And Sophie hadn’t predicted her own reaction to the older woman’s generosity. She’d swung open the door to the Pampered Pooch and welcomed her newest employee into the family. Within twenty-four hours, Evelyn had filled the void April’s absence had left. Within forty-eight hours, Evelyn had sprinkled her spirit into every corner of the building, inside and out. She’d created new Open and Closed signs in the form of giant paw prints. She’d organized the kennels, enlarging Ella’s walkway and worked with Troy on a new doggy day care drop-off circuit. And yesterday, Evelyn earned her fairy-godmother wand when she’d brought Andrew Harrington to see Sophie. The donation from Brad’s brother had saved the Paws and Bark Bash, reigniting Sophie’s vision to make the gala more than an average affair.
Now, seventy-two hours later, Sophie breathed without pasting an everything-is-just-fine smile on her face. Everything seemed balanced. The illusion Brad had created several nights past hadn’t burst, and she felt steady enough to believe in it, even tentatively. She liked what this world could be like for her and Ella. And she’d even dared to believe that her father would come through for her, after all. How could he not? Sophie’s luck was obviously changing.
Sophie waited while Ella made her way up the school steps with her friends. Beside Sophie, a mother zipped up her son’s jacket and promised to return with his lunch box, but vowed this would be the last time—next time he’d have to go hungry. A father fist-bumped his two sons before giving his daughter a bear hug. She wondered if Brad would fist-bump or hug. She knew he’d walk to school, push a stroller and wear one of those baby carriers. After all, he’d sat on the floor with five kittens, long after it’d been necessary. Ella wouldn’t even have known that. He’d never hesitated when Sophie asked. Never left Ella. Brad would stay.
Sophie wanted to believe she would stay, too. In this new world Brad made her want to believe in.
She smiled at another father and waved to a mother sprinting toward the parking lot.
“Where did Ella get her curls?”
A pleasant male voice scattered the image of Brad beside her, pushing a baby stroller. She shook her head, not sure what had been in her coffee. She wasn’t one to ever daydream. She preferred the truth. Then she never worried about getting swept away by her fantasies and falling face-first into a frozen pool of reality. She glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see a parent, not her father’s business associate. She turned and frowned at Teddy Gordon.
He tipped his chin at her in greeting before shifting his gaze toward the school entrance. “Her curls must have come from her grandmother.”
“Why are you here?” Sophie wished Ella would move faster and cringed when the girls stopped on the landing to laugh while another friend hurried to catch up. Sophie willed them all inside with their teachers where it was safe.
“Your father hasn’t contacted me.”
“Get in line.” Anger threaded through Sophie’s tone. How dare he follow her to Ella’s school. How dare he invade her personal space. How dare he intrude into her world again.
“My sister had long, straight hair. She always wanted what your niece has. So she paid for every kind of curl available.” His head shook as if to dislodge a distasteful memory. “She never did get those natural curls like Ella.”
Sophie remained rooted to the sidewalk, figuring she’d run inside if she needed help, past the numerous security cameras and right up to the guards. She told herself she could handle this, and yet that knowledge did little to take away the icy chill raising bumps across her skin. Nor could she deny that a big part of her wished her daydream about Brad walking to school with them had been real.
Finally, the school doors closed behind the last late student and the bell buzzed, signaling the start of the day.
“My sister wasted all that time and money on perms and still her hair always ended up straight. That was its nature.” He examined his titanium bracelet as if searching for something inside the thick links. “If you’re waiting for your father to change his nature, you’re better off—”
“You didn’t come here to talk about perms and human nature.” Sophie stuffed her hands inside her jacket pockets and squeezed her phone. “You could’ve had that discussion with any of your other business associates.”
“You’d be wise to consider my advice.” He slipped on tinted sunglasses even though the overcast morning was anything but bright. He brushed her shoulder as he walked down the sidewalk.
Sophie hurried away in the opposite direction and avoided her usual route, wanting as much distance as possible between her and Teddy Gordon. Sophie’d sprint across the Bay Bridge and circle back if she had to in order to bypass another run-in with Teddy Gordon.
She’d only reached the potholed alley by the school’s parking lot when Teddy called out to her.
Sophie slowed and looked back. He hadn’t moved more than a few steps past where they’d been standing. He’d been watching her leave. That chill pushed more bumps along her skin, making her wonder if they’d be permanent.
“One last thought.” He tipped his glasses down and stared at her over the rims.
Despite the distance, Sophie saw his hard expression and the ruthless predator he hid behind his false smiles and balance bracelet. Sophie clutched her hands together inside her sweatshirt pocket, trying to find some warmth. Somewhere.
“I’d regret having to ask you to repay your father’s debt, but I will if pressed.” He pushed his glasses up and grinned as if he’d enjoyed an impromptu meeting with a dear friend. “Until next time.”
There wasn’t going to be a next time. And if, by some unfortunate chance, there was a next time, Sophie intended it to be between Teddy Gordon and her father, not her.
