Sophie kissed each of Lily’s kittens before putting them in the carrier. Jessica smiled at her.
“You did a good thing.”
Sophie nodded, trying not to feel sad. “I didn’t think I’d miss them, but I will.” Now there were only Mrs. Bennet’s kittens and in a couple of weeks, they would be gone, as well. Both mama cats were scheduled to be spayed the week after that, then they would come back here and live out their lives with her.
“You could foster next year,” Jessica told her. “If you want to.”
“Let me see how things go. Plus, I’ll have to talk to the ladies and see what they think.”
She showed Jessica out, then retreated to the living room, oddly unsettled by the kitten loss. Mrs. Bennet joined her on the sofa, purring as she rubbed against her.
“Life goes on,” Sophie murmured, scratching her chin, knowing she should get back to work. It was only ten in the morning. She’d come home to collect the kittens and there was no reason to stay. But for once, Sophie wasn’t anxious to bury herself in work.
She felt...restless. Maybe restless with an anxiety chaser, which made no sense. She was fine. Business was good—especially if she didn’t think about how much she’d screwed up the Chicago meeting. Heather had moved in a few days ago. Sophie wasn’t sure she was the type to do well with a roommate, but Heather was easy to be with. She was quiet, tidy and kept to herself. At some point they were going to have to talk about what had happened with Amber, but Sophie was willing to let Heather decide when that would be.
Dugan was a problem. Okay, not a problem, exactly. He confused her, which she didn’t like. Worse, she missed him. Now that they weren’t having sex, she wasn’t sure how to define their relationship or her own feelings. She liked him, but what did liking someone mean these days? Were they dating? Just friends?
Before she could stop herself, she reached for her phone.
Why aren’t you asking me out?
She sent the text, then waited. It only took a few seconds for the three dots to appear on her screen.
I could ask the same thing.
That made her smile.
But you’re the man.
Since when have you been into traditional gender roles?
An interesting question.
Fine. Do you want to go out sometime?
Sure. When and where? Since you did the asking, I’m going to assume you’re paying.
Are we having sex?
Really Sophie? If you want to just get laid, you should at least try to be more subtle. What happened to romance?
She chuckled.
Sorry. I take it back. Would you like to have dinner with me? At my place. I’ll get takeout. Oh, wait. Heather’s staying here. That could be awkward.
My place is fine. I’ll even cook. But you should probably bring me flowers.
You know if I did that, you would be totally weirded out.
Let’s find out. Tonight?
Her phone rang.
“Impatient man,” she murmured before glancing at the screen and seeing Kristine’s name instead of Dugan’s. She pushed the talk button. “Hi. What’s—”
“Sophie? He left me. Jaxsen left me.”
Sophie could barely understand her through the sobs. “What are you talking about? Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Stay put. I’ll be right there.”
When she was in the car and heading down the road, she put in a quick call to Dugan.
“But we were texting,” he said with a chuckle. “I thought we’d start talking dirty next.”
“Something’s going on with Kristine. She said Jaxsen left her, but I can’t believe that. I’ll let you know what happens, but I may not be there tonight.”
“Of course. Let me know.”
“I will.”
She drove across the island and pulled into Kristine’s driveway, then raced inside. She found her cousin curled up in a corner of the sofa.
Sophie pulled her close and held her as tightly as she could. “Start at the beginning and tell me what happened.”
An hour later Sophie managed to get her into the kitchen where they sat at the island drinking hot tea.
“He didn’t leave you,” Sophie said for maybe the twentieth time. “He went to his parents’ house. He saw the boys and lived his life. He didn’t take out any money or stop his paycheck from being deposited. He wasn’t hanging out with his friends or looking for an apartment. He didn’t leave.”
Kristine shook her head. “He said he did. He said he knew I could walk out without a word because he did that to me.”
“He’s just being a guy. Come on. You know that. Jaxsen is great, but he has flaws, and manipulating you is one of them. He wants to get his way and he’s not always fair or mature about it.”
And when this was over, Sophie was going to find someone to beat the crap out of Jaxsen, that was for sure. He’d handled this badly from the very first second.
“Where did the two of you talk?” she asked.
“What?” Kristine reached for another tissue. “At the store.”
“And why was he there?”
“He knew Jerry was sick and—” She blew her nose. “Him helping me doesn’t mean anything.”
Sophie raised her eyebrows. “Right. Because if he didn’t care about you why would he bother giving up a few days off to make things right for you?”
“But he left.”
“He didn’t leave. He was a jerk. He’s been a total jerk. But he’s your jerk and from what I can see, now he’s trying to make things right.”
“He never said that. He never said he loved me or wanted me back.”
“No, he said he lived in fear of you leaving.”
“But I would never do that.”
“He thought you would.” Sophie really hated taking any guy’s side, but desperate times and all that. “Let’s walk through it another way. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Jaxsen really was thinking you kept your grandmother’s money separate as a way to leave him. Can we start there?”
