“You don’t have bursitis—”
“Oh look, it’s Tina, the lady who did my hair yesterday.” Brenda lifted her arm and waved, and Tina motioned her over to the booth. “I’ll catch up with you, honey.”
Sophie rolled her eyes. She was glad her mother was making friends, but that had been a blatant escape attempt. Brenda was always so busy taking care of everyone else that she forgot to take care of herself sometimes. Sophie looked around at all of the little booths set up. It seemed that everyone in the community had something to sell—or maybe barter, she wasn’t sure. She saw Mrs. Larson as she was walking around and stopped to say hello. The old lady seemed thrilled to see her and gave her another cup of free lemonade.
“Thank you, Mrs. Larson. Do you know where Drake sets up?”
The older lady pointed to a table about five booths past hers. “He’s right there, honey, behind the O’ Dells’ booth.” Sophie looked but she couldn’t see him. There was a stack of containers on the grocer’s booth that he must be hidden behind. Mrs. Larson told her, “You see those blue containers? Those are his. It looks like Brooke is there with him.”
Sophie moved a step to the right, and she did see him. He was sitting at the little table with the blonde she’d seen with him in Huckleberry’s. “Mrs. Larson, who is Brooke?” Sophie heard herself ask, and she was surprised. Once again, it was very unlike her to feel jealous or threatened by another woman—especially since she wasn’t even in a relationship with the man.
“She’s our doctor now. It’s funny to me, sometimes. I watched that girl grow from diapers to medical school, and now she’s the one who writes out my prescriptions. A lot of folks are still driving the seventy miles down to the city because it just seems too strange to them.” She paused, and Sophie was just about to excuse herself when Mrs. Larson said, “Some things never change though. Those two have been sweet on each other since they were kids. I remember my dear departed husband running them out of our barn once when he found them in there kissing. They couldn’t have been over fifteen then. Brooke’s family lived just across the back field from us.”
Sophie didn’t like the way the sound of that made her feel either. What was happening to her? She’d never mooned over a man before and got jealous at the very idea of him kissing another woman—and twelve years ago at that!
She chastised herself once more, and Mrs. Larson asked, “Are you okay, dear?”
“Oh yes, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? You look a little peaked.”
Sophie wasn’t sure what “peaked” meant exactly, but she thought she might feel a little “peaked” as well. “I’m fine, Mrs. Larson. Thank you for the lemonade. I hope to see you again soon.”
“You’re so welcome, dear.” Sophie walked away from Mrs. Larson’s booth, but she wasn’t sure what she should do. Maybe she should go over and talk to him and see if he introduced the blonde this time—now that she really thought of it, he never said he didn’t have anyone in his life. What he had said was that he didn’t have anyone who would get angry about him spending the day with her. His blonde “friend” looked like a model even just from the back. Sophie was sure she’d have nothing to feel threatened about. Maybe that was all he meant.
She had decided to just turn around and go find her mother about the time Drake stood up to wait on a customer. He glanced in her direction and his chocolate eyes captured hers, and for a second she was frozen to her spot. A slow smile spread across his handsome face and he waved her over. Great. She pasted on a smile and walked over to him.
As she walked up, she heard the man next to the table telling him, “Becky was so grateful to you for dropping off those vegetables last week. We were both so sick we could hardly get out of bed, much less into town. She made us the best soup I’ve ever tasted out of them. I don’t know what you use in that soil of yours but—”
“Love,” the woman with the blonde hair said, grinning. Drake rolled his eyes without even looking at her.
“I’m glad you both liked them, Brett. What can I get for you today?”
“Becky said to get some of that yellow squash and two of your tomatoes. I want to pay you for what you brought by last week, too.”
“No way, that was one neighbor to another,” he said. Every time she was around him even for a minute, Sophie was finding it easier to understand why everyone loved him.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive,” he said, putting some things in a bag and handing it to the man. “That’s two dollars.”
“Two dollars?” The man looked at his fully stuffed bag. He appeared about to argue, but a glance at Drake’s face changed his mind. He handed Drake the two dollars, and with a grateful look, he said, “After the harvest, I’m going to make this all up to you.”
“I know,” Drake told him. As soon as the man walked away, he turned to Sophie. His smile and the tone of his voice was genuine as he said, “I’m so glad you came out this morning.”
That smile had a way of thawing the protective wall she kept around her heart. “Me too,” she said. “This is nice.” The blonde cleared her throat, and Drake looked down like he had just remembered she was there.
“I’m sorry. Brooke Kilgore, this is my friend Sophie Michelson. Brooke is the doctor in our clinic here in town.” Brooke stood up and offered Sophie her hand, which she accepted, Sophie found herself envious of the other woman’s smooth, feminine hands. She had been working so hard lately that she hadn’t given much thought to the state of her hands until just now.
“I’m pleased to meet you,” Brooke said. When she smiled, she had one deep dimple on the right side of her face.
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Sophie told her.
“Speaking of the clinic, I guess I should get back to the booth. Drake, call me if you need backup later. And stay strong or buy a puppy.”
Drake laughed and said, “Couldn’t I just give Hooter to him instead?”
