As soon as she got to the office the women had pushed her up the stairs. And oh! how they’d lied to her. Every other word was “dear” or “our beloved.” And all the while they were just trying to . . . to what? Lock her into his apartment to wait for him?
Sophie was glad for the anger that surged through her because she’d reached the shop. It was narrow, with a door on the left, big windows on the right. DAISY’S SANDWICHES AND SMOOTHIES was in pink lettering. What should Sophie rename it? Lied To? The Town Joke?
“The name’s a bit over the top, isn’t it?” said a male voice behind her.
She turned to look up at a big, burly man wearing jeans and a plaid flannel over an old T-shirt. She recognized him from the bar and thought maybe it was his beer she’d poured over Reede.
Roan grimaced. “I haven’t been looked at with that much contempt since my wife left me. Are you a relative of hers that I don’t know about?”
She didn’t think what he’d said was funny. “This is a mistake,” she said and turned away.
Roan put his big body in front of her to block her path. “I apologize. For all of it. But we all enjoyed it so much that we couldn’t stop.”
“Enjoyed it?” she said, glaring at him. “Enjoyed humiliating a stranger?”
“Hell no!” Roan said. “It was all about Reede. We all loved seeing you pour that beer over him. Everybody in town’s wanted to do that, or worse, but then, we all worried what he’d do to us at our next flu shot. We’re all cowards.”
“He nearly ran over me,” Sophie said, but his sympathy had softened her resolve. Maybe she could just look at the shop.
“That’s what I heard.” Roan put his hand behind her back, not touching her, but guiding her back down the sidewalk. “Didn’t he crush something of yours?”
“My cell phone.”
“That’s expensive!” Roan unlocked the door to the sandwich shop and waited for Sophie to step inside.
“It was a throwaway.” She was looking around the store. It was rather simple, with a tall glass cabinet to the left, a stainless counter behind it, tables and chairs to the right and in the back. It was all small and neat and looked to be in good condition.
“Reede should buy this place for you,” Roan said.
“I don’t want anything from him,” she said. “Nothing at all.”
“Yeah?” Roan asked, his eyes alight. He was a good-looking man, with whiskers and thick hair that had a reddish tint. He was looking at her in a way that she’d seen all her adult life—but she wasn’t interested. He understood her look. “Okay,” Roan said, “that can wait. What do you think of the place?”
Sophie looked at the chalkboard over the counter. It listed six flavors of smoothies and tuna salad sandwiches. “I don’t know anything about the restaurant business, and the only cooking I’ve done is for my family.”
“So make some family meals,” Roan said as he leaned back against the sides of the glass counter. “Look, Sophie—if I may call you that—from what I gather, you’re kind of at loose ends right now. No job, your friends are in faraway places, and didn’t I hear that your sister is in some college somewhere?”
Sophie crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn’t about to tell this man more about herself than the gossips already knew.
“All right, so maybe you are the center of interest in this town right now, and I don’t blame you at all for being a little miffed.”
“Is that what you call it?” she asked. “How about a flaming inferno of rage?”
Roan couldn’t conceal a little smile. Damn! but she was pretty. And he really liked her temper. If there was anything he couldn’t stand it was a bland female. “And you’re right to feel that way. I wouldn’t blame you if you left town and never looked back.”
“That’s my thought too,” Sophie said and turned toward the door, but then the old cell phone Kim had lent her vibrated. There was something about a buzzing phone that compelled one to look. So few people had her number that she wanted to know who was contacting her.
She took the phone out of her bag. It was a text message from Reede.
SORRY I RAN OUT. SIX-CAR PILEUP. BE HOME WHEN I CAN. DID YOU GET A HOUSE FOR US? I MISS YOU. REEDE
She knew he was teasing about living together, but for a moment Sophie closed her eyes. If she didn’t know what she did, that text would have made her very happy. Get “us” a house? He missed her? Even the thought that he was detained because he was saving lives appealed to her.
But not now. She turned the phone off.
“Reede?” Roan asked.
Sophie gave a curt nod.