by Hanna Hart
“It's the charm of us,” he said.
“Remind me why we didn't work out, again?” she said, clearly joking.
They both chuckled at that, and then the room fell silent again.
The longer he looked at her, the more sense they made together. The love he had for her easily found its way back to the surface, and all he could think of was all the ways she'd made him happy both now and in the past.
Nash hadn't thought his heart could open again after Kenzie died. In some ways, he still felt like he was in shock. But it had been seven months, and somehow, life felt like it was worth living again, and he knew it was in no small part thanks to Sophia.
Now the real test was whether or not he was going to tell her so.
He watched her fidget and cross her legs on the plush throw rug and had to fight not to reach out and touch her.
“Where's Wesley?” he asked.
She blinked in surprise at the question. She cocked her head to the side, curious, as she said, “Gone to see his mom.”
“Oh, that's right,” he said, feigning ignorance. “He has the week off. I'm surprised he didn't ask you to go with him?”
“He did,” she snorted. “But I can't leave the farm. Unlike you guys over at Havenview, I'm not big enough to afford a huge staff to take care of everything while I'm gone. Besides...”
“Besides, you don't want to go?” he said knowingly.
Sophia grinned. She gave a playful shrug and confessed, “I don't know…I don't know how serious this thing is.”
“Classic Sophia,” he said.
“No, not classic Sophia. I'm not classic Sophia anymore,” she insisted.
“Then what's up? Wesley is a nice guy. The best guy, I'd argue,” he said.
“I don’t like to be rushed.”
“I know that firsthand,” he smirked.
“I mean, we’ve only been out on a couple of dates. A couple of dates doesn’t mean you go and meet the mom, right?”
“Can’t argue with that logic,” he said, happy to be convinced otherwise.
His heart started to pound as he watched Sophia finish off her drink, knowing that time was ticking away, and he couldn’t let another night go by without giving his heart to her—to keep or to break, he didn’t know.
Either way, it wouldn’t have been the first time.
“How long have we been hanging out, a month and a half?”
“Two,” she corrected.
“Two months. Wow.”
“That's all of May and all of June you've spent with me, Mister,” she smiled.
“Two months,” he repeated, swirling what remained of his tea in his mug. He could feel his heart pick up the pace as he looked next to him at his ex-girlfriend. He pulled in a long breath and met her eyes.
“I don't want to wait two years again,” he said.
“For what?” she asked.
“For you,” he said.
Her pale eyes flicked up at him, and they looked like glass. He could hear the insects outside, the cicadas letting out their loud, jittering hisses, and they only emphasized the silence in the room.
“Okay,” she said with a breath.
“I know I shouldn't have said that, and I know you're dating Wesley, and I know we've already done this once,” he said quickly, defending his decision to bring it up.
“Yes,” she said softly, though the smile hadn’t left her face. “With a bad outcome, if you'll remember.”
“The worst. Believe me, I remember. And despite all that, I can't stop thinking about you. I think of games to play with Imogene, I think of places I can take you on the ranch to impress you, and I think about what's left to do to your house, and I get sick when I can't come up with anything because then I have no excuse to see you anymore.”
“Oh, Nash,” she teased. “You were always one for big speeches.”
“And I know things were all wrong before, but I think they're right now. I can't be certain, because I can never get a read on you, Sawyer,” he said, using his fondest name for her. “All I know is how I feel, and I feel like the worst friend to Wes, but even that can't drown out these feelings. You're the one, Soph. I wish you weren't, but you're my one.”
It was true.
Of course, Kenzie had been his one. She’d been the one he married, but deep down, Sophia had always been the one who got away. The love that went unexplored.
Sophia was quiet a moment, taking it all in. Then said, “You don't know how I feel about you?” as though it was the funniest thing she had ever heard.
“Biggest mystery of my life,” he said, letting out a humored breath.
Sophia leaned in close and closed her eyes as she pressed her warm lips against his. His mouth went stiff, then settled into her familiar kiss; their mouths fumbling and then finding their all too familiar dance.
She was intoxicating.
“Should we file that under ‘mystery solved?’” she whispered flirtatiously as the kiss ended.
Nash was too stunned to respond. He looked at her and blinked in surprise.
“I should have said yes,” she lamented.
What she meant by that was that she should have said yes when Nash asked her to marry him three years ago.
But she said no.
A big no, in fact.
And then everything fell apart.
“Biggest mistake of my life, saying no,” she continued, still smiling. “It was never about you, Nash. I never questioned you. I just didn't think I was good enough for all that. I was...”
“Young?” he asked. It was what she had said at the time, but Sophia shook her head.
“I was going to say stupid, but young works, too,” she giggled. “You've always been my soulmate, Nash. Always. Nobody could have my heart, because it was always yours. Always, always, always.”
He felt his face go hot. “Now you're just saying that.”
“No,” she said, her expression finally turning serious. “It's true.”
“Don't say it unless you mean it, Sophia. Please,” he asked, knowing that his heart couldn’t take any more devastation.
