by Lori Wilde
Mike wandered the halls of the hospital, feeling at loose ends. Sophia sat in the waiting room with her friends, chatting about babies.
The other guys had gone off to look at Jeff’s new truck, but Mike had stayed behind. He had too many things to think about.
Mainly, how to tell Sophia the truth.
Each encounter, each touch, each smile, each kiss was bringing them one step closer to...what?
Commitment?
But how could they commit when he wasn’t honest with her? And what about her crush on Rex? Never mind that he was Rex. He was back to square one.
He enjoyed being Mike. He liked not having the responsibilities of a billion-dollar oil and gas company. He enjoyed having friends whose motives he didn’t have to question. He enjoyed feeling footloose and fancy-free, even if it was only an illusion.
It had been eye-opening, these past nine months, finding a side of himself he thought long gone. From the time he could walk, he’d wanted nothing more than to follow in his father’s and older brother’s footsteps.
He’d learned all he could about the oil business. He’d studied hard, learned the inner workings of the company from the inside out. Other than that short rebellion as a teen after his mother died, he had a single-minded focus. He didn’t take vacations. He worked fourteen-hour days. He had made Barrington Oil and Gas his life.
For nine months, playing the irresponsible cowboy handyman had been fun. Slipping under the skin of a crafted persona had taught him a lot about stopping and smelling the roses. Mike the handyman might not be rich, but bottom line? He was a happier person than Rex Barrington.
That realization unnerved him and put his entire value system under the microscope.
Deep in thought, Mike stuffed his fingers into his back pockets. He stopped outside the waiting room and peered through the glass window to the people inside.
The room was soundproof. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could see Sophia laughing at something Sienna had said. Her eyes crinkled at the corners, her lips turned up just the way he liked them.
The men had come back from the parking lot and had taken their places beside their women. Sienna and Jeff. Polly and Liam. They formed a close-knit group of Barrington employees.
A group that Rex Barrington could never be part of. He was the mysterious voice on the telephone. The man behind the texts and emails. He was their boss. The rich guy. He didn’t fit in.
Literally on the outside looking in, Mike gulped.
His whole adult life had been like this. Until now, he’d used hard work to hide from his loneliness. The loneliness that had been a big part of his life ever since he’d lost his mother. He’d denied that he needed or even wanted anything more than his career.
Now, he understood how much more there was to life. He wanted what his employees had found. Great friendships and true and lasting love.
Sophia lifted her head. Their gazes locked. Her smile widened, wrapping him in her warm glow. She got to her feet and walked into the corridor. Her easy grace, the sway of her hips, that sexy gleam in her eyes.
Mike’s knees weakened.
He loved her.
No matter how hard he might want to pretend that she had not invaded his heart, had not seized his soul, it was a lie. She had captured him. Completely.
Except he was not the man she believed him to be. He was not the man she really wanted.
“Hi.” Sophia crossed her arms over her chest. “How are you doing?”
“Fine. I just get jittery if I sit too long.”
She nodded. “Hospitals are nerve-racking places.”
Mike knew that. How many long, ugly hours had he spent in this very hospital, watching his mother slowly fade? He’d felt lost and hopeless. All the Barrington money had not saved her.
Couldn’t Sophia see that? Didn’t she realize that money could not buy a full life or happiness or freedom? Money was a tool. Nothing more. It wasn’t a god to be worshiped or something to cling to. Money could not hold you tight in the middle of the night when you woke from a bad dream. Money could not stop the spread of cancer. Nor could it bring real friends into the life of a lonely, motherless teen.
“Want to grab some coffee?” she asked.
“Sure.” Mike shrugged and walked with her to the cafeteria. He felt awkward. He didn’t know what to do with his hands.
In the cafeteria, he told her he’d get their drinks if she grabbed them a table. He waited in line at the coffee counter. He knew how Sophia liked her coffee, with steamed cream and two packets of sugar. He carried the beverages to the table she’d chosen near the window. The sunlight slanting through the blinds caught the highlights in her golden hair, shimmering as bright as a halo.
“I’m so nervous for Amber. I hope everything goes okay,” she said as he sat down. “Heath is beside himself with worry.”
“They’ll be fine. They love each other, those two. No matter what happens, they’ll make it.”
“Yeah,” Sophia said wistfully and stared out the window, deep in thought.
Was she, like he, thinking about true love, happy marriages, and healthy babies? Did she feel the same longing to belong that he felt?
“Are you serious about leaving Rascal?” she asked.
“I’ve got no reason to stay, Sophia.”
“Oh.” Her bottom lip quivered. “You’re not the kind of guy who stays long in one place.”
Mike toyed with the napkin holder on the table, unable to meet Sophia’s stare. He wanted so badly to tell her the truth, but he didn’t know how to start.
“May I ask you a question?”
“Shoot.” He cradled his coffee cup between his palms.
“Do you ever see yourself settling down, committing to one town, one job, one woman?”
