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“Sophie doesn’t—”
“The lemonade is delicious here, Mom, but I do have some news and would like to join Honor in a drink. You should, too.” Sophie worried her hands in her lap but sat with a straight back.
“Is that a new blouse?” her mom asked, her gaze dropping to the low scoop neck.
“It is.”
Something Sophie couldn’t pinpoint—resignation, worry, uncertainty maybe—flashed across her mom’s face. “And I’ve got some exciting news to share.” She’d briefly filled Honor in on the drive over, knowing her friend would squeal with delight and wanting that wholehearted support.
“Remember how I mentioned I’ve been looking for a new job?” Sophie said. “Still in event planning, but with a large charity organization.”
“I remember.”
A smile lifted the corner of Sophie’s mouth thinking about the opportunity in front of her. “Well, there’s a job available with the American Cancer Society for a regional specialist for their Relay for Life functions. I’ve got an interview on Monday.”
Honor reached down and squeezed Sophie’s hand. “That sounds like a great opportunity, and I hope you get it. They’d be fools not to hire you.”
Sophie watched her mother purse her lips. This was it, the final declaration that Sophie would not be going back to research like her parents hoped. “Mom?”
“This is what you truly want?”
“Yes.”
Sarah Birch blinked as her chest rose and fell. “Then I hope you get it, too. Your father and I only want what’s best for you, and we are proud of the woman you’ve become.”
Sophie leaned over and hugged her mom. “Thank you.”
Honor waved her arm to catch the waiter’s attention. “I think we need to make a toast.”
Another job possibility loomed on the horizon, too, but Sophie didn’t even want to think about that one. It was a dream job, though in truth, she wasn’t sure she could accept an offer even if it came.
One week later, though, she straightened her eyeglasses atop her nose, not because they were crooked, but because she couldn’t be reading her email right.
Two job offers. She had two job offers.
Her forehead hit her work desk. She squeezed her eyes shut. Holy sugar snap peas.
She had a big decision to make.
…
Zane sat on the beach along the southwest coast of France and stared at his cell. He’d thought about calling or texting Sophie a hundred times to apologize. To tell her the truth. To ask her to forgive him, meet him somewhere so they could talk.
He hadn’t been able to get her out of his head. Out of his heart.
What a fool he was to think he could leave things the way they were and move on. But every time his fingers got close to pressing her number, he stopped. She had a life. A job he had no doubt she was thriving at. A home in Montana.
It wasn’t her fault she’d become his home and he felt lost without her.
Itwasher fault he’d been miserable in the water and surfing like shit. Misery and the sea had neverevergone hand in hand before, but all he could think about when he was out there was swimming and surfing with her.
Out in the water, he no longer stayed in the moment. He lived Sophie moments. Over and over again. And hell if he could stop them.
The bliss he used to feel when riding sizable waves—gone. The meditative, spiritual, ethereal sorts of thoughts he had riding waves—gone. The world no longer fell away and he wanted to blame Sophie, but really the only person to blame was himself.
He’d let the best thing that ever happened to him walk away. And hurt her in the process.
“Dude, you look like your brain’s about to explode,” Bryce said, coming in from the water with a surfboard tucked under his arm and sitting down. Most everyone had left for the day, the sun hanging by a few late afternoon threads.
