“You two look as if you’re having a serious conversation,” she said when she reached the bottom of the porch, the hound dogs at her heels.
Evan and Sean looked up, both obviously startled. Clearly neither of them had the keen sense of a hound dog.
“Well, hello!” Evan was the first to recover.
“Hey, Soph,” Sean said, his voice slightly hoarse.
“What brings you over this fine evening?” Evan asked. “Where is my grandson?” He glanced at Sean. “My other grandson?”
Sophie smiled and walked up the stairs to join them on the porch. “Alex went to help Matt with—something. So I thought I’d take advantage and come visit you and Eleanor.”
“Rummy?” Evan asked, raising a single eyebrow. “I’ll go get the deck of cards and tell Eleanor.”
Sophie and Sean sat quietly staring at each other after Evan had tapped out his pipe and gone inside. Sophie was the first to break the silence. “You’ll be proud of me.”
“Why is that?”
“I really do have gumption. I asked Alex some questions and I didn’t let him sidetrack me and avoid answering.”
Sean wanted to ask what the subject was, but it wasn’t his business, as much as he wanted it to be. “Ah, yes, the attorney evasion technique. They’re very skilled at sidetracking and avoiding.”
Sophie nodded. “Thanks again, Sean. For everything you did for me today. And for what you’re doing to find my father.”
“Like I said, Sophie. It’s no problem. I want to do it.” He reached out and covered her hand with his. Big mistake. But knowing that did not make him move it. “I just hope we have good results.”
“Me too. Anything is better than not knowing.”
“Did you tell Alex about it?”
She looked down at her lap and he knew the answer. “Not yet. But I will. I’m kind of working up to that.”
“We’re ready for that game of rummy.” Eleanor opened the screen door and peered out at them. “I assume you’re playing too, Sean?”
It didn’t take much to convince him. “Only if Gramps promises to tell one of your stories.”
“Which one might that be?”
Sean smiled, recalling his grandfather’s story of the first time he had seen his grandmother. He was smitten. It had been the same for him the first time he’d seen Sophie. Actually it had happened before that when Matt had shown him a photograph of her dancing barefoot in a meadow, dressed in a white linen dress, a wreath of yellow daisies in her long golden hair, her eyes glistening with joy.
“I’m not fussy,” he said, borrowing one of his grandmother’s favorite expressions. “Either the one where you first met or your first date or the night he proposed.” He looked over at Sophie. “Or the moment he knew he was in love.”
Sophie slipped out of bed so as not to disturb Alex. He had come in late, well after midnight. She had remained silent when he climbed into bed. If she had turned to him, it might have meant a lengthy conversation . or something else. She needed her sleep. She was going riding in the morning.
She carried her clothes into the bathroom and dressed there, washing up and preparing for the day. Today she took a change of clothes, just in case.
Grant and Nan were out on the ranch and Anne was no where to be seen. Sophie grabbed a muffin and a cup of coffee and took them with her. Borrowing the blue pickup, she drove next door to the neighboring farm.
Sean was already in the stable, saddling the horses. “Morning.” He stopped himself from adding, “Beautiful” to his greeting. But she was. He reined in his gaze and turned his attention back to her mare.
“Sorry I’m late. I overslept. I turned off the alarm because I didn’t want to wake Alex.”
Sean raised an eyebrow. “He had a late night?”
“Yeah. But I’m glad he’s spending time with Matt. It’s good for him. Can I help?”
“No, you finish your breakfast.” He nodded toward her coffee and muffin. “I’ve got this. You can help untack and curry the horses after we ride though.”
She smiled. He knew she would like that. “Want a bite?” She held up the banana muffin.
“Sure.” He really didn’t. He was full from stopping in at the bed and breakfast for one of his mom’s lumberjack breakfasts that she’d made for the guests before they’d checked out. But if Sophie was feeding him, he would have eaten anything.
She broke off a piece and put it in his mouth. He had a flash of another time and place. The future. Their wedding. Her shoving wedding cake in his mouth.
“What?” she asked. “You look like—I don’t know—you went off in a daydream.”
“Yeah, kind of,” he said, choking on the muffin. “Can I have a sip?”
She handed him the coffee and he took a long gulp. “Thanks. So, does Alex have good friends in the city too?” Not his favorite subject but anything to draw attention away from him before she read his presumptuous thoughts.
“Guys he plays golf and tennis with, other attorneys, but no one as close as Matt. They’re really close, aren’t they?”
“Always have been.”
“So, which cousin is your best friend?”
“I’m pretty close to all of them.”
“But growing up didn’t you have one—?”
“Not a cousin.”
“You ventured outside the family. How brave of you. Who is he? Does he still live here?’
Sean suddenly went quiet, his face pale and his eyes losing their glow. He finished tightening the cinch and turned away from her.
“I’m sorry, Sean. I didn’t mean to pry.”
He shook his head as he turned back around. “He died when we were kids.”
She wanted to reach out and hold him, but he was on the other side of the mare, making no movement to close the gap between them. “I’m so sorry.”
“We were inseparable. Like Alex and Matt. From the time we were toddlers until— We were teenagers when it happened.”
