Gail took his arm. “Actually, we don’t know our plans yet. Can
we call you?”
Sophia’s smile briefly wobbled but she managed to keep it in
place. “Of course.”
The other woman’s disappointment nearly made Gail relent. She
paused as if she was tempted, then seemed to think better of it. “Ready to go?”
she asked, turning to him instead.
“Whenever you are.” They said goodbye to those who remained.
Then Simon led Gail from the shop and out into a sunny fall day. While they were
within earshot of the others, they talked about the weather, their search for a
rental, how nice her friends were.
But as soon as they got in the car he said, “Who’s Matt?”
18
“Y
ou just met six of my friends. And you
want to talk about one who wasn’t even there?” she said as she put on her seat
belt.
This was clearly a deflection. But Simon allowed it. For the
moment. “Okay, let’s talk about Sophia.” He buckled his own belt. “Why did you
refuse her invitation to dinner?”
“I didn’t refuse it. I said I’d call.”
He started the car. “Will you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why?” he asked as he shifted into Reverse.
She blew out a sigh. “I’m having a hard time forgiving
her.”
“For?”
Facing the window as he backed out of the parking space, she
waved at Ted, who was climbing into his SUV. “A lot of reasons.”
“We’re here for three months. I think you’ve got time to
explain.”
“It’s old gossip,” she said as if it didn’t matter, but
obviously it did, or she wouldn’t be holding a grudge.
They reached the exit, where he waited for an opening in
traffic. “Everyone else knows, right?”
“Of course. There are no secrets in Whiskey Creek.”
“Then you might as well fill me in.”
“Fine.” She turned off the radio. “Back when we were in high
school, her father was the mayor. She was an only child and very spoiled. She
was also the most popular girl in school and dated Scott Harris, the best
basketball player Eureka High has ever seen.” Her voice softened. “Scott was
Joe’s best friend. And he was like another brother to me.”
Simon merged onto Main Street: Speed Limit 25. Just as well he
hadn’t brought the Ferrari. “This story doesn’t feel like it’s going in a good
direction.”
“No. He lost his life in a drunk-driving accident, and most
people here blame Sophia.”
He winced. “Including you.”
“Maybe. To a point,” she said, obviously not wanting to commit
herself. “It’s hard
not
to blame her.”
A bicyclist swerved around the corner. Simon swung wide to make
room. “What happened?”
“He was expecting her to join him at a party one night, but she
didn’t come. When someone mentioned that she’d been seen with another guy
earlier in the day, he took off to find her, even though he was far too drunk to
get behind the wheel.”
“No one tried to stop him?”
“Of course. He pretended to change his mind, then slipped out
when the rest of us relaxed and stopped paying attention.”
Simon could guess what happened next. “He crashed?”
“Wound up in a ditch. It was too late by the time the
paramedics arrived.”
“I’m sorry.”
She seemed lost in the memory. “He would’ve made a wonderful
husband and father, had he been given the chance.”
“
Was
she with someone else?” he
asked as they came to a red light. He couldn’t help wondering.
“She claims she wasn’t and no one’s stepped up to say, ‘I’m the
other guy.’ There have been rumors, though.”
“Of course. It’s a small town. But blaming her for his drinking
and driving is like blaming Bella for my bad behavior. Last I checked I don’t
get to do that.”
She studied him. “You haven’t even tried.”
Because it felt too much like cheating. He had his faults but
blaming others for his actions wasn’t one of them.
“Come to think of it, you should be commended for that,” she
added.
Surprised by her concession, he glanced over to make sure she
was serious. When he saw that she was, he shrugged. “So I have one redeeming
feature.”
Her lips curved into a smile. “You’ve got a few others.”
A dose of sexual awareness warmed his blood. “Feel free to
elaborate,” he said, tempting her to flirt a little more, but she backed
off.
“I think you know what they are.”
The light turned green. “If you’re talking about my looks, I’m
not particularly flattered. I had no control over the face I was given.”
“You’ve worked hard for that body.”
“All part of the job. But I’m glad you noticed.”
She scowled. “I’ve also noticed how easy it is for you to light
up a room, how fast you neutralized all the people who should’ve been defensive
of me. They fell for your charm almost immediately.”
