Page 49 of Love in Tandem
Leaving her phone behind made avoiding conversations with her parents a lot easier. If only it didn’t make calling for a tow truck a heap trickier.
Sophia sighed, scanning the empty road and stretch of cornfields surrounding her. The Hopkins house shouldn’t be far from here if she remembered the directions correctly. Might as well start walking, right? She wasn’t going to find answers—or a ride back to town—just standing here.
About twenty minutes later, Sophia stumbled across a narrow dirt path on the side of the road. On closer inspection, the narrow road appeared to be a long driveway surrounded by overgrown bushes. And embedded in one of those overgrown bushes sat a mailbox with the initials A. P. H.
Funny, she’d never noticed this driveway before. Of course, when you were busy tossing your hands up and yelling “Whee!” it was kind of hard to notice anything.
After hopping over a mud puddle left from a shower sometime overnight, she hustled down the dirt path that eventually opened to a large spread of green acreage where several mature trees graced the property, adding additional charm to the white two-story farmhouse with a wraparound porch.
The driveway curved around the right of the house, ending at a garage. Or maybe a workshop. Whatever it was, the cute Clark Kent guy she’d glimpsed earlier at the hospital emerged from there, tugging at his short dark hair, as a German shepherd bounded along next to him.
The dog noticed her first, immediately changing course to lope toward her with a few quick barks.
“Oh, hi there, big doggie. Friendly doggie, I hope.” Sophia held out her hand, letting the dog sniff. His tail kept wagging, so Sophia knelt, their new relationship quickly escalating to kisses and hugs. “Well, aren’t you the sweetest thing? Yes you are, yes you are.”
“D’Artagnan, down,” the man said, snapping his fingers and pointing to the ground. The dog sat, tail still wagging.
“D’Artagnan, huh? Well, where are your other musketeers, buddy? All for one and one for all?” Sophia finally looked up and startled onto her rear end. Oh wow. Yeah. This guy was definitely cute. And oh, sweet mercy, he was wearing a vintage Superman T-shirt. She fought hard not to grin like an idiot.
“Hi.” Sophia climbed to her feet and dusted off her rear end. “It’s nice to see you again. Not that I’ve seen you. I mean I have seen you, but you haven’t seen me, so I don’t know why I said it was nice to see you again. We haven’t met. But I did see you earlier today at the hospital. I work there.” Oh my goodness, she should have just grinned like an idiot and kept her mouth shut.
Like this guy was doing. Except without the grin.
“Lovely place.” Sophia motioned around them. “I love the stone fence. That must have been a lot of work. Those stones look heavy. Especially that dark giant one in the middle. But goodness, very charming. I feel like I’ve stumbled into a chapter from The Secret Garden. Did you ever read that book? I bet you have. I mean, your dog’s name is D’Artagnan. Not that that has anything to do with The Secret Garden. It just seems like anyone who names their dog after an Alexandre Dumas character would probably be at least somewhat familiar with other classics. Although to be honest, I haven’t read either book. I’m more into mysteries. My name’s Sophia, by the way.”
Sophia stuck out her hand and inhaled a deep breath. Sometimes she amazed herself at how many words she could cram into a nervous situation. Not that she was nervous. Well, maybe a little bit nervous. He was awful cute—even if he did look rather rumpled and tired.
“Joshua,” he said, shaking her hand with just the right amount of gentleness and firmness. She always believed you could tell a lot about a person by the way they shook your hand. And—she decided at this very moment—the behavior of their pets.
D’Artagnan sat, panting politely next to her feet.
So far Joshua was racking up all sorts of trustworthy and dependable points.
“And um . . . thanks.” He waved his free hand to the rock wall. “But this isn’t my property. The person who lived here died. That’s why I was at the hospital earlier. He appointed me as his financial power of attorney just a few weeks ago. I had no idea he was sick, though. We actually didn’t know each other all that well. So now I’m trying to get things straightened out, and . . .” Joshua stared at her, still holding her hand with the perfect amount of pressure as his tired, friendly eyes narrowed with confusion. “I’m sorry, why are you here?”
“Oh. Right. Probably should have started with that.” She squeezed his hand with the sort of pressure that hopefully conveyed she wasn’t a lunatic. “I came here to ask you about money for the Canoodling Couples Challenge, but the whee-way killed my car, and I don’t have my phone to call Trusty Rusty.”
Okay, that might not have been the best I’m-not-a-lunatic-explanation. Poor Joshua appeared even more tired and confused. “I’m sorry, canoodling what?”
She released him from undoubtedly the longest handshake of his life and took a step back. “Do you know if Mr. Hopkins really has the two hundred fifty thousand dollars he talked about in the newspaper?”
Judging by Joshua’s blank expression, Sophia wasn’t going to get her answer today. “I’m sorry, canoodling what?” he said again.
Nope, definitely not getting her answer today. Sophia explained the challenge as best she could while Joshua leaned down to rub D’Artagnan’s side.
“Sorry,” he said once she’d finished another lengthy ramble, including how her sister and Zach had been chosen. “I’m a little overwhelmed, trying to figure out burial arrangements and things. Two hundred fifty thousand dollars? Is that what you said? Wow. That’s a lot of money. But yeah, I know there’s still a ton of paperwork I need to go through, so I’m sure I’ll find something about it. I’ll get back to you soon.”
“Great. Really appreciate that.” Sophia started walking away, before remembering she didn’t have a working car. “And now I don’t suppose I can borrow your phone.”
“Because the whee-way killed your car and you need to call Trusty Rusty.”
“Exactly.”
For the first time, Joshua’s lips curved in a slow smile. “Do you ever say anything that makes sense?”
Sophia smiled back. “I’m sure at some point in my life it’s happened.”
When he handed her his phone, their fingers brushed, shooting a pleasant dip to Sophia’s stomach. The same sensation she used to get zipping along these back road hills.