Kristine nodded slowly.
“If he genuinely believed that, then having you come to him with a well-thought-out business plan would be his worst nightmare. What if you did it? What if you were successful? What if you made more than him? There are a lot of guys who can’t handle that. Jaxsen is pretty traditional. Maybe he saw your potential success as yet another threat. If he believed he was losing you, then the business was more proof you were heading in that direction. He got scared and he reacted.”
She deliberately wasn’t mentioning her conversation with Jaxsen. Not only had it not gone well, but he had been a total asshole. But maybe what she’d said had gotten through to him, at least a little. After all, he’d shown up to help. She could only hope that standing up for him wasn’t going to be a giant mistake.
“He didn’t react. He left.”
“He went to his mother’s. Come on, it’s not as if he was going to do anything while he was there.”
“I know what you’re saying and I get it, but all this time I thought he was sulking and trying to wait me out. I didn’t think it was real.”
“You two really need to talk.”
“I know.” Kristine looked at her. “Sophie, I’m so scared. What if this is the end?”
“What if it isn’t? What if you two finally sit down and talk about things? What if you come to a better understanding?”
“I don’t think we can.” Kristine sounded lost and hopeless.
“Sure you can. And until that happens, let’s pretend we’re moving in that direction. Where are the sleeping bags?”
“What?”
“The sleeping bags. Where do you keep them?”
“In the basement. There’s a big storage closet.”
&
nbsp; “Great. I’ll go get three of them and air mattresses. You text Ruth and ask her to keep the boys tonight. You’re going to come home with me. We’ll play with kittens and hang out and have a sleepover. It’ll be like when we were kids. Heather’s staying with me and she can join us. We’ll get drunk and if something happens, Heather can be our designated driver.”
“I have a lot of stuff to do.”
“Nothing that can’t wait. You’re coming with me and that’s final.”
“But I—”
Sophie raised her eyebrows. “I’m not kidding.”
Kristine nodded and got out her phone. Sophie headed downstairs. She found the sleeping bags and carried them out to her car, then she texted Dugan to explain what was happening.
Rain check, he texted.
You mad?
No. You want me. You’ll be back.
She smiled and tucked her phone in her jeans, then went inside to get Kristine. Later she was going to give Jaxsen a piece of her mind and maybe a swift kick in the ass. Stupid man. But Kristine loved him and despite what she thought right now, Sophie knew he loved her back.
* * *
Kristine went around in a fog. On the fourth day she woke up with the realization that she couldn’t simply abdicate her life. Whatever was happening in her marriage, she still had responsibilities. She had her kids and the store and everything else.
It was barely six in the morning. She showered, then went downstairs and fixed a hot breakfast for the boys. Once they were fed, she made sure they had what they needed for school and got them there with time to spare.
She reached the store and parked in front. She hadn’t heard from Jerry and she needed to follow up on that. The work had to get done so she could open. She also added talking to Jaxsen to her to-do list. They needed to sit down and find out where they were and what the next step was going to be.
The thought of having that conversation terrified her, but she knew there wasn’t a choice. They’d both been avoiding the hard stuff and that was getting them nowhere. If they were going to stay together, they were going to have to do better and if they weren’t... Well, she couldn’t think about that. Not and keep breathing.
She walked to the front door and unlocked it, then stepped inside. At first she thought she was in the wrong place. Everything looked different. The marble counter and display case were in place. Glass shelves gleamed and someone had even put in the pretty serving platters she ordered. The walls were painted the pale yellow she’d chosen. Underfoot the new flooring gleamed and there were baseboards and new wide windowsills.
She ran into the back. The cooling racks had been delivered and stood against the wall. In the pantry, the shelves were repaired and everything was freshly painted and clean. The store was ready—all it needed were supplies and her.
She pulled out her phone and dialed Jerry.
“I know, I know,” he said when he picked up. “I’m still running behind. We’ll be back by the end of next week, I swear. We’ll work over the weekend and get the place done.”
“It wasn’t you,” she breathed, a truth she’d known since she saw the place, but hadn’t been willing to believe. The band around her chest loosened and for the first time in days, she was able to draw in a full breath.
“Me, what?”
“The work. It’s finished. It’s perfect. Thank you, Jerry.”
She hung up and turned in a slow circle. Jaxsen had done this. He’d obviously taken off more than a couple of days to do it all. Something she would have known if she’d bothered to come by. He’d done this for her. He’d done this because he knew it would make her happy. He’d done it because he was a man and this was how he said he still cared.
Relief and love and hope flared inside her. She reached for her phone, then realized he would be at work already. She only called when there was an emergency. But texts were okay.
Thank you.
She wanted to say more, but not like that. Not so impersonally.
When did you finish?
Last night. Do you like it?
It’s perfect. Even better than I’d imagined.
I’m glad.
