by Tina Folsom
At the sound of his voice, Sophia’s head tilted to the side as if she was trying to figure something out. A moment later, she shook her head. No, she couldn’t place his voice. It had been loud in the club, and on the way home that night, he hadn’t talked much. And four long weeks had passed. She didn’t recognize him. It would work.
“I didn’t mean to get in your way. How clumsy of me.”
“That’s all right,” she said and smiled.
Triton stepped aside and let them pass, then gave Dionysus a conspiratorial look.
“You want her?” his friend asked in response.
Triton nodded. “She’s perfect.” In every single way.
He remembered her scent, her pliable body, her soft skin. Soon he’d kiss those luscious lips and bury his throbbing shaft in her sweet heat. And he’d make her scream his name in ecstasy until she told him she loved him.
“You sure?” Dionysus’ voice dripped with sarcasm. “Cause if you are, we’d better get out of here before the staff here takes offense at your hard-on.” His friend’s pointed look at Triton’s crotch did little to alleviate the embarrassment that swept through him.
How was it that he couldn’t control his body’s reaction to Sophia? He wasn’t a teenager anymore. This shouldn’t happen to him.
“Are we just gonna stand here while you imagine the-gods-know-what?” Dionysus’ impatience made itself known. “And now I’d like an explanation, especially in light of the fact that you so callously dismissed my idea of dating a blind woman. And if I'm not completely mistaken, the woman who’s the reason for your current boner is blind.”
For a second, Triton wondered whether to tell Dionysus the truth. For some strange reason, he wanted to keep his prior encounter with Sophia private, which surprised him. Normally he had no issues with telling his friend every detail of his exploits with women. With a quick shake of his head, he rid himself of the odd sentiment.
“She was the one who called me a male bimbo behind my back.”
In the next instant, Dionysus shook with laughter. Triton shrugged. His friend had an odd sense of humor and found the strangest things funny.
“When you’re done laughing, can we get back to business?” Triton said in a dry tone.
Dionysus raised his hand, indicating he was trying to speak, but it took him a full minute to get his voice back under control. “Sorry, but that was just too funny to pass up.”
“I don’t see what’s funny about that.”
“You really don’t, do you? So let me get this straight: you chose her because she called you shallow and unreliable? What are you trying to prove?”
Wasn’t that evident? He’d show her that he was nothing of the sort. And besides, she was as beautiful as Aphrodite and as feisty as Artemis. “I have nothing to prove. She’s the perfect target: single, blind, and pretty.”
He’d purposefully used the word target because he didn’t want Dionysus to realize that this woman wasn’t just a convenient victim anymore. Besides, his friend was far too perceptive for his liking. No, if Dionysus knew what Sophia stirred up in him, the kind of emotions and desires she unleashed in his confused mind, Dionysus’ laughter would never stop.
“That’s not what you said earlier. Let me remind you. I believe your exact words were: I’m not shallow—and I’m going to prove it to you and to that damn woman. I’m assuming by ‘that damn woman’, you meant her? Oh, yeah, and before I forget: didn’t you also call her insolent, disrespectful and totally annoying?”
Why did his friend have to possess perfect recall? “You’re treading on thin ice right now—watch out, or you might fall into the hole you’re digging yourself,” Triton hissed.
“What are friends for?” The smirk on Dionysus’ face needed to be wiped off, but Triton didn’t want to draw any more attention than they already had by Dionysus’ loud laughter.
“What now?”
“Now we’ll go find that home healthcare worker she booked.” Triton had just had a brilliant idea.
“To do what?”
“To switch places.” Triton turned fully to his friend and stretched his arms out to his sides, presenting himself. “Meet Sophia’s new home healthcare worker.” A broad grin spread on Triton’s face as the idea took root. What perfect setup to get close and prove to her that he was worth her love and that she could rely on him!
“You are one sick son of a god.” Dionysus grinned. “I like it, I like it a lot.”
Chapter Nine
The moment the entrance door shut behind Francesca, Sophia slumped into the sofa in the living room. From the little she could see, she realized her friend had been right. The contractor had made some progress, and the work on the second floor where the kitchen, living and dining rooms were located seemed to be complete. How well the work was done, however, she couldn’t ascertain with her limited eyesight.
The workers had already left for the day, and the house was quiet. She wouldn’t have minded the company. After four weeks in the hospital with its constant sounds day and night, her home struck her as eerily quiet. It had never bothered her before. But now that she couldn’t rely on her eyes, her hearing seemed to compensate for the loss of one of her senses and amplified everything, even the silence.
Sophia lifted herself out of the sofa and ran her hands along the wall to find her way into the kitchen. Francesca had left a plate of food for her in the fridge, which she only needed to stick into the microwave. By tomorrow, the healthcare worker would be here and take care of these things for her.
When she entered the kitchen, she found the light switch and flipped it. The room became illuminated, and it helped somewhat to recognize the outlines of the newly appointed kitchen. She was careful not to bump into the center island and used her hands to guide herself to the double doors of the industrial size refrigerator.
