Last First Kiss (8 page)

Wade
swiftly
looked out of
window.
Sophie saw his Adam’s apple bob up and down
where he’d obviously taken a huge
swallow.

“I won’t say I wasn’t hurt
,
that it didn’t hurt for a long time
, but apology accepted. L
et’s
make this the first day that
we move on from all that and never mention it again, okay?”

He
looked back at her and
slid his h
and across the table to hers. T
hey locked fingers
just as their breakfast arrived and waitress put the oversized plates in front of them.

“I’m
gain
ing
weight just looking at this,” said Sophie seeing th
e pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage
, hash browns,
and toast overflowing on the oval platter.

“Let me know if you need anything else,” said the waitress turning to leave.

Wade picked up one of the sausage links and began eating.

“Did you manage to get things
sorted out with your business before you left
Seattle
?”
he asked.

Sophie reac
hed for the ketchup and squeezed
a large dollop beside the potatoes
. “Yes,
luckily I’ve kept in contact with another designer who
I went to school with
,
and she’s offered to help finish the two places I was working on.”

“So
you any good with your designs?”

“One of the best,” said Sophie smiling.

“Yeah, I can believe that. You outfi
tted our tree house pretty good.”

Sophie laughed remembering she’d used two of her grandmother’s dresses for their drapes. Of course, she hadn’t asked permission first
,
so
she
had been
in hot water with Grans for several days.

“I’ve got a wonderful idea. How about
I come over to your place and check
it out
,
and while I’m here I’ll do
some work for free for you?”

“Soph, it’s a
tiny house, a
small bachelor’s pad
really,
and I don’t want any girlie stuff.”

“I do guys
’
stuff
,
too.”

He laughed, almost choking on the coffee he was drinking. “Then I sa
y
l
ucky guys.”

Sophie smiled at him and
without saying anything
they inched their hands across the table until the very tops of their fingertips were touching. Wade stroked the back of her hand with his index finger. Sophie clo
sed her eyes. What with the wonderful food,
and now Wade, it was a perfect day.

She jumped when she heard someone banging on the w
indow where they sat. She glanced outside thinking it might be someone she knew
,
but instead a woman in her mid
-
thirties with olive skin and short dark brown hair
glared in
at her.

“Cathy,” said Wade.

It was
Sophie’s turn to swallow hard several times.

He signaled for Cathy to st
ep inside
,
which she did
,
and marched
over to the table.

“This all looks very
cozy. I take it this is Sophie?”

“Yes, Sophie, Cathy Moran, Cathy, Sophie
Richardson
.”

Sophie put her hand out to shake
,
but Cathy opted for a curt nod instead.

“You want to join us?” asked Wade.

“I shouldn’t because I’ve got the salon to open
,
but I’ll just visit for a few minutes.”

Wade slid across the bench
and Cathy squeezed in beside him. Sophie saw Cathy’s hand immediately go to Wade’s thigh and squeeze it.

Sophie
suddenly lost her great appetite.

“That’s a pretty hair color you have,” said Cathy. “What brand and color is it
?
Because
I s
hould order some for the salon
.”

Sophie was about to tell her she didn’t color
,
that she’d been born with the golden blonde locks, just like her mother had, but
Wade stepped in.

“Soph’s had that color since she was a little girl. First thing I noticed about her when we first met.”

Cathy nodded. Already Sophie didn’t like her but guessed she was being hard on the woman because she was Wade’s girlfriend.

“So you bought the beauty salon?” asked Sophie.

“Yes, it’s doing really well. I offer a full range of services
,
i
f you want to stop by while you’re visiting.”

“I might do that.”

Over my dead body.

“Did Wade tell you he and I went to this wonderful hotel
in
Jackson
Hole
about a month ago?”

Sophie looked at Wade,
and
he looked back at her
;
judging by the way he was coloring up he was finding this whole thing just as uncomfortable as she was.

“Which reminds me you’re still coming to dinner tonight, right?” Cathy asked Wade.

“Sure, yes, I hadn’t forgotten.”

“And sta
ying overnight?”

Sophie saw Cathy’s hand move toward Wade
’s
crotch.

Wade didn’t answer but simply nodded.

“Well, I have to get to the saloon. Nice meeting you. I do hope your grandmothe
r gets her legal problems sorted out
. I’m sure you do
,
too
,
so you can get back to
Portland
.”

“Thank you
,
and actually it’s
Seattle
,” said Sophie.

Cathy stood
,
and the next t
hing Sophie knew her coffee mug had been tipped over and the brown l
iquid was penetrating her jeans and burning her thighs. Sophie jumped up.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Are you okay? I h
ope you didn’t get burned.”

