by Ann, Natalie
Alec tipped back in his chair, studying his twin. “Phil, no one is going to think anything other than wonder why you stayed with Linda as long as you did. And everyone is going to be thrilled that you found someone else. I promise you that.”
“I hope so. She deserves to be put first. Not to be looked at with disdain or as the woman who caused a rift in my past relationship. I don’t want anything to come in the way of my future with her.”
Alec nodded. “Can I ask you something?”
“Haven’t you been asking me questions for the last ten minutes?” Phil asked, dryly.
“Sophia’s the one, isn’t she?”
“I don’t know,” Phil said. He hoped she was, but his reasoning wasn’t the best right now, so he was afraid to rely on it.
“Yeah, you do. Why didn’t you commit to Linda after that first year?”
“What does that have to do with it?”
“Come on, Phil,” Alec said impatiently. “We all saw her change after that first year. You two were old enough. At that age, after a year you normally know if she’s the one or not. She wasn’t, but you kept trying, and that was commendable. I guess. We all know you. You wanted to give her every shot possible. More than anyone else would have. You’ve done it before,” Alec reminded him when Phil raised his eyebrows. “But how did you know Linda wasn’t the one?”
Phil understood what Alec was saying. Deep down he always knew Linda wasn’t the one, but he tried. He wanted to make it work, and so he tried harder. Maybe too hard. Alec was right. Phil was always the one that held on and tried harder in his relationships. He wanted what his parents had, and that want sometimes overrode his decisions. “I don’t know. I guess looking back, I just did.”
“You weren’t all the way there, were you?”
“What does that mean?” Phil asked, baffled.
“All the way invested. After a year, you should know if you are in all the way. If you’re willing to put everything into it or not. You really weren’t, were you?”
“No, I wasn’t,” Phil said solemnly. “And it wasn’t fair to either of us to keep it going. I lost a lot of my life along the way, but I can’t change it or take it back.”
“But you know now, don’t you? Even if you say you don’t, I think you do know,” Alec said.
Phil blinked, thought for a second, and realized Alec was right. He always knew if he ever had a chance with Sophia, he wouldn’t blow it. Because she was the one. But he couldn’t say it out loud. Not even to himself. He didn’t want to scare her away or ruin any chance he had. He had to take it slow. “Think you’re so smart, don’t you?” Phil said instead.
“Older brothers always are.”
Phil snorted. “By two minutes.”
“Two minutes is still two minutes.” Alec stood up, walked to the door, and stopped before he opened it. “Phil, I’m glad you’re back.”
“I didn’t know I went anywhere,” he said, tossing a stress ball at Alec’s head.
Alec shifted to the side and quickly caught it one-handed. “Yeah, you did. We all knew. But you’re back now, and we’re all happy. If we didn’t all love Sophia before, we do even more now. So don’t blow this.”
Phil watched Alec’s retreating back, cursing him for being so smart. For years Phil felt like a part of him was lost, and he hated that his family saw it.
As for Sophia, he finally had his opportunity and he knew enough about her life to know what he needed to do. There was no chance he was blowing this.
***
“So how was your date on Saturday?” Kaitlin asked with a huge smile covering her face.
“Don’t you have to go to work today?” Sophia asked from behind her desk. She wasn’t about to give any details on her night with Phil. She knew they used to talk about men, but that was before she was sleeping with Kaitlin’s brother. It was too awkward now.
“Nope. I’m going shopping for cribs with my mom today. Want to go with us?”
“I would love to, but I’ve got too much work to do. Ryan didn’t want to go?”
“He has too much going on. Plus we narrowed down what we wanted, but I want to look at the colors of the wood before I make a final decision. Once we know for sure what the sex of the babies is, we can finalize things more. It will be nice to have a day with Mom.” Kaitlin rested her hands on her belly. “We’re all really happy, you know.”
Sophia glanced up from her computer quickly, her eyes softening. “I know. I’m so excited about the twins. I can’t wait to get my hands on them.”
Kaitlin chuckled. “I meant you and Phil. We’re all really happy about you and Phil.”
“I’m happy, too,” Sophia said, then turned her computer monitor around. “Look.”
Kaitlin looked at the picture of her brother smiling on Sophia’s screen and gasped.
“What?” Sophia said, turning the screen quickly back to her. She didn’t see anything wrong on her computer.
“Sophia, how long has this been going on?”
“What? I told you, just the last week. I mean we’ve always danced around each other, you know that. You said you saw it yourself.”
“Yeah. But that is different than having a picture of him on your computer a week after you told us you started dating. And don’t think I don’t know you avoided my question on how many dates you’ve been on.”
Crap. She didn’t think it would be that easy to brush Kaitlin off. But she really didn’t want Kaitlin or anyone to know what happened the night of the wedding.
Though honestly, she didn’t know why it was such a secret. She and Phil were both single so they hadn’t done anything wrong. Only Kaitlin knew how Sophia felt about being the first woman someone dated after they’d gotten out of a relationship. And she didn’t want Kaitlin to remind her that she was Phil’s first since Linda.
“It’s different and you know it. I’ve known Phil for over five years.”