Brooke laughed. “Right, you and that old Lab couldn’t live without each other. How old is he now?”
“He’s going on fifteen this year,” he told her.
Brooke whistled. “Wow, it’s hard to believe he’s that old. I was at that birthday party when your dad gave him to you.”
Drake looked like he was remembering. With another genuine smile, he said, “Yeah, I remember it like it was just last week. He’s been a good old dog.”
She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “I really have to get back. Don’t forget to call me after you talk to Mac.” She turned back to Sophie and said, “It was really nice meeting you.”
“Thank you. It was good to meet you as well.” Drake’s eyes moved from Brooke back to Sophie. Something about the way he looked at her made her feel safe and warm. “She’s the doctor, huh?” she asked. Stupid question, didn’t he just say, “She’s the doctor?”
“Yeah,” he said, at least polite enough not to even smirk or point out that he’d just said that. Instead he said, “She and I have been friends for a long time.”
Just friends … that’s good. Good, why? Why do I care who he’s “just friends” with?
“So what are you selling?” she asked, trying hard to change the subject before she said something to embarrass herself further.
“Vegetables, herbs, salves …”
“I could use some vegetables.” He grinned. God, he was so handsome…. She started looking through what he had and saw that most of them were cut up into bite-sized pieces and put into plastic containers. Some of them even looked like they had seasoning of some sort on them. “Is this a special seasoning or something?”
“Nope, it’s just salt and pepper.”
“So why do you cut them up like this? Do they sell better?”
“Not really. Brook Haven is so close to the mountains that a lot of folks we get here in town—locals—live in cabins up on the mountain. Many of them don’t have electricity or gas to cook with, and the ones that do just might not have a lot of money to buy
food. A lot of our work around here is seasonal. If you don’t own a business that people need all year round, off-season times can get tough. Some of the folks up here just survive all year off what they make during ski season. Some of them wouldn’t make it if the community didn’t help out. The general store is owned by a couple named the O’ Dells, and they give out things that most markets return or throw away, like vegetables you can’t really keep very long or they go bad, especially this time of year. My mom always cut up the ones that could be eaten fresh and raw and packaged them this way. I just continued what she started.”
“So you give them away?”
“In some cases. There are people who can afford to pay me, and the ones that can’t don’t. I plant way too many every season for just Uncle Mac and me to eat.”
She smiled. “How do you know the difference? I mean, do you already know who can afford to pay and who can’t?”
“I don’t need to know. They know. They take what they need and pay me if or when they can. Sometimes they trade me for things.”
“That’s really admirable, Drake.”
He looked uncomfortable. “Nah, it’s just what you’re supposed to do for your neighbors. Everybody around here gives back if they can.”
She didn’t respond because he didn’t seem overly comfortable talking about it, but it warmed her heart. She was feeling more confident with her choice of a place to start her business and put down her roots every day.
CHAPTER NINE
Sophie spent most of the morning with Drake at his table. Some of it she spent playing with his dog who, she discovered, loved to fetch.
“Why is his name Hooter?”
“When my parents gave him to me, I named him Beau. He was just a tiny little thing and I was too young to really know how much trouble he could get into out on a farm that sits right at the mouth of the forest. I got busy playing with my friends at the party and before I knew it, Beau was gone. He’d just disappeared. I was in a panic, and my friends and I all ran off to look for him. We looked for over an hour and when we came back to the house, the pup was curled up in my mom’s lap on the front porch. I asked her where she found him and she said she didn’t find him, the barn owl did. We had this owl that my mom fixed up when he was young. He wouldn’t leave afterwards and just stayed in our barn. I guess once we took off, Mom could hear him making all kinds of racket, ‘hooting and hollering,’ she had said. When she got to the barn, she found the pup curled up on top of the owl’s nest. I decided to rename him Hooter after that.”
“What a cute story. Your family loves animals, don’t they?”
“Yeah. My mother was like Snow White. They were just attracted to her.”
Throughout the rest of the morning, Drake introduced her to a lot of people she hadn’t met, and between customers, she just sat with him and talked. She had a lot of questions about the community and the people and what it was going to be like in a few weeks when tourist season exploded, and he answered them all to the best of his ability.
The whole time he was shaking inside. He hadn’t been able to get her off his mind since he met her, but after the bike ride yesterday, it was even worse. It was the first time she’d really let her guard down around him and he got to see the real Sophie. He’d liked what he’d seen … a lot. Today was a lot of the same. She laughed at his stupid jokes and even made a few of her own. By the time Brenda found her to tell her she was ready to go, Sophie was even waiting on his customers.
“I see you put her to work,” Brenda told Drake with a smile. “Good for you.”
Sophie finished handling her “sale” and turned to look at her mother. “And where have you been, young lady? You disappeared on me for hours.”
Brenda laughed. “You know me, I’m a social butterfly. I think I may have joined a quilting league … or whatever you call them.”
“You quilt?” Sophie asked her.
“Not at all. I can’t even sew, but it sounded like fun.”
Sophie laughed. “Are you ready to head back? I was going to get some work done in the office today.”
