Sweet Misfortune: A Novel (6 page)

“Well… it would be the gentlemanly thing to do.” She winked.

Grinning sheepishly, he replied, “I was thinking ladies first. But okay.” He cleared his throat. “Hi, my name is Garrett. Umm… Garrett Black. And it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Well done. Okay, my turn. Hello, I’m Sophie Jones. You may have heard of me before. They announced my name over the loudspeakers earlier, so if it sounds familiar, that’s probably why.”

Garrett shook his head and laughed. “Very funny. Tell me, Sophie Jones, how is it that you and I ended up on this date tonight? Was it more the doing of my mother or yours?”

Sophie’s brow furrowed and her smile dimmed slightly. She took a drink of water before answering. “I think they were equal partners in crime. If they didn’t work for the police department, I’d say we should have them arrested. But…”

“But?”

“Nothing. It’s just that… Well, she’s not really my mother. Ellen is my foster mom.”

Idiot!
“Oh? How long have you known her?”

“Since I was nine.”

Garret pondered briefly what to say next. Moving on to a completely different subject might come off as insensitive, he thought, but digging into her past right from the get-go carried the same risk. “I know this probably doesn’t fall under the umbrella of get-to-know-you questions that you had in mind, but… do you mind if I ask how you came to live in a foster home?”

Sophie took another drink of water. “The first-date response to that question is, ‘My parents died.’ ”

“I’m sorry. That must’ve been incredibly hard for you. I lost my dad when I was twelve. My parents divorced when I was a baby, so I wasn’t real close to him, but still it was tough.”

Sophie relaxed, suddenly feeling like she had an ally. She allowed her easy smile to return. “Let’s not dwell on the past. There must be better things than that to discuss, right?”

“Right,” he said with a nod.

Not long after that Andre showed up with the first course of the meal, tomato bisque with a tray of assorted breads and cheeses. As they ate, Garrett learned all the typical first-date information about the stunning woman who sat across from him. Things like where she went to high school, what she studied in college, and what she did for a living.

“A chocolatier?” he said, when she told him about her candy store. “I can barely say the word, and I can honestly say that I’ve never personally known a chocolatier before.”

“I wish I could say that I’ve never known a doctor before,” she teased. “But a foot doctor? Honestly, how many problems can there be with feet that we should need specialists to work on them?”

He chuckled at her sarcasm. “You’d be surprised. Just wait until your arches collapse, and see if you don’t go running to the nearest podiatrist.”

The waiter approached. “More water?” he asked, but then began filling Sophie’s glass before she could reply. “And you, sir?”

He nodded.

While Andre cleared a few dishes, Garrett took a moment to glance at his watch. By his calculations, their date was probably halfway over, and he found himself already disappointed that his evening with Sophie Jones would eventually come to an end.

“Can I borrow your pen?” he asked Sophie.

She gave him a questioning look but handed it across the table. He took one more sugar packet and quickly wrote a few words across the top.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, then stood and walked partway around the restaurant, and placed the sugar in the windowsill beside an empty table.

“What was that all about?” she said, when he returned.

“One more souvenir,” he responded. “I want to make sure it gets back to us before we leave, so I gave it a head start.”

She gave him another funny look, but mostly she was just looking at the way his dimples danced when he smiled. “I see.”

Several minutes later, while they were eating their entrees, Sophie’s Sweet’n Low came into view again, and a few minutes after that it was within her reach beside their table.

“Four names,” she said proudly, after picking it up. “Two from Spokane, one from Portland, and one all the way from Connecticut.” She flipped it over. “Oh, and a message on the back! ‘Saccharine causes cancer!’ ”

They both laughed out loud.

“I’m not sure that’s been proven,” Garrett quipped, “but it’s funny anyway.”

It wasn’t much longer before Garrett’s first sugar packet arrived. He let Sophie do the honors, since she’d put it up there for him to begin with. “Darn,” she said, pretending to be upset. “You got more signatures than me. Two from Spokane again; probably the same ones as mine. Then one from Seattle, and three from California.”

“But no messages?”

Sophie flipped it over and burst out laughing.

“What? Don’t tell me someone thinks sugar is a carcinogen, too.”