“True,” Kaitlin said thoughtfully. “You aren’t afraid about being the first person he has dated since the breakup?”
Sophia sighed. “Yeah, I am. But there isn’t much I can do about it. It’s been close to eight months since they split. I’m not worried about him carrying a torch for her now.”
Kaitlin snorted. “I don’t think he carried a torch for her when they were dating.”
“Right,” Sophia said. “Regardless, he’s had enough time in my eyes. It seems right, now. We deserve a chance, don’t you think?”
“Absolutely. I’m thrilled. I couldn’t be happier. Two of my favorite people in the world are together. We’re all happy, Sophia. We truly are. But I can’t help but worry too.”
“Are you afraid I’m going to break Phil’s heart?” she asked, teasing.
“No. I’m afraid he might break yours.”
Where did that come from? Then she remembered how much Kaitlin knew about her life, and the men she dated, and the things she looked for. Though, even Kaitlin didn’t know the one thing Sophia truly wanted out of a man. “I think my heart is safe.”
Besides, Sophia was going in with her eyes wide open. She’d been half in love with Phil for years, but she was holding that second half back. Just in case. She was too afraid to set herself up for failure.
“I’m not so sure about that,” Kaitlin said shaking her head. “I said the same thing about Ryan in the beginning, too.”
Great Minds
Thursday afternoon, Sophia was driving back to her office after a successful client meeting. She was so proud of herself she wanted to reach around and pat herself on the back. Only to do that she would have to take her hand off the steering wheel.
Oh what the hell, she did it anyway. She had been preparing for days for this meeting with the school district. It would be a huge coup in her favor if she stole them away from a local firm.
The Wells Group came highly recommended. Between their reputation and her sales pitch and knowledge, she had them all eating out of her hand. The Superintendent and Business Manager of the
district were going to bring all her information to the Board of Education next month and asked if she could be available to attend if need be.
Absolutely she could. She even had it marked in her calendar.
Now that that was out of the way, she could breathe again. Get back to her business at hand and start interviewing for more staff. That thought brought her mind back to Phil and his dry comment about not wanting to interview for their new position.
He was so antisocial. It was actually funny when she thought about it. They were complete opposites. It didn’t seem to matter though—they clicked. They always had.
She remembered the first time she let her guard down around him. She’d always been friendly and cordial. She’d never even really flirted with him. Partially because whenever she was around him her palms got all sweaty and she felt light-headed. During those encounters, she forced herself not to let go and give anything away. He’d had a girlfriend after all. And she wasn’t that type of woman. She never went after another woman’s man.
But the first time she slipped she didn’t even know it. She didn’t think he did either.
Phil had come down to stay with Kaitlin for a few days. He had a consulting job he was working on and decided to extend his trip to visit. He had picked up dinner for himself and Kaitlin and was approaching Kaitlin’s door when Sophia stepped off the elevator.
Kaitlin had always said he didn’t smile much, or not as much as Alec and Ben, but Sophia never noticed that. Phil always looked happy to her. And that day, he sent her one of his famous grins. His eyes were kind and sweet, and her heart kicked into gear. “Hi.”
“Hi, yourself,” he said.
Normally he came back with “Hi, Sophia,” never something so chipper as what he said that time. She shot him back a grin, lost the wall she always put up and said playfully, “What’s for dinner?”
“Chinese takeout. A little bit of everything.”
“Isn’t that best way to eat it?”
“You, too?” he said, his eyes shining like they were sharing some deep, dark secret. “Kaitlin always complains about buying so many things and having all the leftovers. But I can never decide what I want.”
“That’s funny. I do the same thing and she complains to me, too.”
He hesitated for a minute and then tried to get his key in the lock. He was struggling for some reason, which was odd. Then again, his hands were full of multiple bags of food.
“Here, let me help,” she said, reaching for the key. Their hands touched and she forced herself not to yank back from the burn. Then an odd tingling shot up her arm and back down to her fingers. If it weren’t so fanciful she would have asked if he shocked her, only neither of them jumped back. She never heard the click, but she felt the spark.
Instead they stood there, both of their hands fighting for the key, staring at each other. They could have stood there for a minute, for all she knew. She had lost complete track of time. Only the sound of his phone ringing had him stepping back.
She took that opportunity to pull the key out of his grasp while he shifted the cartons of food and answered it. Then she unlocked the door, pushed it open and held it for him. Following him into Kaitlin’s apartment, she set his key on the table and heard him say, “How late are you going to be, Kaitlin?”
Sophia had made it back to the doorway and stood there waiting for him to end the call so she could say bye—she didn’t want to be rude and walk out—when he said, “No problem, we can warm it up when you get home in a little while.”
Another minute went by while the two of them good-humoredly argued back and forth over whether he would eat or wait for her, when he said, “Fine, I’ll eat. Now let me go. Sophia is standing in the doorway waiting to say bye to me.” He laughed for a second then said, “No, she helped me unlock the door. My hands were full of food.”
A moment later he hung up and turned to look at her. “Want to join me for dinner? Kaitlin’s going to be at least an hour or more. No reason to let hot food go to waste. There’s plenty.”
