I felt my face heat as I snatched my plate from the table. I never should have told her about the Starbucks run-in. I rinsed my plate in the sink and stomped from the room. “I hear y'all laughing at me in there!” I yelled back through the house to Trevor.
Chapter 6
Sophie
Stacy was with the baby at the hospital, so I made sure Jeran got to his nursery class okay and told Trevor I would see him after church. I turned from him to head down the hall in the opposite direction, but stopped short when I almost walked right into someone. I began an apology, but cut it off when I saw who it was- the guy who had been eyeing me in passing since my first Sunday here. My eyebrows rose in surprise.
“Hey, your social life is about to amp up considerably.” Mr. Smooth’s silky voice matched his designer suit and I leaned away as he leaned in and raised his arm to rest it against the wall above my head. I blinked and took a step back as Mr. Smooth continued. “I saw you the first week you were here, but couldn’t get through the mob of women clamoring for my attention to introduce myself. I’m Andrew, by the way. But you can call me Andy.” He thrust his hand toward me and flashed a polished grin.
“Sophie,” I replied, shaking his hand. I pulled mine from his grasp when he held on longer than necessary and consciously refrained from wiping it on my skirt.
“That’s the cutest drawl, little lady,” he twanged, his hand creeping slowly down the wall toward my cheek. “Where are you from and what brings you to Oregon?”
“I’m the aunt turned nanny for a while until my brother and his wife bring their baby home from the hospital,” I replied shortly. My skin was beginning to crawl.
“You'd be more than welcome in my pew,” he hinted. I nearly choked when his knuckles caressed my cheek. I pulled away as he continued. “I'd save you a seat. Consider this your personal invitation."
He ran a hand through his highly gelled hair and favored me with another award winning smile. At what point is it not considered rude to abruptly end a conversation and skedaddle? I was ready to be as far from this guy as possible.
“My cousin works at one of the hospitals around here,” Andy informed me, fingering a lock of my hair.
“Really?” I asked, flicking my head to remove my hair from his fingers. Only half listening, I searched frantically over his shoulder for my brother or anyone who could free me from this egomaniac.
“…a doctor.”
I turned back to him. “How nice for your cousin,” I said, cutting him off. “Thanks for the welcome, but I really need to get to Sunday school.” I moved to walk around him, but he cut in front of me, blocking my path.
“So, are you going to ever agree to go out with me? I don’t usually have to beg the ladies, but I’m not above begging if that’s what it takes for you.”
Blech. I tried not to cringe. I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. This guy is beyond wrapped up in himself.
“You know, I’m so busy right now with my nephews, I don’t really have time for socializing." And that was just one of the reasons I wouldn't be sliding into his pew next Sunday. "Thanks for the offer, though.” I managed to hold back a satisfied smile when his jaw dropped and I stepped around him, successfully this time, and went in search of the Sunday school room. I gave one quick glance over my shoulder as I went. Maybe I should have bee-lined it for the restroom. Certainly he wouldn't follow me in there. You never know.
James
“So, I really think you should make an effort to come to church with me next week.” Andy said to me on the way to Kaley’s house Sunday evening. “There’s this girl…She’s new, here for a while helping family or something, and I want to know what you think.”
“For you or for me?” I asked warily, not ready to discuss women with him.
“Well, she does look like someone you’d go for. Long dark hair, amazing eyes… But I meant for me.” Then as an afterthought he said, “You could get any girl you want. How do you do it?” He continued without waiting for an answer. “The better question is why don’t you?”
I chose humor as a distraction. “It’s the uniform. Women love a guy in uniform.”
“They’re scrubs, dude. I’m not sure that counts,” he said, laughing.
“I’m just fine going with Kaley to her services. She could use the help with Mark’s busy Sunday schedule. You know that." Andy had been bugging me since he moved in to attend church with him. But he liked to attract attention and I preferred the more laid back option of helping my sister wrestle two energetic young boys. “Besides, relationships are highly overrated.” I shrugged.
