Live In Position (15 page)

"I can't."

"Can't or won't?" He took a step closer to me.

"I can't, it's not my Saturday off." I clarified.

"Ah, but I can have your number?"

"I, um, why?" I sputtered.

His hand came up and cupped my face.

"Because I want to take you out
." He dropped his hand. "When’s your next day off?"

"Sunday, but…"

"But nothing," He had victory written all over his face. "Can I pick you up around one?"

"If I say no, will it matter?"

"Hmm…probably not."

"Do you always get things your way?"

"Usually." He grinned. "I can't help it. I have amazing skills of persuasion."

I laughed.

"So, one o'clock on Sunday?"

"Okay." I
nodded.

"Good, now how about that number?"

I shook my head and laughed again.

"I don't have a pen."

He handed me his blackberry.

"Don't need one, just enter your number next to Gorgeous."

"Oh, you're good." I shook my head and typed in my cell number.

Dominic left briefly after and Mrs. Baker was quick to pull me back into the laundry room.

"Dear lord, that man is scrumdeliosous."

"Scrumdelio—what?" I giggled.

"Lord, help me," she fanned herself. "He has to be Greek. If you hadn't given him your number, I was going to sneak around and give it to him for you."

I gasped. "You were eavesdropping."

"Honey, when you get to be my age you will live vicariously through others too." She laughed.

When Sunday arrived, Victoria helped me get ready for my date; however, she seemed really down.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing," she lied.

"Come on," I nudged her shoulder, "what's up?"

She shrugged.

"I just, I mean I’m…"

A knock at my door interrupted Victoria.

"Go ahead." I urged her to continue.

Suddenly my door opened. There stood Grace with a perplexed look on her face.

"There's someone at the door for you." One perfectly waxed eyebrow rose in question.

"Thank you." I looked back to Victoria. "What were you saying?"

She shook her head.

"Have fun." Victoria hurried from the room.

There was a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach as I descended the stairs. My eyes widened when I saw Dr. Bishop standing there speaking in hushed tones with Dominic. My stomach clenched tighter. Dominic saw my approach.

"There she is." He smiled warmly and pulled me into a hug.

I pushed back from him and gave him a questioning look.

"Good afternoon
, Collin." Dominic quickly pulled me from the house with a large smile on his face.

"What was that about?" I pulled out from the embrace he was holding on me.

He shrugged. "Nothing."

"Yeah right." I stopped walking.

"What?"

"I can go back inside."

"Okay, okay, let's just say Collin and me aren't the best of friends. So, the fact that I showed up to take you out is eating away at him." He grinned.

"Why would he care? It's not like you're here to see Grace." I wrinkled my forehead trying to think it over.

"Because it's me," He grinned wider.

"So, I'm just a pawn in your game then?"

"No, of course not, it's just a bonus." He opened his car door.

I hesitated.

"I swear to you, I didn't ask you to dance or out because of him. I wanted to ask you out and the moment I saw you at the dinner. I couldn't keep my eyes off of you. I had no clue who you worked for or who you were for that matter."

One part of me wanted to tell him to go to hell and to play with someone else, but then another part wanted to play the game too. I got into the car.
Game on.

Chapter Nine

The date with Dominic had been fun. We went to a matinee movie and then an early dinner, before going to a small pub for drinks. He didn't try anything and left me at the door with a kiss to my forehead.

There were multiple late night calls and a couple more dates, but something
was missing. He was fun and we had an amazing time together, but there was just was no ‘spark’ between us. I really started to hate that I didn’t feel stronger for him. Not wanting to lead him on, we had to talk.

To my relief he felt the same way, but enjoyed spending time with me. So we called it friends. However, Dom made sure to play up the 'date' when Dr. Bishop was around and I had to frequently yell at him for it. I didn't need any more problems than I already had with
Dr. Bishop and Grace.

Victoria came out with us one afternoon and had a great time, but was cold toward Dominic. When I asked her about it, she said she just didn't like him. I couldn't fault her for the way she felt, so I didn't have her come back out with us again. It kind of hurt, because I wanted her to be there with
me too. I missed the time we’d lost. Grace was still trying to build their relationship and it felt like Victoria was pulling away from me, in favor of her mother. I knew I had to let her go and be with her mother.

That was my thought until one Saturday afternoon in March. As I was preparing to go out with Miranda on my off weekend, I was passing Victoria's bedroom when I overheard her and Grace.

