Now that Joe was starting to corral his brain cells and think clearly, he realized he had stepped into a pile of...Oh boy. Sophie did not look happy.
“Well, I guess I missed my chance tonight.” Landon’s fake smile remained plastered in place, but Joe could see the annoyance in his eyes as he shifted his gaze to Sophie’s. “Another time, then.” Giving her a wink, he turned on his heel and quickly headed to the door.
Sophie lifted her hand, still full of business cards. “Wait—”
But Landon was already gone.
“Good riddance,” Joe mumbled.
Sophie tossed the cards on the counter. “Whydid you do that?”
Joe turned to her, steeling himself against her anger, and she sure had a right to be angry. When he looked into her deep blue eyes, he was stunned by how furious she was. Her cheeks had always seemed to be rosy in high school and every time he’d seen her after that, but now they were the color of the Maple Falls Volunteer Fire Department’s only fire truck. She seemed to be shooting flames at him with her eyes too. He involuntarily took a step back.
“I know you’re mad—”
“Maddoesn’t begin to cover it. How dare you come in here and sabotage my date with Landon?”
“Because you shouldn’t be going out with him.”
Sophie huffed and crossed her arms. “You have no right to say that.”
He had every right and reason to say exactly that, but hewasn’t going to get into it with her. He also couldn’t let her think it was okay to go anywhere near Landon Ferry. “I’m trying to stop you from making a terrible mistake.”
She tilted her head at him, her cheeks turning an even deeper shade of red. “It was just a date.”
Exactly what he’d been thinking on the way over here to ask her out. It was just a date. It didn’t mean anything. It was practice for real dating. “It wouldn’t be a simple date to Landon. He’s got an ulterior motive. He always does.”
Her arms dropped to her sides. “So you’re saying he wouldn’t want to go out with me unless he wanted something from me.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
The anger in her eyes faded to something else. Sadness?Oh no.“That’s not a reflection on you,” he added quickly.
“Right.” She didn’t look at him as she gathered the business cards.
Her forlorn tone propelled him forward. “Sophie, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She straightened the stack of cards. “I’m sure you’re right.”
“I am.” When she kept her gaze down, he touched her hand. “You have to believe me, Soph.”
She yanked her hand away from him. “No one’s called me that in years.” She finally met his gaze, a bit of the fire back in her eyes. “You would know that if you knew anything about me.”
He nodded. She was right. He didn’t know much about her, other than she was a good businesswoman and she was single. She was also generous, since she sponsored a girls’ softball team every year, had donated equipment to the high school varsity team, and mentored a few of the senior girls who wantedto learn flower arranging. He hadn’t thought about how she had served the community until right now. Turned out he knew more about her than he thought, but that didn’t negate the fact that he didn’t know her personally.
Unexpectedly, he wanted to. “Let me make it up to you,” he said, surprising himself for the second time since he’d walked into Petals and Posies.
“Are you going to call Landon and tell him I’m free after all?”
“No.”
She lifted her chin and put the cards neatly back in the holder. “Then I don’t see how you can fix this.”
“Let’s have dinner tonight.”
Sophie stared at him. If she rolled her eyes any harder, she’d have to pick them up off the floor. “Not funny.”
“It’s not meant to be. That’s why I came here in the first place.”
