Page 6

"Then...is she his first love? His forbidden love? His—-"

"Possibly all of the above."

Charlee-Mae shot up in her seat. "Seriously?"

"Having second thoughts now?"

Charlee-Mae looked at her sister-in-law oddly. "Why should I? On the contrary, this is just going to make things more exci—-"

"It's his sister-in-law."

"Holy motherfucking cow!"

Charlotte couldn't help but wince. "Cha-Cha."

"Sorry." Charlee-Mae was quick to apologize, having forgotten how prim and proper her sister-in-law could be. And speaking of sisters-in-law...

"How exactly are they related? Was he married before—-"

"No. Not like that. She was his late older brother's wife."

Charlee-Mae's brows arched up. "Wow."

"The brother died seven years ago—-"

"Did they hook up right after his death?"

"I have no idea how long they've been together, but he did mention she's now his mistress."

"Mistress, huh?" That was quite the label for one's sister-in-law. "And not girlfriend?"

"His words, not mine."

"Oh my."

Charlotte had been hoping Charlee-Mae would finally see the light about Mr. Red Folder, but instead the other woman actually sounded thrilled, and her amber eyes were actually sparkling with excitement.

"I can't believe how perfect this all is, Char!"

Charlotte wondered if it was too late to back out of her secret deal with heaven. She wanted to have Landon back, even in just her dreams, but was it worth risking Charlee-Mae's heartbreak? Her future mail-order groom did not see their marriage as a permanent thing.

"This is exactly what I was hoping for!"

And yet here Charlee-Mae was, acting like the hundreds of letters she had dropped in the prayer request box had finally been answered.

"There's just so much baggage, so much drama!"

Indeed, there was all of those, so why was Charlee-Mae speaking of these things like they were stuff that romantic dreams were made of?

"I love it, Char," Charlee-Mae said dreamily. "I absolutely love it." She beamed at Charlotte, adding, "You know I'm a huge fan of Dynasty, right?"

"Uh..." Wasn't that a soap from decades ago?

Charlee-Mae gave her a solemn look. "And the greatest lesson it's taught me is that every grand romance needs a grand obstacle—-"

"What about a grand heartbreak?" Charlotte broke in. "Because another thing he told me was that he intends to keep seeing his sister-in-law-slash-mistress even while he's married."

"He only thinks that's what he wants right now," Charlee-Mae said breezily, "but I'll make sure to change his mind."