Sweet Town Love

by Maggie Ryan

  James Jackson was an archivist now working at the brand new Rochester Library. He collated and cared for precious film dating back to the beginning of celluloid. He met Sophie’s mother Sarah whilst on exchange from Stony Brook University in the State of New York, to Brighton University Sussex, England, during in the 1970s. James and Sarah met on campus, fell in love, married and settled for a time in Britain. Sophie and her brother Simon had come along in rapid succession, and for a while, they were the picture of an archetypal family until James was offered a job back in the U.S. and life changed for the family. After the move, things were never the same between Sophie’s parents, which led eventually to James and Sarah becoming divorced.

  Sarah returned to England, taking her two children with her. After a time both James and Sarah re-married and both couples appeared to be settled. Sarah had contracted breast cancer, and after losing her battle with the horrible, debilitating disease, she’d died three years ago. Simon lived in Scotland and Sophie was the only member of her family who remained living in Sussex. She continued to visit her father at least once a year but Simon rarely found the time to get away from his corporate position in Edinburgh.

  Sophie and her long time boy friend from University, Rupert Templeton, came over to spend New Year with Sophie’s father and stepmother Mae, some eighteen months previous. James had generously agreed to treat them all to a skiing holiday in honor of Sophie’s twenty-first birthday that year. Simon had been invited but had declined. Sophie knew it was because Simon now had a permanent new partner, Carl, and Simon had not yet informed their father that he was gay. So it had been the four of them staying at the hotel set high in the Colorado Mountains.

  As usual, whenever her mind strayed to the disastrous ski trip, Sophie erased her line of thought and got busy. As she flew between patrons, refreshing coffee and taking orders, she found herself humming, “busy doing nothing, nothing the whole day through, trying to find lots of things not to do!” The words of the stupid song churned repetitively around in her head until she was certain she would scream and then to top it all, he walked in.

  Scott unpacked his car then took Diesel out into the backyard to do what a dog’s gotta do. He left the Alsatian nosing about and went inside to turn his kettle on before switching it off again. He stood next to the breakfast counter drumming his fingers on the fake granite Formica surface. This was no good, no good at all. He needed to see her, and to be fair, he felt that she should know he was in town. Calling his dog inside, he ordered Diesel onto the dog bed that he had already set up in the living room. Grabbing his keys from his jacket pocket, he set off. He would drive back to the diner where he knew he would find her working and order himself some lunch.

  He knew she’d spotted him as soon as he’d walked in but she attended to everyone else first, ignoring him. He was prepared to be patient this time; he understood her shock at seeing him again. They’d spoken on their cell phones a few times but they hadn’t actually met face to face since the funerals. He saw the tension in her as she ran out of folks to serve and had no choice but to serve him. Then there she was, standing in front of him finally, as pretty as a picture and as wary as a gazelle, just as poised for flight too.

  “Hiya, Sophie, how are you doing?” he asked, keeping his voice low and friendly.

  “What on earth… what are you doing here, Scott?” She sounded defensive and looked flustered. He tilted his head back to study her flushed face.

  “What was I supposed to do, hon’? You never returned my calls and I told you I wasn’t giving up on us.”

  “There is no—us,” she hissed.

  “Well now, I disagree and I intend to change your mind. I’m gonna convince you that we’re made for one another.”

  Sophie snorted disdainfully. “Oh you mean the happily ever after, which ends when you divorce me because I’m wrinkled as a prune after I’ve spat out a few kids for you, leaving my belly hanging like a sack of potatoes! Um, let me think about that? No thanks!”

  “Excuse me… wanna try that again?” he growled.

  “You heard me…but maybe I sounded a tad rude. Let me rephrase. Please leave now.”

  He nodded and pursed his lips; he’d not heard her sound quite so acerbic before—or half as rude—but he decided to ignore her behavior… this time.

  “I’ll have the beef steak hoagie, salad on the side an’ coffee, black, please, darlin’.”

  “Okay… but then you’ll leave, right after eating.” She took a step away from him as she spoke.