"Let's have makeovers!" Victoria sounded excited.

"Okay, do you want me to call the salon?"

I heard Victoria giggle lightly.

"No. I want to give you one."

"O-h" Grace puffed out. "Um…I'm not sure."

"It will be fun." I heard rustling. "Put this on."

"The tutu?" Grace sounded insulted.

"Yeah." Victoria
’s excitement deflated.

"Oh, baby, no. Mommy doesn't wear this stuff." There was a long silence.

"Okay." Victoria mumbled.

"What are you doing with that?" Grace almost shrieked.

"I'm going to do your make up."

"No, baby, mommy has special make-up that she uses."

I rolled my eyes and started toward the steps.

"Then let's get yours
—"

"No, no. It's not to play with Victoria." Grace was
sounded scolding. I was irritated and trying to force myself down the steps.

"Sophia does it." Victoria huff
ed in annoyance.

I bit the side of my mouth, so I didn't laugh.

"She only does it because she’s paid to do those things. We've talked about this before, Victoria."

I bit down, but not f
rom laughter, from pure anger. Wincing at the pain, the coppery taste of my blood almost made me gag. Quickly I went downstairs to meet with Miranda before I ended up going to jail for knocking the hell harpy out.

"Can you believe that? I mean, 'We've talked about it before'. What does that even mean? Does she tell Victoria
I’m only being nice to her and playing with her because of money?"

"Technically you are." Benji chimed in. Both Miranda and I glared at him. "Pretend I didn't speak." He put his hands up in surrender.

"Will do," Miranda spat. She turned back to me. "Sophia, I don't know what to say. I can't believe she told her that. It's almost…heartless to make Victoria feel that way."

"She's only putting you down to make herself look better." Lucas chimed in and I shot a look at him. "Should I not speak either?" He turned his attention back to Benji.

"That kind of makes sense." Miranda pointed at Lucas.

"How come I get a glare and
he gets praise?" Benji pouted.

I broke into much needed laughter.

"Thank you Benji." I smiled and laughed heartily. "I needed that."

The rest of the evening was spent snacking on appetizers and drinking. When I got back to the Bishop house I felt rejuvenated enough from my outing to go in. However, that all left me when I passed Victoria's room.

The soft sound of sobs poured from her room. I froze mid stride and leaned my ear to her door. Pushing the door open, the sight of her balled up in her bed crying welcomed me.

"Victoria?" I whispered.

She sniffed quickly and stayed quiet. I entered the room and stood next to her bed looking down at her.

"You’
re a terrible actress. Maybe I should see if there are some acting lessons you can take along with your others." I grinned down at her playfully.

Sh
e turned her head to me with a small smile. I sat down and rubbed her leg.

"What's going on?"

She sat up Indian style next to me with her eyes staring into her lap. She sniffed again and wiped her cheeks with her hands.

"Don't you like me anymore?"

"What?" My eyes widened and my voice cracked.

She flinched back a little.

"You…um…we don't play together anymore." Her tone was low and almost inaudible. "You don't play with me like before."

"Oh
, sweetheart," wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her to my lap. "I've been giving you and your mommy time to get to know one another." I kissed the top of her head. "Of course I still like you." I squeezed her tight.

Victoria's arms wrapped around my shoulders and held me
back.

"Can we watch a movie?"

Pulling back, I looked into her face.

"It's sort of late. Do you have early plans tomorrow with your mom?"

She shook her head with a big smile.

"Okay, what movie, wait, let me guess…The Litt
le Mermaid?" I winked.

S
he giggled.

"Let me go change my clothes. You put the movie in."

I quickly went to my room and slipped into a pair of yoga pants and a tank top. I grabbed a sweatshirt and headed to her room. Closing my door behind me, I looked up and saw Dr. Bishop exiting his room in his robe. I forced a small smile and made quick strides toward Victoria's room.

"Is she still awake?" His voice carried down the empty hall and sent a chill through my body.

I cleared my throat quietly and turned to face him.

"Yes, she was awake when I got home this evening. I checked on her and she couldn't sleep, so I suggested we watch a movie." I stood waiting for some type of icy response.

Standing there under the intensity of his gaze the damn fidgeting started. I glanced from the floor to his face and saw his eyes focused on one spot. Following his gaze, I realized my tank top didn't fully cover my midsection. My eyes widened at what he must be thinking, since he’s already commented about me being half dressed. I swallowed hard and rushed to slip my baggy sweatshirt over my head.

