Seducing Mr. Right

by Rebecca Rose

  She folded her arms across her chest with a huff. “Good.”

  “I thought he was gonna demolish my house. Instead, he chose to attack me.”

  “Oh, God!”

  In frustration, Dave pulled his hands through his hair, a motion Sophie had seen Jake do numerous times. “No, not like that. He was on a ‘poor me’ trip, and he pushed me into an argument. Jake only does that when he’s really pissed at himself. He told me that he wants a family, he wants you. I think he just doesn’t know what to do with the emotions he’s now feelin’. By stepping away from you, maybe he thought it would help take some pressure off him.”

  She seethed at the fact Dave made sense. “He said he needed to get to know himself before he could have a relationship.”

  Dave frowned. “Under normal circumstances I’d say that’s a line of bull—”

  “But we’re talking about Jake.”

  “Exactly.”

  They sat in silence while Sophie replayed the scene in her head. “Maybe you’re right. And I’ll try to be professional—for the sake of the Lion. But outside of work…” She scoffed. Her heart was too damaged to even think about seeing him for any other reason.

  “You’re the best thing that ever happened to him. He loves you. Don’t let the hurt get in the way of forever. He needs our silent treatment and understanding.”

  “Gosh, Dave. You almost sound like a romantic.”

  “Don’t tell anybody, but I am.” He patted her knee and stood.

  “He really hurt me.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ll try to keep an open mind, but I’m not promising anything.”

  “I’m not asking you to.”

  Sophie stared down at her hands and thought of her hollow heart and empty life without Jake. It was all very depressing.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Sophie reminded herself lonesome wasn’t in her vocabulary, even though that was exactly what she felt. Sure, they tried to keep it friendly. Yes, things were very uncomfortable. But then Jake stopped coming to work. And despite her rage, she wanted to call and find out if he needed anything or if he experienced another episode and possibly wanted to talk. Thoughts of him haunted her. But in the end, Sophie convinced herself not to call. Jake felt they both needed time and a break from the relationship they supposedly were having. He made it clear she was no longer in his life.

  However, Sophie did find truth in what he said about them needing to discover who they were. It galled her to admit Jake might be right.

  With graceful feet, Sophie soared across the floor. She’d been dancing more and more since the split, and it wasn’t a bad thing. Her mind seemed to slowly clear of the clutter. And, for the first time ever, she felt as if she belonged right where she was.

  In the weeks since their breakup, Sophie went from fighting every battle her parents threw at her to picking the ones that required her energy—something she became very stingy with. After the fight with Jake, she had been spent for a good week.

  Sophie leaped through the air and landed perfectly. The clapping brought her thoughts from Jake to her father, who stood in the doorway.

  “Dad.”

  “Hi, sweetheart. How are you?”

  “Good. What brings you here?” She picked up a towel and wiped the sweat from her brow. Her father never came to visit for no reason, and usually her mother was behind it.

  “Your mother and I are worried.”

  She shook her head. “I assure you. I’m fine.” Walking over to him, Sophie kissed his cheek.

  “You’re single, but we don’t know why. Didn’t Mr. Sanders make you happy?”

  It sounded more like a question than a statement. Weary, Sophie said, “Yes, he made me happy.”

  “You always had a powerful will, Sophie. Lord knows how your mother and I tried to refine you. Nevertheless, you are your own person and have made it very clear you’re not comfortable in our social circles.” Nathanial looked at his daughter with concern.

  “I appreciate everything you’ve ever done for me, Dad. It’s not that I don’t like the fancy clothes and tea parties—they’re just so… boring.” She gave her father a small smile and he laughed.

  “I have to agree with you, dear. I’ve been extremely bored of them for most of my life.”

  “That’s terrible, Dad. Why do you stay?”

  “Because I love your mother, and to be with her I have to live her life. She’s not the same woman I married, Sophie. I’m hoping you’ll understand that.”

