Nearest Thing to Heaven (Maverick Junction) (17 page)

S
ophie’s bed looked like a couple of rhinos had spent the night in it. Covers tumbled to the floor, a pillow lay halfway across the room, and the sheets had been pulled out.

She sighed. Monday morning. The beginning of a new week, and she was still miserable. She’d dragged through yesterday as though waiting for the executioner’s ax and prayed she’d wake today feeling lighter. Feeling okay.

She didn’t.

Grabbing the sheet, she set about trying to restore order to the bed, since she wasn’t having much luck doing the same to her life. She ran a hand over Lilybelle’s back. The cat had decided to help by standing smack-dab in the middle of everything, making progress nearly impossible. Sophie solved the problem by carrying the cat to the window seat. Happy in the warm sunshine, Lilybelle curled up in a tight ball and purred contentedly, her tail twitching occasionally.

Once she’d put the bed to rights, Sophie fixed a cup of tea. Standing at the door, soothed by the tea, the cat winding around her legs, she spotted Dottie in her garden.

In her robe and slippers, Sophie stepped out onto the landing. “Need help?”

“I wouldn’t say no. We’ve got a cold snap coming, so I need to get these roses mulched.”

“Give me a minute.” Hurrying inside, she threw on a faded pair of jeans and her Cubs sweatshirt. Then she dragged a brush through her tousled hair and ran down the steps, Lilybelle close behind.

It felt good to be outside. To be physically busy. She and Dottie chatted as they worked. A pale sun shone on the roses and the other late-blooming flowers.

Dottie straightened suddenly. “Goldie. Hello.”

Sophie’s hands stilled on the upended bag of mulch.
Oh, boy.

“Sophie, you remember Goldie Taylor, don’t you? I believe you met at the wedding. She’s Matt’s mother.”

And Julia’s mom.

“Yes. We shared Thanksgiving at Babs’s,” Sophie managed.

“Oh, of course. I forgot you were all going there,” Dottie said.

Dread settled in Sophie’s stomach. At Thanksgiving, she hadn’t yet spent the better part of Saturday night with this woman’s dead daughter’s husband. Hadn’t kissed him. Hadn’t wished for more. Oh, boy in triplicate!

Mrs. Taylor couldn’t possibly know, though. There was no way. Still, Goldie’s warm smile, rather than the reprimanding glare her guilt expected, surprised Sophie.

“It’s good to see you again, Sophie. Have you heard from Cash and Annie?”

Safe territory. She grabbed on to it. “I talked to Annie on Friday. They’re having a wonderful time and expect to be home later this week.” Her mind raced, searching for more conversation that didn’t involve Ty.

Before she could come up with anything, Goldie said, “I was on my way to the post office. When I saw you and Dottie working out here, I wondered if we might talk.”

Sophie’s mouth went dry as she forced a nod. Had Goldie heard about her date with Ty? But she was smiling, wasn’t she? A real smile or fake? Times like this, Sophie cursed her overactive imagination.

Well, if Goldie asked, Sophie’d confess that she and Ty had gone out, but she’d make it perfectly clear it had been a fluke. The two of them weren’t seeing each other anymore. They’d ended it Saturday night. Whatever
it
was. Pain sliced through her heart.

Oh, she wanted Ty’s kisses, his warm body next to hers, inside her. She wanted so much. Too much. Because of that, she’d said good-bye.

How long until one of those other women Maggie’d mentioned warmed his bed? Won his heart? The pain in her own intensified till she could barely breathe.
Suck it up
.
You’ll get over it. Over him.

Ty was country and liked living on the prairie surrounded by cows with long, pointed horns. His arms filled with three beautiful sons.

Dottie brushed mulch off her knees and tossed her gardening gloves onto an upturned pot. “Why don’t I give you two a little privacy? I tried out a new cookie recipe this morning. I’ll go plate some for us, along with a fresh pot of coffee.”

“That would be wonderful, Dottie. Thank you.” Goldie sat on a wooden bench and motioned for Sophie to join her.

Watching Dottie’s retreating back, Sophie understood what a passenger who’d fallen from a cruise ship must feel like as he watched the vessel sail away. Slowly, she removed her borrowed gloves and walked to the bench. Sitting down, she stared at the toes of her worn sneakers.

“You’re good for him.”

Sophie’s head snapped up at the quietly spoken words. “I am?”

“Yes.”

She tilted her head. “We are talking about Ty, aren’t we?”