“She was one woman in millions,” he pointed out. I could hear the irritation in his voice. To my knowledge, Andy hadn’t ever really been in strong like let alone love, so he couldn't understand how one person can ruin all future relationships forever.
“Make that one in billions. They all can’t be that bad. You aren’t ever going to give any of them another chance?” he asked incredulously. “Fine. You’ll force me to break my no-setting-relatives-up rule and set you up on a date. You can double with me and Sophie,” he suggested. “On second thought, I don’t want you anywhere near Sophie. I’ve seen how you work your magic and turn women to mush. You’re on your own. But get on it, man. You’re not getting any younger.”
“No time,” came my somewhat lame reply. Truthfully? I was a little gun shy. Okay, a lot gun shy. As in not even allowing myself in the general vicinity. It’s not worth all the hassle and definitely not worth the heartache. Been there, done that.
“Hey, do you remember that song Grandpa Anderson used to sing to us about marrying an ugly woman? How did it go?” Andy asked, attempting to hum a few bars of the 1960’s-something classic.
“'If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife…' or something like that,” I quoted, amused. I hadn’t thought of that song in at least twenty years. “Do you remember how we used to laugh at grandpa like crazy when he sang that to us? The very idea of marrying in general set us off,” I chuckled. “But apparently the song writer knows something we don’t...”
“Just do like the songs says. Find an ugly woman and marry her and all your troubles will be over,” Andy suggested. “That also clears the path for me to pick up all the beautiful women who fall all over you. Send them my way, please.”
I laughed and held up my fist for Andy to bump. “They’re all yours.”
“Uncle James,” my nephews screeched and burst through the front door and down the steps to wrap their arms around me. Landon is seven and Eli is five. Both could pass for my own with the same brown hair and eyes. Their pictures are almost identical to mine when I was their age. I reached down and scruffed Landon’s hair and picked Eli up and swung him over my shoulder.
“How’s school, Landon?” I asked as Eli wriggled to be put down.
“Good,” came his usual response. “But I read a whole chapter book by myself.” I grinned at his puffed out chest.
“Way to go, dude,” I praised and held my fist out for knuckles. “And what about you Elijah?” I asked, lifting my free hand to tickle him, but stopped immediately when his squirming threatened to launch him off my shoulder and onto the ground. I set him down and opened the front door as he glared up at me.
“It’s Eli,” he grumbled.
“No, it’s Eli-schmeeli,” Landon teased him and ran ahead of us into the house.
“No, it’s not,” Eli screamed and tore into the house and up the stairs after Landon.
“Boys…” Kaley shouted after them, a warning clear in her voice.
“I swear…” she sighed. “Hey, James. Hey, Andy,” she greeted us wearily. I chuckled as I gave her a hug.
“Leave them alone. They are just being brothers.”
“If it were up to you, they’d do and get whatever they wanted. I’m the one who has to be the parent.”
“What about me?” my brother-in-law complained even as he leaned in to give Kaley a kiss
on the cheek on his way to the living room.
“How about you practice being the parent and go talk to your boys,” she said wryly and then grimaced as a loud thump sounded above our heads from upstairs.
“Babe, the game’s about to start,” he whined, but turned and headed for the boys bedroom.
“Where is this sweet little lady you are introducing me to?” Andy rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
“I wasn’t…” she looked between me and Andy in confusion and then her eyes narrowed slightly as they settled on me.
“Oh, no,” she objected loudly. “You aren’t getting out of this by pawning her off on Andy.”
“I told you I would let you know when I was ready and I’m not. Why not let Andy have a shot? I’m just here for the food.”
She brushed past us and grumbled all the way to the kitchen. I frowned and followed Kaley while Andy laughed and wished me good luck, punching me on the shoulder as he headed to the living room to watch the game.
“By agreeing to come here tonight, you agreed to give Lacey a chance,” she pointed the gravy ladle at me. She lowered her voice. “She isn’t right for Andy.”
