Carissa sat on the edge of the large oak desk in the center of the room and looked at Sophia. She hurt for her. “He was miserable. He was mad at my mom for lying. He was mad at you for leaving. I could tell I brought him joy, and that was all I wanted,” she admitted. “When you released the house to him, we found a house for us. Just him and me. We picked it out. Mom came with us, but really, it was our house. Mine and Dad’s. She wasn’t there much, and by the time I was ten, she left us.”
“Ten? Your mother has been gone that long?” Sophia’s eyes were damp, and she barely knew Carissa. Her mother had never cried for her.
She snorted and shook her head. “He wouldn’t marry her. All he would give her was a home and money. He didn’t want her. He wanted you.”
Carissa stood and paced the room, walking by the piano in the corner and running her fingers along the polished wood.
“Mandy didn’t love him, and she hated me. She wanted drugs, and he’d started to refuse to help her. She finally realized it would be better to dump us both, and she left. I haven’t seen her since, and I don’t care. I have my dad, and that’s all I need.”
“Carissa, I had no idea.” Sophia looked like she might be zoning in for a hug, but Carissa wasn’t ready.
“I know. I thought you should.” She threw her hair over her shoulder. “We watched you on television all the time. I saw the admiration in his eyes when he’d watch you play. That’s why I chose the cello. I wanted him to look at me like that.”
“He does.”
“I know that now. Give him another chance, Sophia. In all the years I’ve been with him, he’s never been serious about anyone else. He never met a woman he didn’t compare to you. He’s been totally focused on me.” And you. “This is my last year before I go to college. I don’t want him to waste any more time on only me. I want him to be happy.”
“Carissa, your father and I are two very different people.”
“Who once loved each other enough to want to spend the rest of their lives together. You could have that again.”
A smile crept over Sophia’s lips. She stood and gathered Carissa’s hands in her own. “You and those two old women make quite a team. But I can’t promise anything.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Sophia’s head buzzed as she navigated the Kansas City streets. She hadn’t anticipated bonding with Carissa. For her to come forward with apologies and pleas for Sophia to fall in love with her father again—it was too much. Sophia wasn’t sure it was possible.
Who was she kidding? There hadn’t been a day in ten years that she hadn’t thought about the man. She’d Googled his name a half dozen times to see if anything came up. She’d had one hit—a write-up in the newspaper about how he’d helped a sick patient on a flight he was deadheading. Otherwise, he’d quietly been living his life and raising a daughter on his own after Mandy left. Sophia could feel tears stinging her eyes again. She’d done what she’d done, and she’d live with that the rest of her life. She’d done him a service, she decided. Yes, she’d gotten out of his way. He’d been free to raise his daughter without her selfish needs.
Of course, she’d done her own things, forged her own path. She’d made a name for herself. Who would she have been in Kansas City? A cellist in the symphony. Sophia Burkhalter was Pablo DiAngelo’s cellist, and he was the world’s most recognizable tenor voice. He sang to her music.
The first tear broke free and then another.
But she could have been Mrs. David Kendal. The girl beside her could have been her daughter. She could have molded and shaped her. She could have had others, adopted them with the man willing to do that with her. Instead, she had taken the coward’s path and run.
Her throat felt like it was closing off. She turned into the parking lot of the catering company and stopped the car with a jolt.
Carissa watched Sophia. She hadn’t said a word on the drive. Maybe when Carissa confessed so much to her at the house, it had been too much.
She only wanted the best for her father. Even if she’d never admitted it to herself, she’d always known the best was Sophia.
There had been fights. She remembered them. Mandy thought David should marry her. He knocked her up, and he should do his part. He’d mutter, “I am,” and walk away.
Carissa had never seen her father look at her mother the way he looked at Sophia. One glance at him and anyone would know David Kendal loved the woman who sat weeping beside her. Carissa knew it, and so did the women who had put them in each other’s path before—and again now.
“Sophia, are you all right?” She rested a hand on Sophia’s arm.
Sophia nodded. “I’m fine. I’m a little emotional, I guess.” She wiped at her eyes and pulled at the pearls that constricted her neck.
“Why don’t you take those off?” Seeing Sophia’s apprehension, she turned her hand over and pulled up her long sleeve. She watched as Sophia’s eyes widened at the scar that ran across her wrist.
“Long sleeves, bracelets, or a bandana, that’s how I hide mine.” She waited for the reaction. It was always the same.
“Carissa, you didn’t…”
“Nope, but it was the first thing you thought.” She ran her fingers over the raised scar on her wrist. “You thought I tried to slit my wrists. You couldn’t imagine what would make me do something so horrible.” She looked up at Sophia who, with sad eyes, only nodded. “My mother slit her wrists. She only made a big mess in the bathroom, but she got her point across. Dad took care of her. People think I’m her. I’m not.” Her voice somehow stayed solid.
“What happened?”
“It was really silly, actually. I fell off my bike going down a steep hill. Don’t ask me how, but my arm caught in the chain. It ripped the hell out of my hand. I didn’t break it, but I don’t know how I didn’t.” She smoothed her thumb over the scar. “If I had a loving mother and a family who attended church together and went on picnics, no one would think more than I’d got hurt riding my bike. But I’m the daughter of a coke addict.”
