Take Me Home for Christmas (9 page)

Ted started to say something about the foolishness of investing money that was needed for living expenses, but he didn’t get the chance. When he heard the door open behind him and saw the reverend’s face, he knew Sophia had arrived.

Turning, he saw that she looked beautiful, as always. She was dressed to impress, too. But there were a few telltale signs that indicated she wasn’t doing as well as she wanted it to appear. For one, she was white as a ghost. He could see the blue veins under the alabaster skin of her cheeks. For another, she’d lost weight.

As she walked in, she held her head high, but she didn’t remove her sunglasses. Eve held on to her arm. She’d been pretty defensive of Sophia this morning, had even tried talking some of them into attending—to give Sophia moral support. But, considering how much Noah and Kyle had lost, that didn’t go over too well. None of them were hoping to make Sophia’s life miserable, but they weren’t ready to champion her, either. Cheyenne and Callie were two exceptions, but they both had other plans tonight.

“Mrs. DeBussi, thank you for joining us,” Reverend Flores said, not bothering to address Eve. Ted wanted to believe it was because Eve was agnostic and didn’t worship here on Sundays, so Flores wasn’t familiar with her. But he guessed it had more to do with the fact that Flores wasn’t interested in anyone other than Sophia. “I’m Mrs. DeBussi to you now, Reverend?” Sophia smiled coldly. “Does that give you the distance you need in order to feel better about what you’re here to do?”

“I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m trying to
right
a wrong.”

“I wish you could right it for me, too,” she murmured.

When Eve recognized Ted, her eyes widened, but she was so distracted by the men who were streaming down the aisle toward them that she didn’t say anything. Sophia didn’t even glance at him. She stiffened as if she wanted to run but wouldn’t let herself. Instead, she moved purposefully toward them.

“I’ve left my daughter at a friend’s, doing her homework. I’d like to get through this as soon as possible so she doesn’t get to bed too late.”

“It won’t take long,” Mr. Groscost assured her. He was far more solicitous now that he was confronting the beautiful Sophia face to face, but Ted knew nothing would deter him from his purpose. “Have a seat.”

“I prefer to stand if you don’t mind.” No one else seemed interested in sitting, either. They were too keyed up.

“Fine.” Groscost cleared his throat. “We wanted to meet with you to see what you plan to do to make things right for the people you and your husband cheated.”

She didn’t claim that she hadn’t been involved, didn’t try to defend herself. She merely lifted her keys and, when he held out his hand, dropped them into his open palm. “These are for the house. The furnishings, my clothes—that’s all I have left. Take what you want. I ask only that you stay out of my daughter’s room.”

She’d given in so quickly that Groscost didn’t seem to know how to react. His eyebrows shot up as he turned to Flores, who blinked and stammered, “Why—why, thank you for making this easy, Mrs. DeBussi. But I think I speak for everyone when I say we’re most interested in your wedding ring.”

“If you can find it, you can have it,” she said. “Skip took it several weeks ago. He told me he was having it appraised for insurance purposes. He didn’t give it back, and it isn’t in the house.”

God, he took her wedding ring, too....

“I see.” Obviously deflated, Reverend Flores exchanged another look with Eric Groscost. He obviously didn’t know whether or not to proceed, but Groscost shored him up.

“You have many other lovely things that must be worth quite a bit.”

“As I said, Mr. Groscost, I have household furnishings and clothes.”

“That’s a start. I’m sure it’ll go a long way toward mollifying your friends here in Whiskey Creek.”

She gazed around at them. “I don’t have any friends in Whiskey Creek.”

“Maybe it’s because you don’t deserve them,” someone else snapped.

“Maybe I don’t,” she agreed. At least, that was what Ted thought she said. She’d spoken in such a low voice he could barely hear her.

Eve squeezed her arm as if to say that wasn’t true. Then the place erupted in chaos. Chief Stacy, the enforcer, hadn’t even arrived yet and already Sophia was opening her gorgeous home and allowing them to take whatever they wanted.

Excitement replaced anger. She wasn’t asking for proof that they’d ever been Skip’s investors. Neither was she requiring proof of the amount owed. She was simply opening her doors and letting them take their revenge.