“I have waited three years to tell you I'm sorry,” she said. “Three years to try again, Nash.”
He nodded, expecting more, but Sophia looked at him.
“Do you want to try again with me?” she finally asked, reaching her hand out toward him. He took it in his, and he felt an electric spark between them.
“More than anything,” he said.
Chapter Fourteen
Sophia
Sophia’s heart was full.
She and Nash were a couple again. She felt an overwhelming sense of being complete as soon as he kissed her, like her life was coming full circle.
Before the tornado, when Nash came to her house with the food supplies, she felt something awaken in her. Feeling for him came bubbling to the surface and knowing that he felt the same way meant everything to her.
But not every happily ever after was as easy to get to.
Their romance began again with a kiss, but they’d spent the last week being secretive about it because of Wesley.
Nash had come over every day that week, and the two would spend hours with Imogene, taking her out to play or finding activities to do at the ranch, then they would retire to her house and kiss for hours and hours like they were still teenagers.
Wesley had been gone all week to visit family, giving Nash and Sophia time to plan out their next steps.
Step one was to tell Wesley she didn’t want to see him anymore.
Sophia had never cheated on anyone before, and she felt that she still hadn’t. She and Wesley certainly hadn’t committed to one another—they were just hanging out, as far as she was concerned.
At first, she didn’t think it was going to be a big deal to tell him, but whenever she tried to break it off through text, the boy would bombard her with affection and make it feel impossible to carry out.
Apparently, Wesley had a very different idea of what their time togethe
r meant than she did.
“Just do it in person,” Nash suggested. “That’s the only way you’re going to get it done.”
Sophia took his advice and made plans for Wesley the day after he got back from his parents.
She thought the two were going to meet for coffee, but Wesley insisted on taking her to a baseball game.
It was fine, she told herself. She didn’t care a thing for baseball, but it was fine. She would go watch the game with him, and then afterward, it would give her even more reason to say, “Hey, sorry, we’re just not into the same things. I’m not feeling this,” or some other polite way to get out of the mess she was in with Wesley.
Nash offered to watch Imogene while she was gone, and he had been nervously excited all day, anticipating the breakup.
He told her he would give her space to get everything wrapped up, but after being gone for a couple of hours, Nash began texting her.
“Call me,” he wrote.
“I can't, I'm still with Wesley,” she wrote back.
She and Wesley sat in the bleachers at the local college baseball field. He glanced over to see that she was texting, and while he didn’t say anything, she knew he wished she would stop.
“I need to hear your voice,” Nash wrote, and she could hear the sexy desperation behind the words.
“Me too,” she wrote. “Soon.”
“Gonna tell him it's over?”
“Uh-huh,” she texted back. “Breakups or whatever this is suck.”
She could see Nash was typing, but this text seemed to take forever.
When it finally came through, it took her a second to piece together what was happening.
He wrote, “One last phone call from you, it wouldn't hurt much. I'd just like to hear your voice and pretend to touch, any inch of you that hasn't said it all or read it all, or sung my life away” with little music notes in between the lines.
“What's that?” she wrote.
“Stars and Boulevards lyrics,” he said. “It was my breakup song after you ripped my heart out. Soon Wesley will have one, too. So don’t feel bad. It'll give him character.”
Sophia’s eyes went wide at the comment. It seemed overly wry for someone who claimed Wesley was his best friend. Still, she couldn’t help but smile as she replied, “I see you're already practicing being sympathetic.”
“Are you gonna tell him it's because of us?” Nash wrote, ignoring her last comment. “That might not bode so well for me.”
“I don't want to lie to him. How's he gonna feel when…”
Her typing was interrupted as Wesley leaned over, handsome and ever polite as he said, “Everything okay?”
She nodded and smiled. “Oh, just, Nash,” she managed to stammer out.
“I think it's great that you guys can help each other out and be so civil after everything. Seems like he's always at your place, and you're always at the ranch,” he said in an almost sing-song voice.
“Does it make you jealous?” she asked, and he shook his head.
“No. I'm not the jealous type. It's more fascinating than anything. It makes me happy that my best friend and my best girl can get along. We should all do something sometime.”
“Oh, well, you know what they say…three's a crowd,” she laughed nervously.
“No, not with Nash. I've been his third wheel before, and he's been mind, and it never feels awkw—pitch!” he yelled, tossing a hand out toward his favorite pitcher throwing the ball with precision speed.
She smiled and looked down at the field before them. Sports were not her thing, but she watched politely, and when Wesley seemed sufficiently distracted by the game, she finished her text to Nash.
“…when I break up with him and then suddenly start dating you? It's going to be pretty obvious what happened.”
“I don't want to hurt him,” Nash wrote back.
“Then why are you acting so callous about all of this?”
The message hadn’t even been sent for a full minute before her phone was ringing loudly in the stadium.
The family of four who were sitting in front of Sophia and Wesley all turned around to give her dirty looks, and she winced out a smile.
“Sorry,” she said in a low tone as she swiped to answer the call.
“He's my friend, Sophia,” Nash said by way of greeting. “I don't want to hurt him.”