  “But what has she given up for you? It really seems one-sided.” She took her father’s hand and squeezed. “Mother is not an easy person.”

  “She loves you more than you will ever understand. And she has a hard time letting go.”

  Sophie smirked at him and walked away. “Could have fooled me. I’m going upstairs for some water. You coming?”

  “She has fooled you, Sophie. Please stop walking and talk to me.”

  She turned to her father. “What is it, Dad?”

  “She holds on because she’s afraid of letting go.”

  “Dad, I’m not a gullible child anymore. She’s cold, and I’ve always been a nuisance to her.”

  “You couldn’t be more wrong. Your mother is afraid to let you get too close because then you could hurt her. But if she lets go then she’ll lose you, and that will kill her.”

  “Dad, what is this about?”

  “Never repeat what I’m about to tell you. Do you understand?”

  The pain in her father’s eyes caused a tidal wave of sadness to overwhelmed Sophie. “Dad, has the business gone that bad? Do you need money?”

  “No, no, no. I think we should go upstairs,” her father said. “I’ll need a strong drink.”

  For the first time, Sophie noticed the envelope her father held. “It’s a little early, but okay.”

  She watched her father sit at the kitchen table. When she poured him two fingers of brandy he placed his hand on the bottle.

  “Leave it.”

  How Sophie wished she could read her father’s mind. What would she find? A lonely man pining for a love who had turned cold and calculating? Would she find hope that a man has for the return of the woman he once married? Or was he sick? Maybe her mother was sick. Sophie’s stomach turned at the thought. The woman may not be nice, but she was her mother.

  “Dad, what is it?”

  He slid the manila envelope to her. Leaving his hand on it, he said, “Your mother loves you more than you could possibly comprehend. I hope this helps with the pain. You both have been fighting so much lately. She needs to let you be the woman you are, and you need to be more understanding.”

  “Dad, she wanted me to go to the ballet with the two of you and Bruce. Then she wanted me to play the good daughter and flirt with your business partner’s son. Somehow, I don’t think I’m reading that message wrong.”

  “I thought you were still in love with Bruce, and we both have seen the error of our ways where that is concerned. Sophie, she needs the dominance with you. What your mother hasn’t realized is only by giving it up will she have the relationship with you she’s always wanted.”

  He slid his hand from the envelope and nodded for Sophie to open it. The first things that slid out were photos. Sophie smiled at seeing her mother in the hospital holding a tiny child. Antoinette’s hair was luscious and long. It suddenly occurred to Sophie she never saw this picture before. She then flipped to the next one. Her father was in it, too. They looked so happy. Beaming, really.

  “I’ve never seen these pictures before. You both look so in love.”

  “We were. We still are. Just in a different way. Sometimes terrible things happen to people, and that tragedy is dealt with differently… by different people.”

  Sophie thought about Jake. Yes, she understood what her father was trying to say—she just didn’t understand what it had to do with the pictures. She pulled a tiny white booty with pink laces out of the envelope. “I can’t believe y
ou don’t have these in an album or something. Dad, there must be thirty pictures here.”

  With each picture she looked at, Sophie noticed her father drank a little more. Then she came to one where the baby was about three months old. The little girl had dark brown hair and a toothless grin at the camera. There was something else. It looked as if they were in a hospital.

  “Dad, this isn’t me. I didn’t have dark hair as a baby.”

  “No, Sophie. That isn’t you.” He swigged down more amber liquid before going on. “That’s your older sister. She was born five years before you.”

  Sophie’s astonishment thrust her forward in her chair. “What?”

  “Your mother and I were so happy. She was such a perfect baby. From the moment she was born she never cried. The doctors and nurses were amazed. She slept through the night after the first week. Then she…” He trailed off, as if he didn’t know what to say next.

  Sophie looked down at the photo in amazement. She had an older sister. One she never knew existed. Her parents had successfully wiped out her existence, and Sophie was certain these were the only belongings left to prove the little girl once lived.