I got it on and looked back at him. His eye brows were knitted together and his hands were clenched. It almost looked as if he was a foot closer to me, but I tossed the thought out
as quickly as it occurred. His chest rose and fell with a heavy breath before he turned away from me and headed toward the stairs.

Once back
in Victoria's room I saw she’d placed the pillows at the foot of the bed, closest to the TV and was on her elbows waiting. I shut the door, ran, and leapt onto her bed, causing her to bounce up and down.

She giggled. "Who are you? Super nanny?"

I laughed and ruffled her hair.

"Of course I am. W
ho else were you expecting?" I winked.

Her smile widened. "I've missed you."

I pressed my forehead to hers. "I'll always be here for you."

"Always?" She almost whispered.

"Always."

"Even when you marry Dominic?"

"What? Who said we were getting married?" I choked.

"Grace."

"I'm not marrying Dominic." I reassured her.

"Nanny swear?" She held out her curved pinky finger.

I furrowed my brow at her finger in confusion, but copied her movement. She knotted our pinkies together. I smiled and answered.

"Super nanny swear."

She giggled again and snuggled against me. We sang along with the movie.

"Thank you." Victoria yawned just as King Titan created a rainbow over Eric and Ariel's wedding ship.

"I should be thanking you. This was so much fun." I grabbed the remote and turned off the DVD and TV.

"Stay with me." It wasn't a question.

I curled up next to her and we drifted off to sleep.

April arrived and spring was definitely in the air. Victoria's ballet class was preparing for
a recital at the end of May. The Bishops were preparing for their annual family vacation in Whidbey Island. Every June, they traveled to the beach house. Miranda had pre-warned me I would most likely be required on trip and I started to worry about being trapped in one house with Allison, Ilene, and Grace.

Grace had back
ed off of Victoria quite a bit. There weren't as many 'mommy daughter' outings. Grace found a niche of step-ford wives who couldn't wait to get the possible Mrs. Doctor Bishop into their social groups. Her time was now being absorbed by shopping trips, socializing, and assisting the 'leaders' of the step-ford club with upcoming social events. It irritated me that she brushed Victoria off so quickly, but I was also relieved to have her back under my wing to keep an eye on her well-being.

I was surprised one morning, toward the end of April, when Grace spontaneously requested Victoria dressed to go out for the afternoon
. I was happy she was going to participate in some sort of activity together. After she was dressed, I pulled her hair up with some clips. Wrapping her in her jacket, Grace sped off in her new convertible with Victoria.

It was six hours of working on my book when I heard
a commotion of people arriving. Suspecting it was Grace and Victoria I saved my progress and closed my laptop. Halfway down the stairs I could hear Victoria's excited voice.

"Can we make them now?"

"Make what?" Grace sounded confused.

"The cookies."

"What are you talking about?" Grace sounded annoyed.

"You told Mrs. Stanton you would take care of cookies and
—"

Grace cut her off with laughter.

"Oh my goodness, you thought
I
was going to make them?"

I didn't hear anything from Victoria.

"I’m going to buy those things, have them catered." I could hear the shrugging tone to her voice.

"Oh." Victoria sounded disappointed. "Can we still make some?" There was a hint of hope.

"I don't cook –"

"Of
course we can." I smiled. "But first you need to change your clothes and wash your hands." Then I took a closer look at her face. "What’s on your face?" I narrowed my eyes in examination.

"Oh
, it's nothing." Grace chimed. "They were having auditions for a mother daughter pageant and I took Victoria." She smiled proudly.

I looked back to Victoria whose face was furrowed. Grace's heels click
ed as she left the kitchen.

"So, how was the pageant?"

She shrugged. "I don't really like it."

"Oh, did you tell your mom that?" I started to get the flour and sugar.

"No, I didn't tell
Grace
."

I turned around to
examine her expression.

"Did you just call her Grace?"

She nodded. "I don't want to call her mom." She crossed her arms over her chest.

I didn't want to press any further. "Go get changed, okay?" I turned back around and heard her hurry
from the room.

My mind was reeling with her declaration about Grace. Dr. Bishop
said he wanted to know if Victoria was troubled by Grace when she first came back. Does that still stand? Should I mention it to him? I didn't want to overstep any boundaries.