She didn’t respond, only stood in the bleachers and awkwardly made her way past six other irritated fans to walk up to the top of the stadium near the restrooms.
“I'm not being callous,” he continued without hesitation. “I'm worried. I've been nerved up all day about this 'cause I know he's gonna be mad or upset or whatever, but you can't help me for being a little excited, too. I've waited to be with you for—”
“Message received!” she interrupted with humor. “I won't say anything about us, alright?”
“And don't tell him about the kiss.”
“Well, duh,” she laughed. “I won't say anything, I swear. Now stop calling me!”
His tone changed, and she could hear the affection and warmth in his voice as he said, “I miss you.”
“I know,” she said.
“Imogene misses you, too.”
Her heart swelled with delight at the very sound of her daughter’s name coming off of Nash’s lips. “What have you guys been doing?” she asked.
“Just building things.”
“With blocks?”
“No, I've got her out in the lumber yard. She's a natural carpenter, that one,” he snorted. “Yes, of course, with blocks!”
They both laughed, and she could tell they were both falling in love all over again. Laughing at unfunny jokes, needing to be around each other every second of the day, and feeling sick to their stomachs to be apart.
It was the most exciting, terrifying thing to be a part of.
“Okay, I have to go now,” she said. “No more gloating!”
“I can't wait to see you tonight,” he said, but she could barely hear him over the roar of the crowd.
She looked through the hallway that led back to the stadium seats and saw half of the fans on their feet, screaming and cheering with oversized foam fingers flying into the air.
“I gotta go!” she said quickly and rushed back to Wesley.
The crowd was still echoing off their cheer when Sophia got back to her seat.
“Everything okay?” Wesley asked, leaning in so she could hear him better.
“Yeah, he was just,” she shook her head. “It was just about Imogene. She's fine, he's just showing her some game and uh, so, what happened?”
“Ardelle just hit a home run!” he exclaimed, pointing up at the big monitors on the field that were replaying the action in slow motion.
“Aw, it figures!” she said, snapping her finger. “The minute I step away, something awesome happens!”
Inside, Sophia was glad she got to bypass all the yelling. All she wanted to do was get this breakup over with and go home to Nash and Imogene.
“Look, Wesley,” she began uncomfortably as the two of them made their way outside after the game.
“You know,” he interrupted, “it was too bad you couldn't come up and meet my mom.”
“Yeah, I know, it was just—”
“Too soon,” he said, nodding. “I understand. I was telling her about you, and she was really excited.”
“Oh, she was?”
“Yeah, she loves kids, and I was showing her pictures of Imogene. It cheered her up.”
Sophia smiled and watched him open the passenger door for her. He was a gentleman. “Aw, that's so sweet,” she said.
“She's sick,” Wesley said before gently closing the door. As he entered the vehicle, he started the ignition and looked over at her, frowning. “I didn't mention it because I didn't want you to feel obligated to come home with me.”
“Oh, Wesley, I'm so sorry. Is it serious?”
“It doesn’t have to be,” he said, explaining that his mother h
ad stage-two breast cancer, and the words send a cold shock through Sophia’s body.
“She's going through chemo right now. That's why I was there, actually,” he said.
“That’s so sweet of you,” she said. “You guys are close?”
“Very,” he said. “I want to go to those first treatments with her. She said hearing about you made it go by that much faster. She's so scared that ‘I'm going to die alone,’” he said, doing his best motherly impersonation.
Sophia nodded and reached over to touch his arm. She felt horrible.
“That's just her joke with my dad,” he said with humor. “I know it doesn't sound funny, but if you met them, you'd get it. They have a way of delivering punchlines to where they don't feel offended. It's a gift.”
“Sounds like it!” she said. “I will definitely have to meet them next time.”
She cringed inwardly as the words left her mouth, but she didn’t know what else to say. Something along the lines of, “No-can-do Wesley, because I won’t be in your life from this point on! Tell your mom I said howdy!” didn’t seem to cut it.
As evening set in, she told Wesley that she should get back to Imogene, and he promptly drove her home.
She stood on her front lawn, and Wesley followed and hugged her.
Thinking that Wesley must have been gone by then, Nash emerged on the front porch, saying, “Hey, Imogene is sleeping but—” he stopped short, looking between Wesley and Sophia with confusion. “Hey, man,” he said with a wave.
“We won!” Wesley cheered.
“I saw!” Nash said. “You guys are lucky you got to see it in person. Me and Imogene had to settle for a win on a forty-inch TV screen.”
“You made Imogene watch the ball game?” Sophia laughed.
“I thought it would give you something else to bond over,” he winked. “Mommy-daughter baseball.”
“Wow, thanks,” she snorted.
“You have fun tonight?” Wesley asked, then promptly went in to give her a peck on the lips.
“Mmm-hmm,” she said awkwardly, biting her lips as she watched Nash’s expression darken.
“Alright, I gotta head back to the ranch,” Wesley said, looking satisfied. He nodded toward Nash and asked if he was coming, too, but Nash waved him off.