He got stuck behind someone in an SUV who was waiting for a
parking spot on the street. “Really? Because Callie seemed completely
immune.”
“She’ll come around.”
Maybe. Maybe not. She’d seemed pretty unhappy. “What was that
bit about Cheyenne and her mother?”
“Anita’s a piece of work. You wouldn’t believe what Cheyenne
has been through. When she and her sister were little, her mother dragged them
from one town to the next. They lived out of cars or in cheap motels. She didn’t
even go to school until she moved here, and by then she was fourteen!”
The people who owned the Jetta in the parking space the SUV
wanted began the process of loading up, but they had a baby and a toddler to
strap in, and a stroller to contend with. “How did she fare?”
“Not as badly as you’d think. She’d taught herself a lot by
then, is naturally very smart. But it took most of high school for her to catch
up. And, of course, she didn’t get the chance to go to college, like the rest of
us.”
“Her name’s unusual.”
“She thinks she was named after Cheyenne, Wyoming.”
“One of the cities they passed through.”
“You guessed it. Who knows where she’d be right now if Anita
hadn’t gotten sick? That’s the only reason they settled down.”
“A haunted B and B, someone who didn’t start school until the
age of fourteen, a woman blamed for the death of a local sports hero… You have
an interesting group of friends.”
“And everyone knows too much about everyone else, like I told
you before.”
“I guess that’s the downside of living in such a small place,”
he said. “No one can forget. No one can forgive.”
“Publicity has made the whole world that small for you.”
That was one of his problems. The other was that he didn’t seem
to be the best judge of character. Had he been able to detect the deep reservoir
of insecurity that lurked beneath Bella’s beautiful face he would’ve had some
inkling of what he was getting himself into. But he’d been oblivious. Or maybe
Bella was right—and he’d somehow created her insecurity. To him, it seemed as if
he’d tried
everything
to convince her he loved her.
He
had
loved her, more than he’d ever loved
anyone—other than Ty. She just couldn’t believe it for any length of time, had
to make him prove it over and over and over.
Finally, the Jetta pulled into the street and the SUV took its
place. “Tell me this,” he said.
“What?”
“If Sophia knows she’s not wanted, why did she show up at the
coffee shop?”
“The news that we got married has been flying around.” She put
a piece of gum in her mouth. “Maybe she was hoping we’d be there.”
It hadn’t felt as if she’d come to gawk at him. He’d gotten the
impression that she was honestly trying to make friends, maybe even make amends,
but who was he to say? He’d just met her. “Tell the truth. You were tempted to
feel sorry for her because she looked so depressed when you waffled on
dinner.”
“No, I wasn’t. She did a lot of other things I haven’t told you
about. As far as I’m concerned, if people don’t want to have dinner with her
it’s because she deserves it,” Gail said, but he could tell she was torn.
They had to stop at the next red light, too. Simon felt annoyed
by the pace of life here—until he realized there was no point in hurrying. For
once the world wasn’t going to fall apart if he didn’t make it to a certain
place by a certain time. And he had nothing to fear about being out in the open.
There were no paparazzi, no cameras, no Bella and no reporters with
uncomfortable questions. He wasn’t even afraid of being recognized, because
being recognized here didn’t turn into an embarrassing worship session. These
people just sort of stared and murmured, then glanced at their toes if he caught
them gawking.
The light turned green, so he gave the car some gas. “Okay, now
tell me about Matt.”
She let her head fall against the seat. “We’re back to
him?”
“Is there someone else you want to talk about first?”
“Not if it won’t distract you.”
The Jetta he’d been following turned, and he came up on a Prius
that was barely creeping along, looking for a parking place—obviously more
tourists out to visit the shops on Sutter Street. “He’s
that
big a deal to you?” Simon said. If so, why hadn’t she ever
mentioned him? He would’ve expected that information to come out
before
they got married.
“He’s a professional football player. That makes him a big deal
to everyone, at least around here.”
She’d taken the personal element out of his question, so he put
it back in. “I want to know what he means to
you.
”
“Nothing. We went out once last summer. That’s it.”