“No, no, problem,” said Sophie grabbing a handful of napkins.

Cathy left
promptly
,
and Wade ran after her. They were talking outside. Sophie couldn’t hear an
ything but by the way
Wade
was waving his hands and
arms around as he spoke, he looked like he was
suddenly in a foul mood
. In fact, she’d guess he was raising his voice
,
which wasn’t like Wade at all.

**
*
*

“What’s gotten into you, Cathy?”

“It was an accident.”

“Like hell it was.”

“Okay, you really want to know?
I walk by the café, glance inside and see my boyfriend stroki
ng the back of
a
woman’s hand. A girl
who everyone in this town knows
was his childh
ood sweetheart
,
and
that
sh
e dumped him for some city boy and broke his heart into a million pieces.”

Wade ran his hands through his hair and took a deep breath.

“We’re friends
,
and that’s all.”

Cathy turned to leave. Wade grabbed her arm.

“Cathy, don’t walk away when we’re having a discussion.”

“Lo
ok I’m sorry
,
maybe I overacted. I mean
,
Wade, you
know
you’re
drop-
dead gorgeous
,
and I should have realized when we started dating that
women are go
ing to throw themselves at you
.
I have to learn to live with it.”

“Sophie doesn’t need to throw herself at me.”

“Oh, you mean you thre
w yourself at her?”

“I c
an assure you we’re just old buddies
. Her grandmother’s hired me
,
so it probably means we’ll be spending lots of time togethe
r. You have a problem with that?”

Cathy didn’t a
nswer. Wade raised his eyebrows, hoping to get an answer
,
an honest one if possible.
Cathy finally shook her head.

“I trust you,” she said.

Cathy pulled him close and kissed him while putting both her hands on his butt. He shouldn’t have
,
but his only thought was Sophie. He slyly glanced toward the café window hoping Cathy didn’t catch him.

Sophie was looking straight at them.

“See you tonight, cowboy.”
She smacked his butt hard.

He didn’t wait to see her cross the str
eet but instead headed back to
Sophie as quickly as he could.

When he got inside, Sophie was gone. Their half
-
eaten meals sat on the table
,
and the waitress was
mopping
up the last of the spilled coffee.

“
Did Sophie leave? If she did
,
I didn’t se
e her walk out
.”

“Don’t worry
,
honey
.
She
just went to the lad
ies room to clean up her jeans. She’ll be out in a minute.”

Wade found some relief in that news. He slid back into the booth and contin
ued to eat his now cold bacon
bu
t had suddenly lost the edge off
his appetite.
Sophie headed his way.
He smiled and pretended to
be tucking into the food
,
but everything
was stuck half way down his throat
.
Just like it had in the days and weeks following her departure from
Greenville
.

“Did the coffee stain your jeans?” he asked when Sophie sat down.

“Just a little. I probably should take them o
ff so I can soak them.”

“Guess you can’t do that here. I’m sorry, Soph.”

“For what? It was an accident.”

“You really are a
sweet girl. You know
,
and I know
,
that
it wasn’t.”

“I can’t blame her. I mean walking by and seeing us together, holding hands like that.”

“She’s not usually bitchy like she was this morning.”

“Maybe she’s close to her time of the month.”

Wade leaned back and smiled.

“Wade, I know she must be really nice because I can’t imagine you’d give a bitch the time of day, let alone date one.”

“She’ll be better behaved next time the two of you meet.”

“I’m sure she will. I think I should buy myself a new pair of jeans before I see Grans
,
or she’ll think I don’t have any clean clot
hing since I moved out of her place.”

Wade laughed. “Just an excuse to go into the clothing store.”

Sophie gave him another playful kick to his shin.

“Okay, let me pay for this breakfast
,
and we’ll be on our way.”

***
*

One thing Wade hated was being seen in a woman’s clothing store. Sophie had been somewhat of a
tom-
boy when she’d bee
n a kid
,
but as soon as she’d become a
teenage
r, she’d gotten into dresses,
skirts and pumps. He guessed it was Emily’s influence on her because she was always impeccably dressed. And come to
think of it he’d only known her grandmother wear
jeans on a couple of occasions.

Sophi
e had grabbed a handful of them
from a display on the back wall of the store
and was now in the fitting room while Wade waited by the rail of t-shirts. He pushed his hat back on his head wondering just how long she was going to be.
How hard was it to decide
if
a pair of basic jeans
were okay? They all looked the same
to him
,
and usually he was in and out of the store with his new pair in
less than
ten minutes.