You might want to consider "transference" in your analysis. The MC sees Emma in part as a result of how she sees him. He rolls in and saves her from what has become an ugly threatening scene with Zak. Bouncing Zak around a bit in the process. Suddenly, she sees the MC in an entirely different light. From a pseudo-father figure to a romantic hero and transfers her emotional attachment from Zak straight on to the MC. "how did she never see him for what he's ALWAYS been and the feeling she's hidden from herself all along"? Now the MC has to deal with her fixation, but in recognizing it, he also has to reframe how he sees her. Maybe you choose to have him set it aside, maybe you don't, but that path can open in a single update.
Suzi is quite different in her awareness of the world, but all that has to happen is for the MC to go from being considered an impediment to a solution. At that point she can choose to pursue him. It would be a "adult" pursuit along the lines of "I've done you a terrible injustice and really misjudged you. I hope you'll give me a chance to make this right. Can we start this all over? Maybe start as friends and see how things go?" Once again the path can open in a single update, including the next one if the various aspects of the plot move forward to allow it.
Charlotte's reaction to either case will likely be problematic, but whatever feelings she may be developing for the MC have yet to be stated. So if either or both of her adult daughters decide to pursue the MC, the basis of her opposition is pretty weak.
My point is that pivotal events are called that for a reason. Introduce one into the story and the need for a long chain of gradual adaptions is eliminated. Of course rapid dramatic changes in the motivations of people's relationships, introduce a whole host of potential problems. So either way there'd be plenty of story to work through.
