by Susan Stoker
“M-My name is S-Sophie Carson. Are you okay? Do you want m-me to call s-someone?”
When the woman didn’t respond, Sophie kept talking. “You don’t have to be frightened of m-me. I’m harmless. What kind of psycho killer would s-stutter? I can picture it now. ‘Officer, the person who hurt m-me was tall, had white-blonde hair, and s-stuttered.” She chuckled softly. “As if m-my hair doesn’t m-make m-me s-stand out enough. I heard your dog when I was at the door chickening out and about to run away. I came to see Chief, but that was just s-stupid. He doesn’t want to s-see m-me, but I wanted to ask him a favor. I could’ve called, I s-shoulda called, but then I wouldn’t be here to help you. But you probably don’t want m-me here. Heck, I’m probably freaking you out m-more, aren’t I? I can go, just tell m-me you’re okay and I will.”
The woman’s head turned. Now her cheek rested on her knees and she was staring right at her.
“Hi,” Sophie said again, happy to see the woman acknowledging her. “Can I call s-someone for you? Do anything?”
“Keep talking to me,” the woman begged softly. “Please.”
Sophie sat back on her heels, then shifted to her butt and crossed her legs. She had no idea what was wrong with the young woman in front of her, but if she wanted her to talk, she would.
Twenty minutes later, Sophie was still talking. She’d told the other woman about her job, about Tadd and his dog, Charlie, about the mysterious woman in the rundown building who was more skittish than anyone Sophie had ever met, about how she’d always wanted a dog, but didn’t think it would be fair to the animal since she was single and worked long hours, about how Chief was her neighbor and hated her. Sophie also blabbed about how she’d had a crush on the firefighter for a long time, but now she mostly thought he was a jerk. When she got desperate, she even talked about how she was teased as a child for stuttering, and how long it took her to conquer the disability…except for the pesky m and s words.
Just when she began to think she would run out of things to say—having a one-sided conversation wasn’t as easy as it might seem—the other woman spoke.
“Thank you, Sophie. I’m better now. At least I think so.”
“Thank goodness,” Sophie breathed. “I was about to tell you all about m-my disastrous s-senior prom.” She smiled at her and held out a hand. “Want to come s-sit on the couch with m-me? Your butt has to be numb. I know m-my knees are gonna protest m-me s-standing.”
Without a word, the other woman held out a hand and they helped each other stand.
Sophie groaned at the same time the other woman wrinkled her nose and rubbed her ass. “You’re right, my backside is numb.”
Sophie chuckled. They sat on the small couch in the room and she rubbed her knees. “I’m not old, but s-sometimes m-my body lets m-me know I’m not a teenager anymore either.”
They smiled at each other. The dog came over and put her head in the other woman’s lap.
“I’m Beth,” the woman said, petting the dog. “This is Second. I’m sorry you had to find me like that.”
Sophie shrugged. “I’m glad I was here. I did almost leave, you know.”
Beth nodded. “Yeah, you said that. I’m glad you didn’t. Although, girl…Chief? He’s really not an asshole. Stoic, yeah. I only half remember what you said, but—”
“Do I need to call s-someone for you?” Sophie interrupted, not really wanting to talk about the man who could make the hair on her arms stand up with how good looking he was, but apparently wanted nothing to do with her. It was too much at the moment. Sophie was afraid Beth wouldn’t let it drop, but she finally nodded.
“No. I’m okay. I’m agoraphobic. I thought I’d be okay when the guys all got called away. We were eating lunch and I reassured my fiancé, Cade, that I’d be fine. He’s not officially on duty, but since it was a structure fire, I could tell he really wanted to go and help. I’ve been trying to cut back on my meds, but obviously that wasn’t the best idea.”
“Where are they? Can I get them for you?” Sophie asked.
“In my purse. It should be hanging off a chair at the table.”
“I’ll be right back.” Sophie stood up and quickly went into the other room and grabbed a black purse made out of what looked like seatbelts and carried it back down the hall to the small room. She handed it over to Beth. “Cool purse.”