The lighting in the restaurant wasn’t ideal, but Garrett could have sworn that Sophie was blushing. “No,” she said, suppressing more laughter. She paused to read it once more to herself, and then closed her fist around it. “You really want to hear it?”

“Of course. I like a good laugh.”

“Very well. It says, ‘Hey Blondie, ditch the dork. We have an extra seat at our table.’ Signed, Rodney and friends.”

“It doesn’t really say that, does it?” Garrett asked, his brow suddenly furrowed.

Sophie started laughing out loud again as she handed it across the table. Then she looked past Garrett and waved politely.

Garrett felt blood rushing to his face as soon as he read the brief message. Spinning around to see who Sophie was waving at, his face turned even redder when he saw that the culprits—three men in their fifties—were practically falling off their chairs and laughing hysterically. One of them,
probably Rodney, had laughed himself to tears. They all waved and pointed at Garrett, and continued laughing.

“I’m sorry,” Sophie said, still trying to quell a chuckle. “For what it’s worth, I disagree with their assessment. You really don’t strike me as being dorky.”

Garrett knew that his cheeks were still flushed, but he tried not to think about it. “Hey, don’t go jumping to conclusions,” he joked. “Think about it. What says
dork
more than getting set up on a blind date by your mother?”

Sophie tilted her head at an angle and fiddled with a long strand of hair. She kept her eyes locked on his. “Good point. The only thing that comes to mind is getting set up on a blind date by your foster mother.” She smiled warmly, then turned her attention once more to her plate of food.

Garrett’s second sugar packet arrived at the table just as they were finishing dessert. They could both see from where they sat that it was filled with handwritten words, and Garrett knew only a few of them were his own.

“Are you going to pick it up?” Sophie asked. “Or can I make it three for three?”

“Go ahead. But just to warn you, this one’s a little bit different than the others.”

She didn’t say anything but gave him a quizzical look that spoke volumes.

Here goes nothing
, Garrett thought.

Sophie picked it up and cupped it in her hands, studying both sides for what felt like an eternity, though in reality it was probably under ten seconds. Finally she spoke. “I take it you’re planning a date with someone?”

He grinned. “As a matter of fact, I am.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Someone special?”

He thought for a moment about Olivia’s counsel. “A real gem, near as I can tell.”

“Wow. Sounds great. Have you asked her out yet?”

“No, I haven’t gotten that far.”

Sophie was smiling, which Garrett found encouraging. “So this little sugar-packet survey is intended to help you plan your next date with this ‘special gem’? Is that right?”

“That was the general idea, yes. Are there any good ones?”

She laughed. “Shall I read what it says?”

He smiled back and nodded. “Yes, please.”

Sophie tucked more hair behind her ear, and then read the question Garrett had written at the top of the sugar packet. “ ‘Ideas for a second date?’ ” She looked up at him. “Just to let you know, a couple of the responses—I’m guessing from Rodney and company—are fairly crude. Can I skip over those? I’m sure your special someone wouldn’t agree to them anyway.”

“By all means, filter out the junk.”

“Great,” she said, and then started over. “ ‘Ideas for a second date?’ ” She paused once more, clearing her throat. “And I quote, ‘Three Bs: Bowl, Bar, Beer.’ ”

“That could be Rodney, too,” quipped Garrett.

She snickered. “No doubt. Next up, ‘Dinner Cruise on Puget Sound.’ Sounds nice. ‘Laser Tag.’ Hmmm. I’m guessing a teenage boy wrote that one. This next one is very small print, but I think it says, ‘Dinner and a movie.’ Completely overdone, if you ask me. The next one cracks me up. ‘Meet the parents!’ Right.” She flipped the sugar over. “ ‘Hike Mt. Rainier.’ Yikes, not this time of year. ‘Hot tubbing.’ Not on the second date. And finally, ‘Spend an entire evening gazing at the stars.’ I’m sure a woman wrote that one.” Sophie looked up from the sugar in her hand and smiled.

“Why is that one from a woman?”

“Because it’s the only suggestion that is even remotely romantic.”

“Ah. So romance is important?”

“Romance is
everything
. I’m willing to bet your ladyfriend wants a man who’s tender and thoughtful and does all the little things that are important. A truly romantic man must be willing to do whatever it takes to win the lady’s heart.”

