"Do you know if Cordelia is coming to the island?" Grayson asked Andrew, assuming he would know the whereabouts of the oldest Thorpe sister. Last he knew, Cordelia moved to London as well. But maybe he was wrong.
Andrew's brow puckered in confusion...
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Charlotte
Four in the morning came much faster than expected. She lay in bed for hours, fighting the restlessness. She willed herself to lay in one place, close her eyes, and breathe deeply, hoping to incite sleep. Blessed unconsciousness always seemed out of arm's reach, a distant hope.
Granted, Charlotte didn't try very hard. Only two hours. The sleeplessness lasted much longer on other nights. The Thorpe family departed from the yacht a few minutes before two in the morning. Her limbs hung heavily from her body, dragging her down. She thought for sure that she could lay in her big bed and fall asleep immediately. Especially with the way her heart settled in her chest, a feeling of helplessness and powerlessness burdening her.
Charlotte left the engagement party having not heard from Grayson since the moment he disappeared with Sabine who was visibly upset with Grayson for the compromising position she discovered him in with Charlotte. She wished she felt a little bit of guilt, but she didn't. She didn't think there was anything wrong. Grayson and Charlotte had been best friends all their lives. Sharing a hug was innocent, pure, and harmless.
Now, she found herself sitting alone on the descending wooden steps from her house above the ocean to the sandy beaches. She curled up with a zip-up sweatshirt and silky white cropped pajama pants patterned with whole lemon and mint leaves. In the absence of the sun, the ocean blew a relentless wind that offered both a sensible chill and a balmy comfort.
On the beach below her, Charlotte noticed a new presence. A man, walking with his hands in his pockets down to the water. There was a familiarness about him that sparked her interested. The way he carried himself was recognizable to her. Was that Grayson?
Without hesitation, Charlotte wandered down the last flight of stairs and squished her feet into the sand. The closer she got, the more she recognized facets of Grayson, the guy she knew so long ago and was figuring out all over again.
She approached Grayson cautiously because she didn't want to scare him. The sand swallowed the sound of her footsteps. With his head tilted towards the moon, he stood very still a yard or two away from the incoming tide. His bare feet submerged in the sand, stabilizing himself.
"Grayson," she said, alerting him of her presence.
Surprised, he whipped around, balling his hands into fists. "Oh." He visibly relaxed, unclenching fists and releasing the initial fear that cause his reaction. "Char, what are you doing out here?"
She shrugged, wrapping her arms around her body. "I couldn't sleep."
Grayson looked at her for a long time before he nodded his head, motioning for her to come closer to him. "Why can't you sleep?"
Charlotte tunneled her vision to the point in the darkness where she thought the water and the sky met on the horizon. Because it was so dark, it was hard to discern but she was determined to find the specific line. "Just can't sometimes."
