Chapter Three
Sophie
That touch.
Sophie stared at her shoulder as if it wasn’t her own. As if it belonged to someone else. As a kid, back in Kansas, she once watched a bolt of lightning strike a tree a few houses down the block when she was sitting on the porch. Her skin buzzed for hours afterward, making her feel as if she could power their entire house. She felt that way now.Charged.
Had sheeverfelt that with Blake? “No,” she mumbled under her breath. “No, no, no.” She tried to stop the thoughts that crossed that line, but they invaded anyway.
Denver was familiar. Comfortable. They spent so much time together, knew each other so well. Surely that was all that was happening.This is normal, right?At some point she was bound tothinkshe had feelings for him when clearly she didn’t. The feelings weren’t real. Her heart didn’t work that way anymore. She wasn’t sure it ever would again.
Most importantly, they were friends. Sophie wouldn’t jeopardize their perfect friendship no matter what irrational, fleeting feeling jumbled her senses.
Digging through the box to salvage what few party decorations she could, Sophie decided it might be wise to keep her distance from Denver for a few days . . . maybe the rest of the week. Long enough to get her head on straight. She could make an excuse to skip their weekly dinner on Thursday. Caroline wouldn’t be happy about it, but she’d think of something.
Hopefully by next week—before the race at any rate—she could act like a normal human being around him instead of a skittishly shy schoolgirl.
Decorations scattered all over the table, Sophie let out a frustrated, “Ugh!”
Sophie packed up everything. She’d have to call the company and request a refund. Send it all back. “Some timing, Blake.”
For all his other faults, Blake was a renowned surgeon who made well over six figures a year. A measly thousand a month was pocket change, and a whole lot less than he owed Sophie and Caroline for abandoning them. But it was the quickest way to end things, to do the least amount of damage to her daughter’s emotional wellbeing.
Asking Cadence to advance her a paycheck wasn’t an option if she didn’t want to alarm both her sisters. The books for the lodge were openly discussed and readily available to all three of them. They had their monthly meeting next week, and a detail like that would never slip past Tessa.
No, she’d figure out something else. Though she only worked for tips, an extra waitressing shift might get her enough for new decorations while she waited for Blake to issue for a new check. Whatever it took, Caroline deserved the best birthday party, and Sophie wouldn’t let a bounced check rob her of that joy. The girl had cried enough over her absent father.
In the meantime, Sophie needed to hide the evidence. Some days she thought Caroline was a better detective than the fictional Malcom Yates. As it was, two of her birthday presents were stashed at Denver’s house for safekeeping.
Once everything was packed up, she attempted to lift the box but immediately set it back down. “Are the plates made of granite?” she muttered. The box was definitely heavier than either of the guys with their stupid muscles let on. No wonder she’d spent a fortune on shipping.
Dropping into a chair, Sophie let out a defeated sigh. Inside, she chanted,I won’t cry. I won’t cry.
She fought hard to stay positive, even during the most trying times. And it’d been a difficult couple of years, to say the least. She weathered the storms in her life, all the while keeping a smile and searching for the silver lining in even the worst of days. She prided herself on that very ability. But this morning, she was about out of optimism.
Though several loads of linens waited, Sophie yearned to get in another run.Just a short one.
Years ago, she considered herself lucky to receive the affections of a man as established, successful, and handsome as Blake Kassels. He swept her right into his arms with hardly a sentence. But she’d been younger then.So naïve. Some days she wished she’d never met him.
Had it not been for Caroline . . .
Before she could follow through on her additional run, Sophie heard the click of the back door, followed by her sisters’ voices. She hopped out of her chair, peeking out through the kitchen door. “Wow, did you guys clean out Safeway?” The back seat of the car as well as the trunk were filled with paper bags. She should be used to the sight by now, considering Tessa’s restaurant, Whitmore Patio, had been open since the end of May. But even this seemed excessive.
“We have Rilee’s going-away dinner night after tomorrow,” Cadence reminded her.
“And we’re having a party, too,” Tessa announced. “Saturday.”
Sophie had an eight-mile run to complete on Saturday. It was her last long run before the actual marathon next weekend. Well, the last long run on the schedule anyway. “What time?”
Tessa shrugged. “Evening sometime. After the restaurant’s closed up for the day.” Though Tessa, the eldest Whitmore sister, had always planned to run some fancy restaurant in Vegas or New York City, a string of circumstances had brought her to Sunset Ridge a year ago and convinced her to stay. Within a week of that decision, she started making plans to convert their dining room and a portion of the deck into a small restaurant of her own.
Tessa ran point, but the three sisters, and Caroline too, had put their heads together to expand their family business. Whitmore Patio opened at the end of May when the last traces of snow disappeared. Five days a week, Tessa prepared breakfast and lunch for the ten-table restaurant.
“What’s it for?” Sophie emptied a paper sack of flour, salt, and yeast onto the counter. No hint there. The only August birthday was Caroline’s, as the sisters all had March birthdays. She dropped her gaze to Cadence’s hand, but it was ringless.No engagement.
“It’s a surprise,” Tessa said with a simple shrug, folding an empty sack and adding it to the pile on the counter.
“I tried to get it out of her on the drive,” Cadence admitted. “But she won’t say a thing.”
