Page 23 of Deadly Waves

Mandy widened her eyes at Sophie’s snarky response. “Wow.”

“I’m sorry,” Sophie said, realizing how bitchy she sounded when it was too late to drag the words back into her mouth. “I’m just feeling … weird.”

“Define weird,” Mandy prodded. She was happy to be talking about someone else’s issues rather than her own for a change. Since quitting her job and spending almost every waking moment with James for three weeks straight, she was in the mood for some conversation that didn’t revolve around her foot or how dedicated James was to her safety.

“If I tell you, you’ll think I’m being ridiculous,” Sophie said.

“No, we won’t,” Emma said, patting the woman’s arm in a reassuring manner. “We love you. We want to know what you’re feeling.”

“I’m feeling … jealous. There. I said it.”

Mandy furrowed her brow. “Of who? Are you jealous of Ally and me because we’re so schmaltzy? If so, we can probably give lessons.”

“It’s not that,” Sophie countered. “Er, wait. It kind of is that. How messed up am I that I can admit that? I think I might need another drink.”

Ally snickered as she regarded the woman’s conflicted features. Sophie was generally the most composed of their little group. Seeing her struggle wasn’t exactly fun, but it was a relief whenever she veered out of robot land. “You can have as many drinks as you want,” she said. “You just need to tell us what’s bothering you, too.”

“Do you promise not to laugh?”

Ally nodded, her expression earnest. “I promise.”

“Okay, here it goes … um … I’m jealous because you’re engaged and I’m not,” Sophie admitted. “I said it. I can’t believe I said it. Wow. I’m such a girl.”

It wasn’t meant as a humorous statement, but Mandy couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “Oh, you poor thing,” she said. “I wondered when this would come up. It has to be hard on you.”

“Why is it hard?” Emma asked. “I thought Grady had a ring and he was just waiting for Sophie to be ready.”

“That was meant as a short thing,” Sophie clarified. “After everything that happened with my old belongings and all of those memories resurfacing, I wanted a little bit of time to come to grips with it before moving forward.”

“That’s completely understandable,” Mandy said. “Why are you panicking now?”

“That was months ago,” Sophie said. “I’m over what happened. I was over it within a few days. I’m ready to get engaged.”

“So … what’s the problem?” Ally asked.

“The problem is that now I’m starting to wonder if Grady changed his mind,” Sophie said. “Maybe he doesn’t want to get married any longer. Maybe he took back the ring. Maybe everything that happened made him realize I’m not the one for him. Maybe he only invited me on this trip to break up with me.”

Mandy and Ally exchanged a serious look and then burst into hysterical gales of laughter. Their response didn’t sit well with Sophie.

“It’s not funny!”

“We’re not laughing at you,” Mandy chided, shaking her head. “We’re just laughing at the situation. We’ve all been there.”

“I haven’t,” Emma said. “Finn proposed before I had a chance to worry about it.”

“That is not true at all,” Mandy countered. “You got pregnant and accelerated your timetable with Finn. There were a few days in there where you panicked and thought he was only staying with you because of the baby. Don’t deny that.”

Emma looked appropriately abashed. “I kind of forgot about that.”

“Oh, that’s convenient, but we remember,” Ally said. “You were a crying mess and Mandy had to talk you down.”

“Now that you’ve reminded me of it, I’m not sure how I could forget,” Emma admitted. “I’m sorry, Sophie. Your stomach must be tied in knots.”

“My stomach is a mess because I’m angry at myself for being jealous of Ally,” Sophie said. “It’s so … unreasonable.”

“You’re jealous of me?” Ally looked pleased at the admission. “How come?”

“Because you and Jake were together less time than Grady and me when he proposed,” Sophie answered, opting for honesty. “It was one thing when Finn and Emma got engaged. Everyone knew they were heading in that direction from the beginning. The baby didn’t change that. He merely sped things up.