I thought I understood most of her rambling speech. And I sighed. She sounded so frustrated and honestly a little lost. I knew she didn’t have anyone in her circle on her side. Our side. I felt bad for blowing up on her. Maybe I hadn’t worked out all the anger Hope had stirred up after all. Reaching out, I grabbed her hand and pulled her into me for a hug. “We’ll figure it out. Don’t stress about it.”
Sophia stood rigidly in my arms for a moment, then relaxed, resting her cheek on my bare chest. She sighed. “I’d feel better if I had my laptop, I think. I’ve been thinking about our conversation last night, and I have all these ideas and I can’t get them out of my head. I swear it feels like my skin is itching when I can’t write.”
“That’s easy enough to fix. We’ll get you a laptop set up ASAP. Are you a PC or Mac girl?”
Sophia’s head fell back with a sigh. “That sounds sweet, but I need all my writing programs, and it would take forever to set up.”
“You are clearly underestimating the genius of my boy Jeff. He can do anything with computer shit. Just let him know what you want.”
“But I don’t—”
“Sophia. Seriously.” I took a step back and let my arms fall to my sides. “I know we haven’t hashed out that contract yet—and we need to—and I know how you feel about the money aspect of this relationship, but you gotta let a little of that go. I have more than enough money. Let me use a little of it to buy you a new laptop. Please.”
“Fine.” Sophia rolled her eyes dramatically. “Since you begged and all. I guess I can let you do that for me.”
The humor in her voice had me smiling back at her before I’d even realized. “Thank you. After I shower, we’ll be organizing the next week of your life, if you want to join us and weigh in on the agenda.”
“Will there be food?”
“I think we could make that happen.”
“Okay then. Just promise to keep the Dragon Lady away from me.”
“Done.” I gave her one last smile before I walked away, feeling considerably lighter than I did before I saw her.
Chapter Ten
Sophia
Runyon Canyon
Los Angeles, CA
“How do you feel about hiking?”Roman had asked me.
I was annoyed with myself that I hadn’t been honest.
“I’m game,”had been my answer.
Really, really annoyed.
Pongo sprang out of a bush to my left then jogged lightly the ten feet or so that Roman was ahead of me.
Even the dog could do this. What was wrong with me? Each step felt heavier than the last. I was used to standing on my feet for a living. Walking dogs along a nice straight,flatpath. But this? The incline in front of me might as well have been Everest.
I was never, ever doing this again.
Rome bent down and rubbed Pongo behind his ear. The two of them stood there and watched my painstaking trek. “You doing all right?”
“This sucks.” I panted. “I hate hiking. I havenoidea what I was thinking when I told you it sounded like fun. I lied.”
“How about we take a break and take in the sights?” Rome offered me a water bottle as he gestured to the skyline.
My eyes crossed as I looked where he pointed. I swear it looked like it was moving. Pretty sure the skyline wasn’t supposed to bounce and weave.
I turned all my attention to the water bottle in his hand. Oh, sweet baby Jesus, yes. I might’ve snatched it out of his hand like a drowning woman spying a life preserver. I took several gulps, then shook my head. “If I stop now, I won’t move ever again. Let’s keep going.”
“Are you sure?” Rome asked with a concerned expression. “I don’t mind. The whole point of this is so we’re seen together. We have all the time in the world.”