This was crazy. Ted almost stood up and told everyone to go home and leave her be. She’d lost her husband. Worse, he’d died in the process of abandoning her. He couldn’t think of two more hurtful blows. To top it all off, Skip had left her broke when she’d had money her whole life and wasn’t exactly primed to make a living.

But just as he was about to speak up, she turned and saw him. She flinched when she realized who he was, as if his presence was like another stripe across her back. Then she nodded politely, resolutely, and walked past him.

Eve hesitated as though tempted to stop and say a few words to him, but he could tell she didn’t dare leave Sophia’s side. Although she tossed him a smile, he could see the tears in her eyes. She felt the same way he did about this, found it a cruelty she could hardly stand to witness. While she reacted with tears, he got angry.

That anger motivated him to drive over to Sophia’s house, where he was again tempted to intervene. But what was happening was none of his business. He had no responsibility for Sophia. He hadn’t even invested with Skip—so how could he tell these people how they should react? They felt hurt, betrayed, and maybe the loss had damaged some more than others.

Forcing himself to remain in his car, he watched his fellow townspeople carry away her belongings. Several left and returned with trucks so they could take the furniture. From what he could see, they were stripping the place, and she was doing nothing to stop them. She probably
couldn’t
stop them at this point; it had turned into a frenzy.

Where was she? Was she standing in her living room as all the people who’d admired her for so long grabbed as much as they could carry? He’d seen her go in with Eve, but neither of them had come back out.

Chief Stacy showed up after an hour. Ted saw him walk by and rolled down his window. “Hey, Chief,” he called. “You’re a little late to the party.”

Stacy frowned as though he regretted that and shook his head. “Got held up at a traffic stop. The driver had a bag of pot on him. You wouldn’t believe what some tourists bring through here.”

“Good thing you’re around to keep our streets safe.”

This was exactly what he wanted to hear. His chest swelled out and he clicked his tongue. “That’s my job.”

Ted wasn’t buying the false humility. He’d never particularly liked Stacy. He liked him even less after hearing about some of the things he’d done over the past few years—to Cheyenne’s husband, Dylan, Dylan’s brother, Aaron, and Callie’s husband, Levi.

But surely he wouldn’t want everyone ganging up on a woman, especially one who was already going through hell.

“So now that you’re here, you’ll put an end to this circus, right?”

Stacy seemed taken aback. “What circus?”

“All these people carrying off everything Sophia DeBussi owns.”

“From what I’ve heard, she owes them that and more.”

“Maybe she didn’t know what Skip was doing. Maybe she had no part in it.”

Stacy ran a finger over his chin. He looked less bloated since his divorce; he’d finally lost some weight. “She certainly took part in spending our money.”

“Not knowingly.”

“You sure about that?”

“In any case, I think she’s suffering enough. And her daughter’s what...thirteen? At that age, it’s highly unlikely
she
had any part in it. How will they get by when this is over? Does anyone care about that?”

Stacy made a face that said Ted was worried about nothing. “She’s probably got a fortune we don’t know about. Anyway, she doesn’t need a twenty-thousand-dollar couch to
get by.
We’ve all been getting by with a lot less than that, haven’t we?”

He walked off, and fifteen minutes later, reappeared, pockets bulging, as he carried a painting to his cruiser. After that, Ted couldn’t bear to watch. With all the things coming out of that house, he couldn’t imagine there was much left. Some people were even taking Sophia’s silverware, dishes and small appliances. Why wasn’t Eve putting a stop to it?

* * *

He texted her, telling her to do just that, and drove away, but he was too upset to go home. He went by the high school, and parked in front of the gymnasium, where he’d given so many speeches as student body president—and taken Sophia to the prom. Then he headed to the river and hiked down to the rope swing where he and Sophia had gone skinny-dipping the summer they were seventeen. He even visited the abandoned gold-mining shack where they’d made love for the first time. He wanted to remember all the reasons he should hate her. And visiting these places should have helped because they reminded him of how much she’d meant to him. Reminded him that she’d ruined all their plans by getting serious with Skip while he was away at college. She’d never mentioned that she was seeing someone else. She’d pretended she wasn’t. Then his mother had heard, via town gossip, that she was pregnant.

