Take Me Home for Christmas (Whiskey Creek #5)(47)
Author: Brenda Novak

She kept working. “I have a few more names.”

“You can enter them tomorrow.” He scowled, hoping she’d hear the firmness in his voice. He was ready for her to leave. He’d been so conscious of her sitting behind him for the past couple of hours. It was almost as if he could hear her breathe. And if he wasn’t focusing on that, he was thinking about the fact that she was planning to move.

But Sophia was so determined to finish, she didn’t even glance up. “It’ll just take a minute.”

Once she returned the mailing-list additions to his desk, he thought that was that. But no. She went to the kitchen and prepared dinner. If he listened carefully, he could hear her downstairs. He knew she had to be tired, with everything she’d done today. He considered going down and ordering her to go home. But he refrained because he knew she was struggling to feel good about herself, and she’d indicated that her work here was part of that.

An hour later, she brought up a steaming bowl of the most delicious broccoli-cheddar soup he’d ever tasted.

* * *

Sophia had stayed longer than she was supposed to. But she was finally satisfied with what she’d accomplished today. She’d even finished the data entry project he’d given her.

“Your boss is really nice, isn’t he?” Alexa said as they climbed into the car.

She tried not to envision Ted from behind as she’d seen him all afternoon. She’d memorized the size and shape of his shoulders, taking note of every change in his body—a body she’d once been so familiar with. “He’s a good man.”

“He doesn’t have a wife?”

When Sophia looked over at her daughter, she saw that Alexa was playing with the zipper on her backpack. “No, but he has a girlfriend. You know Eve.”

“He’s with Eve?”

“He is.”

“Wow. She’s nice. But…it’s a bummer that he’s taken. He’s so cute, don’t you think?”

Sophia rested her hands on the steering wheel instead of starting the car. “Lex, I think maybe it’s time I explained something. I heard you tell Ted that Daddy got mad when he found his book on the nightstand.”

“He did!” she said, suddenly defensive.

Sophia knew she expected another lecture on keeping quiet about what happened inside their house. Skip had been so obsessed with maintaining a certain image that they weren’t allowed to reveal anything that might not show him in a positive light. He’d been so adamant about that, and got so angry if they ever made a mistake, they’d both been afraid to say anything.

She softened her voice to let her daughter know this wasn’t one of those conversations. “That’s true. But it wasn’t the genre of the book he objected to.”

“It wasn’t?”

“Not entirely, although he tried to make a big deal out of that, too.”

“So what was it?”

She’d caught her daughter’s interest. “Ted and I used to be friends before your daddy and I got married. Actually, for about two years, we were…more than friends.”

Her eyes grew wide. “Ted was your boyfriend? Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

Because just mentioning his name would’ve been enough to start a fight with Skip. “There was no point. Ted wasn’t part of our lives. But now…”

“Now he is.” She seemed happy about that.

“Yes, but I need you to be aware of the past and how that might make Ted and me feel awkward if you…if you say the wrong thing.”

She was silent as she considered that. Then she said, “I’ll be careful.”

“Thanks.”

“But do you think you two might ever get back together?”

“I told you, he’s seeing Eve.”

“That doesn’t mean he’ll marry her.”

“You want me to start dating?”

“Why not? You don’t owe Dad anything. Not after what he did.”

This was an interesting twist. Alexa had always been a daddy’s girl. “We have to try to remember the good things about your father, Lex. He loved you. He—”

“Was desperate when he jumped ship. I know. You told me before. But…”

She didn’t sound impressed. “What?” Sophia prompted.

“How could he love us and do what he did?”

“He was confused on top of everything else.”

“Confused? About what? About whether he wanted to be part of our family? Look at what happened at school! I’d still have my friends if he hadn’t hurt so many people.”

Sophia couldn’t argue with that. “True, but—”

“Why do you always defend him? He wouldn’t have said any nice things about you if you’d jumped off the yacht.”

No doubt that was true. But she wasn’t Skip—and she didn’t want to be anything like him. “That’s beside the point.”

Alexa slumped in her seat. “So why?” she asked again. “Why do you defend him?”

“I don’t do it for him. I do it for you. I’d do anything for you.”

“Even give up drinking?”

“That’s right.”

She reached over to take Sophia’s hand, and Sophia couldn’t help smiling. Maybe the past weeks had been pure hell, but there was something new and fresh and exciting being forged in that fire. For one thing, she and Alexa were pulling together, growing closer than they’d ever been. It made Sophia feel good to be the parent to come through for a change—made her feel better than she had in years.

“You’re a good mom.”

Hearing the conviction in Alexa’s voice filled Sophia with warmth. For a second, she was glad that Skip had shown who he really was. Without that, maybe she wouldn’t have found out who she really was.

“And you’re a wonderful daughter.” She gave Alexa’s hand a squeeze. But that special moment didn’t last much longer than it took to start the car and drive home. As Sophia crested the top of the hill where they lived, she saw that the battle they were waging was far from over.

18

Ted left Eve’s determined to overcome the rebellion of his own heart. She’d make a great wife, a great mother. With her, he’d never have to deal with trust issues. So why not pursue a more serious relationship?

Maybe he’d been hanging back all these years, feeling he couldn’t get over Sophia, when that wasn’t the case at all. Maybe he simply hadn’t tried hard enough. These days, half the people in his group of friends were married. He was ready to make the same transition, to embrace the next phase of life. And he could be happy with Eve. They’d had a really nice time tonight.