Take Me Home for Christmas (Whiskey Creek #5)(64)
Author: Brenda Novak

“Do you think Ted’s mad at us?” Alexa asked Sophia one morning while they were having breakfast. Fortunately, she was doing better in school. Connie seemed to have lost interest in fighting with her, Royce was walking her to class almost every day, and the other kids didn’t want to take her on when she had Royce’s support. But this proved she was disappointed that Ted no longer paid her much attention.

Sophia added some brown sugar to her oatmeal. “No. He’s busy trying to get his book done.”

“He’s always busy. I wish he had more time.”

“I do, too,” Sophia said, but she was just playing along. Deep down she believed they couldn’t be hurt if they were careful not to get too close to him. They had to remember that they were merely putting in time in Whiskey Creek. They wouldn’t be staying much longer, especially now that she was beginning to work through the worst of her financial problems. Thanks to Skip’s many debts, she would have to file for bankruptcy as soon as she could afford it, but she was doing a “deed in lieu of foreclosure” on the house so it would be out of her hands soon. The Ferraris were already gone. She and Alexa had driven by one day after school to check on the house and found that someone had broken the side door on the garage and taken both cars. Sophia hoped it was the repo company and not someone else, but that was out of her hands, too.

She still had her Mercedes—but she was pretty sure that was only because the repossession people couldn’t find it. The lienholder had been calling her more and more frequently, so she knew they were stepping up their search. No doubt someone in town would eventually point the repo man in the right direction, and then she’d no longer have transportation.

Knowing she was living on borrowed time, she held her breath every day she came out of the house to take Alexa to school, fearing this would be the morning her vehicle would be gone, but so far, so good.

Besides that one nagging worry, she was beginning to feel as if she was pulling her life together—and it was Ted who’d made that possible. What he’d done for her, and was still doing, made her love him even more. But she knew that if she was really thinking of him and not herself, she’d stay out of his personal life as much as possible.

So she cooked and cleaned and ran Ted’s errands with very little oversight or direction for the next two and a half weeks. During that time, he didn’t ask her to do any clerical work. Maybe Eve was taking care of it for him. Sophia didn’t know because she hadn’t heard a word from Eve other than the few polite exchanges that occurred if they happened to bump into each other. Sophia hated that their friendship had stalled, but she couldn’t blame that on Eve. Sophia hadn’t called her, either. She couldn’t bring herself to pretend they weren’t in love with the same man.

Cheyenne had checked in a few times, which was nice. But Cheyenne was Eve and Ted’s friend, and Sophia knew they wouldn’t appreciate her joining the group, so she kept their conversations cordial but distant.

As the days passed, Ted and Eve seemed to be getting closer and closer. Eve came over quite often in the evenings. Occasionally Sophia would see her passing by a window, or she’d go out to run an errand and find Eve’s car parked next to her own. Sometimes Ted went over to Eve’s place instead; at least that was where Sophia assumed he went when he left at night.

It wasn’t until Thanksgiving that he trudged out to the guesthouse to talk to her about something besides a menu choice, a grocery run or to ask where she’d put his shirt.

She’d managed to keep her phone service so he usually texted her if he needed anything. Because he hadn’t visited since the night he’d invited them over to watch a movie, Sophia was surprised by the knock at the door and was obliged to answer it herself. Alexa wasn’t up yet. She had the week off school and was sleeping in.

“Morning,” he said when Sophia swung open the door.

He looked better than ever, but she tried not to notice. She’d just rolled out of bed and hadn’t had a chance to put on any makeup. “Morning.” She shaded her eyes from the sunlight streaming in around him. “I’m sorry, was I supposed to do something for you that I forgot? I thought you told me I have the day off.”

“Relax. Of course you have the day off. It’s Thanksgiving. I didn’t come because…I needed something. I was just wondering what you had planned for today, if…if you had somewhere to go for dinner.”

“Of course. We’re going to Alexa’s grandparents’,” she said, but really it was only Alexa who’d be joining them. Sophia’s relationship with the DeBussis had grown so strained that she didn’t want to be around them. She’d spent a lot of time with Alexa since she’d been out of school, so she didn’t begrudge her former in-laws Thanksgiving afternoon. But she preferred to stay home alone rather than sit at their table feeling unwanted and unaccepted. “And you’re going to your mother’s?”

“To Eve’s parents’ and then my mom’s.”

“Just a sec.” She went into the kitchen and got one of the pumpkin cheesecake strudels she’d baked. It was a new recipe she hadn’t tried before, but it looked and smelled delicious. “I was going to bring this over, but since you’re here…”

His eyebrows jerked up. “This is really…nice, but not necessary. I didn’t expect it.”

“I thought you could take it to your mom’s. I was making one for me and Lex, anyway—to share with the DeBussis—and decided I might as well make one for my boss. And his girlfriend,” she added to fill the uncomfortable silence.

“Thank you. I appreciate it.”

She nodded and was about to shut the door, but he didn’t get off her stoop.

“Sophia?”

“Yes?”

“There is another reason I came over.”

The concern in his voice worried her. Had he proposed to Eve? Would her job end sooner than she’d expected? “I hope it’s not that you’re letting me go.”

“No, nothing like that.”

She started digging at her cuticles again, which was stupid because they’d just about healed. “Then what?”

He shifted to his other foot. “I heard…some clanking noises a few minutes ago. So I looked out the window to see what was going on and—”

“My car!” She tried to slip past him, but he cut her off.

“It’s too late. I tried to stop them. Asked if I could make up a few payments, thinking you could always pay me later, but…he wouldn’t agree. I knew you wouldn’t be able to keep such an expensive car for much longer anyway.”