  “Nope.”

  She halted and spun back to face him, hands on hips. “Wh-what?”

  “I started a job here in town as a K-9 unit. I moved into Lake Gardens today. I told you I ain’t giving up on us.”

  She flushed red. “And as I told you, there- is- no- us!” Her raised voice had the other diners twisting in their seats, curious at the rumpus.

  “I’d keep your voice down, hon’, unless you want the good folk of Honeoye knowing our business.”

  Sophie glanced about and nodded, embarrassed by the sea of faces turned in their direction. “I’ll get your order,” she said curtly, scuttling off.

  Scott watched her; she was just gorgeous. He knew her, and judging her reaction toward him, she felt the pull that existed between them, the invisible thread that somehow connected their souls. The stretch on that cord bound them tight, even though they had been living hundreds of miles apart. He needed to convince her of their joint destiny. She had to forget the past and move into the here and now before it was too late and the tenuous thread broke, sending them spinning into a wilderness future he knew neither of them would recover from.

  He had to convince her because there was no other choice, not for either of them. The only way they could heal, was together.

  He went into the diner the following day and ordered breakfast. She barely spoke to him then, or the day after that or the day after. Finally, on Thursday, she slid into the banquette opposite him after he ate and studied him. He stayed silent, simply returning her gaze.

  “What are you doing here, Scott?” she asked finally.

  “Told you… I start work next week.”

  She gave a long-suffering sigh. “No, I mean what do you expect is going to happen between us?”

  “You and I both know that if Rupert were still alive, we’d be together right now.”

  She shook her head. “No, we don’t know anything of the sort. I’m sorry, but if you moved here to start something with me, then you’ve wasted your time.”

  He stretched out his arm and tucked a stray blonde curl behind her ear, deliberately allowing his finger to graze her cheek. He noticed that she flinched but immediately touched the spot where he’d caressed her with a fingertip.

  “Well, I think you’re wrong. You are definitely worth however much it takes of my time. I’m not giving up on us because there is ‘meant to be’ an ‘us’ and you fighting that because of some masochistic reason to do with what happened in Colorado only makes me more determined to convince you that you’re taking the wrong path.”

  Her eyes sheened with unshed tears and his heart constricted, he so wanted to help her, why oh why did she push him away?”

  “Aw, sweetheart,” he murmured.

  She held up a palm. “Don’t, just don’t, okay?”

  “All right, I don’t want to upset you, so I’m gonna leave now but you’d better get used to seeing me about because I’m here to stay.” He stood up threw down some bills and walked out without looking back.

  Sophie watched him go then dived into the toilets before any customers noticed her tears.

  Chapter 2

  Sophie arrived at her stepmother’s animal shelter rather later than she had anticipated. Her job was to prepare the dogs that were ready for re-homing. These canines had all been tested and health checked, declared ready to go into the re-homing unit. They were walked in the mornings and evenings and Sophie spent time with each animal every afternoon playing wit
h them and training them to simple commands such as sit, stay, down. She adored her role at the center and wondered for the millionth time whether or not she should use her veterinarian skills as a trained veterinarian nurse instead of working part time at the diner.

  Mae, her stepmother was one of those positive people with boundless energy, who thrived on life as though attached to coffee intravenously. Sophie got on well with her but preferred to take her in small doses. Mae had taken over the animal center some ten years previous and through determination and sheer hard work had turned the place around, attracting people from afar, statewide and beyond to come and take home a new pet. She’d opened a delightful bijou restaurant, overlooking a lake filled with rescued wildfowl. P.A.W.S.—Personal Animal Welfare Service—was built in an extremely pretty spot set upon raised ground outside the town of Mount Morris, where Mae and James lived. The restaurant had become a popular venue for all sorts of celebrations from children’s birthday parties to wedding anniversaries with all ages catered for.