“Oh? And then what? Ride off into the sunset?”

She lowered her chin and smiled. “Something like that.”

“Romance sounds daunting,” he commented, still wearing his giant, dimpled smile. “So if I had to pick something from this list for my next date, you’d definitely go with stargazing?”

She winked. “Definitely.”

Andre showed up then with Garrett’s credit card and a receipt, and thanked them for coming. The way he stood there waiting, Sophie and Garrett gathered that it was time for them to leave. Andre led them to the main elevator, and forty-three seconds later they were back down on Planet Earth.

“Sophie,” Garrett said, before they reached the main exit of the souvenir shop, “I want to apologize for not planning more for tonight than dinner. It just seemed like a safe bet for a blind date.”

“It was great,” she said, sounding like she meant it. “Are you going to let me know how that second date turns out with your special someone?”

“I’d be happy to. How can I get a hold of you?”

Her eyes twinkled as she pulled out another pink packet of Sweet’n Low that already had her name, address, and phone number on it. “For you.” Garrett wasn’t sure when she’d had time to write that information down without him noticing, but it was clearly premeditated. “So when do you think you’ll be going on that date?”

Garrett could feel his heart thumping against the inside of his chest. “Tomorrow night,” he stated nervously. “If she’s available.”

Sophie smiled coyly. “If she’s the gem you say she is, I’m sure she’ll make herself available.” She hesitated. “I’ll bet she’s free at seven thirty.”

Reaching once more into her purse, Sophie found the sugar packet with suggestions for a second date and handed it to him. She placed it in his palm in such a way that their hands cupped together briefly. His heart pounded faster.

“Thanks,” he said, too nervous to come up with anything more intelligent to say.

“Good night, Garrett,” said Sophie pleasantly, biting her lip and smiling at the same time.

As she turned and started to walk away, Garrett scanned the words on the sugar packet she’d just handed to him. He flipped it over, quickly reading both sides twice. Then his heart really started to thump in his chest. “Sophie!” he shouted, but the door had already closed behind her. He ran to the exit and stepped out into the night. “Sophie!” he called again.

She turned around and smiled, like she knew what he was going to say.

“It doesn’t say, ‘Gaze at the stars.’ ”

Grinning mischievously, Sophie walked back to where he stood. “Really?” She took the sugar from his hand, wrote on it with her pen, and then placed it back in his palm. “Well, now it does. Good night, Garrett Black.” She winked.

“Good night, Sophie Jones.”

Chapter 8

Trust your intuition. It’s bound to be right sooner or later.

I
T WASN’T HARD FOR GARRETT TO FIND SOPHIE’S HOUSE
the next day in Gig Harbor. The town was small, and she lived on the main arterial street that coursed along the harbor’s shore. The home itself was a small, two-story bungalow built in the 1940s, but the slate-blue siding and shingled roof looked less than a decade old, while the crisp white trim around the windows and eaves gave it a certain classic charm. He showed up right at seven thirty wearing a light sport coat and slacks.

Sophie met him at her front door in a thick winter parka, a wool scarf, and mittens. They both took a moment to evaluate the other’s choice of clothing.

“You look warm,” Garrett said, smiling. “Er—you look great.
And warm
.”

“It’s chilly out, and I thought we might be spending some time outside. Is that not the case?”

He chuckled and pulled a small packet of sugar from his pocket. “Actually, I was going through these ideas for a second date,” he said brightly, holding up the sugar, “and even though I liked the idea of gazing at the stars, I’m afraid it’s too cloudy for that tonight. So I chose the next best thing.”

“Which is?”

“The three Bs! Bowl, bar, and beer.”

Her face dropped. “You’re joking, right?”

“Yes,” he replied, beaming. “I’m actually not much of a bar and beer guy, and even less of a bowler. But it really is too cloudy outside for stargazing, so I’ve made some other arrangements.”

She flashed a generous smile. “I see. And do I get to know what those arrangements are? I’m not a huge fan of surprises.”

Garrett rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Well, I can tell you there will definitely be dinner. And there will also be an activity. But beyond that, you’ll just have to wait and see.”

She frowned, but he saw that her eyes were still smiling. “Fine. But at least tell me if I’m dressed too warm.”