She wanted to ask everything. What happened? Was he there when it happened? How had he gotten over it? Had he?
She settled for asking only one. “Were you with him?”
Sean shook his head. “No, Cassie and Alex were there when he drowned. But they couldn’t save him.” He cleared his throat and forced a smile. “It was a long time ago.”
“But it still hurts,” she said softly, wiping away the tears that were welling up in her own eyes.
“Yeah. A lot. Jeff and I were close. Really close.”
“Jeff? Cassie’s brother?”
“Yeah.” He looked up at her and smiled again, the saddest smile she had ever seen. Tears watered his eyes, and she could see him swallowing hard against them. “He was one of those people—real special, you know?”
Sophie nodded.
He blinked hard and tried again. “When Jeff looked at you, it was like he was looking straight through to your soul. Just like you, Soph.”
She looked up at him and considered correcting him. Not like her. Like him.
She reached out and placed her hand on top of his hand which was resting on the mare’s saddle. He looked over at her, a soft smile on his face, this one not quite so sad. Then he turned his hand over and gave hers a gentle squeeze. Automatically, she squeezed his back.
Suddenly her mind flashed back to the night before when Evan had told the story of the moment he had known he was in love with Eleanor. He had taken her dancing. He had squeezed her hand ever so gently while they were dancing and she had squeezed his back. And then she had looked up at him. All it took was one smile and he knew. His heart had melted right there on the dance floor.
Chapter 16
He tried to take Matt’s advice. He just couldn’t get himself to face Cassie. He had parked out on the road again, watching her work with the stallion in the arena. This time it was for a lot longer than an hour. Still he could not get any closer than the road.
He was a coward. At least he could admit it to himself. That was the
end of it. He wasn’t willing to do anymore. He would go back to San Francisco and put this entire miserable trip behind him.
He headed back to the house, relieved to find the blue pickup in the driveway. He took two stairs at a time, anxious to get to Sophie.
“Were you out riding?” she asked.
“No, just out. Were you at the store?”
“I was. What’s going on?” The intense look on his face was hard to miss.
“Sophie, we need to talk.”
She stepped back and sat down on the bed. This was serious. She had no idea what to expect.
He turned away. It felt like minutes before he turned back to face her. “I’m sorry, Sophie, I know you’re really enjoying your visit here, but I have to get back to work. We need to leave in the morning.”
She had imagined many things. This was not one of them. “But you promised we’d stay for two weeks.”
“I know I did. And I had every intention of staying that long, but something came up. Angela is having difficulty with the Jensen case and she needs my help. Please just get packed so we can leave first thing in the morning.”
She sat motionless staring up at him. She felt as if she had been living inside of a balloon and someone had just poked a hole in it. How had she become so attached to a family and a village in a matter of days? “I—I can’t leave now. I’m not ready. I—I promised Sean I’d help out at the store. Cover for him.”
“Why on earth would you do that?”
She cleared her throat, her shoulders sagging as though she were bracing herself for his disapproval in the form of a reprimand. How conditioned she had become without realizing it. “He needs my help.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
“Yes, he does,” she said firmly. “So he can have free time to find my father for me.”
“Oh, Sophie, not that again!”
“That happens to be important to me.” She caught her breath. “Maybe as important to me as your work is to you.”
The exasperated groan said it all, but he recovered quickly. He was good at that. Lawyer training, or technique as Sean called it. “I know it is. But your mother has told you over and over that you’re better off not knowing him. I think you should trust her on this.”
Suddenly he looked like a stranger to her, and a traitor. “Since when did you become my mother’s ally?”
“I’m not. I just think you should leave well enough alone. And right now I have to get back to San Francisco.” His sigh was one of annoyance. “But if you insist on pursuing this, I’m sure Sean can find someone else to take care of the store while he’s working on it. Grandfather can if need be.”
“I told him I would. It’s the least I can do while he’s helping me.”
Alex nodded. “If that’s really what you want to do, but I have to go.”
“Then go.” She scarcely recognized her own voice.
Again he nodded. “Okay. I’m sure Mom and Dad will be fine with your staying. I’ll come back to get you at the end of next weekend.”
“It’s okay. I can get a bus back up. I’d hate to inconvenience you.” Again not recognizing her voice or the spiteful and slightly juvenile tone.
He ignored it. “It’s not an inconvenience. You know that. I’m sorry I have to leave.”
“Are you?”
“Of course. Why would you even question that?”
“Because I’m not sure you are. You’d have been happy staying a couple days, just to satisfy my desire to meet your family.”
“That’s not true.”
She raised a single eyebrow as if to challenge him.
He put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes as if that would make his words more convincing. “I love you, Sophie. You know that, don’t you?”
Her eyes watered against her will. She did know that. “It’s just that—”
“What?”
“You just don’t seem to care. About what’s important to me. Like looking for my father.”
“Of course I care.” He had looked away by then.
“I don’t think you realize how much this means to me.”
