Page 41 of Any Cowboy of Mine
“This is silly, Jackie,” she said. “Isn’t it?”
“You don’t sound very sure of yourself, Soph. Keep walking. Let’s go.” Jackie shuffled Sophie along.
“Ugh,” Sophie said. “I feel like a stalker.”
“You should. But it doesn’t mean you’re wrong.”
“It doesn’t?”
“No. I mean, you have to do your homework if you like the guy. You do like him, don’t you?”
Sophie glared at Jackie, who threw her hands up. “Okay, I get it. You do. Then let’s just walk by and prove that you have nothing to worry about. You’ll feel better knowing, won’t you?”
Sophie nodded.
“And she’s gone mute,” Jackie mumbled under her breath. Sophie heard her but kept her thoughts to herself. For some reason, this whole thing struck her as ridiculous, but her stomach flipped and sweat lined her brow. She was nervous.
After what seemed like an eternity, the three of them found themselves in front of room233. Sophie turned to Steve, her bottom lip quivering.
“How come you’ve been so quiet about this, Steve?”
She almost laughed at the “who, me?” look Steve shot her. It had the effect of lightening the mood, which she could have kissed him for.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t notice I was here and I could avoid the ‘what the hell are you doing’ speech reprisal from last night. I love Jackie, and I’m not gonna hear anything that tells me I should feel otherwise.”
“You won’t hear any of that from me, Steve. To be honest, I found the whole thing incredibly romantic.” At this, Sophie turned her attention to Jackie, finger outstretched accusingly like a teacher pointing at an errant student. “But that doesn’t mean you and I aren’t going to have a serious conversation about all this when we get home.”
Jackie laughed, her arm around Steve. Sophie loved the way her friend gazed up at her paramour. Her hand pressed against another stab of jealousy. She wasn’t lying to Steve. The whole idea of her perpetually single friend finding someone just like her and falling in love in a night was something so utterly predictable, Sophie was shocked she didn’t see it coming.
“Okay,” Steve said. “Let’s get this over with so I can pound my best friend’s face in if he’s doing what we all hope he isn’t right now.”
Sophie nodded, the nerves resurfacing. Jackie reached for her arm, squeezing it, but all Sophie could offer back was a wan smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
Steve’s hand was balled up, ready to knock, when a woman’s loud voice came from the room behind the door. He stopped, and the three of them edged closer to the door as silent as a pack of thieves. Sophie hoped no one came across the three of them huddled against the door, looking like third-rate spies in some bad TV show. It was wholly embarrassing, but at the same time, she didn’t really care. If she heard correctly, the woman she’d just heard had yelled, “What took you so long?”
Sophie bit her bottom lip and tried to look as if she wasn’t bothered when the woman said a little louder, this time clear as water, “Seriously, I’m not going to be mad. Just tell me what took so long. I left you the message hours ago.”
The three spies closed the millimeters of distance between them and the door as if on cue. They would have fallen through the door had anyone on the other side opened it.
“Never mind. It doesn’t matter. I love you and you’re here now. I missed you, you know.” There was no mistaking those words, and Sophie’s heart fell to her stomach like a lead-lined rock. A muffled man’s voice muttered some sort of response that seemed favorable, but all three of them shared looks of confusion, meaning none of them had caught the transaction. The man was too far away from the door. Sophie was conflicted about whether she should will him to move closer, so she could hear him, or pray he stayed put so she didn’t have to hear what he was saying.
“Can I just ask you a question, and no judgment, I just have to know,” the voice that was so clearly Julia’s asked. Sophie held her breath, afraid to exhale too loudly and miss the rest of the inquiry.
“Were you with her?” Sophie closed her eyes tight, willing back the flood of emotions that threatened to push their way to the surface and come out screaming like a toddler’s tantrum.
Another muttered response that none of them caught, but the woman, closer now to them than she had been up until that point, said, “Okay. I believe you. I need to if we are going to do this again.”
Sophie’s mind went blank, and she slid fully to the floor. Her thoughts went to Brad’s hands on her hips last night, to the way he’d looked into her eyes and told her he didn’t want to be anywhere else, ever. She’d believed him too, because nothing had ever felt so right to her and she doubted anything would after that either. It was almost as if his body was made to connect with hers, and even though she didn’t know near enough about the adult Brad she’d slept with the night before, she had a damn good suspicion their souls were pretty well-aligned too.
Boy, had she been misled.
Jackie squeezed her arm and cocked her head to the side, as if to ask, “what do we do now?” Sophie shook her head, a few traitorous tears cresting and falling, betraying her desire to look as cool and calm as she could. She didn’t have a damn clue.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Steve offered her his hand. She took it, marveling at how strong he was as he lifted her from the floor. He brought her to her feet and into his arms for what was the most all-encompassing bear hug she’d ever had. It felt good and safe. She let the tears fall, knowing that no matter what, she had her answers, even if they weren’t the ones she hoped for.
Steve held her like that for a few minutes until he finally sighed and pulled her away so he could look at her. The fabric of his shirt was tear-stained where her head had been, and she dabbed at it in vain.
“We should go,” he whispered. “Are you okay?” Sophie shook her head. No, she wasn’t okay, but she agreed they needed to leave. As soon as possible.