He scanned her once more from head to toe. “You’d probably be safe shedding a layer or two, but it’s completely up to you.”

Sophie chose to swap the parka and scarf for her peacoat, but kept the mittens just in case. A few minutes later they were on the interstate heading back across the Narrows Bridge toward Tacoma, and a few minutes after that they were on I-5 heading north toward Seattle. Along the way, Sophie kept digging for hints about where they were going or what they’d be doing, but Garrett repeatedly dodged the questions.

“All right, I give in,” he said, after her third attempt. “I didn’t want to ruin the surprise, but we’re going back to the Seattle Center for corn dogs and laser tag.”

She knew he was bluffing.

The next time she probed about it he told her they were doing dinner and a movie.

The time after that he said they were taking a dinner cruise.

“Really?” she asked excitedly.

“No,” he said cheerfully. “Not really. Sorry.”

After taking an exit just north of downtown, Garrett slowed the car, retrieved a solid black sleeping mask from his glove box, and handed it to her while he continued driving. “Would it freak you out if I asked you to put this on?” he asked. “If you see where we’re going it’ll spoil the surprise.”

She looked at him very skeptically. “Yes, as a matter of fact, it would freak me out. I think I’ll pass.”

Garrett grinned playfully. “You don’t trust me?”

“Trust isn’t one of my strong suits. And I barely know you. Besides, I’ve already been your blind date once, and that was enough, thank you very much.”

He kept smiling as he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a cell phone, then flipped through a series of menus to get to a number he’d dialed recently. He pushed Send to place a call. “I wouldn’t expect you to put it on without some assurance that it’s safe,” he said, handing the phone to her. “Here. It’s for you.”

She looked at him like he was crazy. “Huh?”

“Just say hello,” he whispered.

“Uhh… hello?”

“Sophie, is that you?”

“Ellen?” Sophie shot Garrett another questioning look. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, don’t worry, Sweets. Garrett’s mom gave him my number, and he and I spoke earlier. He seems very nice, by the way. Is he as cute as he sounds on the phone?”

Sweets was a nickname that Ellen had given to Sophie as an affectionate reference to her love of candy. She couldn’t always afford to buy sweets for the girls when they were younger, but that didn’t stop Sophie from asking for them every time she saw some at the store as a child. The name officially stuck when Sophie was a teenager, and her fascination grew from eating candy to making it. By the time she graduated from high school and started college, she already had an index file full of recipes for her own unique confections, which she later used to open Chocolat’ de Soph.

Sophie paused and looked at Garrett again, hoping he didn’t hear the question. “Maybe.”

“Good! I can’t wait to meet him. Anyway, he said he’d probably be calling right around now. You can rest assured that I know exactly where you guys are going, and there’s nothing to worry about. Okay? Just enjoy yourself.”

“And the blindfold? You know about that?”

“Yes, ma’am. Put it on. The unknown can be an adventure.”

Sophie paused again. “Thanks, El.” She ended the call, then turned her attention back to Garrett. “We’re not going anywhere creepy, right?”

“Trust me,” he said reassuringly.

Sophie sighed, then reluctantly pulled the mask over her eyes and fastened the Velcro strap in the back.

“Can you see?”

“Not at all.”

“Excellent.”

They were only a few minutes from their destination, but Garrett drove around in circles for an extra five minutes just to throw her off. When the car was stopped and the engine turned off, Sophie asked if she could take off the mask.

“Not yet,” he told her. “There’s just a short walk, and then we’re there.”

Walking around to the passenger side of the car, Garrett helped Sophie out, then he took her arm in his and guided her to a nearby building.

“Where are we?” she kept asking, once they were inside. “It sounds like we’re all alone.”

Garrett didn’t offer any hints as he led her through the building. They walked up a flight of stairs, down a long hallway, and through a set of thick double doors.

Finally, he told her to sit down carefully. He helped lower her to the ground, where a large blanket was laid out. She felt with her hands to the edge of the blanket, noting with some concern that it was on a concrete floor. What was even more disconcerting was the complete lack of sound. There were definitely no other people around, and she started feeling like maybe the blindfold and secrecy wasn’t such a good idea after all, no matter what Ellen believed they were up to.

Garrett could see the worry in the lines around her mouth. “You ready to take off the mask?” he asked, as he sat down next to her.

