Free You're Still the One by Rachel Harris

Charlie’s direction, for some unfathomable reason, and her boss shot him a look. “Tucker here’s gonna be your supervisor for the summer.”
    Of course he is.
    Ella glanced at the security camera in the corner of the room, positive that any minute someone would burst in and shout, “Gotcha!” Because that made about as much sense as this latest development.
    Charlie and Arabella had circled each other for eight incredibly long years, most of them spent with her pining in the shadows, and him never once stopping to look her way. So, why was fate throwing them together now, after she’d kissed then ran and sort of lied to the man?
    It was almost poetic.
    Charlie shook his head as if coming to the same conclusion, and a mask of friendly distance shuttered his previously baffled expression. But there was no hiding the muscle ticking in his lightly stubbled jaw.
    “I live here,” he explained, and gone was the flirtatious lilt of the other night. In its place was pure professionalism…along with an underlying warning that they would be discussing this later. “Across the lake in Magnolia Springs. I bought a house here when Tyler decided he was settling in for good.”
    Everyone knew the story by now. Almost two years ago, Country Weekly had called Tyler Blue’s songwriting into question due to his perpetually single status, an article Arabella could’ve repeated verbatim with the amount of times Daddy had read it over Sunday dinner.
    In an effort to lighten the mood, she’d suggested the idea for a Country Bachelor reality show as a joke, only to watch her father’s eyes widen with eagerness, dollar bills replacing his pupils. Luckily, Tyler ended up finding his own solution to the problem—a surprise Vegas wedding to a feisty southern woman from a small town in Louisiana. A town that apparently was a whole lot closer to New Orleans than Ella had ever realized.
    “Oh.” For no apparent reason, her head began bobbing on her neck like a tendon had been severed, and her already fake smile stretched to painful proportions. “That’s great!”
    It was so very far from great.
    The whole point of coming to New Orleans was for escape. For anonymity. How was she supposed to prove her worth while Charlie, her longtime crush of all people, breathed down her neck? Half the time she couldn’t even speak in his presence, and when she did, she turned red-faced and rambly. Not to mention the fact that he could spill the beans and tell her coworkers who she was. Would they care? Would they be angry that she lied, or prejudge her like everyone else?
    Disappointment, swift and cold, settled in Ella’s stomach and she felt her starry-eyed hopes for the summer drain into the hardwood floor beneath her pumps.
    Hand tight on her purse strap, the need to call Lana supreme in her mind, Arabella remembered the top-ten list waiting on her phone. Nine items remained uncrossed, one of them discovering her passion, and she needed this job in order to make that happen. She wasn’t sure how she knew that to be true, only that she did.
    She couldn’t let the first setback to come her way derail her efforts. She’d never forgive herself. Besides, she wasn’t a quitter. Her inner perfectionist wouldn’t rest until everything was crossed off that list.
    Deciding to make the best of the situation, she stood tall. “It’ll be nice having a friendly face around,” she said, only realizing how much she meant it as the words washed over her.
    Ella wasn’t delusional. She didn’t expect Charlie would want a repeat of their flirtation or their kiss, especially now that he knew she was Stone’s daughter. But she really could use a friend. That night at Country Roads, he’d listened to her with an open mind and a softness in his eyes. He’d encouraged her with her list. Having him here, having him know about her summer mission, would keep her honest. Help stop her from chickening out. Who knew? Maybe if they became friends, he’d even join