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“Did you get chairs, Gage?” Her voice is high pitched with excitement and I chuckle.
“Yeah. Someone told me I needed a pair.”
Sophia practically skips up the steps and settles into the second chair that sits on the other side of the porch. “This is perfect. See, I told you.”
I return to the porch and instead of assuming my seat, I lean against the pillar and cross my ankles. With a smirk I say, “I didn’t figure you for an ‘I told you so’ person.”
Shrugging, she looks around the front of the cabin. My instinct is to ask if everything is okay. If something has happened. But by the smile on her face, I doubt anything is bothering her.
“Are you actually taking a day off, Officer Castillo?”
“Oh are we back to that? What happened to calling me Gage?” My voice is gruff and I wince at how abrupt I sound.
Sophia scrunches her nose and the giggles. “I had a theory and you just proved it. I really do like being right.”
“A theory? About me? This I gotta hear.” I shift and move to my right so I’m sitting on the railing, my hands gripping the cedar.
“When we first met back at Drummond you were so... police-manny.” I lift a brow at her word choice but she waves me off. “You know what I mean. But here in Starlight Ridge you’re different. My theory is that Officer Castillo is that serious buttoned-up guy I met three years ago and Gage is who you are now.”
“So I wasn’t Gage before?”
She rolls her eyes and huffs a breath. “What I mean is you weren’t being true to yourself back then, but I think this is who you are. Remember how I said we should make new memories with our loved ones? I think we both need to accept who we are today, the good and the bad. Our experiences make us who we are, Gage.”
“You saidwe. How does your theory apply to you,Miss Brooks?”
Sophia’s eyes widen and her skin flushes. Whether it’s from the rising temperatures or how easily her formal name rolls off my tongue, I’m not sure.
Clearing her throat, she licks her lips then seems to shake off whatever it is she’s thinking. “Oh that’s simple. I’ve been on pause for three years. I’m stuck somewhere between who I was at twenty-two with a freshly printed degree in my hand and a twenty-five-year-old woman with no life experiences. Do you know I’ve not been to a movie in three years? What I wouldn’t give for some movie theater popcorn drowning in fake butter.”
“That’s... damn Sophia, that sucks. Not just the movie part.”
She shrugs and stands. “I can’t change facts, Gage. But that day in the rain, I felt different.” Two steps forward and she’s close enough for me to see a small freckle just below her left eye.
“It was like coming out of a fog and I was able to see things clearer. I miss who I was. Fearless and free. I loved being social and laughing with my friends. Now, I hide. I only do things to get through each day. I don’tlive, Gage.”
Her hand takes mine. “The only time I’ve felt some sense of normalcy since all of this started has been the time I’ve spent with you.”
I look down to where she’s clutching my hand. “Sophia—”
“Let me finish, please.” I nod. “When I was here last, there was a moment between us. I should have been uncomfortable or nervous. I wasn’t. I trust you, Gage. Do you know how difficult that is for me? I may not know who my stalker is, but I have to believe he has crossed my path at some point, which makes me think I may have trusted him.”
“That’s a reasonable conclusion.”
Sophia laughs and drops my hand, moving to stand next to me. “You’re probably wondering why I’m saying all of this. The truth is, you’re the only friend I have right now, and I needed to share this with someone. I also wanted you to know I’m here for you if ever there’s a time you need to talk or need a distraction from life.”
I let her words hang between us. While she isn’t wrong with her assessment, it stings a little coming from her. I’ve been seeing both Dr. Le and Dr. Vail for months. I’ve taken hikes to process memories and thoughts. Nothing has hit so close to home as what Sophia has shared.
Just shy of when the silence would become awkward, I turn my head and ask, “Do you have plans for dinner?”
That gorgeous smile of hers is back and I feel a little bit of pride knowing I helped her find it again. “Hmm... well it so happens I have a couple steaks in the car that need grilling.”
“Miss Brooks, are you asking me to dinner?”
“Well,MisterCastillo, I’m asking you to cook the dinner I brought. Something else I haven’t done in three years. Man a grill. They kind of frown on those in secure high rises.”
“Lucky for you, I have a grill and know how to use it.”
I wince at the awfulness of my words but Sophia just laughs. It’s free and full-bodied. “Come help me with the food.”