Sophia found the plate Francesca had prepared and reached for it. A sound behind her made her spin around. The plate in her hand knocked into an obstacle that hadn’t been there before. Her breath hitched.
“I told you that you needed help.”
She looked at the large frame of the man in front of her. Instant irritation rose in her stomach. “Michael, how did you get in?” Had somebody left the back door open?
Michael took the plate out of her hand and moved. She heard the familiar beeps of the microwave as he punched in the time. “The contractor gave me a key. Just as well, seeing that you’re all alone and helpless.”
“I’m not helpless,” she protested, but he barely acknowledged her.
“I’m here to help you. I heard that Francesca’s boss broke his leg, and now she has to take over his duties.”
“How did you find out?” Sophia didn’t like the fact that he already knew that Francesca wouldn’t be able to help her. She felt watched. Where else had Michael been snooping around? An uncomfortable feeling rose in her stomach.
“You forget that this is a small town. Everybody knows everybody’s business. Don’t worry, I’m here to help.” Michael’s voice sounded casual and easygoing as if their fight in the hospital had never happened.
“I told you already that I don’t need your help. Nothing’s changed.” She didn’t want him here, not even now when she needed all the help she could get.
“Don’t be silly. How are you going to find your way around the house, half-blind as you are?”
His words stung. Was he doing this on purpose, reminding her at every turn that she was handicapped? As if she didn’t know it herself. Tears started to burn behind her eyes. She pushed them back. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her like this. With a swift move she turned away from him and reached for the countertop.
“I’ve hired help. So you don’t have to concern yourself with my wellbeing.” As if he ever had.
“Hired help? You want to pay some stranger to help you when I’m offering you my help for free? Don’t be ridiculous!” Michael’s outrage sliced through her.
“Free?�
�� She didn’t raise her voice, not wanting to start another fight, particularly when she was alone with him. “Nothing you do is for free. You’ve never done a single thing in your life that somebody didn’t have to pay for in the end.”
“That’s not true.”
“Is it not? I’m tired, Michael, and I’m tired of you. It was Eleni’s decision not to give the house to you, not mine. I told you what I can offer you, but you didn’t want it—”
“Don’t throw me a bone. You think you’re doing the right thing, bringing strangers into our home? Paying guests? That’s degrading! We grew up here, and that’s how you honor those memories, by turning our home into a place, where anybody who pays you can put their dirty feet up?”
The hostility in Michael’s voice filled the room and made the air feel stifling. Sophia inhaled sharply. “What are you accusing me of? That I’m trying to keep my home? I have memories here too. And I’m not leaving. If that means I have to share the house with paying guests so I can pay the inheritance taxes, then that’s what I’m doing.”
The soft pings of the microwave punctuated her point. She turned to it and opened the door. Michael stepped behind her and got to it first. He pulled the plate out of it and placed it on the counter in front of her.
“Damn it, Sophia, I’ve offered my help. What else do you want me to do?”
“Leave. I want you to leave.” She felt drained.
“I can’t do that. We’re family. Family sticks together when times are tough.”
“I’m doing all right.” Well, she wasn’t doing all right, neither physically, emotionally, nor financially, but she’d rather bite off her tongue than ask Michael for help. His price for that help was too high. She’d rather pay for hired help.
“You just said that you have to pay the inheritance taxes. So don’t deny it. You need help. If we pooled our resources, you wouldn’t have to go through this alone.” His hands waved around the room.
“Pooled our resources? Last time I checked, you had no resources. Last time I saw you before Eleni died, you’d just forged her signature and written a check on her account. You’d cleaned her out of cash. Are those the resources you’re talking about, Michael? Is that what you’re going to do, steal from somebody again?” She hadn’t wanted to accuse him, but he couldn’t take her hints that she wanted him gone.
“That was a misunderstanding, and you know it.” His defense was lame at best. There had been no misunderstanding. Sophia had caught him red-handed.
“You were lucky she didn’t go to the police. She should have. If it had been me, I would have done it. Maybe then you would have learned something for once.” She choked back a tear at the thought of how disappointed Eleni had been when she’d found out what he’d done. She’d cried for hours and blamed herself for not having raised him right—that she’d failed as the substitute mother she’d had to become.
“I’ve changed. Things are different now. I’ve gotten cleaned up. I don’t gamble anymore. I’m off drugs. Trust me. I regret what happened back then, I really do. I wasn’t myself, but—”
“But what, Michael? You’ve finally developed a conscience?” she mocked.
“I always had a conscience. You don’t need to be so self-righteous. I’m not the only one in this house who had issues. Or have you forgotten how often I covered for you when you claimed to see creatures that weren’t there?”
Sophia gasped and put her hand to cover her mouth. No, she hadn’t forgotten all the strange creatures she’d seen as a child. For him to bring this up now, that was a low blow.
“No, you haven’t forgotten, have you?” he continued taunting her. “I was there for you then. I stopped you from telling Eleni about them, so she wouldn’t send you to the doctors to have you checked out. What do you think they would have done with you? You know it, don’t you?”
“Stop, please stop,” Sophia said, her voice but a breathless whisper. She didn’t want to be reminded, not now, not ever.
