Page 49 of Saving Sophia

“Let me get the others.” He sniffed and turned away from me to limp toward the back of the shop muttering, “Never been played with. Perfect condition.”

“I’m sorry,” I said to Ethan, feeling ridiculous. “We can go. This is a waste of time.”

He traced my cheek with the tips of his fingers. “Your face brightens every time you look at those dolls.” He glanced at the box and then back to me. “I told you before, happy looks beautiful on you.”

The shopkeeper returned, carrying four brightly colored boxes. “This one is very rare.” He pushed one in a white dress toward us. She looked almost as sad as the broken ones, strapped down on the cardboard inside a display box.

“How much?” Ethan asked.

“On eBay? I could get one-fifty. Easy.” He shifted his eyes and darted his tongue out of the corner of his mouth like a lizard. He was lying. I could tell, so I was sure Ethan could too. I was mortified to be the reason some shady shopkeeper tried to scam Ethan out of a hundred-fifty dollars. Ethan looked at his watch.

“That’s too much,” I said. “And I was more interested in?—”

“Told you, those are trash.” The man took a significant sniff and looked at me as if I were screwing up his deal. “This is the one you want.”

“Thank you for your time,” I squeaked out, desperate to get away from the situation. Ethan was probably annoyed. I should never have asked to come in.

“I’d love to bargain with you,” Ethan replied, his voice silky, but with a hidden edge I’d never heard before. “But we have dinner plans. I was going to offer five for her if you included this box.” He gestured to the box of mangled dolls.

“Five … hundred?” spluttered the shopkeeper. His mouth twisted up into a delighted grimace. “You got yourself a?—”

“But now you’ve insulted my girl. Repeatedly.”

My heart sped up and a little shiver ran through me when he called me that.

The shopkeeper blinked, his mouth turning down into a sour frown.

“So now, the deal will be three.” Ethan smiled at me, his dimple showing through his goatee.

The shopkeeper took a deep sniff and started to answer, some of the frown going away.

“For all four.” Ethan pointed to the display boxed dolls. “And those.” He moved his pointer finger to the broken dolls.

“All four?” the shopkeeper exclaimed, his mouth staying open in an outraged snarl. “I couldn’t possibly?—”

“Price just dropped to two seventy-five.” Ethan cut him off and tapped his watch. “As I mentioned, we have dinner plans.”

The shopkeeper glared at me, making it clear this was my fault.

Ethan gave me a sunny smile then looked back at the angry old man. “And an apology to my girl.”

My heart gave another flutter.

The shopkeeper twisted his face, looking like a dog baring its teeth. “So sorry if I offended you, miss,” he gritted out.

Ethan coolly pulled out his wallet and laid out several bills while the old man dumped the broken dolls into a large plastic bag and handed it over to me. I took it, speechless, unable to believe we were leaving with them. Ethan scooped up the four boxes and guided me to the door. A furious sniff followed us as we left the gloomy shop and emerged onto the street.

15

SOPHIA

We stopped at Ethan’s SUV to drop off the dolls. I still couldn’t believe he rescued them all—for me. Because he liked my face when I saw them. My heart squeezed like he’d ridden in on a white horse and scooped us all—the dolls and me—up and whisked us away to a castle in the woods.

That’s kind of exactly what he did.

I couldn’t resist a tiny smile at that.

The door to the restaurant proclaimed itself a ‘Fine Fondue Experience’ and opened into a dimly lit and cavernous expanse with exposed ceilings and rich, dark, brick walls. High-backed booths set each party apart in separate little spaces, offering coziness and privacy.

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