“That’s not all you are.”
“But you didn’t know that. You didn’t know that until this morning when you took the time to get to know me.”
“I’m so very glad I did. You are so much like your father. I see that now.”
Sophia pulled down the visor and opened the mirror. She studied herself for a moment.
Slowly, with shaky hands, she unclasped the pearls at her neck. A medal of Saint Nicholas revealed itself as well as her scar.
Carissa smiled as Sophia lowered the pearls.
“It’s not that bad.”
“I’ve never been convinced.”
“Warriors have scars. They’re a sign of courage and bravery. I know they expected you to die in that crash. I know you had to fight for your life, and you were only a little girl. I know you gave up a lot just to be here today.”
Carissa turned sideways in her seat to face Sophia.
“After your fight with Dad, I asked Millie and Katie about you. About what you’d been through. You would have married him right away if you could have had children of your own, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry for your losses.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry they’ve affected you. I didn’t know…”
“Sophia, he never forgot you or what the two of you had. He’s so proud of you.” Straightening her shirt, she smiled so she’d look braver than she felt. “We’d better go in. They’re waiting for us.”
Sophia nodded and then looked down at the collection of pearls in her hand. Carissa laid her hand over them.
“Be a warrior.” She pushed up her long sleeves.
Sophia laughed as she dropped the pearls in her purse, and they clinked against each other and pooled on the bottom. “Warrior it is.”
They agreed on chicken, a tossed salad, and an Italian bean salad as well as rolls and drinks for the party.
“Thank God they didn’t offer fish. Millie would have insist
ed on that.” Carissa shuddered.
Sophia laughed and pulled her keys from her purse as they walked toward the car.
“What about decorations?”
“We could go to the party store and pick up a few things. We don’t want it to look like prom, but a few streamers and table decorations would be nice.”
“What about a photographer?” She opened the car door and slid in behind the steering wheel.
“I don’t think anyone thought about it.”
“I went to a wedding once, and they had disposable cameras on the tables. The guests could take pictures of the things going on at the table.”
“I like that.” Carissa buckled her seatbelt as Sophia began to back away from the parking space. “You know, Mr. Benton does most of the photographs for the school newspaper. His sister, Mary Alice, owns the juice bar I work at. We could ask her if she thinks he would be our photographer for the evening. He’s on the guest list anyway.”
“Mary Alice Benton is your boss?” Sophia’s lips turned up in a smile.
“Well, she’s Krantz now.”
“Yes, yes she is. Gosh, I’ve known Robert and Mary Alice Benton since I was six years old. And I think I knew Jeremy Krantz from junior high school.”
It was odd, Carissa thought, that the woman next to her was a stranger. But she’d grown up in the house where Carissa lived. Everyone in her life was in Carissa’s. Even the friends she’d left behind were woven into the fabric of who Carissa was.
“Mr. Krantz helps out with the juice bar once in a while, but usually he’s busy with the fire department. He’s the captain.”
“Really? I remember him being a scrawny little thing.”
“He’s not scrawny anymore. He’s a professional, too. He was one of the people who responded when my mother overdosed.”
“Overdosed?” Her voice rose in pitch, and Carissa knew it was just one more thing she hadn’t known her father had to put up with.
“Yeah, right before she left us. I found her in bed. She wasn’t moving, and her breathing was too slow. I called 911, and the fire department arrived first.” The very thought of what her mother looked like in that bed made her skin go cold. “Jeremy Krantz was the first one through the door. I was ten and had just gotten home from school. Dad was out of town. It was a stunt for attention.” She shook her head and let out a grunt. “She was always trying to get attention. Just like when she slit her wrist. I could do without any more drama like that.”
“How often does your dad leave town?”
“He’s usually gone a week and then home for two. Things have been a little crazy with his schedule this month. He’s making sure he’ll be in town for the party.”
“So where is he now?” They pulled into the parking lot of the party store.
“Today he’s in Hawaii, I think. He’ll layover there and then fly back to L.A. tomorrow. From there, I’m not sure where he’ll be. He should be in on Saturday around dinnertime.”
“You keep close tabs on him, don’t you?” Sophia pulled the keys from the ignition and slid them into her purse as she climbed out of the car.
“Yeah. He calls me from every stop usually. Millie said he called while you and I were playing. She wouldn’t let him talk to me because we were having so much fun.”
“We sure were.”
They found confetti to sprinkle on the tables and balloons that said Happy 84th Birthday. They put a small, disposable helium tank and ribbons for the balloons in the cart.
“Maybe we got too many cameras,” Carissa noted as she cleaned off the shelf.
“Two hundred people are a lot. We’ll need them.”
Carissa nodded in agreement as a mother and her daughter walked past them. They were shopping for decorations for the girl’s seventh birthday party, as the little girl kept saying over and over to her mother. The sight tugged at her. She looked over at Sophia, who was counting the cameras in the cart. Had she stayed, would they have shopped for birthday decorations or party dresses? Would they have had mother-and-daughter time? Would she have really loved her like she’d told David she would?
