“Care to share?” Ethan grinned too.
Ryder tossed the unopened beer back in the cooler and pushed to his feet. “I need to talk to Sophia,” he said, heart pounding a little easier in a chest that was no longer tight with unrelenting fingers of betrayal. “Where did you say she was?”
Christ, he had some apologizing to do.
“At the theater. Where else?” Ben stood up and grinned. “I’m sure if you hurry, you can still catch her.”
Ethan got to his feet. “If not, she rented a room at the resort.”
His steps faltered, and he turned to face them. “Why? Is something wrong with Keiffer’s condo?”
No one told him about any issues.
“Yeah.” Ben nodded. “I think she’s having the same problem you’re having with your house.”
His heart took a hit, hard enough to make him blink. Memories of them together kept her from sleeping there?
A smile tugged his lips and he drew in another easy breath.
Maybe he hadn’t screwed up so bad that things weren’t fixable.
Yeah, he was an ass. He’d hurt her. And his insides were fisted tight with self-disgust. But he wasn’t going to let it stop him from fighting for the woman he loved. Not this time. Not with Sophia. She was worth the effort. She was worth fight for.
She was worth…everything. And he was going to do everything in his power to make it up to her.
If she’d have him back.
Chapter Nineteen
No matter how hard Sophia tried to concentrate on next month’s production for Phoebe, she continued to stare at the white page in her sketch book. There was nothing to sketch because her mind was blank. Numb. Broken.
Like her heart.
Her spirit.
Wrinkling her nose, she grumbled, and refused to believe that. Refused to give up hope that Ryder would give her a chance to explain. They meant too much to each other not to?at least, he’d meant too much to her. She just hoped she’d somehow managed to get past his barriers and touch a piece of his heart.
What she wouldn’t give to have a set to physically build right now. To throw herself into it. A way to work, but not think. Just do. Because thinking led to pain, and pain led to thoughts of Ryder.
She sucked in a ragged breath and blinked back a rogue round of tears. They weren’t welcome. Not at work. In the shower, yes. In bed, yes. Not at work. She didn’t do tears. She wasn’t weak. She just missed him?so much.
Dammit.
Her eyes weren’t blinking fast enough, so she wiped the escaping wetness from her face. Time to get up and get moving. A change of scenery. She grabbed her sketch pad and pencil, and headed to the main theater. Maybe if she sat in there and stared hard enough at the stage, inspiration would spark.
She’d never had this trouble before. Her mind usually swirled full of ideas. But yesterday and today, she just stared at her sketch pad.
It ticked her off.
No way did she want to let Phoebe down.
There were always the standard set designs, her mind reminded. But every director liked to put a slightly new spin on things, and Phoebe was no exception.
Because she was good. Smart.
Creative.
If Sophia’s mind remained blank, she was going to have to ask Phoebe what she envisioned and go from there. Their thoughts were usually on the same page anyway.