“Very.”

“Okay, then. We’re here. Take it off.”

Sophie carefully reached up and broke the Velcro seal on the elastic band that surrounded her head. She squinted to adjust to the new light as the mask came loose.

Only… it was still very dark.

She looked all around the strange, bare room. There appeared to be only one continuous wall that surrounded them like a dome, curving to the center of the room as it got taller. In front of her on the ground were two empty plates beside a couple of small take-out boxes.

“Go ahead, Vance,” Garrett said, craning his neck back toward the door. A few seconds later the lights dimmed even further.

Sophie studied Garrett’s face as the room darkened. He was staring back at her with boyish glee. As their surroundings faded to near pitch-black, a new, subtle flickering began to emanate from the domed walls. Sophie turned her head in every direction and watched with amazement as thousands of tiny lights unexpectedly burst to life. And then she understood. “Stars!” she exclaimed. “Oh my gosh! I haven’t been to a planetarium since a field trip in fifth grade! How did you arrange this?”

“I know a guy,” he said, smiling. “Vance is a patient of mine, and he runs the Pacific Science Center. I gave him a call last night, and he said we could have the whole place to ourselves.”

“It’s amazing,” she said, taking it all in.

“I’m glad you like it.”

Sophie shifted her weight on the concrete. “I thought there used to be chairs in here.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. They’re remodeling, swapping out the old seats for something more comfortable.”

“Well, chairs or not, this is incredible. I can’t believe it.” She looked all around at the growing constellations. “Thank you so much for this.”

Garrett smiled in the darkness.

The remainder of the evening was spent doing exactly what Sophie had requested: gazing at the stars. Garrett hoped she found the setting romantic; he thought she did, but it was too dark to get a good read on her. While they gazed at the expanding universe around them, they also did a great deal of talking, mingled here and there with mouthfuls of pad Thai and coconut rice, using two small flashlights that Garrett had brought along so they could see what they were eating. It wasn’t quite the romance of flickering candles, but it was as close to a candlelit dinner as the fire codes would allow.

During the conversation, Garrett learned that Sophie had a special affinity for astronomy. She’d even taken several elective courses on it in college and could easily name and identify the twelve zodiac constellations of the Western world, along with a handful of lesser-known constellations of Asian origin. When Garrett asked what, specifically, she liked most about the stars, her answer intrigued him.

Lying on her back on the hard concrete floor, she kept her eyes focused on the twinkling lights overhead. “Looking at stars is a glimpse of history,” she said dreamily. “Some of the things we can see in the sky are
millions
of light-years away. The Andromeda galaxy, for instance, is two and a half million light-years from earth, and that’s a relatively close one.” She took his hand in hers and pointed to a faint blur that made up one of the points in the Andromeda constellation. “So what we’re seeing—well, if we were looking at the real thing outside—is literally millions of years old. We’re living in the present, but in a very real way we’re staring at the past.” She paused, briefly glancing at Garrett from the corner of her eye. “Everything in the universe has a past, but stars don’t try to hide it. They just keep shining, for everyone to see.”

Garrett studied those sections of Sophie’s face that were illuminated by the mock starlight. “Andromeda. That’s Greek, right?”

“Very good. She was a princess in the mythological kingdom of Aethiopia. But she also went by a different name. The Chained Lady.”

“Oh yeah? What do you suppose she was chained to?”

Sophie’s eyes locked onto Garrett’s for a brief moment before answering. “The past.”

Though Sophie looked away almost immediately, Garrett couldn’t help but continue staring at her. Everything about her captivated him. The subtle shift in her voice as she talked about Andromeda made him wonder if she somehow viewed herself as a modern Chained Lady, tied to some hidden past.
Or maybe she’s more like a star and less like the Greek princess
, he told himself.
Perhaps understanding her in the present means looking at her past.
But if she was a star—and just by the way Sophie shined when she smiled, Garrett knew that she was—then it stood to reason that they shared something fundamental in common: a
past that would eventually come to light
.

He didn’t care. Looking at her profile, Garrett wanted to learn as much as he could about this woman. He wanted to take every opportunity to see her in the present, with a hope of getting a glimpse of that past, all while keeping an eye toward making himself a part of her future.