He cut through the crowd to them, kissing them all. It was the first time he’d seen them since he’d dropped Charley back at her house in Valencia. He’d cancelled the meal he was supposed to attend at his family’s house last weekend.
It was the first time he’d been anywhere other than to work since she’d dropped out of his life.
‘Is Charlotte here?’ his mother asked.
‘She’s around somewhere,’ he said, his heart clenching as it did every time her name was mentioned. Her name had been mentioned a lot in his office, especially by Ava, who seemed to have developed some kind of girl crush on her. Raul found this completely understandable.
‘So this thing is for her charity?’
He nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
It was at this moment that they were called into the main restaurant where the first part of the proceedings, the meal, would begin.
Turning away, he followed the crowd to the large board displaying the table plan. As was proper, he’d been placed at the top table with the captain, his parents, sister, and... Where was Charley?
Scanning the other tables, he finally found her name at a door near the entrance, as far from his table as it was possible to get.
He caught Ava’s eye and beckoned her over. ‘Why has my wife been placed down there?’ he demanded to know.
‘She’s sitting with the children and their families—she thought it best for them to be by the door so if any of them get upset they can take them out and calm them down. She’s fabulous, isn’t she?’ she added reverentially.
Seven children, the same ones who had gone to La Tomatina, plus a couple of others, had been selected to attend with their families. Raul would have had all the children there but for the majority of them it wasn’t possible. Rather than being a night they could enjoy, the unfamiliarity and break from routine would have distressed them too much. All their families had been invited, though, as had all the Poco Rio staff and their partners.
He was planning on getting every euro he could from the other guests but for the children, their families and the staff, the night was on him.
He spotted little Karin, the beautiful white-blonde-haired girl who had such an attachment to Charley, and a tall boy in a wheelchair whose name escaped him...
And then he saw her.
She was walking in his direction, deep in conversation with another child’s mother.
She must have felt his eyes upon her for she paused and lifted her gaze to meet his.
His chest clenched.
Beautiful. She was beautiful. Glowing.
She was wearing a royal-blue lace dress that fell to mid-thigh and displayed her gorgeous curves, her now even lighter blonde hair loose around her shoulders. She wore black heels, which made her fabulous legs appear even longer.
Even with the distance between them he could see the animation in her eyes.
A tall man he recognised—possibly a famous American singer—stepped in front of her and the contact was broken.
Everyone took their seats.
Wine was poured and the evening began.
Course after course was brought out to them by an army of attentive waiting staff, laughter filling the room, overshadowing the piano player in the corner.
Through it all, through all the conversations he had with the others at his table, Raul’s eyes didn’t stray far from his wife.
Her table of twelve looked as if they were enjoying themselves immensely, Charley chatting away happily as she ate her food. Every so often she would look over to him and catch his eye and he would feel that pull that had always been there between them, right from the very start. The pull he knew deep down in his soul would never leave him.
He gazed at the children on her table. To her left was the boy in the wheelchair, being fed by his father.
A wave of sadness washed through him to think that boy would never be able to feed himself or do anything for himself. With the sadness came a tiny flicker of pride that he was doing something to make that boy’s life a little brighter.
Then his eyes flittered to his father, sitting opposite him in his own wheelchair, being fed by Marta, locked in his own version of hell.
For the first time he felt a wave of compassion for him.
His father had been a hard man. He’d been cruel and demanding of his only son. But no one, not even Eduardo Cazorla, deserved this. And neither did his mother, who could easily have left him in that plush care facility but instead had turned their home and life upside down so he could remain part of the family.
Charley would do the same, he knew. Forget about keeping up appearances, which he knew had played a part in his mother’s decision; Charley would never abandon someone she loved. Not unless she had to—or felt she had to.
While all these thoughts were filtering through his mind, the empty dessert dishes were being cleared away and from the corner of his eye he saw Charley head to the corner of the room where a microphone stand and booth had been set up.