“Ella, I’m not sure...” Brad started. The pair chatted as if they were long-lost family. His presence wasn’t really required. And there was something in Evie’s patient smile and in her soft voice that he hadn’t heard or seen since she’d lost her husband. Something refreshing, like hope.
“Bradley Trent Harrington, just because I don’t have any children of my own doesn’t mean I haven’t always had girlfriends.” Evie’s scolding voice drew out Ella’s giggle. But Evie wasn’t finished. “I learned to French braid before I learned to write my name.”
Ella’s mouth dropped open. “Then would you French braid my hair?”
“I’d love to.” Evie frowned at Brad. “What should we do with the boy in our group? Boys can’t braid hair.”
“Brad needs to stay with the kittens.” Ella hugged the carrier box. “They can’t be alone on their first night home.”
“What should I do with them?” Brad crossed his arms over his chest.
“You play with them until they fall asleep and then you can put them in their kennel,” Ella said. “But you need to make sure they have a litter box and water and a soft bed. Maybe a toy or two.”
Evie looked at him over her glasses as if to ask him if he needed more detailed instructions than that.
Brad looked down at Ella. He’d bought her a burger, fries and her favorite shake. She was supposed to be on his side. “Anything else?”
Ella shook her head. “I’m sure Auntie will have more for you to do when she gets home.”
“Don’t you want to play with the kittens?” Brad asked.
“I can’t.” Ella pulled her phone out of her front pocket and pressed the time button. “It’s a school night, remember? I have a schedule.”
Convenient. Brad narrowed his gaze on the pair, wondering how he’d been so neatly outmaneuvered. “Then you two are good?”
“Yup,” Ella said. “I’ll take Ms. Evie upstairs.”
“And I’ll let the kittens out to play,” Brad said.
“You should probably let the other ones out for a while. They’ve been alone all day, too.” Ella opened her walking stick and started toward the back room.
“I have my orders.” Brad moved in to get the carrier box. “It’s play time, kittens.”
“Thanks for dinner.” Ella intercepted him and threw her arms around his waist. “You’re the best.”
Brad froze, trying to catch his breath. One precious child had certainly left him winded. He wrapped his arms around Ella and hugged her back. “Anytime.”
The catch in his voice startled him. Then the realization that he meant it, that he’d help Ella anytime, upset his balance. Maybe he’d been more than winded.
Evelyn and Ella made their way through the kennel area and lingered for another twenty minutes, in spite of Ella’s schedule, while the girl introduced Evie to each four-legged resident. Discussion and some cleanup complete, the pair finally headed up the back stairs. Brad watched until they’d disappeared into the apartment.
What had just happened? Worlds had just collided: Evie’s and Sophie’s. Now Brad couldn’t erase the unease from his skin no matter how hard he rubbed his neck. He shouldn’t have answered Sophie’s phone call. He shouldn’t have asked Evie to pick up the kittens. He definitely shouldn’t have introduced Evie and Ella. He should’ve stopped Ella from inviting Evie upstairs. He should’ve explained that Sophie wouldn’t have minded if Ella’s schedule changed for one night.
But he’d done nothing. Stood there like he’d lost his voice and listened to their conversation and let himself get taken in by two smart females. A stranger would’ve assumed they were grandmother and granddaughter with the ease of their conversation and comfort between them. It was as if they’d recognized instantly that each one needed the other.
Brad opened the box and lifted each kitten onto a towel he’d spread on the floor. But everything was wrong. This wasn’t Evelyn Davenport’s world. And Ella and Sophie had their thing—a good thing with just the two of them.
Seeing Evelyn with Ella should have tightened his focus on finding George Callahan. On ending this favor so everyone could return to their lives.
Yet watching Ella and Evie together, all he could think about was how finding George Callahan was going to ruin more lives than help them. But George had to be brought to justice and the truth had to be revealed. Would Sophie still need him after he exposed her father? That shouldn’t matter. But Sophie needing him was starting to matter. A lot.
