Back to Yesterday (4 page)

“Not really, no.”

“Okay.” She smiled. “What would you like to talk about?”

“You. Let’s talk about you.”

“Me? There’s not much to talk about I’m afraid. I’m a boring subject.”

I shook my head. “I find you fascinating.”

Her cheeks tinged a pale pink color, and she tried to laugh it off. “There’s nothing fascinating about me.”

“Everything about you fascinates me.”

She shifted her eyes bashfully to meet mine. “What things?”

I was grinning. I could feel my whole face light up with the words I was about to say. “You never back down from a bet. No matter how ridiculous. You can’t say no. Remember the chili pepper?”

The first time I came into the café she was accepting a bet from one of the customers, a regular, I would soon learn. He bet her that she couldn’t eat a chili pepper without drinking anything after. I don’t know why, but I wanted to see what she would do. I sat down on the furthest stool at the other end of the counter and watched her chew the pepper. Her eyes watered, her face turned red, and I was completely captivated. Then she reached for a jar of honey and spooned out a huge glob and put it in her mouth. She closed her eyes tightly, like she was finding relief. Not long after, she was completely fine. She told the customer to pay up, because after all, she never drank a drop, and then went right back to work, like this was something she did every day.

“You were there?”

I nodded. “It was the first time I ever saw you, the first day someone held my attention.”

That earned me a laugh. A real one. And it bathed my soul like all the laughs before it.

“I always win,” she said with satisfaction. “I’ve never lost a bet.”

After contemplating that for a moment, the craziest notion struck me, and before I could talk myself out of it, I blurted it out. “I have a bet I know you can’t win, Miss Sophie.”

She turned to me with a look of delight, like she was about to prove me wrong. “Oh yeah? What’s the bet, Mr. Charlie?”

I stared into the ocean in her eyes, drowning in them, and said, “I bet I can make you fall in love with me.”

A shocked expression fell over her. I can’t really blame her. I shocked myself when I said it.

She scoffed. “Fall in love with you? Why, we just met. I don’t even know your last name. And I have no intentions of falling in love with anyone.” She stood and walked a couple of feet away, hugging herself. She walked to the edge of the pond and I heard her curse under her breath, earning a chuckle from me.

“Then you should have no problem accepting the bet. If I can’t make you fall in love with me, then you win, and your winning record remains intact.”

She spun around, questions burning in her eyes. Then she straightened her spine, her shoulders lifting in defiance. “You’re gonna lose this bet, Charlie.”

I reached for my crutches, stood, and made my way to the edge of the pond. When I reached her she looked up at me. For a fleeting second I saw a crack in her armor.

I’m gonna make you fall in love with me, Sophie.

I stroked her cheek with the pad of my thumb, held her gaze, and said softly, “This should be interesting then… because I never lose a bet either.”

“Y
ou don’t have to sleep on the floor.”

I sat up and rolled my neck, feeling the cords of tension and sore muscles in every nook and cranny in my body. I was alive though, so I wasn’t going to complain too much.

“It’s okay,” I said. “As long as a dirt nap isn’t permanent all is well.”

I laughed at my own joke because what else was I going to do? Wallow in self pity? That wasn’t going to get me home, so I used the sense of humor God gave me and made the best of a bad situation. Besides that, I was a United States Army Air Corp pilot. I wasn’t helpless. I refused to be. My plane may be wrecked but I still had skill and it was time I put it to use.

I brought myself to a standing position, relieved that I only saw one head this time instead of three. “Thank you for helping me,” I said, extending my hand. “What’s your name?”

“Levi,” he answered, shaking my hand. He gestured toward the open barn door where I saw a young man tilling soil, most likely hiding the evidence of where my plane had skidded to a halt. “My son’s name is Maikel. We were both a bit worried about you. Good to see you up and standing on your own two feet.”

“It’s good to be standing, sir. You mind if I take a look at my plane…see what the damage is?”

“Of course, of course.” He motioned for me to follow him. “We hid it around back and covered it up with what we had…brush and thatch mostly.”

After uncovering the nose of the plane I discovered it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. Bent propellers were my biggest problem. I would need to repair the fuel line and maybe clean out the oil cooler, but fixing the propellers was my first priority if I was going to get back in the air and hopefully back to base. The other repairs would be much easier to fix.

“You got a block and tackle and some timbers to hoist this baby up?” I asked Levi. “I need to get the nose off the ground.”

He rubbed at his jaw a moment then nodded. “It’ll take some work lifting her. How much does she weigh?”

My lips twitched in a lopsided grin. “Only about forty-five hundred pounds.”

He reciprocated with a grin of his own. “That all?”

I dropped a hand on his shoulder and patted it a couple times, laughing at the fact that I was
able
to laugh. Plus, I recognized blessings when they stood in front of me, and Levi was a blessing. Of that, I was sure.

“Show me your tools, Levi. Let’s show that boy of yours how it’s done.”

I
was reading an article in
The
Tennessean
about the war abroad when I was interrupted.

“She’s not here today. It’s her day off.”

Her tone was friendly, on the verge of laughing actually. I looked up from my newspaper. “Who’s not here today?”

Setting down a basket of piping hot biscuits I didn’t order and refilling my coffee, she said, “Don’t be coy. You know who I’m talking about.”

I shifted in my seat and folded my paper. “Why do I feel like I’m under interrogation?”

She leaned down so we were closer to eye level and in a sugary voice said, “I have no idea, although I do have a question for you.”

Gesturing for her to continue, I picked up my coffee and sipped it.

“What are your intentions with my best friend?”

I placed my cup down casually. “Who’s your best friend?”

She stood up taller and folded her arms across her chest. She wore the same waitress attire that Sophie wore, blue dress, white apron. She looked down at me like I was a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Fine.

I motioned for her to have a seat across from me, and waited for her to settle in. “My intentions with Sophie are pure, I assure you. I know you’re not gonna be satisfied with that so what exactly do you want to know?”

She regarded me for a moment. “You know what… I believe you.” Her brown eyes were nothing like Sophie’s blue ones, but they were pretty and I could see sincerity behind them.

“That’s it? You’re gonna take me at my word? What kind of best friend are you?” I admit, I was relieved, and I’m sure it showed, however, I was also cautious.

She eyeballed me curiously for a couple of seconds. “For two weeks you’ve come in here, wearing your uniform, hobbling along on your crutches, ordering your coffee, barely speaking to a soul, only saying
please
and
thank you
when appropriate. You’re not being rude in any way, but if you’re not looking at Sophie then it’s like you don’t see or notice anyone or anything else around you. You’re smitten and I don’t need you to tell me that. I can see it with my own eyes.”

She started to stand and I stopped her. “Wait, so why did you ask me what my intentions were if you knew all that?”

A tiny smile fixed itself at the corner of her lips. “Like you said, what kind of best friend would I be if I didn’t ask? I did my duty.” She paused, “May I give you a piece of advice?”

“Sure.”

“As easygoing as Sophie appears to be, she guards herself. She won’t make this easy for you. So keep that in mind when she pushes, and she will. You may need to do some pushing of your own. Understand? I’m only telling you this because I think you deserve to know.”