It was a simple enough invitation. She had eaten plenty of times with Kaitlin and her family over the last year. She had even talked with each one of Kaitlin’s family members alone, but never in a setting like this. And definitely not with Phil.
Alec, she would have said yes to in a heartbeat, but Phil, he had her hesitating.
Her hesitation brought a look of embarrassment to his face. “Sorry, you probably have plans. No worries.” And he turned to start unloading all the food. “I’ll just grab a plate and get some work done. It was nice seeing you again.”
She wasn’t sure what possessed her—oh, who was she kidding? She knew. She wanted to be around him. Wanted to see what her body’s reaction to his really meant. If it was just a physical attraction, or more. What harm would it be? It was only dinner with a friend. “What kind of person would I be to let you eat all alone? Besides, I’m hungry, and everything smells delicious.”
That night, for the hour before Kaitlin came home, they talked and laughed, and she realized that even though he wasn’t her type upon first glance, he was much deeper than she thought he ever was. He was funny and cute and smart. Everything about him warmed her.
Not to mention they constantly went to reach for the same things and bumped hands repeatedly. She said there was no need for plates, they could use their chopsticks and eat out of the containers. She and Kaitlin always did.
Each time their hands touched, her heart raced, and she yanked her hand back then laughed like it was some silly joke. Except it didn’t seem funny to her at all. He felt real. And he felt good.
At one point he wasn’t even looking and went to reach for his water and grabbed hers by mistake—they were sitting on the floor around Kaitlin’s coffee table—which was another odd thing. She’d never sat on the floor to eat in her life. Yet for some reason she made the suggestion. Still, he grabbed her water, brought it to his mouth, took a sip, then almost immediately realized what he did once he lowered it and saw the remains of her lipstick on the top.
He flushed. It was so cute. But she laughed, patted his hand and said, “No worries. Kaitlin drinks out of my bottles all the time. What’s a little DNA between friends? Besides, we keep putting our chopsticks back in the food afterward, kind of like double dipping. You’ve gotten some of my spit by now.” Never would she have said anything like that before to anyone. It was completely uncouth. She didn’t even know where her mental lapse came from to have it slipping from her lips.
That wasn’t true. She talked like that to Kaitlin. When no one was around and she felt free to relax and not worry about everything that came out of her mouth. When she didn’t have to worry about turning someone off.
But he didn’t mind at all. He blushed a little bit more, awkwardly handed it back to her, apologized and grabbed his own bottle for another drink. When he set it down, he sent her the sweetest look.
That night was forever branded in her brain. Just a frivolous night. A night that wouldn’t mean anything to anyone else. But that night sitting on the floor, eating Chinese food out of containers with chopsticks—that was the night her heart slowly drifted toward Phil Harper.
Lost in her thoughts, she passed by Harper Construction, saw Phil’s truck in the parking lot and turned around, heading back. She hadn’t seen him since Sunday afternoon when he left to go home after spending the night.
They had talked twice since then, but both of them had been busy, which was okay. It was working for her. She guessed it was working for him too.
Either way, she was there. Why not stop in and say hi?
***
“Hi, it’s Sophia, right?” Phil heard Mary ask from his office. He was a few doors down from the reception area, but his door was open and it was surprisingly quiet in the building at the moment.
“Yes, it is.”
Phil was walking down the hallway, when Sean popped out of his office, having heard Sophia’s name also. “Are you here to see Sean?” M
ary asked.
“No, actually. Is Phil around?”
“He’s right here,” Phil said, coming around the corner. “This is a pleasant surprise.” He walked up to her, slipped his hand around her waist and gave her a kiss.
When he leaned back, she eyed him with a smirk. Caught. He didn’t care that she figured out the kiss was for Sean’s benefit. Or anyone else’s for that matter. It served two purposes. One, he had to get his hands on her—he was missing her more than he thought he would. And two, Sean could see from the source and not have to be warned off.
“Do you have a few minutes?” she asked.
He turned and saw Sean’s surprised face but answered Sophia. “Of course. Did you need something, Sean?” he asked first.
“No,” Sean said, recovering fast. “I thought she might have been here for business. After all, we all know how much you love accounting.”
Phil laughed, looked at Sean’s retreating back and made a mental note to talk to him when Sophia left. He liked Sean and didn’t want any awkwardness from this, so it was best to clear the air. “Follow me,” Phil said, placing his hand at the small of her back.
“That was a bit awkward,” she said once she shut his door.
“I’ll talk to him. He’s a good guy. Regardless, I don’t share,” he said, chuckling.
“That’s good to know, because neither do I.” She tilted up and gave him another kiss. Pulling back, she looked around his office and wrinkled her nose. “It’s a little boring in here.”
His eyes moved around the room, trying to see it through her point of view. It was a pretty boring office. Three computers set at different locations for his use. An architect table in the far corner, plus blueprints stacked everywhere. Though a lot of work was done on the computer, he still liked to sit at the table and manually draw too. He was old fashioned that way. It brought back fond memories of drawing as a kid.
