Chasing Love

Chapter 19

I don't want much. I just want to love someone, care for someone when they are sick and protect them from people who try to harm them. That person used to be you, Charlie. Then it was Amanda, then Sarah, then Bethany, then Angela. But you were the first, and I want to be your last.

-Chase  

Chapter 19

"Charlotte what about this venue think of how beautiful it will be." Charlotte rolled her eyes for what felt the thousandth time during the lunch with her mother. Landon had called her mother to come over and start looking at wedding venues. So here she was, sitting at the dining room table with bridal magazines spread across the table.

"Whatever mum." She sighed and rested her chin on her head as she aimlessly flipped through a bridal magazine without looking at the pages.

"Charlotte drop this attitude. You are getting married to a beautiful man who will treat you right and has money. Be more grateful. Landon wants to give you your dream wedding. So, stop sulking and start picking a place." Charlotte tilted her head towards her mother and saw her fake blonde hair twisted into an artful bun. While her mother had aged, she was sure the Botox injections kept her face wrinkle-free.

"I'm going to make a cup of coffee. Do you want one?" She watched her mother screw up her face and she stared at Charlotte with the same green eyes.

"That's what you have a housemaid for, sweetheart. So sit back down." Charlotte again rolled her eyes at her mother and walked to the kitchen despite her mother protesting to put on some coffee, knowing she would need it. Rose was around the housecleaning, so she scrolled through her message and found some from Chase asking how she was going. 

She smiled to herself as she sent a reply, and the moment she hit send her phone rang with an incoming call from Landon. Groaning she knew he was checking up on her and the wedding plan and seeing if she had rescheduled her doctor's appointment which she hadn't.

"Hello, Landon." She tried not to sigh, and she leant against the kitchen counter, knowing her mother was in the next room and most likely talking to said person.

"I'm being told you are being difficult darling." His voice was charming, however, she could imagine his palm twitching and the hard look in his eye.

"I'm not being difficult. I'm doing what you said planning a wedding and thank you for inviting my darling mother over to help." She tried to sound pleasant, however, she didn't quite achieve the sound she was hoping for. Instead, she sounded bitter and sarcastic.

"Careful Charlotte, you have a long list of misbehaviours and it seems to be growing. Do I need to make a special trip just to deal with you?" Charlotte closed her eyes ad tried to stop her hand from trembling and failed. Her heart rate increased at the thought of Landon coming home because the mere thought terrified her to her bones.

With London being away and her spending so much time with Chase, she was realising that maybe she could leave. That maybe if she left and hid while Landon was away, he would never find her. However, every time she thought of this she remembered the last time she tried to leave and almost ended up in the hospital.

"You don't need to. I promise by the end of the day I will have a venue picked out." She heard him hum on the other end and he again reminded her about her doctor's appointment and she promised she would book one for next week. By the time she got off the phone with Landon, the coffee was done so she poured herself and her mother a cup.

"Charlotte, have you thought about a destination wedding?" Her mother asked when she went back to the formal dining room. She placed the coffee down on the wooden table and took a seat.