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I shrug. “They’re still there, feisty as ever, and there’s probably a lot more on the menu since you were in there last.”
She smiles, her eyes bright as she walks over to the fireplace and then turns to the kitchen on the other side of the open space. She stands looking out the windows for a long time. I cringe when I see my clothes lying in a heap on the deck when Fred got me all wet last night. It reminds me that I’m wet again now, and I pull my shirt away from my chest.
“It’s perfect,” she whispers.
It’s too strange for me, having her here. I move to grab the pie and place it on the kitchen counter, needing something to do with my hands, something to look at other than her flawless body standing in our house.
My house.
It won’t ever be her house.
She lost that right.
Something catches her eye when she turns toward the couch and then toward me suddenly and I freeze, caught staring at her.
Her hands clench together, and she flushes again before saying, “Do you have a girlfriend? Does she live here with you?”
I look in the direction she’s facing to see what could’ve made her think that. The pillows my sister gave me. Scarlett said I needed a woman’s touch in here somewhere with all the grey and brought over a few grey and yellow floral pillows and a white one with a yellow smiley face.
“Scarlett,” I say, pointing at the pillows.
“She lives here with you?”
“No, she just felt the need to pretty it up a little more.”
She smiles and picks up the smiley face pillow. “So, no girlfriend?”
I frown, wishing like hell that I had a girlfriend just so I could say yes.
CHAPTERSEVEN
CHANGE OF PLANS
SOFIE
He looks mad when he says, “No.”
But I let out a rush of air, feeling such relief I don’t think I can even hide it. I didn’t come here with any intention other than to pay Theo and yes, maybe an attempt at a peace offering with the pie. But right now, hearing that no one is standing in my way, I want more than anything to try to fix things with Theo. He may never want me again the way he did when we were kids, but maybe we can at least be friends again.
I didn’t think I could function seeing him with someone else, but if he’s not…what can it hurt to see if he’ll forgive me?
It’s been worth it, living without him. I knew the price I was paying when I left.
But if he’ll let me in even part of the way, everything I’ve gone through, spending my life without him, the agony of walking away from the life we imagined…something like justice will finally be working forme.
I face him, taking in his muscular shoulders and his artfully messy hair that I want to sink my hands into. His face is scruffy, his chocolate brown eyes that used to crinkle when he smiled at me now look at me so differently, his thick eyebrows like angry slants, and his puffy, kissable lips actually snarl at times…
“Do you think I could make you dinner sometime?” I inhale and exhale deeply once the words are out.
Fred nuzzles into my hand, and I scratch behind his ears as I wait for Theo to answer. He looks stunned for a moment and then he’s shaking his head.
“No,” he says.
“No?” Instinctively, I move toward him, and he takes a step back.
“No, this was…listen, thank you for the pie. The house call was on me. We can consider it a welcome-back-to-Landmark present. I don’t know why you’re back now…but I don’t have a Sofie-sized place in my heart anymore. I’ll admit, it was there way too long after you left.” He tugs on his hair and turns to walk toward the door.
Fred’s nails skitter across the floor as he tries to catch up with Theo.