He was halfway across the room by then, but turned to face her. “Okay. You’re right. I don’t. You’ve lived your whole life without him.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s not what I meant, Sophie. I just meant, I guess that family isn’t as big a deal to me as it is to you.”
She shook her head at the stranger her fiancé had become. “That’s because you have one.”
“I’ve arranged for Sally to open and close every day so you don’t have to worry about that,” Sean told her.
“Thanks.”
Sophie pulled a quarter from her pocket and popped it into the jukebox. Sean expected to hear “The Nearness of You,” but instead she had played the one he usually chose. His mouth curved up at the sound of “A Kiss to Build a Dream On.”
“You’re sure you’re okay with this? I mean, I don’t want to cause any tension between you and Alex.” Like hell he didn’t.
“No. I want to do it,” she said firmly. “What time do you leave?”
“I’m leaving for the airport at four in the morning.” His gaze was fixed on her. Something was going on. Something had happened. “Why did you come back to the store today?”
“I just wanted to be sure I knew what to do here.”
He shook his head. “But I gave you a key and went over everything with you earlier. I told you to go enjoy your last free afternoon because the next couple days you’ll be busy here.”
“I just wanted to be sure,” she murmured.
“Come on, Soph. This is me, remember?”
She smiled, almost laughed. Yes, it was Sean. He could see through her. And he didn’t shy away when he did. “I just needed to get away from the ranch is all.”
“Because?”
“Alex is going back to San Francisco in the morning.”
“What?” He wanted to grab her and hold on and beg her not to go with him, but reason returned and he realized if she was here making sure she knew everything she needed to know about the store, she was planning to stay. He knew he should tell her it was okay if she went with Alex and that he’d ask his grandfather to help out, but he couldn’t get his mouth to move.
“His assistant needs his help. She’s having trouble handling one of his cases.”
“You don’t sound very convinced.”
She grimaced. “I think he just wants to go home. I just don’t know why.”
Sean had a pretty damned good idea why. It had to do with Cassie. Feelings that he didn’t want to face were resurfacing and rather than deal with them, he was running. Again.
“But don’t worry. I’ll stay as long as you need me.”
“As long as I need you?” The words had slipped past his censoring system.
Sophie looked up at him with the softest blue-grey eyes he had ever seen. She knew what he had meant. She knew what he was feeling.
But then she looked away. He had lost her. At least for the moment.
“Will you be okay?” he asked.
“I’ll be fine. I’d better get back to the ranch.”
He nodded. “Soph? Do you want to stay upstairs while I’m gone?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think that would be—No. I don’t think so.”
“How about at the bed and breakfast? Everyone has checked out and there aren’t any more guests coming in until Friday. And even then it won’t be full.”
“You think it would be okay? With Alex leaving I don’t want to infringe on Nan and Grant. This way I won’t need to use their truck either.”
“I’m sure they wouldn’t mind,” he said, knowing his aunt and uncle. “But it would be convenient for you if you’re right across the street. And I think you’ll really like the B and B. I’ll let my mom know. I’m sure Skye can pick you up after you’re packed and help you get settled. I’ll ask her.”
“That would be great! Th
anks, Sean.”
He wished he could wipe the sadness from her eyes. But he knew better. He knew he had to let her be. He would step back and trust that she would be okay. Just as she could handle whatever he learned about her father, she could handle making the decision she needed to make. He just hoped she realized she needed to make one.
Sophie had scarcely slept. She got up in time to see Alex off, anxious to get settled in town. Skye was coming for her in an hour. She still needed to pack her suitcase.
“You’ll be okay?” Alex gripped her hand as they walked toward his car.
“Of course. Your family is wonderful.”
“They are pretty nice,” he conceded. “I’m sure someone will be happy to give you a lift into the village to work. Or you can keep using one of the trucks.”
“It won’t be necessary. Ivy told me I can stay at the bed and breakfast. There’s plenty of room and it’s across the street from the store.”
“Do you want me to drive you over before I leave?”
“It’s okay. Skye said she’d take me over.”
He opened the car door and started to get in, stopping to give her a hug first. “Sophie?”
“Yes?” She had stepped away from the car.
“This thing with trying to find your father? It’s not that I’m against it or anything. I’d love for you to find him. I really would. I guess I’m just concerned— I don’t want to see you be disappointed.”
Her smile was strained. “I appreciate that, Alex. I just wish you weren’t so afraid of my feelings.” She had walked away before he had buckled his seatbelt.
Sean closed his eyes as the plane began its descent. It was always the easiest time for him to fall asleep. He wasn’t one of those fortunate fliers who fell asleep when the plane took off and awoke when it landed.
He was not happy to be on the opposite coast from Sophie. But it had to be done. The fact that she was staying at the B and B did give him some amount of comfort, as did the fact that Alex had returned to San Francisco.
Sophie would have some much-needed time to herself. She had a lot to process. Being alone would be good for her, especially in the most lavish suite they had with a luxurious bathroom. It was the only room with a Jacuzzi tub. He had insisted his mother give it to her. Fortunately no one had booked that suite for another two weeks. Hopefully she would stay that long. Hopefully she would stay forever.
Summer Day Dreams Page 18