Brad lowered himself onto the floor beside the kittens. He worried the consequences of completing this particular favor might leave a mark, a painful one, that even he might not be able to remove.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
SOPHIE USUALLY RACED up the double staircase to their third-floor apartment. But tonight, each step seemed more exhausting than the last. And every time she looked up, the landing seemed farther away, as if she were caught in a recurring nightmare. A quick check of Ella and a thank-you to Brad, then she’d collapse on her bed. Bury herself under the comforter and hold herself together.
She was tired. So very tired. Of picking herself up and everyone around her. But that was only the exhaustion talking. If she could just get to her bed, everything would be right by morning.
Things were already on track to be better by then. April had eventually been moved to a room. Kay and Liv had arrived, prepared to divide the night shift at the hospital. Sophie had promised to return later to sit with April.
The Closed sign had been hung in the Pampered Pooch window and the storefront lights turned off. She could deal with the night’s cash drawer in the morning before opening. She counted five more stairs and used the railing to pull herself along.
Only Ella’s bedroom light glowed in the otherwise dark flat. Had Brad fallen asleep on the couch? She considered leaving him there to deal with in the morning, too. She wasn’t herself. She’d probably embarrass them both and collapse in his arms, desperate for someone to hold her. But she hadn’t asked him to help her because she needed him to hold her.
She padded down the hall, away from the family room and toward her reality. Ella lay asleep in her bed, an open book beneath one hand and a walkie-talkie clutched in the other. Her hair was pulled back in the neatest French braid Sophie had seen. Her therapist must have braided Ella’s hair while they’d waited for Brad. Ella was forever conning someone into braiding her hair. One of these days, Sophie would watch the internet videos and teach herself to French braid like the other perfect aunts did.
She kissed Ella’s forehead, put her book and walkie-talkie aside, and blamed her comparison to other moms on her exhaustion. She was too tired to even debate the aunt-versus-mom issue. One last task and she’d welcome sleep.
But only an empty couch and a cold kitchen greeted her. Brad wasn’t in the apartment. But he wouldn’t have left Ella. He’d texted hourly updates and Ella had texted her own version of the evening.
Sophie sighed and considered the back stairs leading to the yard and kennels. She could get down those stairs, but coming back up would be the challenge. She had to relieve Brad to put an end to this night.
Sophie stepped into the kennel area and pulled up short. Brad sat on the floor, his legs stretched out, his head resting against the wall. The white kitten slept on his lap, and the gray stretched out against his thigh, with the calico beside its sibling also asleep. The largest silver-and-black kitten batted at Brad’s shoelace, while the tabby jumped at the feathers Brad swung over its head.
Her legs wobbled, along with her resolve not to open any part of her heart. But she wondered if Brad would open his arms and let her fall into his embrace. She’d seen Matt do that for Ruthie more than once, and Ruthie’s sister and her new husband, even strangers on the street. When was the last time she’d just been held? Had she ever been held? She couldn’t
remember. Certainly not by her father.
Sophie crossed her arms over her chest, flattened her back against the wall and slid to the floor beside Brad.
“Welcome home. Ella is sleeping.” Brad lifted a walkie-talkie. “But we’re connected. She fell asleep midchapter. I’m sitting here waiting to find out if the heroine saves her ice-queen sister.”
“I know.” Sophie wound her arms around her bent legs and set her cheek on her knees to hold herself together like she’d always done. Always would. “I went upstairs first. Ella was holding a book and her walkie-talkie. You’ve been here the whole time with the kittens?”
“Ella refused to allow them to be put in the kennels with the older cats.” The white kitten stretched into Brad’s gentle touch. “Evelyn refused to let them upstairs with Ella.”
“Evelyn?” Sophie resisted the urge to set her head on his shoulder and curl into his side, seeking his warm touch.
“Evelyn Davenport.” Brad edged the calico’s paw off its sibling’s face with his finger. “You met her at my mother’s.”