  Sophie’s first pupil of the day was Socks, a small, tan wire-haired terrier with four white feet, his “socks.” He bounced about her in excitable glee as she entered his pen. She petted and fussed over him until he was ready to play and then threw his red rubber ball for him to retrieve. After a couple of minutes of fetch, Sophie held onto his ball and commanded him to sit. Socks obediently sat with an endearing plonk, so she threw his ball for him and repeated the exercise running through the three important commands of sit, stay and come at which Socks was now almost word perfect.

  She moved onto the next pen and was welcomed by a boisterous white boxer called Cherry. This dog, like many white animals, was deaf and so her training was executed using hand signals, which sometimes Cherry chose to follow, and other times not so much.

  After Cherry came Lotto, a black and tan mongrel, a dog known in England as a bitza, otherwise known as a Heinz 57 (Heinz used to make 57 varieties of tinned food) because of all the many breeds within the dog’s gene pool. Lotto liked to run about in mad circles whenever anyone entered his kennel. Sophie sat on a plastic chair and waited for him to calm down and come to her. Finally, the dog skidded to a halt, sitting at her knee as she chatted to him whilst scratching him behind his floppy ears. His back leg immediately lifted and rapidly scratched the air rather endearingly.

  Her last pupil was Sophie’s favorite dog, Kirsty. Oh how she wanted to take Kirsty home with her, but until she was certain of her own future, she couldn’t. This gentle black and white collie had stolen her heart. This intelligent dog had progressed far beyond the sit, stay and down commands that all the other dogs seemed to have a problem in learning. Sophie taught her to play dead, sit, stay at a distance and to come when called, only to be halted to stay midway. She was so easy to teach and adored learning new tricks. Sophie dropped to her knees before the dog and gathered her close allowing Kirsty to lick her cheek.

  “Hello, my darling, how are you today? Yes, I missed you too, who’s a good girl then, who’s my clever girl?” Sophie fussed and cooed over her teacher’s pet as Kirsty wiggle-waggled about her, her feathered tail batting the air indicating her pleasure at Sophie’s visit. Then Sophie froze, spotting the mauve tag attached to Kristie’s collar, one that indicated someone had selected Kirsty for re-homing. Sophie’s heart raced as tears welled in her eyes, too late! She would never own Kirsty now, however, she realized this was good news for the dog. She would personally check out the potential new owners, her darling was not going to go to just any old home. No way, Kirsty was special.

  “Soph!” Glancing across the enclosure, she saw her stepmother waving madly at her and she raised a hand in greeting.

  “Did you see the tag? We have a home for Kirsty, a lovely young couple! I know you will approve.” Mae hurried over and drew alongside Sophie on the other side of the chain- link fence.

  “I’d like to meet them,” Sophie said as she ruffled the fur on Kirsty’s neck.

  “Of course, darling, it’s not too late, she could still be yours y’know, if you really want her?”

  Sophie shook her head, albeit reluctantly. “No, I can’t. It wouldn’t be fair to her if I took off to England. You know how attached collies become. The long parting would break her heart.”

  Her stepmother cocked her head aside looking thoughtful. “I would say it’s too late for that, she already loves you as you do her. Have a think on it, there is room at chez nous and I’d be willing for her to stay with us whenever you were away. The pugs are getting on now and won’t be around much longer. There is room for another dog.”

  Sophie gave Mae a grateful smile but didn’t reply. Could it work? She was so tempted. Her stepmother had always owned pugs and Sophie was surprised that she hadn’t suggested getting any more when Tilley and Tammy, her elderly pugs, passed on.

  “Are you still staying the night… are you going straight on home after this?” Mae asked.

  “Yes to both questions… why?”

  “Could you stop and get some eggs for your dad’s breakfast on your way back? I’m going to be here yet a while, we’ve two llamas coming in and I want to be here when they arrive.”

  “Sure, is Dad eating at home tonight?” Sophie asked.

  “As far as I know he will be. Don’t worry about me; I’ll grab something here. If you could just sort out your dad and yourself that’d be great. Thanks, darling, by-ee!” She scooted off leaving Sophie alone with Kirsty.

