Charlotte's Tangled Web: L.B. Pavlov (18 page)

I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Daniel. He was talking with Grandma, and she was telling him how much I looked like my mother. He looked over and winked at me, and my heart began to race. He was so charming as I watched him talk with her. I could have looked at him all day—his light-brown, wavy hair; his incredibly sexy, green eyes; his rosy cheeks; and those lips. I couldn’t dare have those thoughts while he was talking to my grandmother. I needed to pull myself together.

I walked into the kitchen to see if Lenora and Grace needed help. They both made a big fuss over how beautiful the dining room table looked. Daniel came up behind me and hugged me. I felt my whole body tingle.

“Did Charlotte set the table?” he asked, pressing his mouth against my ear.

“Oh, Daniel, you must go look at it. She did a fabulous job!” Grace exclaimed.

I was so pleased that everyone was so happy with the table.

“Well, lead the way, Miss Ford, let’s see this masterpiece,” he said in a luscious voice that made my head dizzy.

We stood in the dining room staring at the table. “Wow. I’m really not a table setting type of guy, but that is really beautiful.” He looked surprised. “Everything about you is beautiful,” he said in that raspy, sexy voice he uses to completely dismantle my composure.

I gazed up at him and smiled. “Thank you,” I said breathlessly.

“You shouldn’t have worn that outfit, Charlotte, not with your grandparents here,” he whispered. Our noses were almost touching we were so close.

“You don’t like it?” I asked, a little hurt.

He burst out laughing. “I like it too much!”

He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me.

He pulled away quickly and intertwined his fingers with mine. “Don’t get me started. Let’s go talk to your grandparents,” he said, smiling at me.

Dinner was wonderful. Everyone laughed and talked throughout the meal. When we were cleaning up the dishes, the doorbell rang. It was Abi. Eric ran to the door to greet her and brought her in to introduce her to everyone. She was adorable. She had beautiful long, black hair, dark eyes, and a charming smile. Eric clearly liked her, and I could tell right away that the feeling was mutual.

Abi, Sydney, Lexi, and I sat around talking with Grace, Aunt Bunny, and Grandma for a long time. We were hearing all sorts of funny stories about the boys and what was going on at Notre Dame. The boys started nagging us about having dessert, and we all went back to the dining room to eat pie.

This was turning out to be the best Thanksgiving ever. Aunt Bunny was telling us funny stories about Tom when he was a little boy. We all just sat around eating, talking, and laughing. I went over to sit with Lenora, Carl, Bruce, and Debbie for a little while. They were talking about all of the exciting wedding plans for Bruce and Debbie’s upcoming wedding.

“I hope you will be able to come home from school for the wedding, Charlotte. We would sure love to have you,” Debbie said, beaming.

They were an adorable couple, and they seemed very much in love. I told them I would definitely try. It would all depend on my racing schedule because the wedding was in October, which was right in the middle of my season.

My grandparents were the first to leave, but they would be back in the morning to take us out for breakfast. Then Grace, Tom, Aunt Bunny, and Uncle Dennis said their good-byes and walked back over to the Hollingsworth’s house. Bruce and Debbie said their good-byes as well. I had really enjoyed getting to know them. Lenora and Carl sat by the fireplace talking and drinking wine. Dad went to his office to work. Dad was a lawyer, but he worked more than anyone I had ever known. How much legal work could there be for him to do on Thanksgiving? Preston, Lexi, Devon, Jack, Sydney, Eric, Abi, and James all went to the game room.

I was just putting a few pies into the refrigerator, and Daniel was sitting in the kitchen talking to me.

“Happy Thanksgiving, Charlotte,” he said, smiling.

“Thanks, you too,” I said but my mind was a little distracted.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked sweetly.

“Just thinking about next Thanksgiving. You will all be here, and I will be so far away,” I said quietly.

“Charlotte, you will fly home for Thanksgiving, and any time you can’t fly home, I will fly to see you. Don’t worry about this, OK?” he said softly.