“You chopped up her flower garden.” Sophie nudged her shoulder against Brad’s. A light, friendly tap that left Sophie wanting more. Something more meaningful. Something lasting.
He winced. “I was four.”
“And creative with scissors.” The tabby dove for the feathers and landed on the gray kitten next to Brad’s leg. The calico slapped at his brother, obviously irritated by the interruption, and rolled into the warm spot its sibling left beside Brad’s leg. She’d have been irritated, too, if she’d had the pleasure of being curled up against Brad, then woken from the dream.
What happened to her quick good-night? A simple “thank you for your help, I owe you and goodbye.” But the words failed to come and Sophie waited for Brad to continue. Waited for that something more.
“Evelyn was with me when you called.” He picked up the tabby and the gray, then set the feather between them for a wrestling match. “She picked up the kittens, while I went to get Ella.”
“Why would she do that?” Sophie cringed at the suspicion crowding out the surprise in her voice. She’d never quite learned to trust unsolicited kindness. There always seemed to be a price to pay.
“She likes to help. Evelyn is what Matt would call good people.”
Sophie recognized good people all the time: the competent nurses and staff at Bay Water, the paramedics tonight and all those years ago. Her foster families. Accepting good people into her inner circle proved much more difficult. “I need to thank Evelyn for her help.”
“She’ll most likely visit again soon.”
The fondness in his voice drew Sophie’s gaze to him.
“She sort of lost herself with the cats. Cleaned the litter boxes, rinsed and filled the water bowls. Added new toys.” Brad motioned toward the kennels. “All that after she’d met Ella.”
Sophie smiled. She knew all too well about the Ella effect. The charm, laughter and sweetness were such a natural part of her niece. Nothing forced or fake or phony about her. Ella was definitely good people.
“It’s possible they conspired to keep me down here while they kept Ella on her weekly schedule upstairs. Braiding hair, possibly painting nails. I hadn’t noticed the glittery pink nail polish on Evie’s fingers when she arrived from the vet.”
“You’re not feeling left out, are you?” Sophie pushed her voice into a light tease, trying to hide her own hurt. She felt left out and resented Evelyn’s time with Ella and Brad. So many mean thoughts. Sophie surely wasn’t good people.
But there was something lovely and comforting about sitting on the floor beside Brad, taking a reprieve from the big topics. Once again the urge to drop her head on his shoulder gripped her as if she had that right. As if there was more between them. Instead, she stretched out her legs and brushed her fingers over the white kitten’s back, using the kitten as her excuse to scoot closer to Brad.
“Boys can wear some pink, too.”
Sophie laughed. “Maybe next time. I’ll put in a good word for you.”
“How’s April and the babies?” Brad unhooked the tabby’s claws from his jeans.
The concern was there in his tone. Now she really wanted to lean on him. To let him shoulder her worries, her fears. But she’d never unloaded on anyone before. She wouldn’t know how. But she kept her thigh pressed against his, building strength from the contact. “She’s in the ICU with every monitor available and her mother. The doctors want her to get to thirty-two weeks before delivering.”
“How far along is she?”
“A few days over thirty weeks,” Sophie said. “She has twelve more days to go.”
“It’ll be a long time.”
“Kay will be there. She’ll help her through.”
“And you’ll be there.”
“As much as I can.” Between party planning, running the store, selling her grandmother’s furniture, Ella’s school and appointments, and finding her father. Resentment whispered through her, but she blew it away. April and Kay needed her. She’d be there. She lacked the ability to say no.
She also wouldn’t whine about it. This was her life. She’d accepted that when she’d brought Ella and Tessa home from the hospital. She’d simply sleep away the overwhelming worry tonight and wake up ready to manage everything as usual. “Where’s Erin?”
Brad glanced at her. “Erin had an exam and sprinted out as soon as we came in.”