Yes! The time was now. He should tell her who she was. The charade needed to end.
Clearing his throat, Mike said, “I—”
“Sophia, Mike!” Polly burst through the cafeteria door, her face flushed. “The baby is here. A healthy little boy.”
Sophia hopped to her feet and embraced Polly. They jumped about the room, clinging to each other’s hands, as excited as children at Christmas.
“C’mon, c’mon, hurry.” Polly motioned them to follow her. “Heath is coming out to the waiting room to give us the details.”
They returned to the waiting area just as Heath emerged from the labor and delivery suite, grinning from ear to ear but looking a little shell-shocked.
“It’s a miracle,” he kept repeating. “I can’t explain how amazing it feels to be a dad. There’s nothing in the world like it.”
Mike cast a sideways glance at Sophia. She had her hands clasped together in front of her. Her lips pressed into a smile, and her eyes misted. His heart ached for her. He longed to reach out and touch her. But he couldn’t. Not in front of everyone.
“Come on, you guys,” Heath said, pride puffing his chest. “Let’s go see my son.”
Chattering, they descended upon the newborn nursery. Heath beamed as a nurse held his wriggling baby boy up to the nursery window.
“Hello, World. Meet Nathaniel Wyatt Hunter. Eight pounds, six ounces with an excellent set of lungs.”
Everyone chuckled and gathered closer for a better look at the baby. Sophia, Polly, and Sienna oohed and aahed over the infant while Liam and Jeff clapped Heath on the back.
“Good work, Hunter,” Jeff said.
“You gotta be proud.” Liam grinned. “He’s a fine-looking boy.”
“It’s all over but the crying,” Mike said. “Life as you know it is kaput, and your carefree days are gone for good.”
He’s said it as a joke, but the second he saw Sophia’s face, Mike knew he’d blundered. But before he could backtrack, Sophia said, “Liam, could you give Mike a ride back to the ranch to get his motorcycle? I have to go home and check on my mother.”
12
On Monday morning, when Sophia got into the office, Rex called her.
“Sophia,” he said. “I apologize for standing you up this weekend. I tried to make it back to Rascal in time for the picnic, but something unexpected came up. Looks like I’m going to be in Brazil for several more days, winding up my business here.”
Sophia stared listlessly at the wall. Her friends had been right. Rex was too busy for a relationship. He stood people up and then expected work to be a viable excuse with no questions asked. She’d been foolish. They came from completely different worlds. They had nothing in common.
“Don’t worry about it, sir,” she said. “I understand completely. You’re a very busy man, and business comes first. You don’t owe me an apology.”
“Hey, what’s this? I thought we agreed, no more ‘sir.’ You’re supposed to call me Rex.”
“I’ve been thinking about it, sir, and I don’t think it’s professional to call you by your first name.”
“Since when?”
Since you made promises that you don’t keep. Since she realized how silly she’d been, hanging her dreams on a fantasy. “Since now.”
“All right, Sophia,” he murmured “Whatever you wish.”
He told her goodbye and hung up, leaving her feeling empty inside. She had a penchant for picking unavailable men. On the one hand, there was Rex—accomplished, successful, stable, and financially secure, but he was an emotionally distant workaholic. On the other, there was Mike—fun-loving, exciting, and sexy but utterly unable to commit to a job, a woman or even to a town.
“Knock, knock.” Polly appeared in her doorway. “How are you this morning?”
“Hi, Pol,” Sophia greeted her friend. “Come on in.”
“How about that picnic?” Polly strolled into Sophia’s office. “Was the birth of Amber’s baby the grand finale of a great day or what?”
“It threw fireworks into the event. Hey, do you want to see the baby blanket I bought Amber when I went shopping on my lunch hour?” Sophia pulled a sack from beneath her desk and unwrapped the blue quilted blanket patterned with teddy bears and trains.
“That’s so darling,” Polly cooed. “You have such good taste. Amber will love it.”
“I hope so.”
Polly smiled. “I can’t wait to marry Liam and start having babies of our own.”
“You two have firmed up the wedding date?”
“Next summer. June tenth. But it seems ages away. I’m ready for one of those little munchkins now.”
“It’ll be here before you know it,” Sophia placated. She didn’t want to talk about weddings or babies or happily ever after.
All her friends were in love. They had found good men and were getting married or starting their families. Why had she been left out? Why was she the only one without someone to love her?
Sophia pushed her hands through her hair. Her life was falling apart. All her plans were hollow pipe dreams. A lump of tears blocked her throat, but Sophia swallowed them back. She wasn’t the type to wallow in self-pity. If God intended for her to be alone the rest of her life, then so be it. She’d find some way to fill the long, lonely years stretching before her.
“I thought you might want to know,” Polly said. “Mike turned in his resignation today.”
Polly’s words hit her like a punch. Sophia sucked in her breath. So, he’d gone through with it. That bit of news sent her lingering hopes spinning into orbit.