Goldie smiled. “We are.” She took Sophie’s cold hands in her own warm ones. “There’s life in Ty’s eyes again, a life that left when Julia died. It’s come back.”

The older woman raised one hand and placed it on the side of Sophie’s face. “My husband and I want that. We really do. We love Ty. Through everything, despite everything, he loved our little girl and was devoted to her. When…when her condition deteriorated, he took such good care of her. He never left her side.” Tears swam in her eyes. “Bill and I watched them both die that day at the hospital, helpless to do anything.”

Sophie’s brows pulled together, questioningly. Her throat burned.

A single tear trailed down Goldie’s cheek. “We buried one, and for over four years now, we’ve watched Ty wander through life with a hole in him that’s so huge, it’s left him crippled. In those first months, that first year, his pain was nearly unbearable to see.”

Goldie swiped at the tear.

“Oh, he loves those boys. Don’t get me wrong. But a big part of him seemed to have disappeared. We were afraid it was gone forever.” She squeezed Sophie’s hand. “You’ve given it back to him, and we’re happy.”

“I was afraid—”

“We’d see you as an interloper?” She shook her head. “I’d be lying if I didn’t admit my heart was heavy for just a moment when I first saw that spark rekindle in Ty’s eyes. But, it’s time we all moved on. Especially Ty. Our grandbabies need that. They’ve never known Ty as he was before. Those boys need to see him happy. They deserve it.

Sophie bit her lip and nodded.

“We don’t begrudge his interest in you, Sophie. We welcome it. I wanted to be sure you understand that.”

“Ty’s the one who can’t accept it,” Sophie murmured.

“What do you mean?”

“We broke up.” She grimaced. She hadn’t meant to say that. But her conscience couldn’t let this woman hold false hope. “Well, we didn’t actually break up,” she stammered. “I mean, how can you break up with someone you’re not really—” She circled her hand. “I don’t know how to describe what we had.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m the one who actually ended it.” She met Goldie’s eyes. “I can’t be with him. I’m afraid if I let myself, I’d…I’m sorry. He loved your daughter very much. He still does, and he’s closed himself off. I have to protect myself.”

“I guess that explains why he was at Bubba’s late Saturday night.”

Sophie’s mouth dropped open. “He was?”

“Our neighbor saw him there.”

“Small towns,” Sophie muttered.

“Yes.” Goldie smiled sadly. “We knew, too, beforehand, he was taking you out to dinner.”

Sophie’s eyes widened, and Goldie laughed. “Not much goes on in Maverick Junction that’s a secret. Which can be good or bad. Depending. But when Ray told us Ty’d been at the bar putting down the drafts and listening to ‘The Keeper of the Stars,’ I wondered.”

“‘The Keeper of the Stars’?”

Goldie nodded.

“That’s the first song we danced to. At Bubba’s.”

“I’m going to take that as a very good sign, sweetheart. Please do this old woman a favor and don’t pack your bags yet.”

“I don’t plan to. I’m actually working here right now.”

Goldie looked past Sophie. “Ah, here’s Dottie with refreshments.” She gave Sophie’s hand another little squeeze. “If you need me, all you have to do is call. Bill and I will do whatever we can.”

Leaning closer, she said, “And that includes watching those precious little boys if the two of you need a night alone.”

Heat flared in Sophie’s cheeks. “I’ll remember that.”

“Dottie, these look wonderful.” Goldie rose and took the tray from her friend, placing it on the flat top of the little rock wall. “What a pleasant way to start the day. Friends, sunshine, and cookies.”

Sophie liked Ty’s mother-in-law. The woman had a heart the size of Texas. She’d lost her child. There could be nothing more devastating. Yet here she was playing matchmaker for her daughter’s widower.

It tore Sophie apart. But as badly as she felt for Julia’s parents, self-preservation was stronger and demanded she stay far, far away from Ty Rawlins. With one touch, one smile, she’d be running straight into his arms…and heartache.

On her drawing pad, she added a few more bluebonnets to the card design. Even as her fingers created with clear, quick strokes, her mind wandered to all the wonderful people she’d met in Maverick Junction and how much they’d come to mean to her.

Glancing up, she caught a glimpse through the window of Dottie moving around in her peony pink kitchen. Strange how reassuring that was.

The garden, so peaceful, felt like home. But it wasn’t. Chicago was home.

Go, Cubs!