“Thanks. You know, I spent so much time in my apartment, I never required one. Then when I started getting better, I found that I needed a place to put all my stuff…meds, cash, jump drives, mini cameras, listening devices…you know, the usual.”
Sophie eyed the other woman, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise. “Are you a private investigator or s-something?”
Beth laughed. “Or something. I work for the government…mostly. I’m an ex-hacker who knows her way around computers very well.”
“Ahhh.” Sophie made the sound but wasn’t exactly sure what “ex-hacker” meant.
Beth grinned. She dug around in her purse and pulled out a prescription bottle. She opened it and threw a pill into her mouth, swallowing it dry. “I really am glad you came in. I wasn’t in any danger, but when it was just me and Second rattling around in this big building, my old fears came rushing back. I would’ve been okay when Cade got back, but I would’ve freaked him out. So thank you for making it so he didn’t have to see me like that.”
“You’re welcome. But you probably s-should tell him.”
“I will,” Beth agreed immediately. “But seeing it and hearing it are two different things. You did just the right thing, by the way.”
“What?”
“You did the right thing,” Beth repeated. “You didn’t touch me. You didn’t yell at me. You just talked to me. Let me come out of it on my own. I appreciate it. Do you have medical training?”
“Oh, no,” Sophie told her. “I work at the Burn Center Annex and hospital downtown. I’m really not a s-scientist or a doctor, I just kinda play at both.”
“This I gotta hear.”
Sophie opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of a door opening and a voice calling out, “Beth?”
“Back here!” the other woman called.
If Sophie hadn’t seen her curled into a ball almost catatonic thirty minutes ago, she never would’ve guessed anything was wrong with this woman. The change was almost astonishing.
The love that shone in her eyes when Beth heard whoever it was who’d called her name was something that Sophie wanted for herself. She wanted to be the center of someone’s life, as Beth obviously was to the man who strode into the room.
He had eyes only for her and he came straight to her. “What’s wrong?” he asked urgently.
Beth chuckled. “Nothing. I’m fine.”
“No, you aren’t. Second won’t leave your side,” the man protested, gesturing to the dog at their feet who had one leg up on Beth’s knees. “He only does that when you’re having difficulties.”
“Cade, this is Sophie,” Beth said.
The man turned to her and nodded absently, before looking at Beth again. “Beth, talk to me.”
She sighed, then said in a rush. “I had a little episode after you all left. But Sophie got here and talked to me. Now I’m fine.”
“Why?”
“Why what?” Beth asked, tiling her head.
“Why did you have an episode? You’ve been doing great. Especially with Second.”
Sophie shifted on the couch. She felt uncomfortable being there while the two lovers talked. “I’ll just—”
Beth reached out and grabbed her hand without looking at her. “I cut back on my meds,” she told her boyfriend.
“Beth…”
“I know, I know. But I hate taking them and that I’m not normal. I should be able to hang out at your workplace while you go off and save the world. I wasn’t ever in any danger. It’s stupid.”
“It’s not,” Cade reassured her. Taking her face in his hands, he leaned into her. “You’ve come
a long way, Beth. Don’t push yourself too hard. You’re amazing. I wish I was half as strong as you are. We’ll talk to Dr. Neal about your meds. Okay?”
Beth nodded and took a deep breath before saying, “Sophie came to see Chief. Did he come back with you?”
Looking surprised now, Cade looked over at Sophie again. His eyes flicked down to where Beth was still holding her hand and he smiled. “He’s probably showering. We can go wait for him in the great room. We never did get to finish our lunch and I’m sure he’ll be fast.”
“I can talk to him s-some other time,” Sophie said, suddenly not wanting to see Chief at all. “I’ll leave you guys to your cleanup.”
“Nonsense,” Beth said, dropping Sophie’s hand and standing. “You came to talk to him, so you might as well do it.”
Sophie bit her lip nervously. She remembered the way Chief had spoken to her in the bar and the last thing she wanted to do was have a repeat of that. “Really, I think I s-should just go.”