There was so much more she wanted to tell him. So much they had to talk about. He could have told her he was sorry. He could have said a lot of things, but this was so much more Jaxsen-like. There was still work to be done—both on the store and between them—but she no longer had that horrible weight on her heart.
* * *
Sophie glanced at the clock on the wall and tried to stifle her impatience. Amber was late for their meeting. She wanted to say her cousin was just busy with work, but she knew the truth. Amber was exhibiting her usual signs of passive-aggressive behavior because it suited her purpose. That or she was avoiding her, and that wasn’t very good, either.
Amber showed up at seven minutes past two. She walked into the office and took a seat.
“It’s not true,” Amber began, crossing her arms over her chest. “Not any of it.”
Sophie frowned. “What’s not true?”
“Oh, nothing. How are you?”
Sophie thought longingly of the days when Amber had been a thousand miles away. That had sure been easier. Not that she regretted returning to the island. She really liked being close to Kristine and the boys, and being here made her feel more comfortable than LA ever had, but Amber was a giant pain in her patootie.
“I want to talk about Heather.”
No, what she really wanted to do was bang her head against the desk, but that would hurt a lot and might scare the rest of the employees.
“What about her?”
Sophie glared at her cousin. “Why did Heather leave?” She thought of Amber’s opening statement. “What did you do?”
“Nothing. I didn’t do anything. Come on, Sophie. You know how Heather is. It’s all about her. We have important things to be dealing with like being forced out of our home because my mother’s being selfish. Do you know what that’s like for me?” Amber’s eyes filled with tears. “I brought my baby there and raised her. Sweet Heather. Remember how pretty she was? Such a good baby. We all loved her so much and now we’re going to be homeless. I can’t deal with it. I just can’t. I can’t find a decent apartment because I don’t make enough and you won’t help me and now Heather’s gone.”
Tears trickled down her cheeks. While Sophie had been all in with Kristine’s pain, she was less sure about Amber’s. As for there not being enough money for an apartment, Sophie didn’t know what to think. She knew that CK paid its employees well and there were nice benefits. Amber should be able to afford an apartment on her own. Maybe not a luxurious one...
Stop! She shook off her train of thought. Amber’s issues weren’t her problem. Amber was an adult who should be able to take care of herself. Except she was family.
Sophie rubbed her forehead as she felt the beginning of a headache.
“Okay,” she said, getting to her feet. “Good talk. We should do this more.”
The tears dried up. “Are you going to help with an apartment? I can’t do it on my own. You should give me a raise, or just a lump sum of money I can draw on. What am I supposed to do? Where will I go?” Her lower lip quivered. “I guess I could move in with you only I don’t really like cats.”
“You’re not living with me,” Sophie told her flatly. “Just get back to work and we’ll deal with this later, okay?”
Amber nodded and left. Sophie sank onto her chair and wondered what she was supposed to do now. She was certain if she helped Amber, it would only be the first of a thousand asks. But if she didn’t, she wasn’t sure what would happen. Family was never easy, that was for sure.
She shook off the emotional aftershocks and focused on work. Last month’s sales report made her happy so she read it again, letting the numbers relax her. When that was done, she stared at the phone. T
o call or not to call—she’d been thinking about that conundrum for a while now. Would it help or would she only make things worse?
Not sure if she was going to get yelled at for trying, she pulled a business card out of her desk and quickly dialed. Bryce Green surprised her by picking up on the first ring.
“Yes?”
“Hi, um, Bryce. It’s Sophie Lane from CK Industries.”
“Why?”
The why could mean a dozen things, but she didn’t bother dealing with any of them. Instead, she sucked in a breath and jumped directly into the deepest of waters.
“I wanted to apologize for what happened at the meeting,” she said quickly. “Maggie had told me that you only wanted exclusive products that companies believed in. We’d gone over several options before picking the best two. Those were to be the presentation. She’d told me to trust her and let her do the talking. I knew she was right, but trusting people isn’t really my strong suit.”
She paused, collecting her thoughts. “Not that I’m suspicious of everyone. It’s more that CK is my baby, you know? I started the company in college. I never expected anything to happen with it—I was just taking videos of my kitten. But it grew and things got bigger and bigger. I always feel as if I’m scrambling to keep up. That sensation happens less now—probably because I have a really good team here. People I trust to take care of their corners of the CK universe.”
She shifted the phone to her other ear. “Having you carry a product has been a dream of mine for a while now. I could never get a meeting—which you probably know. I see now I was doing it all wrong. Maggie has pointed that out. And Dugan Phillips. Do you know him? He’s given me some really good advice.”
She almost blurted out that she found their relationship confusing, but stopped herself in time.
“I’m trying to learn from my mistakes. I wanted you to know that, and to thank you for taking the meeting. Please don’t blame Maggie for what happened. It’s my fault. I should have listened.” She laughed uneasily, realizing she’d been rambling for a while now. “And now I’m going to stop talking, assuming you’re even still on the line.”
Sisters by Choice Page 31