  She ran through the regular training with the collie and then unhooked her lead from the kennel wall, clipping it on, all ready to take her for her evening walk. She passed Stacy, the dog walker, as she left and the two girls exchanged pleasantries before Sophie left her behind, clipping leads on the other dogs, ready to walk them too.

  Sophie strode along with the collie walking obediently at her heels not pulling or lagging behind. After the walk, she brushed and fussed over Kirsty then left her in her kennel. She knew that Stacy would be around to feed the dogs shortly. Sophie intended checking Kirsty’s file in the office before she drove home. She wanted to read the profile of the couple wishing to adopt her collie.

  “But they work!” She was incensed with her stepmother for even considering these people as potential owners for Kirsty.

  “I know, I know but they say that they’ll return home for lunch and can let Kirsty out into their yard. We can’t afford to be too picky, hon’, otherwise we’ll never home all these animals.”

  “No, Mae, it simply won’t do. Kirsty’s a collie; she’ll go mad without stimulation and then she’ll bite them and they’ll have her put to sleep!”

  “Well, that there’s one heck of a leap! Hon’, if you want the dog just take her!”

  There was a crackling noise and a disembodied voice floated out from Mae’s handset, which she wore, attached to her waist. She spoke using her earpiece. “Roger that, Ken, on my way.”

  “I gotta run, Sophie, those llamas just arrived, see you later, oh… an’ don’t forget the eggs, hon’!”

  Sophie drove to her parents’ home just outside Mount Morris, formed from the old town of Leicester, Monroe County in 1818. For the first time since they talked at the diner, she allowed herself to think about Scott. She turned up the radio and let the music blare, it helped because, as always when she remembered how she met him, she found herself flooded with guilt. She shuddered. Lifting her hand off the steering wheel, she nibbled at her thumbnail. When she stopped at the lights upon entering the small town of Mt. Morris, she stared at her thumb; damn she’d bitten the nail down to the quick again. She smacked the wheel, annoyed at herself. She had never bitten her nails before Colorado, but afterward? Well, it seemed she had acquired a nasty habit. Only since she had begun her atonement had she managed to grow them out again, and now because of that damned man turning up, she’d lost her thumbnail.

  Everything was his fault. If only he’d left her alone then and now. Why did he have to pop up after all this time? An’ just as she thought she was
healing nicely, he comes along and rips off her scabs. A tear slid down her face. No! She would not start that weeping again, she’d cried enough tears. She had a plan, her personal atonement plan… and she’d stick to it. Once it was completed she’d be ready to move on with her life.

  She indicated left and turned into the grocery store to buy eggs.

  Saturday morning, Scott pulled up outside Sophie’s parents’ house. He gave a low whistle under his breath. Wow, this was one swanky house. Her housemate, come landlady, in Honeoye, informed him that that she was staying the weekend with her folks in Mt. Morris because they lived nearer to the airfield. Scott had no idea why Sophie needed to be at the airfield today. Perhaps she would tell him the answer herself. He walked up to the pristine white painted wooden front door situated between two double story pillars and pulled on the bell rope. There was immediate yapping from within and woman’s voice called for calm.

  When the door opened, two overweight pug dogs leapt out at him, scrabbling about his ankles. A small slender woman scolded them half heartedly before asking him what he wanted.

  “Sophie,” he stated baldly.

  “Oh.” She looked somewhat taken aback. “Well, she’s not here. She’s gone to do her dive.”

  Scott frowned. “Dive?”

  “Yup. She’s skydiving today down at the Perry-Warsaw airfield; it’s just a bit further down route 20A outside of town.”

  He was incredulous. “Sophie is skydiving?” The woman gave a small grin. “You really must know her to have that reaction. Yes, amazingly brave of her isn’t it? If you go now you might be in time to see her land. She left a few hours ago, but there is orientation and practice before the jumps take place. Her father’s gone with her. It’s the last but one of her tasks you know.”

  Scott didn’t stop to ask what tasks the woman was talking about; he simply waved his thanks and leapt back into the truck, reversing and turning to drive toward the airfield. Sophie was terrified of heights. What was she doing skydiving dammit?