“Go where?” a voice said from the doorway.
“Hey, Crash,” Cade said.
“Sledge,” the man returned. “Who’s this?”
“This is Sophie. She’s here to see Chief,” Beth informed him.
“Really? Chief, huh? Cool. He should be out of the shower in a few,” the man in the doorway said.
“Crash, can you escort Sophie to the other room? I want to make sure Beth is okay.”
“What’s wrong with Beth?” the other firefighter said, all traces of amusement gone from his face.
“I’m fine,” the other woman insisted.
“She had an episode,” Cade informed his friend.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake. It’s not like this is a TV show or something. There was no ‘episode.’ I got a little freaked out when I was here by myself, but Sophie arrived and all’s well.”
“No problem,” Crash said, then turned to Sophie. “This way.”
Well, all right then, Sophie thought, then took a step toward the door. She turned to Beth. “I’ll s-see you later.”
“Of course you will. In like five minutes, after I reassure this big lug of mine that I really am fine, we’ll be out,” Beth said with a roll of her eyes.
Sophie’s lips twitched. She liked Beth. They seemed to be similar…tough on the outside, but hiding some issues underneath her strong outer core. At least that was how Sophie liked to see herself.
She followed the man called Crash out of the room and back into the great room. There were several men there now, along with a petite woman.
Everyone called out greetings.
“She’s here for Chief,” Crash announced.
Sophie liked the way that sounded but wanted to clarify so no one thought something that wasn’t true. “I m-met him the other day. I’m here to ask a favor for s-someone at the hospital.”
A slender man wearing glasses sauntered up to them and stuck out his hand. “I’m Squirrel. It’s good to meet you.”
“S-Sophie,” she responded automatically.
Another man came up behind Squirrel and introduced himself. “I’m Driftwood. If you get sick of Chief, call me.”
Taken aback, Sophie could only gape at the man as he brought her hand up to his lips and kissed the back.
“Who’s getting sick of me?” another voice said from the far side of the room.
Sophie stiffened. She’d recognize it anywhere.
“Sophie,” Driftwood said, dropping her hand and stepping away, giving her a clear view of the object of her fantasies standing near a sofa. His black hair was wet and he hadn’t pulled it back into his normal ponytail yet. It hung damp around his face. He was wearing the navy-blue T-shirt he usually had on, and tan cargo pants, but his feet were bare. For some reason, seeing his toes on the hard floor seemed way more intimate than she was ready for.
Feeling awkward and out of place, Sophie refused to meet Chief’s eyes, looking at anything and everything other than the man she’d had an immediate crush on from the moment she’d lain eyes on him when he’d moved in next door to her.
“Sophie,” Chief said, strolling toward her. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“I, uh…M-Mrs. Washington would like to know if you’d visit Diontray,” she blurted out.
“Of course,” was his immediate response.
“You don’t have to do it all the time, just once would—wait…you will?”
“Yeah, Soph. I will. On one condition,” Chief said as he entered her personal space. But he didn’t stop there. He leaned in and brushed his lips against her cheek. His hand squeezed her upper arm before he stepped back, but not far enough.
Sophie tried to get oxygen into her lungs. Her cheek tingled where his lips had brushed against it. What in the world? Why was he kissing her? He hated her, didn’t he?
She inhaled, trying to get her bearings, but that didn’t help, as a freshly showered Chief was overloading her senses. He smelled so damn good. Like some sort of scented soap. She went to take a step backward, but couldn’t, as Chief still held her arm.
“A condition?” she asked, looking up at him for the first time.
Chief’s dark eyes held none of the contempt she’d seen in them at the bar. They weren’t distracted, as they’d been when he’d paid her for mowing his lawn. They were focused on her with what she would’ve sworn was interest…but that couldn’t be right. He didn’t even like her.
“Go to lunch with me.”
Sophie stared at him. Was he serious? “Are you s-serious?”
“As a heart attack.”