When she left, Dottie would run an ad in the
Maverick Junction Daily
, and someone else would move into Annelise’s Tiffany blue apartment. They’d probably repaint it no-color white. They might even get rid of Cash’s grandpa’s old, comfy couch and replace it with some modern piece of chrome and leather.

That was reality. Things changed.

She had to remember that for all she loved this town and its people, she wasn’t a part of it, of them. Her apartment, her beautiful apartment, so close to Wrigley Field, would feel empty after her time here, though.

After Ty and his three boys. After surprise visits from people like Goldie. Mornings with Dottie. Chats with Maggie. They’d all come to mean so much to her. They’d slid into her life so easily. Or had she slid into theirs?

When she’d agreed to come for Annelise’s wedding, she’d intended a hit-and-run. Fly to Texas, put up with the cows and the lack of shopping and delis for the few days necessary, then turn tail and head back to Chicago.

How quickly she, big-city-girl Sophie London, had fallen in love with this small Texas town in the middle of nowhere. The thought of leaving, of saying good-bye to it and getting on that plane, made her sad.

Thank God she hadn’t actually allowed herself to fall in love with the cowboy. That wouldn’t have done at all.

“Hey, Sophie. Got some mail for you.” Wearing a jacket and long pants today, the mailman came up the walk.

Laying her drawing pad on the chaise, she hopped up to meet him partway. “Thanks, Dave.”

“You bet.” He handed her the letter, dropped Dottie’s mail in her box, and took off.

Sophie stood in the middle of the drive, staring at the letter as if it had grown a head. The return address? Nathan’s.

She didn’t want to open it. She had to, though, didn’t she? Or did she? She supposed she could dump it unread in Dottie’s trash can.

Hands shaking, she dropped back onto the chaise and slid a nail under the envelope flap. The rumble of a truck engine had her pausing. When Ty’s pickup pulled into the drive, her heart kicked into fifth gear. What was he doing here?

Rattled, Sophie tucked the half-opened letter under her leg. Nathan could wait. One crisis at a time.

Funny. As she watched Ty’s tall, lean figure moving toward her, the man didn’t feel like a crisis. More like a gift from the gods. One she’d forfeited Saturday night.

Even though her decision had been right, she strongly regretted it.

He smiled at her, a slow, lazy smile that had those dimples peeking out. She all but melted.

“Hey, Tink. Thought maybe I’d find you out here catching some sun.” He nodded at her pad. “Working?”

“Off and on.” She smiled back at him, unable to resist. “I find my concentration isn’t what it should be.”

“Something on your mind?”

She took a deep breath. “Ty, I’m sorry about the other night. I—” She spread her hands, unsure what she wanted to say.

Nudging the drawing pad aside, he sat on the edge of her chair, his warmth seeping through her jeans where their hips touched. She scooted over a little to give him room. His black Stetson shaded his eyes, and she wished he’d take it off. Were they stormy gray today or warm and inviting?

“I moved too fast the other night, Sophie. My fault.” He thumbed back his hat and met her eyes.

His were smiling today. Friendly.

Hot, though. Still hot.

And precisely why she’d behaved as she had Saturday night. Rational thought fled when she got within ten feet of him.

“No, Ty, you didn’t. I wanted you to kiss me. I wanted more. Much, much more.” As she watched, those fascinating eyes of his darkened. “And that’s why I ran scared. I was afraid of myself, not you.”

“A dangerous thing to tell a man, darlin’.”

A half laugh escaped her. “I suppose so. But it’s the truth.”

“Have dinner with me and the boys tonight.”

“What?”

“Dinner. Nothing more.” He held out a hand to shake on it.

Grinning, she did just that.

“Unless,” he added, “you find you can’t do without my body. Then, I’ll be all too happy to oblige.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Men!”

“Yeah, I know.” He shrugged. “We’re an egotistical bunch. You’ll set the rules, though, Sophie. I won’t take anything you don’t want to give. You have my word on that.”

He nodded at the envelope peeking out from beneath her leg. “Letter from home?”

She made a face. “I guess you could say that.”

Leaning across her, he read the return address. “Nathan? Isn’t he the guy who’s been stalking you?”

“I wouldn’t say stalking. That’s overstating my problem with him. He’s a guy who can’t seem to take no for an answer.”

“Okay,” Ty said slowly, edging slightly away from Sophie. “So, I find myself wondering. Is that how you see me? Coming here today after you told me to get lost?”