He’d been furious with her for so long. Over the past decade and a half or so, there’d been plenty of times he’d found himself wishing she’d realize what she’d lost, what she’d cost them both. That was pride talking, of course. Like any spurned lover, he wanted her to regret choosing someone else. But despite everything he held against her, he’d never wanted to see her devastated.

He hated seeing it now.

Maybe that was the truest testament to how much he’d loved her.

10

“I
’m stunned that you’ve agreed!”

With a grimace at Eve’s reaction, which he considered a bit over the top, Ted pivoted at the window and headed back across his living room. He’d been pacing ever since he’d returned home. And although it was approaching midnight, too late to be calling someone even on a weekend, he’d broken down and called Eve.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” he said. “I’m not
completely
heartless.”

Just crazy. What had happened to his conviction? He’d told himself he would never have another thing to do with Sophia. He’d already forgiven her once, when he’d taken her back after Scott’s death. She’d come to him in tears, insisting that she still wanted to be with him, that he was the only boy she’d ever love. And he’d stood by her despite the negative reaction of almost everyone else in town. So what did she do after that? She proved her love by getting pregnant while he was away at school and marrying the other guy.

Yet here he was, suggesting she call him about his housekeeper position, even though he’d removed the ad from Craigslist for fear she’d apply!

His mother was going to have a fit. He felt a little guilty about that, since she’d always been such a standout mom. His father had never taken much interest; he’d been too involved with his second family. That made Ted feel he owed the parent who’d stuck by him more than a normal kid would owe his mother. But he insisted on making his own decisions, especially about
this,
even if it proved to be a mistake.

“What changed your mind?” Eve asked. “You haven’t had anything nice to say about Sophia in years.”

“I’m not saying anything nice about her now,” he clarified. “I barely know her anymore. I just... I can’t imagine how she’ll ever get back on her feet without
some
help. And I don’t see Skip’s parents or anyone else taking pity on her.”

“Ugh, if only you knew how badly they were treating her,” Eve said. “I’d give you details, but I feel like that would somehow be...breaking a confidence.”

Her comment irritated him because it suggested she had strong loyalties to Sophia, when
he
was the one who’d hung out with Eve since grade school. “Suddenly you’re better friends with her than you are me?”

“No! Of course not. But she’s vulnerable right now, fragile. And you...you have everything under control. Let’s face it. No one manages life—or anything else—quite as well as you do.”

“It’s because of that inflexibility you tease me about,” he said dryly.

She laughed. “It is! But that inflexibility could also be called self-discipline. You’ve always been the overachiever in the group.”

“Stop trying to appeal to my vanity. You’re throwing me over for Sophia.”

“I am not!” she said. “But I don’t mind telling you that what you’re offering her is really wonderful. You should’ve seen her tonight while everyone was rummaging through her house.”

He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the details. It’d been difficult enough to watch it from outside. But he couldn’t help asking, “Was she crying?”

“No. I wish she
had
been. Crying would’ve been a normal reaction to sadness and pain. Crying is how most people cope with disappointment. But what she’s suffering goes deeper than that. She’s depressed. Numb. Completely lost. She sat on the back steps, smoking a cigarette, believe it or not, and staring off into space. She didn’t try to protect any of her possessions, even the ones with sentimental value.”

He felt a tightness in his chest, which he didn’t want to acknowledge, and opened his mouth to bring the conversation back to the practical—the details of the job—but she kept talking.

“You know what they say about people who lose all their belongings in a fire.”

That distracted him. “No. What do they say?”

“It’s one of the most catastrophic things that can happen to a person. One minute her house looked like she was used to seeing it, the next almost everything was gone.”

Including her husband, he thought. He wondered if she missed Skip, if she’d loved him—although he couldn’t understand how anyone could care too deeply about such a pompous ass.

“The people who came were like locusts,” Eve was saying. “They took practically everything.”

“You didn’t put a stop to it?”