“They would have locked you up in the crazy wing of the hospital, just like they were planning to do with your mother if she hadn’t died in the boating accident. Yes, if I hadn’t been there to stop you from telling Eleni every time you thought you saw somebody, they would have put you with all the nutcases. And that’s how you repay me?”
Michael’s large frame loomed over her, crowding her senses. She didn’t want to be reminded of those days. In her dreams, she’d seen and talked to creatures from another world. It had started months before that day on the beach when she’d seen a man in the sea. She’d seen others too: fairies, gnomes, otherworldly creatures—creatures from the air and the sea, even gods.
She’d told Eleni at first, but her aunt had gotten concerned about her wellbeing, and then Michael had told her to lie to Eleni and pretend the creatures had disappeared. She’d lied to her aunt because she was afraid that she’d be sent away.
Sophia felt the wetness on her cheeks and realized that she was crying. She pushed her hands against Michael’s chest and shoved him out of her way before she stumbled through the kitchen.
“We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” he called after her as she stepped through the door to the hallway.
“No!” she croaked, her throat parched.
She found the banister and used it to find her way upstairs and into her room on the third floor. With unsteady feet, she entered her bedroom and slammed the door shut. Her hands shook as she turned the key in the lock.
When she reached the bed, she let herself fall onto it. The ghosts of her past had caught up with her. For over ten years, she hadn’t thought about the creatures she’d seen as a child. It had taken only a few words from Michael to bring back the memories.
Having Michael in the house was unacceptable. He would use every occasion to remind her of all the things she wanted to forget—most of all, her fear that she would succumb to mental illness.
Many years after her mother’s death, she’d found her diary. Sophia had been so starved to find out what her mother was like that she’d read it. When she’d read about the creatures her mother had claimed to see, she’d thrown the diary into the fire.
Her mother had been crazy, and her diary hadn’t been the only proof. Sophia and Michael had found an old letter while playing in the house one day—a letter from a psychiatrist recommending Sophia’s mother be admitted to an institution for further evaluation. Sophia knew she herself showed the same symptoms of mental illness her mother had described in her diary and the doctor had confirmed in his letter. From that day on, she’d closed her eyes whenever she thought she saw another creature and just wished them away. With time, they’d disappeared and she thought she’d beaten her fate.
But fate was cruel, and some things couldn’t be wished away.
Chapter Ten
Triton leaned against a tree lining Battery Street, and to the casual observer he would have looked just like another tourist enjoying the early morning sun. But under his half-closed lids nothing escaped his observation. Like a hawk, he’d been watching the entry door to Sophia’s house since sunrise.
He let his eyes sweep over the impressive antebellum home, which rivaled his parents’ underwater home in size. It boasted three stories of living space. The second and third stories were adorned with large porches on one side of the house and small julienne balconies on the other sides. The rooms on the first floor had French doors opening to the large private garden hidden behind a massive wrought iron fence. Alongside it, bushes and young trees provided privacy to the large lot.
He was surprised that a young woman like Sophia lived in a large house like this. From his observations during the night—he hadn’t been able to sleep—he’d figured out that she lived there alone.
Half an hour ago, Triton had seen workers enter the property, and he could now hear the construction noise from the third floor. That and the large dump truck outside the property told him the house was undergoing major renovations.
So far, he hadn’t seen anybod
y else exit or enter the home.
With his foot, Triton kicked Dionysus who sat at the base of the tree. “Are you sleeping?”
His friend snorted, but didn’t get up. “You’re right, I am. Nobody gets up at such an ungodly hour. We could have had breakfast first.”
“I’m not hungry.”
Dionysus let out a huff. “Typical. When do you ever think of anybody but yourself? I’m hungry. I know this place that makes the best grits with bacon and—”
“What is it with you and grits?” The night before, Dionysus had dragged him to a restaurant and insisted he try grits.
His friend pulled himself to his feet and dusted off his pants. “It’s good stuff. Plus, when you drink as much as I do, you need a good food base to keep your strength up.”
“Ever thought of curbing your drinking instead?” Triton taunted him and braced himself for his friend’s reaction.
“Why on Olympus would I do such a thing? Are you feeling quite all right? Obviously not, otherwise you’d not come up with such a stupid idea. Not that you’ve had any brilliant ideas lately.”
Triton dismissed the insult with a shrug. “My plan is brilliant, and you’re just jealous because it wasn’t your idea, and you won’t be able to take credit for it.”
“You’re an ass, and it was my idea.”
“Love you too,” Triton retorted. “So you know what to do?”
Dionysus nodded, bored. “When the nurse gets here, I’ll distract her, use my considerable charm and whisk her away. Yada, yada, yada. I’ll distort her feeling of time so she won’t know how long I’m keeping her, and you’ve got free reign. You’d better be using the time well—I’m not used to hanging out with the same woman for too long.”
Dionysus’ annoyed look made Triton chuckle. His friend would just have to bear it for a week or two. How hard could it be? And with some luck, the nurse would prove to be a nice distraction for Dionysus, and maybe even teach him a thing or two.
“Even your one-night-only rule is there to be broken. Enjoy,” Triton said.