“Sure, honey, whenever you are. How is your Sunday going, Drake?”
“Great,” he told her honestly. He couldn’t have asked for a better one—minus the part about having to go home and having that talk with Mac about the kits.
“What are you doing for dinner, Drake?” He didn’t miss the way Sophie’s head snapped around to look at her mother when she asked him that. Sophie was as aware as he was that her mother was trying to set them up.
He smiled and said, “I don’t have any plans, Mrs. Michelson.” Then he looked at Sophie again for her reaction. She actually seemed more amused than annoyed.
“Good, you should join us. I took some pork chops out to thaw this morning. I thought I’d do them up with an apple bourbon sauce that I haven’t made in a long time.”
“That sounds really good, but I might have to take a rain check.”
“Oh. I thought you said you didn’t have plans?”
“I don’t, but there’s something I need to talk to my uncle about and—”
“Oh no, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to exclude your uncle. He’s welcome to come too. I’d love to meet him. Wouldn’t you, Sophie?”
“Yes,” Sophie said, still looking amused. “I’d love to meet him.”
“Well, I’m just not sure he’ll come …”
“How often do you two get a home-cooked meal?”
“Not often,” he said regretfully. “I’ll ask him. Can I let you know?”
“Of course.”
Drake smiled. “Thank you. I’ll let you know soon so you don’t make extra food for no reason.”
“I’ll look forward to hearing from you,” Brenda told him. “Sophie, I’m going to wait in the car. Take your time.”
“Is your ankle hurting again?”
“No, it’s fine. I hope we see you later, Drake.” They watched as she walked away, and it was obvious that she was trying hard not to limp.
“She never saw a doctor about that?” Drake asked Sophie.
“No, she’s so stubborn. She keeps telling me it’s fine, but she’s still limping and she thinks she’s hiding it from me.”
“Will you mind the table for just a second?” Drake interrupted her.
Sophie looked at him strangely but said, “Sure.”
He followed Brenda, and when he caught up to her, he said, “Mrs. Michelson, I was wondering if you’d do me a favor?”
“Sure, of course, Drake. What do you need?”
“My friend Brooke is the new doctor here in town. She just came back from being gone to medical school and doing her residency and all of that in Boston. She opened a little clinic, but they haven’t gotten a lot of business yet. The doctor who was here before was here for years, and people are just having a hard time trusting such a young doctor. Unfortunately, some of them are still a little on the fence about her being female, too. It’s just not what they’re used to, you know? She has a booth here and I was just wondering if maybe you’d let her look at your ankle.”
Brenda had a knowing smile on her face as she said, “And how does that help your friend?”
“Well, I’m not sure it will, but so far today no one has stopped to take advantage of her services. You could be the first. It would at least make her feel better.”
“Are you trying to manipulate me into having a doctor look at my ankle, Drake?”
“Is it working?”
“I’ll let her look at it.”
“Then yes ma’am, that was exactly what I was trying to do.”
Brenda laughed and he held his arm out to her. She took it, and he escorted her over to the booth where Brooke sat with her medical assistant, looking bored out of her mind.
****
“It’s broken?” Sophie said, slightly indignant that her mother had been walking around on it for over two weeks.
“She doesn’t know that for sure. She wants me to go have it x-rayed at t
he clinic tomorrow.”
“But she told you that you shouldn’t be walking on it.”
“Yes, she told me to try and stay off of it. I wasn’t planning a marathon tonight.”
“You invited Drake and his uncle to dinner though. I’m cooking—”
“No, you’re not. I invited them, I’ll cook.”
“How do you plan on doing that without standing up?” Sophie asked her as she turned off the main road and onto the road leading up to the house.
“I can sit on one of the stools if I need to. I’ll be fine. You worry way too much.”
Sophie shook her head at her stubborn mother. She knew that it wouldn’t do any good to argue with her. When they got to the house, Sophie helped her out of the SUV and said, “Drake says they have an old walker at his place from when his uncle had physical therapy. I’m going to run over there and pick it up.”
“He can just bring it when he comes for dinner.”
“He’s not even sure his uncle will come, Mom. It’s ten minutes from here, he said. I’ll be right back.” She helped Brenda into the house and issued more orders she knew her mother wouldn’t follow. Then she called Drake to let him know she was dropping by before she got back in the car. She followed the road from her place up toward the mountains and turned off on the one he told her to. The road narrowed and was surrounded on all sides by thick patches of trees that seemed to lead higher up into the mountains.
The view was gorgeous and Sophie almost missed her turnoff because she was so engrossed by it. When she saw the little dirt road, she nearly had to slam on her breaks. She smiled at the little handmade sign that read “Tanner Stead” near the mailbox at the end of the road. A bunch of lilac bushes seemed to grow wild there and she caught their sweet, subtle scent as the air wafted through her open window.
She saw Drake’s house as she got a little closer. It was built up on a gentle rise that sloped away on either side, and the property was dotted with massive oak trees and a maple tree here and there. His house was so white that it actually gleamed in the center of all that brown and green. The little yard in front and the vegetable garden off to the side were as well-kept as she imagined they would be.
Where I Belong Page 6