“But you don’t like m-me.”
“I like you,” Chief countered.
“No, you don’t,” Sophie insisted. “You think I’m a horrible human being for purposely targeting low-income patients for our s-studies.” She heard a gasp from somewhere in the room, but didn’t take her eyes off Chief.
“I did, but that was before.”
“Don’t,” Sophie whispered.
“Don’t what?”
“If you want to humiliate m-me, you’ve done a pretty good job of it already. Don’t pretend to be interested in m-me only to s-stand m-me up to prove a point.”
Chief’s grip on her arm tightened, but he immediately relaxed his fingers when he saw her wince. He walked over to a nearby couch, sat, and began to put on his socks and shoes.
“I talked to Mrs. Washington,” he said. “You’re right. She couldn’t afford to have Diontray treated in the way he needed in order to recover fully. You might target the underprivileged and minorities, but I understand now that it’s because they’re the people who need it the most.”
Sophie was confused. “I don’t understand. You hated m-me just last week.”
“I didn’t hate you, Soph. I was confused, frustrated, and let my own experiences get in the way of thinking clearly. Then I spoke with Mrs. Washington, a few doctors, Tadd, and Mark.”
Sophie’s narrowed. “You better not have hurt M-Mark’s feelings.”
Chief’s lips quirked, but he held on to his composure. “I didn’t. I know I didn’t exactly make a good first, or second, impression with you, but I’m not an ogre. I bought him a candy bar and we hung out with Tadd and Charlie for a bit. He couldn’t stop talking about his S-Sophie and how much he loved you.”
Sophie could feel her cheeks heating with embarrassment. She loved Mark, but he could be a bit exuberant at times. “Oh.” She wasn’t sure what to say.
“Lunch?” Chief asked.
“You’ll talk to Diontray?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. But nothing fancy. How about the hospital cafeteria?”
“That’ll work for our first date,” Chief told her.
Wait. What? “Our first date?” Sophie questioned.
“Yup. And full disclosure and all that, I already arranged to go see Diontray tomorrow.”
“You did? When?”
“Yesterday, when I stopped in to make sure Traynesha didn’t need anything before visiting wi
th Mark and Tadd.” He stood up, finished with his shoes, and walked back into her personal space.
Sophie gaped up at him. Mrs. Washington hadn’t told her she’d seen Chief when she’d visited her this morning, the little sneak.
“That’s right, Soph. I asked you to lunch because I want to get to know you better. Learn what makes you tick. I was an ass and assumed something that wasn’t true. I want to make it up to you, make you see that I’m not an asshole.”
“I know you’re not,” Sophie said softly.
“That’s because you don’t know him,” a feminine voice said from behind them. “He really is an asshole sometimes, but all men are, so we can’t hold that against them.”
“You’re not helping, Tiger,” Chief said as he turned his head to look at the woman who had spoken. But he wasn’t upset as far as Sophie could tell. He was still smiling, and when his eyes came back to hers, they were twinkling.
“She should also know that you don’t talk much, can’t stand tamales, and never gamble. I’m sure there’s more, but she can figure it out as she goes.”
Sophie turned to stare at the diminutive blonde woman who was sitting at the table shoveling bites of a sandwich in her mouth between words. “What else do I need to know about him?” she asked with a small smile.
“He’s—”
Before the blonde could say anything else, a huge man came up behind her and put his hand over her mouth. “He’s a good guy and you couldn’t do better than him,” he said.
“Thanks, Moose,” Chief told his friend.
“No problem,” the man called Moose said as he leaned down and kissed the top of the woman’s head before stepping away from her and heading back into the kitchen.
Expecting the woman Chief had called Tiger to retaliate, or say something, Sophie was surprised when she merely shook her head, rolled her eyes, then began to eat again…but her gaze was glued to the large man, easily a foot taller than her, who was bent over at the waist checking out the contents of the refrigerator.
“Come on, I’ll walk you to the door,” Chief said, moving his grip from her arm down to her hand and intertwining his fingers with hers.