Sophie jerked back and tapped her head against the wall. It was Monday. Erin had classes on Monday and Wednesday afternoons and evenings. She’d forgotten. That was a bad sign. “Did you look after the store, too?”
“Until closing,” Brad said. “I even rang up two sales. You need a new cash register.”
She needed a new everything. “It’s on the list.”
Brad rubbed the white kitten under its chin. “You were right. She’s deaf. Will someone want her?”
Someone had to. Being deaf didn’t make the kitten unlovable. No one should feel unwanted. The kitten simply came with special considerations like Sophie and Ella for anyone interested in them. But none of them were any less because of that. “You could adopt her?” But could you want me?
“Not sure I’m the most appropriate fit.”
But we could fit. We could work. If we reached out for each other. Together. At the same time. Then we wouldn’t be alone. “It’s not one or the other, you know?”
“What’s not?”
Us. Me. Your freedom. “You don’t have to be a dog person or a cat person only.”
He shifted and looked at her, his gaze searching hers.
“She obviously really likes you,” Sophie said. I really like you.
He leaned over, cupped Sophie’s chin, and kissed her softly and gently. Just the simplest touch of tenderness before he pulled back to look into her eyes. “And I like you.” He picked up the white kitten and set it on the towel. “Now, we need to get these little guys into their home for the evening because my entire backside has fallen asleep on this floor.”
Brad switched gears before Sophie could slow the rush of adrenaline and find those padlocks for her heart. If only putting away her feelings for Brad was as easy as putting kittens into their kennel.
She locked the door behind Brad and made her way upstairs. But she knew before putting her head on the pillow that sleep would elude her. Brad’s words, I like you, tumbled around her brain, tempting her with a different version of her future. If she slept though, she just might wake up to find she believed in a new dream.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“DON’T FORGET, WE can’t be late getting home from school later.” Ella hugged Sophie. “Ms. Evie promised to let me help with the doggy manicures this afternoon.”
“We won’t be late.” Sophie adjusted Ella’s stuffed
backpack, surprised again that the child hadn’t toppled backward from the weight. Sophie’s backpack had been a suitcase when she was a kid, holding her few possessions. But Ella would never learn what it meant to live like that. Not under Sophie’s care. “Are you sure you want to tackle dog manicures? You don’t even like to file down your own nails.”
“You don’t like manicures,” Ella corrected. “You always complain about the nail polish chipping off. I like my nails painted.”
Like her mother. Tessa polished her nails every week as if the pearl pink sheen proved to the world that she had it all together. If only a coat of nail polish and a brush of a quick-dry clear coat was enough to instill order into Callahan lives. Sophie had sworn off polish. She didn’t need chipped nails to amplify the dents in her world.
Ella stepped away, pulling her walking stick from the side pocket in her backpack. “Ms. Evie gave me a special nail buffer. It doesn’t make those scratchy noises like the one you use. You should ask Ms. Evie to get you one, too.”
“I’ll do that.” Sophie waved to a mother on the other side of the crosswalk. “Peyton and Audrey are racing over here.”
Ella grinned and turned toward the shouts of her friends. “Perfect. I get to find out if they like the flower decorations Ms. Evie put on my nails. You should ask Ms. Evie to get you new nail polish, too. She found me scented nail polish. It’s the best.”
Sophie squeezed Ella’s shoulders and kissed the top of her head. It’d been five days since Ella had met Ms. Evie, four days since Sophie had hired Evelyn Davenport to work at the Pampered Pooch, and already Ella had a book on the things Sophie needed to ask Evelyn for. Every day Ella added a new page to her Evelyn Knows Best notebook.
Evelyn had met Sophie outside the Pampered Pooch before she’d opened on Tuesday morning just like Brad had predicted the evening before. Brad hadn’t predicted that Evelyn would offer her services. He hadn’t predicted the basket of fresh-baked muffins and two thermoses: one with tea and the other with Evelyn’s special Irish coffee to be shared after hours.
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