“There aren’t many who are,” I told her.
“Exactly. Which is why I was introducing her to you.” She smacked my arm with her free hand. “She’ll be here any minute. What am I supposed to do?”
“You don’t have to do anything except introduce us both to her and she can choose. I’ll just let Andy work his magic and sway her to his side.”
“Ugh,” she groaned and rolled her eyes, turning back to the gravy boat. “That’s what I’m afraid of.” She lifted the gravy spoon, gravy dripping onto the counter, and pointed it at me. “Lacey is my friend. If you mess this up…” she threatened, flicking gravy onto the floor in front of my shoes.
“Hey, watch where you fling that stuff,” I complained. I reached for a paper towel and leaned down to clean up the mess that barely missed my polished Belvederes. “I’m not going to mess anything up. And you should be thanking me for even coming since this was mainly to get Mom off your back.”
She gave me a withering look as the doorbell rang. “Carry this to the table, will you?” She handed me a bowl of mashed potatoes and the gravy boat. “I’ll get the door.” She clutched her hands to her chest, walking backward, and pleaded, “Please, be the brother I know you can be.”
I followed her out of the kitchen to the dining room and grinned wickedly. “Which brother is that?”
Chapter 7
Sophie
"How are you settling in?" Adri asked over the phone the next day.
"A well as can be expected, I guess. Jeran and I are getting along well and I'm getting used to dividing my time between the house and the hospital..." my voice trailed off.
"But?" Adri prodded.
"The guys here are worse than those in Texas," I admitted.
"How is that possible?"
"I mean, I know I'm not here for the guys, but I'd hoped to...I don't know," I sighed in frustration.
"Maybe you just need to take a little time for yourself. This is a huge change for you. You can only be around a toddler for so long before you feel like banging your head against a wall."
"And you speak from experience?" I asked, amused.
"Of course not. Get out and meet new people," Adri suggested.
"Well, there is this guy at church..." I thought over the brief conversation with the smarmy man and shivered. "Never mind."
"Noooo. You met someone and you didn't tell me?"
"It was too painful to recount," I told her.
"Come on. How can I help you if you don't give me anything to go on?"
"Fine," I muttered. "But it's only because I will be proving my point about guys in Oregon. I'll have to tell you about the doctor too, I guess," I said more to myself.
"There's a doctor?" Adri squealed. "You are not getting off this phone until you spill it. All of it."
I proceeded to replay in horrifying detail the whole uncomfortable church encounter and then the mostly pleasant encounters with Dr. Anderson. Until the most recent one, of course.
"He sounds pretty conceited," Adri agreed. "But aren't all the good doctors full of themselves? Maybe he can't help it."
"Don't defend him," my voice rose. "I know he's doing his job and my nephew is his priority, but he could work on his delivery. Trevor's never had a problem with him. Maybe he has issues with women."
"What did you say he looks like?" Adri wanted to know.
“He’s kinda hot,” I said, trying not to sound like a smitten teenager.
“How hot?”
“Like really hot,” I admitted.
“Hot doctor is good. Who knew scrubs could be such a turn on,” she mused.
“Not me. Until now.” Sigh.
“You have to promise me that you will give people a chance. Maybe that church guy isn’t so bad on further examination. Even if he is, he could introduce you to other dating possibilities.”
“So I’m using him to find other guys? What’s wrong with that picture?”
“Not using him. But when you are together, you’ll happen to run into people he knows and he will introduce you. That could be helpful in the long run.”
I still wasn’t convinced. “Whatever you say,” I told her.
“Just be open. That’s all I’m asking.”
“Fine.”
"What casserole did you decide to go with tonight? Trevor asked, crossing the kitchen to muss Jeran's hair.
"Daddy," Jeran beamed and held up his arms for Trevor to hold him.
"Pickings are getting slim,” I admitted. “So tell Daddy what we decided to go with, Jeran."
"Wish chicken," he reported and put both little hands on Trevor's cheeks. "When do we get to make a wish?" he asked and leaned forward until they were eye to eye, foreheads touching.