  “Dad.” She reached her hand across the table to his. “What happened?”

  “She was very sick, Sophie. At two and a half months she started staring into space. It was very frightening. When we brought her to the hospital to run some tests… she suffered a major seizure and never woke up. That picture of her smiling in the waiting room was taken an hour before we lost her.”

  Tears flowed for the sister Sophie lost and for her parents, who had never known what was coming. She couldn’t imagine the heart-wrenching pain of losing a child. She looked down at the photo in her hands. Antoinette was changing the baby while laughing. Sophie had never seen that sparkle in her mother’s eyes. There had never been humor and love shown for Sophie, as there was for this infant.

  “What was her name?”

  Nathanial wiped his eyes. “Angela. She was our angel. Sophie, you need to understand. Your mother is still suffering. Angela was taken from us before we knew what happened. Before we could say good-bye,” he told her quietly.

  Speechless from the tragedy her parents had been inflicted with, Sophie stared at the photos. Memories of her childhood raced through her mind. Moments of her mother open and laughing, then cold and distant. It all made sense now.

  “You were never a replacement for her, Sophie. You were wanted and planned. Your mother and I thought with another child we could mend. She tried, sweetheart.” Nathanial reached across the table and took his daughter’s hand. “She loves you so much. But your mother can’t reach out to you. You need to go to her.”

  Sophie gave a rueful laugh, “And say what?”

  “Find something in common. Have dinner together, be patient. I know it’s a lot to ask.”

  “You have no idea.” She rolled her eyes. “I think I need some coffee.”

  “Sophie, you remind me of your mother.” He laughed a little. “I remember when she and I first met. Gosh, she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. She was dancing in Swan Lake, and I was captivated.”

  “I never knew Mom performed in Swan Lake.”

  “Oh my, yes. She wasn’t as successful as you. However, it never mattered to her because she loved to dance. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. We met after her performance and it was—”

  “—love at first sight,” Sophie finished.

  “Yes, it was,” Nathanial proclaimed.

  “Why’d she quit?”

  “After Angela was taken from us… your mother wasn’t the same. It seemed as if someone extinguished the blaze within her that set her apart from everyone else. Sophie, the drive that woman had. It was awe-inspiring. There was nothing she couldn’t do. She’d light up a room by just walking into it. People noticed her not only because of her beauty, but because she was so approachable, friendly, loving, giving. I love your mother, and I also miss her.” He took down his drink with regret. “I don’t know if any of this will make a difference, but I had to try. Your mother spent all day yesterday crying in bed. When I tried to console her she told me she felt dead to the world. That she’s missed out on so much with you, and now it’s too late.” Nathanial looked at his daughter pleadingly. “I don’t believe it is. Please… give her a call.”

  Never had Sophie seen her father so stricken. She’d been wrong all these years. Her father wasn’t a broken man. He was quite the opposite—the strongest, most loving man she’d ever known. He stayed with her mother because he loved her and understood that without him, she would surely perish.

  “Mom and I always got along when we shopped together. Maybe a day in Boston would do us some good.” Her father’s eyes lit up. “I can’t guarantee anything, Dad. She and I have always been at odds.”

  “Yes. But I believe your mother is willing to open up. She scared me yesterday.”

  Her father scared? Her mother crying in bed? These were not the people Sophie thought she knew. “Dad?”

  “Yes?”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  When Nathanial reached out his arms, Sophie went into them. They squeezed each other tight as they cried together.

  Nothing was going to be the same. Sophie reflected this long after her father’s driver took him home. Her mother turned out to be someone she never really knew. Teenage battles with Antoinette, struggles over career paths, being pushed away yet still remaining under her mother’s constant, watchful eye—now Sophie could remember and understand with a new perceptive. No, Sophie’s and her mother’s wounds wouldn’t be healed overnight, but at least the mending could now begin.