Sophie stared as Teddy walked to the intersection and disappeared around the corner. She waited another five minutes and kept her eyes on that corner, willing the chill inside her to recede. A bike messenger sprinted across the intersection and flew past the school, squealing around an open car door, yet never slowing. A crowded city bus passed the stop across from her, leaving the waiting passengers to hope the next one wasn’t full. And Sophie to hope she’d find warmth again.
The light at the intersection changed and the city moved around her. Sophie never moved. And Teddy Gordon never returned. Two more city buses, windows steamed from the bodies crammed inside, passed without pausing. The bus passengers waited and so did Sophie.
Another fifteen minutes clicked by before the bell inside Ella’s school buzzed for the end of homeroom and Sophie ran back to her world. But that chill remained with her no matter how far she stretched out her stride or how much she pumped her arms.
Reality bit even harder. Served her right for daydreaming outside Ella’s school. The last few days had been an illusion, a version of someone else’s life. A life that didn’t belong to Sophie. Her world contained fathers who ruined their daughters’ lives.
Twenty years later, her father was poised for a repeat. Ruining everything she’d worked for and once again taking away her home. Every minute she stopped focusing on that, she put Ella and herself in danger.
She knew Brad would leave if she gave him her heart. She didn’t know how soon, though. How soon before her heart wasn’t enough for him. How soon before he wanted to leave. To move on. She knew better than to fall for some illusion.
Good thing she wasn’t stupid and hadn’t actually fallen for Brad already.
However, she needed Brad now.
Sophie slowed to a fast walk and found Brad’s name in her list of contacts on her phone. She texted him to ask for his assistant’s information. She had to sell her grandmother’s furniture quickly. She might need that money to assuage the philosophical Teddy Gordon. Why couldn’t her father have chosen a less astute business associate? And one less attuned to women’s hairstyles.
She touched her familiar ponyt
ail. Perhaps it was past time to schedule her own hair appointment at the Makeover Studio. Charlene Raye was a long shot to help locate her father, but the hairstylist was the only lead Sophie had. The clock had suddenly moved into overtime and Sophie’d wasted all of her time-outs.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
BRAD FOLLOWED EVIE into the back room of the Pampered Pooch. He hadn’t been to the store since Monday night. Issues with his boat had caused him to drive two hours up the coast to meet the Delta Craft staff on Tuesday and he’d stayed the night to catch up with a business contact in the area to discuss a computer-hacking case.
Once he hit the city again, network and cloud security problems had pulled him into the office for round-the-clock troubleshooting. He’d seen several of his staff circling his assistant’s desk throughout the last two days. No doubt revising their bets on the office pool.
Evie tugged a trash can toward the cat kennels.
“What are you doing here?” Brad asked. She wore a Pampered Pooch polo shirt. When had Sophie started selling those? He’d only ever seen Sophie’s employees wearing the familiar purple.
“I offered Sophie my services. Sophie offered me a job.” Evelyn frowned at him over an open kennel gate. She thrust two cats at him.
He knew from Ella that the older cats were brothers, surrendered when their owner had traded them for a pair of young kittens. Felix looked like a chain smoker had exhaled on him repeatedly. Milo rested his head on Brad’s shoulder.
“Sophie needs help.” Evie emptied the litter box and shook her head. “You didn’t assist her like you promised.”
Brad adjusted the cats in his arms, trying not to squeeze too hard. “I promised to help you find George and your money.”
“And we agreed you’d help Sophie with her gala.” Evelyn motioned for him to put the two brothers back inside their kennel. She opened the neighboring kennel and handed him a heavyset calico cat. “She’s obviously nothing like her father. I’m not certain she knows how to put herself first.”
“You intend to show her how to do that.” The calico cat’s ears flattened toward its head as if offended by the sarcasm in Brad’s tone.
“I intend to ease her burden,” Evelyn said.
“You’re the reason I’m going to have her father arrested.” A low growl vibrated through the calico, its ears plastered to its head. Brad could relate. When had Evelyn infiltrated Sophie’s world and how did he stop this catastrophe?
“George has wronged his own daughter far more than me. He told me how he’d regretted leaving her as a child.” Evelyn urged the calico back into its kennel and opened another one, handing a thin tuxedo cat to Brad. “That I’m certain was a lie. And I’m just as certain he lied to Sophie more.”
“Those aren’t criminal activities.” Brad adjusted the frail cat in his arms and tried to sound calm. He wanted to shake some sense into Evie, but he didn’t want to scare the cat.
She knocked the litter scooper against the trash can with more force than necessary. “Moral injustices are often worse.”
“And yet Sophie loves her father.” Brad handed Evie the frail cat and accepted a Persian, its nose punched in beneath thick layers of creamy-white fur.
“As did I,” Evelyn said. “She needs us now, Bradley.”
No, Sophie needed to have her gala. She needed to learn the truth about her father. But she didn’t need them. They’d hurt her and Brad wouldn’t be there to clean up the fallout. The thought of Sophie in pain made him feel as if he should be dumped on the side of the road.
Evie finished with the kennel and studied the Persian in Brad’s arms, muttering about scissors and mats. She returned with scissors and told Brad to hold the cat tight. As she finished trimming the fur around the cat’s neck, the front bells chimed. Brad glanced into the store and swore.
Evie tsk-tsked before following his gaze. A grin spread across her face. “You can greet your brother when we finish with these mats.”
