpet. She didn't care. It was hers. She'd clean it whenever she wanted to. After all, she'd secured a home in one of the most expensive areas of the country — no way was she going to give a single shit that night. Her docking station wasn't set up, so she went back to the kitchen and grabbed her phone to turn the music on. Her slender finger hit shuffle and her favorite song came on immediately as she refilled her champagne flute. She wished that her friends were there to see her new place, to help her settle in and feel a little less alone, but it didn't matter; they were all busy with their own lives, and she knew that. She was busy with hers, too.

Her fingers tugged at the hair band that kept her black locks pinned back, and as she pulled it out, the tresses tumbled down to her waist. Despite the loud music blaring from her phone, she heard the gravel outside of her house crunch underneath the weight of tires. Two bright lights lit up the bushes up outside, and she saw an unfamiliar car enter the grounds to her house. She blinked, and then paused the music that was playing. Who was it?

As the car came into her vision. She noticed it was a convertible sports car, with a young looking man in driving it. As the car parked beside hers, she made her way to the front door and straightened herself out, making sure she was still hid behind the thick curtains.

He got out of the car, and pulled his suit jacket out from the passenger seat to cover up his crisp white shirt which was undone at the top. She watched from behind the door as he made his way up, and then rang the doorbell. Charlotte bit down on her lower lip as she thought about what could happen if she opened the door to the stranger outside. He rang again, and she finally caved.

As she opened it, she was greeted with a friendly smile from the tall man with some dark stubble against his tan skin.

"Hi, I am so sorry for bothering you. I live over at Hartlesford Estate, just next door." He maintained eye contact with her, and pointed over to the sprawling mansion across the fields. "My brother told me we had a new neighbor, so I thought I would just come and introduce myself." He held out his hand. "Jack Thornton. And you are?"