“Jeez, Garrett, why not go straight to the point and ask her if she’s married, engaged, or ‘it’s complicated.’” Tarryn brushed a hand over her curls.
“You’re wrong.” Sophie’s laugh had a breathy, nervous edge. “I have a small apartment in Darlinghurst. It’s nothing special, just somewhere to be.”
Garrett made a moue of sympathy. “That must be difficult, then, as you work from home.”
A pink flush crept from the neckline of Sophie’s dress. “Er, yes. Yes, it is. I manage.” She glanced around the room. “This is a lovely space. Did you do it yourself?”
Tarryn stifled a smile. Sophie’s obvious discomfort with the personal questions had inadvertently ensured Garrett wouldn’t ask her another one. She’d hit on his passion.
“Oh, my dear, did we ever! Will and I spent weeks on this room, and it took us a long time to get it right. At first, we decided on cream for the walls, but no. It was so old-fashioned, like my granny’s house. So we thought white. But everyone does white—it’s so practical, after all, and never any paint-matching woes. Then we hit on this delicate colour. It’s called Maiden’s Blush—white, with a hint of pink. We just knew it was perfect from the first roller stroke.”
Tarryn looked across at Sophie. She’d sunk back into the couch, following Garrett’s conversation with a small smile and something else. Relief? It looked like it. Relief at her successful deflection of the conversation? Maybe Sophie was just an extremely private person and trying not to let the line between work and play blur, but the back of Tarryn’s neck tingled. Maybe it was more.
When Garrett wound down in his enthusiastic recounting of the difficulties of deciding between curtains and blinds, Tarryn said, “You didn’t answer the question about the cranky cat or cranky girlfriend.” She tempered her words with a smile.
“No, I didn’t, did I.” A corner of Sophie’s mouth lifted.
The doorbell rang, and Tarryn gave an inward sigh. Another reason for Sophie to avoid the question.
Garrett hurried to answer it and returned with Jason in tow.
Jason bent to press a kiss to Tarryn’s cheek and offered a smile to Sophie. “Nice to see you again. I hope you’ll find time to come down for a drink before the festival starts. Relax some.”
Sophie’s expression had frozen into a polite smile. “Nice to see you again too. Er, yes. I’ll try and drop by.”
“Good.” Jason accepted a beer from Garrett, pulled the top and took a mouthful. “It will be good to continue our previous chat. It’s not often someone shares my more unusual interest.”
A flash of something crossed Sophie’s face before she smoothed her expression. She set down her wine glass and her hands twisted in her lap. “Mm. Yes, we’ll do that.”
“I realise you’re foot to the boards with the festival, but all the same, don’t be a stranger.”
Weird. Since Jason had walked in, Sophie seemed suddenly on edge. But Jason was one of the most relaxed people in Quandong despite his busy life as owner of The Hollowman—the only bar in town.
Will left the dinner prep and came over to clap Jason on the shoulder. “The dehydrator’s on the counter. Don’t cut the slices too thick. Seventy degrees for about twelve hours should do it. There’s also a bag of lemons and limes on the porch to get you started.”
“Thanks. I’ll get on to it right away. If I start now, I hope I’ll have enough by the time the festival starts. After all, I’m expecting great business from it. Isn’t that right, Sophie?”
Sophie’s face smoothed. “Absolutely. I hope all the shops in Quandong do.”
“Not just the shops, I hope.” Jason laughed. “Given my location, I hope to have my best couple of days ever.”
The closed-in expression was back. “I hope you do too.”
“Those trading cards won’t buy themselves. Have you found any good ones since I last saw you?”
Sophie grabbed her glass and raised it to her face for a long moment, as if buying time for her reply. “No, nothing new. I’ve been too busy to look.”
“Shame,” Jason said. “Still, you can come over and see what I’ve scored. I grabbed a Seiya Suzuki rookie baseball card. It was in a batch of other, mainly worthless cards.”
“Congrats.”
Tarryn studied her. So she and Jason had bonded over trading cards. She suppressed a smile—good for Jason. No one in Quandong was interested. But the way Sophie was acting, maybe she wasn’t as knowledgeable about them as she’d obviously made herself out to be.
Sophie’s fingers tapped a pattern on her leg, and she set down her glass and rose. “Can someone point me toward the loo?”
“Through there, second door on the left.” Will pointed.
“Thanks.” Sophie slung her bag over her shoulder and disappeared.
