“Sophia.”
Her shoulders slumped, and she turned to the SUV, a grimace across her face. “I guess I’m busted.”
“Yeah, you are. Get in.”
Sophia opened the back door and climbed in, tossing her backpack on the seat. “I can explain.”
He eyed her through the rearview mirror. “Oh, you will. Later.” He turned to Aubrey. “Aubrey, this is my niece, Sophia. Sophia, this is my coworker, Aubrey Richardson.”
Sophia leaned forward and thrust her hand between the seats. “Nice to meet you, Aubrey.”
Aubrey twisted in her seat and shook Sophia’s hand. “Likewise.”
Liam drove back to the office. He wanted to give Sophia the third degree about school and ask why she hadn’t gone straight home, but decided to spare Aubrey the sighs and eye rolls that were Sophia’s MO.
“That’s me right there.” Aubrey pointed to a small car parked in the employee lot. “Good night, Deputy Marshal.”
“Good night.” Liam watched as she climbed into her car, and waited for her reverse lights to come on before he drove off.
“So, she’s super pretty.” Sophia didn’t give him a chance to speak. “Were you on a date?”
“You think I have time for dating?” He didn’t, but it went even deeper than that. His life had flipped upside down in the last few months. Could he really open himself up again? Risk letting someone in when everything felt so fragile?
“I know, I know. New town, new job, new dependent. I get it. I ruined your life.” She slumped back into the seat.
Liam jerked the steering wheel to the right and pulled the car to the curb. He turned around to face his niece, who was staring at her fidgeting hands in her lap.
“Look at me when I say this.”
She slowly raised her face until she was staring at him. He could see the unshed tears in her eyes, and his heart constricted.
“Sophia Daniella Roberts, you did not ruin my life. You mean more to me than you can even imagine.”
“What about Giselle? She left once you got custody of me.” She folded her arms over her chest. “You probably hate me for that.”
“Giselle leaving was not your fault. Things had been rocky for a while.” It had been a long time coming, but that didn’t make the pain any less. “It just so happened that our relationship ended at the same time. So both of us got a fresh start.”
Giselle would probably have blamed the breakup on Sophia, but the truth was, once Sophia had begun playing a bigger part in his life, it’d become clear he and Giselle wanted different things.
“A fresh start where you’re a bachelor saddled with a teenager.”
“You say saddled. I say gifted. God knows what He’s doing.” At least, he was trying to trust that was the case—even when it was hard and what God was doing didn’t make sense.
“Why would God’s gift to you mean my mom is punished?” Her eyes narrowed. “You know that doesn’t make sense.”
“Soph, your mom’s going to jail isn’t a punishment from God. It’s a legal consequence for the crimes she committed. Every choice you make has a result, and not all results are good. That’s why you need to make sure you’re making the good choices.”
She sighed. “Whatever.”
“I can only imagine what you must be feeling. But we’ll get through this together.” He gave her a reassuring smile and turned back around, pulling onto the street and heading home. “Speaking of choices. Want to tell me about your day? Like the telephone call I got from the school today, and why I found you walking down a street alone when I’m pretty certain I told you to go straight home from school.”
Sophia sighed, and he watched from the rearview mirror as she rolled her eyes, just like he predicted she would. “My friend and I weren’t vaping in the bathroom. I had to pee, and she waited while I did. The line was long, so we were in there past the bell. The teacher came in and marched us all to the principal’s office. She didn’t even want to hear our side of the story.”
He narrowed his eyes at her.
“It’s the honest truth.” Her gaze darted around, an action that indicated she could be lying.
She’d gotten into some trouble at her old school when her mother had first been arrested. Mostly mouthing off and being disrespectful. There’d been a few verbal altercations with students who were giving her a hard time about her mom.