“Eventually. I wish I’d acted sooner. I just... I don’t know her all that well, so I didn’t think it was my place until you sent me that text. Then I got mad at myself for not standing at the door and refusing to let them enter in the first place.”

He remembered his brief exchange with Chief Stacy. “It’s a difficult situation. They felt justified in what they were doing.”

“I heard one person say, ‘I paid for it, why shouldn’t I have it?’”

“They’re happy to see her deprived of all the things they’ve envied.”

“I guess. It sucked—that’s all I know.”

“So when did she start smoking?” He couldn’t recall Sophia ever having a cigarette. They’d certainly never smoked when they were younger.

“I guess she started tonight,” Eve said. “She made me stop at the Gas-N-Go on our way to the house. When she came out toting a carton of cigarettes, I asked her why, and she said, ‘Because I can’t drink.’ She began to add that she hoped they’d kill her and put her out of her misery but when she saw my reaction, she clammed up.”

“Why can’t she drink?”

There was a slight hesitation. “Um...I didn’t ask.”

“Well, she can’t smoke in
my
house.” He hated the smell. He was willing to provide employment so she could get over this rough patch, but he planned to keep everything very professional. There’d be no allowances.

“She won’t. She’ll do everything she can to make you happy.” She groaned. “God, I’m so relieved. Before you called, I was sitting here going over my books, trying to figure out a way to hire her at the B and B. But...it’s just not in my budget to add another employee, especially going into the off season.”

“She can start on Monday if she wants. If she’s not ready, it can wait until later in the week or the following Monday.”

“Judging by the state of her cupboards, I think she needs to start as soon as possible.”

“Don’t tell me they carted off her food, too!”

“She didn’t have much to begin with.”

“Shit.” He could already feel the situation getting stickier than he’d bargained for.

“But now everything’s going to be okay.” She laughed. “You’re such a softie, you know that?”

“Don’t let it get out. I can only take on one charity case at a time.”

“She’d hate to hear you say that.”

He heard the displeasure in her voice. “She won’t hear it, because you won’t tell her.”

“Is that the
only
reason you’re giving her a hand? For the sake of helping someone who’s going through a rough time?”

“Of course,” he snapped, irritated again. “Why else would I be doing it?”

“Sometimes I wonder if you still have feelings for her.”

His other friends wondered, too, which made what he was doing even more problematic, since he’d have to deal with their reactions. “The answer is no.”

So what if the idea of peeling off her clothes caused a visceral excitement, even after this many years? That didn’t mean anything. Lots of people harbored desire for an ex.

It was just that he hadn’t been in a relationship in forever. He needed to quit worrying about work and get back to dating. “And don’t bring that up again.”

“Got it. There will be no questioning your motives.”

“Smart ass,” he grumbled. “So do you think she can get by on $2,500 a month? It’s not a lot—pennies compared to what she’s used to.”

“But it’s the most she’ll be able to make, especially in Whiskey Creek. There aren’t many jobs.”

“Why doesn’t she move somewhere else?”

“She won’t uproot her daughter. Alexa wants to stay where it’s familiar. Where her friends are.”

“Sophia cares about that?”

“Of course! Alexa is everything to her.”

“Maybe she’s not as terrible a person as I thought.”

“Ted, stop.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. I hope her salary will cover the basics. And I’ll be flexible about hours. As long as she’s not too loud while I’m trying to write, Alexa can come here after school. Sophia might as well make one dinner for all of us. They can eat before they leave. I’ll eat after they go home.”

“Heaven forbid you should ever eat together.”

He rubbed his neck. “You’re already making me regret this.”

“Don’t, because what you’re offering is more than fair. I just...I wish you could forgive her and start over—as friends. She’s different than she was.”

“Sure she is.”

“It’s true!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be perfectly polite.”

There was a slight pause, but she must’ve decided not to challenge him further. “I can’t wait to call and tell her the job I mentioned before is still available if she wants it!” Eve said. “It was so hard to leave her sitting in that empty house once I got everyone out of there. You should’ve seen Alexa’s face when she came home. She’s every bit as lost as her mother, you know. I found her crying in the cemetery yesterday.”