“You called Drew, too.” The cat’s back claws pierced through Brad’s sweater into his arm. Not that he cared much. He’d like claws of his own right now. How many of his family members had invaded Sophie’s life?
Evelyn snipped at the cat’s fur. “One of Drew’s clients had a wedding with a service dog in the ceremony. Surely you remember. The wedding photos circulated through the news.”
Did everyone remember that particular wedding but him? “Drew mentioned it the other day.”
“The Wrights are a perfect fit for the gala.” Evelyn pointed the scissors at him. “Although you should’ve thought of it sooner. Like you’d promised.”
“Drew’s client is a perfect sponsor for the gala,” Brad clarified. That involved nothing more than mailing in a monetary donation and receiving top billing in the program.
Sophie stepped through the front door and his brother lifted her into a bear hug and they chatted away like they were longtime friends. Chatted away with her without releasing her. Brad didn’t bother dulling the edge in his voice. “Why is Drew here now?”
Evelyn turned the cat in his arms to clip its other side. “To offer his services, I suppose.”
No. Nope. No way. “His services?” Brad asked. His brother was not offering anything but a sponsor’s check. What was happening? Why were his friends and family bombarding Sophie’s life? He had to stop this. Nothing good could come from this.
Of all the weeks to have a problem with his boat that couldn’t be solved with a simple phone call, and for the office network to crash. He could’ve prevented this.
He noticed Drew setting Sophie down. His brother wasn’t a hugger, never one to linger over any woman. He wasn’t going to start now with Brad’s Sophie.
The joy spreading across Sophie’s face cut through Brad and scrambled his insides. Then she wiped her cheeks. Those could not be tears. Not for Andrew, his brother.
Brad glanced at the mangy cat in his arms. He suddenly felt as carved up as the cat’s fur. He flatlined with the realization that Sophie had welcomed Evelyn and Drew into her life because she trusted Brad.
But that was all wrong. He was lying to her.
He should toss the Persian into the kennel, storm into the storefront and confess the truth. Right here. Right now.
Sophie’s laughter, all the more animated with her beaming happiness, floated into the back room and surrounded him, soothing and mocking all at once. He strode toward the counter and glared at Drew and Sophie, their heads almost touching as they examined a leopard-print cat bed.
“What are you doing?” Brad asked his brother. He flexed his fingers into the Persian’s still-too-thick coat and rubbed behind its ears.
“Adopting Felix and Milo.” Drew frowned at the cat bed and pushed it aside. “Milo needs a more manly bed than that.”
“You don’t like cats,” Brad said, trying to process the nightmare he’d walked into. Maybe if he raced to the kennel, tapped his heels three times and walked out again, then the world might have righted itself.
“Sophie needs to free up kennel space.” Drew pointed at one of the two beds Sophie held up to him. “She has another litter and a surrender coming in this afternoon.”
Brad glanced at Sophie. The Persian purred beneath his touch, but the sound was weak, more like a mumble. “You told me you couldn’t take in any more rescues.”
Sophie shrugged and avoided looking at him. “I told you I shouldn’t take in any more rescues.”
And because he’d completely lost his footing in this world, he repeated himself. Because it needed repeating. And his world needed to be righted. “Drew doesn’t like cats.”
Drew leaned his hip against the counter and eyed the cat in Brad’s arm. “You don’t like cats.”
“Actually, you shouldn’t consider a cat because cats don’t like water.” Sophie stomped up to the co
unter.
Disappointment soaked her tone and seemed to make her lips drop into a deep frown. What had he done to her? He hadn’t taken scissors to the Persian’s mat and chopped up her coat like he had the flowers all those years ago. She needed to blame Evie for the bad grooming. Still, Sophie’s displeasure stuck in his chest. “Cats don’t like me.”
Sophie rolled her eyes and eased the Persian from his arms. The cat protested its warm perch against his chest as if to expose his lie. Sophie strode into the back room. The door swung defiantly closed behind her.
A customer approached the counter. Evie stepped up to the cash register while Drew pushed his items off to the side.
Brad followed his brother, cornering Drew beside the betta fish display and hamster supplies. “You can’t be serious.”
“Why not?” Drew lifted one of the plastic containers with a large betta inside.
“You like your privacy. Your space.” Brad took the container and set it on the shelf, feeling Drew had poked his cage and made him puff up like the betta. “You wouldn’t even let me crash on your couch until I left.”
“I don’t like people messing up my space.”
“But you want cat hair and litter boxes and hair balls?” Brad challenged.
“I need to learn to share.” Drew grinned at the attractive woman buying organic dog treats. “The cats are a good start.”
Evie wished her customer a good day and turned on the brothers. “Don’t you remember that Natasha broke up with Andrew because of his selfish ways?”
Drew tossed a plastic ball with a bell inside from one hand to the other. “It wasn’t all me. Natasha hated being alone. And I like being alone too much.”
“Now you don’t want to be alone, so you adopt two cats?” Brad’s gaze bounced between his brother and Evie.
“It’s past time to expand my horizons.” Drew added two more cat toys and juggled the plastic balls. “Try something new.”
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