“OK,” I said and grasped his hand. “You know what else I’m thinking about?” I asked.

“What else are you thinking about?” he replied in his sexy, beautiful voice.

“That I wish you could climb through my window every night,” I said, staring into his soulful, green eyes.

“Me too,” he whispered before he leaned in and kissed me.

Thanksgiving weekend went by quickly. We spent a lot of time with my grandparents, I spent some time with Daniel’s Aunt Bunny and Uncle Dennis, and it was a wonderful weekend.

On Sunday, after Grandma and Grandpa flew home, I worked on Daniel’s Christmas gift. I had saved all of his newspaper clippings over the last four years, and I was going to make him a big scrapbook. I had tons of pictures that I had taken as well, and it was turning out great. I even had a copy of his letter of intent from Notre Dame that I had found on his desk last week, and I had made a quick copy. I would need to sneak the original back on his desk the next time I was over there. That would be the last page of the scrapbook, with a picture of him visiting Notre Dame last spring. I had tons of scrapbook paper in Notre Dame colors and football-themed papers that I had been collecting for his book. I kept the book hidden under my bed, and I would be working on it for a few more weeks.

Back at school everyone was buzzing with excitement about Christmas. I loved this time of year. There was a chill in the air, and I savored my runs in the fresh, crisp air. Daniel was running or riding with me several days a week to help me train for track. After Christmas break I would begin training with my team again. I couldn’t wait for Christmas break.

The Hollingsworth family usually went on a big vacation, but this year they were not going out of town. Tom’s father, Daniel’s grandfather, was ill, and Tom wanted them to stay in town. I used to get so sad when they would leave on vacation. Daniel and I were so excited when we got cell phones because he would text me nonstop from wherever they were. He got in big trouble sophomore year when they went to Mexico, and we texted all day every day for two weeks. When they got the bill, Daniel was grounded. We didn’t know it was more expensive if you were out of the country. They were such a nice family though; they told Daniel that I could keep him company during his grounding. So basically they grounded him from everything but me. I would laugh thinking about it.

I was so happy they were staying in town this year because it was our last Christmas break while we were still in high school. My family rarely went out of town for Christmas. We would go skiing in Park City and make it a four-day weekend, but with my dad being a single dad, work was a priority for him. He provided very well for his four children, and we truly wanted for nothing. We had a beautiful home, and our education was also very important to Dad. Dad was a partner at his law firm, Whitley, Ford & Blemming, but I thought he also used work as an escape. Aside from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Dad would definitely work a lot over Christmas break. I was really looking forward to spending Christmas with Daniel that year.

The week before Christmas break, we were driving home from school, and Daniel was teasing me about my gifts and what he was getting me that year. “Do you think I should sneak in your window on Christmas Eve so that we could wake up together on Christmas morning?” he said, smiling at me with a mischievous look that I found adorable.

I blushed at the idea. My dad and my brothers would all be home on Christmas Eve, so it would not be an easy task, but the idea still thrilled me.

“Oh, that would be the best gift ever!” I said, beaming. “By the way, I have something special planned for your Christmas gift,” I stated proudly.

“The only gift that I want is sitting right next to me,” he said with a wink. He could make my stomach drop just by the way he looked at me.

“It’ll be nice to have two weeks off together. Tell your brothers that Sean is having a party over break, and they are all invited. There will be a lot of older kids from St. Viator’s there who are home for break,” he said, “and you will be my good-luck charm because we are going to play poker.”

“You know I’m a card shark, so you may not want me playing,” I said, laughing.

“Charlotte,
Go Fish
does not count!” he said, and we both burst out laughing. He wanted me to come over to his house so that he could take a quick shower before we went over to my house for a few hours. I was going to bake cookies with Lenora, and we both needed to study for finals.

While Daniel was in the bathroom taking a shower, I pulled his letter of intent out of my backpack to slide it back in his pile of papers that always sat on the right side of the desk. I could return the letter without him noticing. I lifted the top half of the stack of papers to slide the letter in the middle of the pile and was shocked when I noticed the Stanford letterhead. Why would Daniel have a letter from Stanford?