She’d told them at coffee, but he let her tell him again. “She just lost her father in one of the worst ways possible. Of course she’s going to cry.”

“But she wasn’t crying over her father. She was crying about her mother!”

She hadn’t made such a point of
that.

He sighed. He’d justified making this call by telling himself he wouldn’t get
too
involved. He’d give her work. That was it. Anything beyond money for services rendered would be...foolhardy. “I’d rather not hear about it, if you don’t mind. I’m in the market for a housekeeper. I figure she can have the job until she finds something better.”

“Understood,” Eve said. “No emotional involvement.”

“Now you’ve got it.”

“So what should I say her duties will include?”

“Meals. Cleaning. Errands. Some computer work. She knows how to use a computer, doesn’t she?”

“If she doesn’t, Alexa will,” she joked. “Kids are all computer-literate these days.”

“Not funny. Alexa can’t manage what I need done.”

“Fine. I’ll tutor Sophia if I have to. Or do your secretarial stuff myself while I’m working at the B and B. I have an office with a computer off the kitchen, and I’m a hell of a typist.”

He parted the blinds to see the moonlight glinting off the river behind his house. “Why would you take that on?”

“Because I’m willing to do my part.”

“For the sake of charity?”

“It’s not quite that impersonal for me. I want to help
her!
”

So it was going to be okay, wasn’t it? They were both just doing a good deed.

Somehow he managed to convince himself so he could breathe a little easier. But when Sophia called him the next morning, the sound of her voice carried him right back to high school.

* * *

This wasn’t going to be a comfortable conversation. Sophia was so nervous she had butterflies in her stomach, which was silly. She was thirty-four years old! But she hadn’t had a real conversation with Ted since he’d confronted her after hearing about her engagement to Skip. He’d been so hurt and angry to learn she was pregnant that he hadn’t allowed her to say much.

She’d tried several times since then to apologize. She felt guilty for hurting him, but back then she could see no other way out of her predicament. She couldn’t get an abortion, not with her religious upbringing. She couldn’t raise a child on her own, not without a job or some way to earn a living. And she could no longer rely on her parents, who’d always been her rock, because their lives were crumbling in front of her. As much as her heart rebelled, Skip had seemed like her best option. And he was so determined to have her, so confident that she’d be making the right choice in becoming his wife.

The promises he’d made were very different from the reality, but she hadn’t known he was abusive
before
the wedding. She’d only known that Ted wasn’t ready for marriage and that trying to stay with him would mean asking him to accept a child who wasn’t his. Skip wouldn’t have let that happen anyway.

“Eve just called. She said—” she had to clear her throat to continue talking “—she said you have a...a possible job opportunity?” Eve claimed she’d called about the housekeeper position before, but Sophia hadn’t gotten that message. She’d never listened to the messages that had come in the first couple of weeks after Skip died; she hadn’t seen any point, since she’d expected them all to be bill collectors.

The silence stretched so long, she began to fear that Eve
hadn’t
left that message. Had Eve set her up? Maybe Ted hadn’t said anything about a job, and she’d called him up out of the blue. That was how little she trusted human kindness these days. But then he spoke, addressing her for the first time in years—other than a few brief comments when she’d gone to coffee with him and his friends. He preferred to ignore her if he could.

“That’s true. I’m looking for a housekeeper slash assistant. I thought you might be capable of filling the position. If you’re interested.”

Her mouth went dry. “I’m
definitely
interested.”

“Can you cook?”

“What kind of meals would you want me to make?”

“Nothing too complicated—healthy food that tastes good.”

“Those things don’t always go together,” she joked but he didn’t laugh. His determined reticence told her his resentment was alive and well. That hadn’t changed. So why was he bothering to help her?

“Just basic meals,” he said. “Lean meat. Vegetables. An occasional dessert.”

She used the same clipped tone he had—all business. He obviously preferred the distance that allowed them. “I can handle meals.”

“Can you clean?”

“Of course. I—I had a woman who came in once a month to do the deep cleaning—windows and cupboards and closets and such. But I did all the other stuff myself.” She bit her lip as she finished because she was afraid that had sounded as if she had something to be proud of when
anyone
could clean.