Trevor pulled back slightly and raised an eyebrow. "Wish chicken?" he mouthed.
"As in, I wish we didn't have to eat another chicken casserole," I told him. Trevor laughed. "Not really. It's Swiss chicken. We are just finishing up a salad, aren't we, little man."
"Yup," Jeran said with a pat on Trevor's cheeks. He squirmed to get down.
"I'm going to go check on my lovely wife. Call when dinner is ready." Trevor left the kitchen in search of Stacy and I scraped the chopped carrots and tomatoes into the bowl with the lettuce and spinach.
"Mix that around for us, sport." I turned to take the casserole from the oven and placed it on the table.
"Woo, woo, woo," Jeran sang.
I looked over my shoulder to see salad flying through the air and raining down like spring blossoms all over the counter and floor. "Whoa there, little chef." I stilled his hands with my own. "We can't eat the salad if it's on the floor."
"Yes we can. We could eat like puppies," he reasoned. "I want a puppy, Aunt Sophieeee."
"Well, not tonight. You'll have to talk to your mommy and daddy about that one." Please no puppies. "Why don't you go tell mommy and daddy that dinner is ready while I clean up our puppy salad."
I lifted him down from the chair he stood on at the counter and he ran out of the kitchen yelling, "Puppy salad. Puppy salad."
"I'm off to the hospital," I announced a short time later, standing from the table and taking my plate to the sink.
"We didn't wish yet," Jeran protested.
"I'll tell you later," Trevor grinned at Stacy's look of confusion.
"I wish that your brother would get better and come home soon." I said, planting a kiss on the top of Jeran's head.
"I wish fo a puppy," Jeran yelled. I laughed at the panicked look on Trevor's face.
"I'll let you two field that one," I told them as I left through the back door.
"Come here, little guy," I whispered to Dylan, lifting him from the incubator. I kissed his soft little head and held him as close as the tubes would allow. We settled into the rocking chair and I raised the bottle to his lips. "So
ng or story tonight," I asked. When the only response was noisy eating, I decided. "Story it is."
"A long time ago, fierce storms roared through villages and homes. Earthquakes opened the earth and swallowed people and buildings. Mountains fell and buried entire cities. For three days, darkness covered the earth. Candles couldn't be lit. Fires couldn't be started. People were sad and scared because the darkness covered them like a thick blanket. After three days, the darkness dissipated and the people who were still alive heard a voice from heaven. They didn't understand it at first, but after the third time, they heard and understood. It touched their hearts and all the crying stopped. A man came among them. He told them to bring their children to him. He healed them. All their pains. All their sickness and disability. He took it all away. He loved the children. Angels came down from heaven and surrounded the children. The children saw marvelous things from heaven. What do you think about that, baby? Did you know Jesus can heal you? He can."
"Do you really believe that?" Zeke asked quietly. I jumped at the sound of his voice.
"How long have you two been there?" I asked over my shoulder.
"Where'd you hear that story, girl?" Ms. Gina asked. "It's pure beautiful- Jesus comin' and blessin' them children. We could sure use some of that 'round here."
"My mother used to tell me that story every night before bed. She said it chased the bad dreams away because Jesus and the angels would watch over me in my sleep. It's in a book of scripture I have. I could bring it and show you if you'd like." I sat Dylan up and gently patted his back, encouraging a burp.
"That'd be real nice of you, Ms. Sophie. I could stand to hear that one again." She started back to the office. "Get to singin'. I'll only be a holler away if you should need anything."
Zeke moved over to stand beside me. "Do you really believe that?" he repeated.
I glanced up at him from the rocker. "Yes, Zeke. I really do."
"What's the point? With all the sh...stuff that goes on in the world? It's a nice story, but that's all it is."
"What did the world do to you to make you so bitter? And if you don't believe it, why the tat?" I nodded with my chin toward his arm.
Matters of the Heart Page 5