My heart sank when I began to read it. It was a letter explaining that due to his late application and the fact that he had a 3.8 GPA, they could not accept him at this time. What did this mean? Daniel had applied to go to Stanford? What about his scholarship to Notre Dame? Stanford already had a strong quarterback who was only a junior. Daniel knew that because we had joked about him playing football there. Would he give up playing football to be with me? My heart sank further. I slid his Notre Dame paper back into the pile and set the papers on top. I sat on his bed thinking about what I had just read.

A thought that had sat heavily on my mind every day for the past five months was now front and center. What if I were to go to Notre Dame? The major problem with that idea was that Notre Dame did not have a women’s cross-country team. They had a women’s track team, so I could just run track and train throughout the fall on my own. That would not sit well with my father or with my grandfather. I would be applying very late at that point but having a good GPA, being a strong runner, and having a lot of extra-curricular activities made me wonder if maybe it really was possible?

I lay back on his bed, thinking about how wonderful it would be to go to college with Daniel. It would be wonderful to be at the same school as my brothers, and Preston and Devon, and tons of friends. I would be going to California all alone. The thought was suddenly unbearable. Maybe I would just apply and let fate decide. I always felt like my mom was my guardian angel, so I knew that she would help me make the best decision. I wouldn’t say a word to anyone. Daniel would never agree to let me give up Stanford. I would have to do this all on my own. My dad would be very upset as well, and the thought made my stomach wrench. I didn’t like to disappoint him. My dad had had enough disappointment for a lifetime. I probably wouldn’t get in anyway, and I would need to submit an essay, so this was not something that I could pull together quickly. It was a long shot at best. I would keep it to myself. Nothing would probably come of it. But the mere thought of staying with Daniel was enough to leave me no option but to try.

The door swung open, and there stood Daniel with drops of water all over his perfectly sculpted chest, a towel wrapped around his waist. My eyes were as wide as saucers, and a gasp escaped my throat, which made us both giggle.

“Oh. My. Gosh. You are,” I inhaled and paused, “so beautiful,” I said quietly.

He cocked his head to one side. “Do you really think you should bite your lip right now?” He chuckled, and then he leaned over me, droplets of water dampening my clothes. “No one is more beautiful than you, Charlotte,” he said in that raspy, sexy voice.

I fell back. I couldn’t breathe. He kissed me, but he pulled away quickly because we needed to get over to my house. He knew I couldn’t resist him, and he was such a gentleman. It made me want him all the more. He came out of the bathroom with clothes on this time, smelling wonderfully, with his big, bright smile.

He scooped me up off the bed and planted a big kiss on me. “Let’s go bake some cookies, Mrs. Claus!” he joked. Lenora and I always baked in Santa caps with Christmas music blaring.

It was the last day of school before Christmas break. I was so ready to be done with school. I was waiting for her at the truck and thinking how if I had tried just a little harder, I may have had a 4.0 and that just may have made the difference for me to get into Stanford. My parents were the only people whom I had told that I was applying. The beauty of my parents is that they are completely in love, and for them, that is the most important thing in their lives. They are all about family and the people whom they love. So they understood my desire to go to Stanford. They even understood my choice to red-shirt one year of football if I had gotten in and then attempt to play football for Stanford the following year.

I didn’t want to be separated from Charlotte. I thought I could live a year without football, but I didn’t feel like I could live a year without Charlotte. I was mad at myself for waiting so long to realize that was what I wanted. Getting accepted to Stanford as a late applicant was next to impossible, but I took a shot. I could never tell her. She would be crushed. We would just have to make it work. I would apply again for the following year. I would work really hard at Notre Dame to get a 4.0 and be a more desirable applicant. I would also need to shine on the football field because that could definitely help me. I would need one year of collegiate ball to get noticed by Stanford.