The little girl directed her mother down the aisle of princess party supplies. She picked up a tiara and placed it on her head. Carissa reached for Sophia’s arm and pointed out the little girl.
“They need tiaras.”
“Millie and Katie? Why?”
“Every little girl needs a tiara—to be a princess for a day—even if she’s eighty-four.”
Sophia laughed with a nod, and they went about collecting exactly the right tiaras for each woman.
When the cart was loaded, Carissa looked at her watch. “Oh man, I have to be to work in forty-five minutes.”
“I think we have everything we need. I’ll head home and let you have the car.” Sophia headed to the checkout stand.
“Why don’t you just drop me off? I can have someone give me a ride home. I only work a few hours today. It won’t be too late.”
“If you’re sure.”
“Yeah. In fact, why don’t you come in and see Mary Alice. She’d love to see you. People ask about you all the time.”
“They do?” Sophia’s voice shook as she laid the items for the party on the counter as the cashier began to total their purchase.
“You’re a celebrity around here.” Carissa fidgeted with a necklace on the display by the register. “You don’t think of yourself like that, do you?”
“Goodness, no.” She shook her head. “I’m a musician. That’s all I’ll ever be.” She handed her credit card to the cashier and signed the receipt.
Carissa reached for a bag, and they started out of the store.
“You’re much more than just a musician. People here see someone who made something of herself. You’re on TV, and you have your name on how many albums?”
“Twenty-seven.”
“Wow. Does the man drag you into the studio every week?” Carissa slid into the car laughing.
“Let’s say Pablo DiAngelo enjoys his own voice and feels that everyone else should too.” She backed out of the parking space. “He records every major performance and each album sells out. He’s amazing.”
Carissa watched Sophia’s eyes when she talked about the man. Her eyes lit up and danced. She loved him.
“Is he good to you?” Her voice wavered.
“Oh, yes. He’s been a blessing in my life.” Sophia started toward the juice bar, following Carissa’s directions.
Carissa thought of the fight Sophia had with her father. She figured they’d forged quite a friendship in the few hours they’d spent together. Would it be too soon to ask the questions that were now plaguing her?
“Do you love Pablo?”
“I love him very much.” Her answer was quick.
“Oh.” Her voice dipped lower.
“Why do you ask?”
“I was just thinking about the fight you had with Dad.”
“Did you hear everything?” She only nodded and watched Sophia straighten behind the wheel.
“Sophia, Dad loves you.”
“Don’t say that.” She pulled into a parking space at the juice bar. “It’s been a lot of years. People forget what they really felt. Your father loves you, and he wants the best for you.”
Carissa shook her head. The woman was in denial, and until Sophia forgave her father for helping her mother, she couldn’t convince her that he loved her. He’d have to do that himself, but she sure could plant the seed.
“C’mon, you need a chocolate-and-banana smoothie.” Carissa forced a smile, hoping to clear the air a bit.
“Peanut butter and granola?”
“What?” She shut the door and smiled.
“I like my chocolate-and banana-smoothies with peanut butter and granola, too. Do you have those?”
“Yes.” She opened the door for Sophia. “I’ll make it special for you.”
As soon as Sophia walked through the door of the juice shop, she recognized the old arcade. The thought br
ought a rush of fond memories. The loud, metal games had been replaced by quaint, metal sundry tables and the fragrance of fruit.
Carissa disappeared behind the counter and into the back.
“Sophia?” She turned when she heard her name and smiled when she saw Mary Alice. “It’s about time you came to see me.”
Mary Alice flew toward her with her arms held out wide to scoop her up into a warm hug.
“Oh, how long has it been since I’ve seen you?” She held her at arm’s length. “You look fabulous. Just fabulous!”
“So do you.” Her heart did a little flip as she noticed the generous sprinkling of laugh lines on her friend’s face. So much time had passed while she was away. She’d missed Mary Alice, and she hadn’t realized just how much until she was standing before her.
“I saw you on TV not too far back. What was it? Some cable special…”
“Pablo DiAngelo Live from Monte Carlo.”
“That’s it!” She clapped her hands. “He’s amazing and so handsome. How do you keep your hands off him?” she whispered.
“Every job has its temptations.” Sophia looked around the quaint shop with its modern decor. “This is a great place you have here.”
“Amazing, huh?” She shepherded her toward the counter. “This is where I met Jeremy, remember? It seemed like the right place to open business.”
Sophia nodded. She remembered it was the day Mary Alice and Jeremy said their young vows that she’d first laid eyes on David Kendal.
She hardly knew he was there.
It wasn’t that she didn’t notice David altogether. She’d seen him, smiled, and moved on. Her grandmother had said to her, “There’s Millie’s nephew. Isn’t he handsome?” She’d nodded and caught him looking in her direction. He’d just graduated college and was headed to flight school. She was headed to college. The matchmaking duo of her grandmother and his aunt wouldn’t try their hand at setting them up for another four years. Her life would have been so different if they hadn’t met. Despite the heartache, she realized getting to know him again, and getting to know Carissa, made up for some of the pain of losing them.
Matchmakers, no. 1 Page 6