Although she tried to shrug it off, Simon didn’t believe he’d
misunderstood what he’d sensed at the coffee shop. “Then why does everyone seem
so interested in your reaction to him?”
“I couldn’t tell you.”
The Prius found a car with some people who looked like they
might be loading up, but they were only storing their packages. “You’re a
terrible liar,” Simon said. “Has anyone ever told you that?”
“I’m not lying…exactly.”
“Then what are you hiding? Did you sleep with him?”
Her hesitation told him he’d hit somewhere not far from the
truth.
“You don’t have to conceal any indiscretions from me,” he
reminded her. “I’m pretty much the poster boy for sin, remember?”
“I didn’t sleep with him.”
“But…”
“We went out once and came close.”
“Aha! Here we go. So he’s your local love interest and everyone
knows it.”
“No one knows anything, because nothing really happened. It was
one date. So he’s not a…
love
interest, per se.”
At last the Prius found a spot. “You’re not head over heels,”
Simon said.
“No.”
They reached the turnoff to her father’s. “Tell me where we’re
going.”
“Home, to shower and get ready for the day. I want to check our
media hits and see what Josh has arranged with
People
on our wedding pics. Then we’ll contact Kathy and see when
she has time to show us whatever rentals are available.”
Still intrigued by her self-conscious reaction to his questions
about Matt, he returned to the same subject. “Has he called you since the big
night? Was he expecting to see you again?”
“What does it matter?”
“Maybe I want to be sure you’ll keep your end of our marriage
contract, now that
you’re
the one facing
temptation.”
She folded her arms, which made her look even more prim than
usual. “Give me a break. You have nothing to worry about. It’s always been a
very one-sided crush. I mean…not crush. Brief infatuation.”
“
It’s
is present tense,” he pointed
out. “And
always
isn’t brief.”
Her face turned red. “Can we drop it, please?”
She was getting flustered....
He pulled into the driveway, to the far left, just in case her
father or brother returned. Their vehicles were gone—thank God—which meant he
was going to get a reprieve from the we-hate-Simon vibes that had bombarded him
yesterday. “I just want to be sure I’m not holding you back.”
“You’re not.”
After putting the transmission in Park, he cut the engine.
“You’ve got feelings for Matt. I can tell.”
“No.”
“What do you see in him?”
She opened her door. “Callie already told you—he’s a nice
guy.”
He came around to meet her. “And I’m not. She made the
distinction very clear. Which brings me back to Callie—what do you see in
her?
”
“Don’t hold the way she acted at the coffee shop against her.
She’ll warm up to you. She’s just being protective.”
“She’s being judgmental. Hasn’t she ever done anything
wrong?”
“Most people haven’t crashed and burned quite as publicly as
you have. You have that going against you.”
“Such is the price I pay for being rich and famous.” It was a
glib response, designed to cover how it felt to have his every mistake and
shortcoming advertised to the public. If not for that added dimension, maybe he
wouldn’t have become so determined to prove he’d do exactly as he pleased,
regardless of the world’s shock and recrimination. To a certain extent, the
worst of his behavior was simply his way of giving the world—and everyone who
judged him—the finger.
“Are you sorry you didn’t have sex with Matt while you had the
chance?”
Clearly, she wanted to be done with this conversation, so it
took him off guard when she suddenly stopped and whirled around. “Yes,” she said
in exasperation. “I am. Especially now that I’m getting paid
not
to have sex for the next two years.”
He put a hand to his chest as if she’d just wounded him. “Who’s
paying you not to have sex?”
“Our marriage will fall apart the second we cross that line,
and you know it.”
The stubborn glint in her eyes offered an irresistible
challenge. Gail was so…normal. That was one of the things he liked most about
her. She kept problems in perspective and demanded he do the same. Since she’d
taken charge, his life had begun to make sense again.
But she was also a bit starchy, and that made her fun to bait.
“I’m willing to compromise in that area,” he said. “I’ll give you a night off
from our deal if you’ll give me one.” He adopted a sultry tone. “Think about
it…all that pent-up desire could be unleashed on your old crush.”
Oddly enough, he didn’t want her to accept, but he was curious
whether or not she’d be tempted by the offer. That alone would tell him how
important this Matt the Football Player was.