  Sophie picked up the phone with a deep breath of courage. “Hi, Mom. I think it’s time you and I went shopping.”

  * * *

  Jake rolled over and off the bed tangled in the sheets. Schnitzel looked at him with disgust. “Sorry, buddy. Didn’t mean to disturb you.” He scratched his new cat, who purred loudly. “Come on, let’s get some breakfast and make plans for the day.”

  Jake moved into his kitchen with the large cat in tow. “So tell me, Schnitz, you think I should call her? I mean it’s only been several lonely weeks of me being a jackass.” The cat looked at him with a cocked head and gave a short meow. “No? Humph… Considering that dreaming about her has become a nightly thing, you still don’t think so?”

  In his weeks of therapy, Jake learned to work on being himself and how to separate the military man inside from the man he was now. He slowly began to discover what he liked and didn’t like. He found time to do the things he had been putting off, like unpacking boxes in his cellar. A small task that showed monumental success.

  Jake did his best to stay present and not have lapses in time. To go back to living life where his subconscious didn’t capture and torture him with no means of escape or rescue—that was a kind of hell he never wanted to experience again. Where you did and said things without any memory of them. It was a frightening thing to wake one morning and not know what day it was. When Jake first returned home he had been missing lots of time. Hours here, days there. Mundane and repetitive tasks put him in a mental turnoff where he lived soulless and robotic.

  He poured himself a cup of coffee with a realization—staying in the moment wasn’t the constant challenge it used to be. He had learned to mix things up so boredom wouldn’t overtake him. He felt lighter, freer, and more himself than he had in years. He wanted to share this with Sophie, but he didn’t think she’d talk to him.

  He’d seen her at the Hungry Lion only a few times, and she wouldn’t laugh, joke, or even look at him. It just wasn’t the same. Of course, how could it be? They were no longer together, and Sophie seemed to have moved on. There wasn’t any gossip of a new man, but there was talk of her spending a lot of time with her parents. Her mother, actually. Jake wondered what changed between them, since they’d never gotten along before. Had they finally come to some kind of under
standing? He couldn’t imagine it was Sophie giving in to her mother’s demands. His heart ached from knowing it hadn’t been something they shared.

  The cat gave him a head butt in the leg. “Okay, okay. I’ll feed you, then I’m gettin’ myself cleaned up.”

  He was giving Schnitzel some well-needed diet food when the phone rang.

  “Jake.”

  “Hi, Dave.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Feeding my kid. Wanna say hi to Uncle Dave, Schnitz?” The feline ignored him and kept eating. “I don’t think he likes you.”

  “Your relationship with that obese cat is bordering on weird.”

  “He’s cool, though. What’s up?”

  “I have to do a few things that came up today. Think you can come and man the bar from five to ten?”

  Jake’s heart stopped. Anxiety left his palms sweaty and his ears ringing. He pushed it down and decided honesty was best. “Is Sophie going to be there?”

  “Yes, Jake. She works here.”

  “I just… was wondering.”

  “You going to put your best dress on and apologize?”

  A little miffed, Jake told Dave, “Noooo. I wanted to make sure we won’t have the same outfit on.”

  “Smart-aleck,” Dave teased.

  “So what came up?”

  “I have a few interviews for Sophie’s position. Although, I’m still hoping I can convince her to stay. Then I have to go to the bank and blah, blah, blah.”

  “What do you mean Sophie’s position?” Panic tightened Jake’s throat. How would he be able to get her back if she left? Did he want her back? Jake ignored the voice in his head screaming Yes!

  “You can ask her about it when you come in tonight.”

  “I’m asking you.”

  “Well, little brother, you’re not going to get an answer.”

  “You know, seeing that Sophie’s leaving, she should find her own replacement,” Jake suggested with disgust.

  “Actually, she’s got a childhood friend who’s a laid-off accountant coming in.” Dave laughed, “From the sound of it, Sophie’s tryin’ to set us up more than replace herself.”