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Or maybe just the old spinster whore. Jean-Marie was going to be really, really pissed, after all.
Fear stabbed her through the heart, but Sophie shook it off. It would be okay. If she got fired, she’d move back home and do what she’d always done: take care of the house and her dad and— No. Not her brother. That little shit could starve to death in dirty clothes, for all she cared.
When her phone stopped buzzing, she reached gingerly for it and turned it over. Lauren, it read, Missed call.
Thank God. It had only been someone checking on her. One of the few someones who would. She ignored it and called her father.
When it went to voice mail she felt a deep, cowardly relief. “Dad, it’s me,” she said, her voice cracking over those simple words. She took a few deep breaths and tried again. “David went to the Bishop dedication. I don’t know why. I tried to stop him, and...Rose Bishop saw me and went crazy. I’m so sorry. It was really bad. I’ll...I’ll see you when you get home.”
Saying it out loud made it real, and Sophie began to sob. She tried to shake it off so she could drive, but the tears wouldn’t stop. She reached into her back seat to grab a spare sweater and mopped her face, then kept it in her lap to use again.
She deserved this. She’d slept with Alex, k
nowing it was wrong. Knowing it was some sick, sad repeat of what had happened twenty-five years before. Maybe that had been the entirety of the attraction. To try to understand her mother and what had driven her to do something so wrong. Or maybe she’d just wanted something that reckless and bad.
Well, she’d gotten it. And she was paying the price. She should probably just be thankful she hadn’t ended up paying as high a price as her mother had.
But she didn’t feel thankful as she turned onto the long ranch road and watched her brother pull away as his truck flew over the rough road. He could go as quickly as he wanted to. If he tried to hide in his room, she’d kick the damn door down. She took the turn onto her dad’s drive so quickly that gravel flew into the fence.
Finally, she broke through the dust cloud her brother had laid and saw him disappearing inside the house. Sophie slammed on the brakes, wrenched the keys from the ignition and sprinted up the steps.
“You idiot!” she yelled when she spotted him. Still taking off his jacket, he looked surprised that she’d made it in so quickly. “I thought you were going to come to your senses. I thought you’d drop the lawsuit after you got a little attention. But now you do this?”
“I had a point to make,” he muttered.
“What point, huh? That our mom is dead, too? Everyone knows that, David. They’re pretty fucking clear on the details.”
“No. The point is that we don’t need to hide our faces. We deserve as much respect as those Bishops do.”
“Well, great job, David. You really drove that home by crashing a dead man’s memorial.”
“You don’t know what it’s been like for me.”
“What?” She screamed it so loudly that she startled even herself and had to swallow hard and try again. “You are a stupid, selfish ass. I’ve lived through everything you have, and I’m old enough to remember every single moment. You have no idea how scary those first few days were. How terrifying.”
“I know enough.”
“You don’t know anything!” she yelled, the words nearly lost on a sob. “If you knew anything, you wouldn’t be bringing it all back like this. How could you do this to me?”
He sneered at her, as if her tears disgusted him. “It’s not all about you, Sophie. You’re not the center of the universe, even though you always try to be.”
“I am the center of this,” she insisted. “You’re her son, it’s not the same. I’m her daughter. I look just like her. Everyone looks at me and sees her. They always have and they always will.”
“Yeah, well, everyone looks at me and sees him.” The words rang through the room before dying into silence. They made so little sense that Sophie’s rage tripped over itself and stilled.
She frowned. “What do you mean?” she asked in confusion. “They see who?”
“Him.” When she only stared blankly, he rolled his eyes. “Wyatt Bishop.”
“Why would they see him?”
“Jesus, Sophie.” He blew air through his teeth and looked at her like she was a fool. “They see him because he’s probably my dad.”
“What?” she whispered. Then she yelled it. “What?”
He nodded as if he’d just dropped a deep truth on her.
She crossed her arms. “Are you completely insane?”