“Oh?” she said, trying to act coolly disinterested while inside her tummy burned.
“Didn’t he tell you?”
Sophia shrugged, feigning indifference. “He said he might move on. I didn’t know he’d made it official.”
Polly canted her head. “You’re not upset?”
“Why on earth would it upset me?” Sophia struggled to keep her hand from trembling. She didn’t care. Goodbye, Mike. Who needed passion, heat, and chemistry? Who needed their world turned upside down and inside out? Not her.
“Well”—Polly looked hesitant—“office scuttlebutt says you are an item.”
Sophia laughed, but it sounded forced even to her own ears. “The scuttlebutt is wrong.”
“But you two seemed to get along so well together. I thought you made a cute couple.”
“We were never a couple.”
Polly raised both her palms. “Sorry. My mistake.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” Sophia said. “I’m fond of Mike. He’s a fun guy. But he means nothing to me personally. Absolutely nothing.” Her voice cracked so loudly they both startled.
“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?” Polly murmured.
Silently, Sophia nodded. Fat tears slipped down her cheeks.
“Oh, sweetie.” Polly came around the desk to wrap her arms around Sophia. “It’ll all work out.”
“How can it? Mike’s leaving. And even if he wasn’t, he’s not a guy you build a future with.”
Polly handed her a tissue. “It might not work out with Mike, but you’ll find someone. I promise you will.”
“Really?” Sophia dabbed at her eyes.
“Cross my heart.”
“A guy I can depend on? Someone who’ll be a good husband and father? A man who’ll stand by me through thick and thin, no matter what?”
“You can if you refuse to settle for anything less.”
“That’s a tall order to fill.”
“Hey.” Polly snapped her fingers. “What about Rex? I thought you had a crush on your boss.”
“That was just a silly infatuation. I’ve learned a few things since then.”
“Things?”
Sophia shrugged. “Work means more to Rex than a wife and kids, and I’ve realized I don’t want to play second fiddle to a career.”
“It’s important to know what you want.”
She nodded. It sounded so sensible coming from her friend, but in the course of a single morning, she’d lost both of the men she’d been interested in. It hurt. Here she was, twenty-nine and baby hungry with no partner prospects in sight.
“Cheer up, Sophia, and mark my words. One of these days you will find your Prince Charming.”
“Thanks,” Sophia said, drying her eyes and resolutely tucking the tissue in her pocket. “You’ve been a big help.”
And it was true. Polly’s sympathy went a long way to ease the sorrow weighing down her heart.
Everyone at the company had been great. In the five months she had worked here, Sophia felt like part of the family. And for a little girl who’d once been shunned and outcast, that meant a lot.
“You’re welcome.” Polly smiled. “Keep your chin up.”
Sophia lifted her chin, smiled, and waved goodbye, but beneath the façade, her heart was aching.
“You haven’t told Sophia yet?” Thurgood frowned at his youngest son.
Rex and his father were in Houston. They sat at a restaurant overlooking the bay. It was just down the street from the central office of Barrington Oil and Gas. They were waiting for Rex’s older brother Mark to show up with his wife Julie. Two years ago, Mark and wed Julie Prentiss at the Rascal Botanical gardens, and Julie was now expecting Thurgood’s first grandchild. A little girl they were naming Maria, in honor of Mark and Rex’s mother.
The setting sun spread a spectacular sky, but Rex scarcely noticed the vivid burst of salmon, purple, and rose streaking the horizon. A band played soft music. Sailboats glided across the water in front of the shaded veranda.
“No,” Rex admitted, taking a sip of his Scotch and water. “I haven’t talked to her.”
He’d meant to tell Sophia who he really was more than a dozen times. But something had always stopped him. The timing never seemed right. Then again, was there ever an appropriate time to tell the woman you loved that you were a liar playing undercover boss?
Thurgood cleared his throat. “You’re not being fair to Sophia.”
“I know, Dad, but it’s just not that simple.”
“She’s in love with you, Rex. Can’t you see that?”
“She’s not in love
with me. She’s in love with a part I’ve been playing.”
“Isn’t that what you wanted? To get her to fall in love with you as a poor man, so you’d know for sure she wasn’t just after your money?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know.”
Frustrated, Rex stared out across the water. He didn’t know what to believe anymore. Once upon a time, Barrington Oil and Gas was the most important thing in his world. He’d lived and breathed this business.
He’d wanted nothing more than to make his father proud by expanding the company, help to make things bigger and better. Suddenly, something had Rex questioning all his old values and beliefs.
And that something was Sophia Shepherd.
He could not, no matter how hard he tried, erase her from his mind. That blond hair, so long and curly, invaded his dreams. Her scent, like fresh wildflowers, teased his nostrils at the most unexpected times. Her lips, so soft, so pliant, branded his memory.
Sweet, petite Sophia. With a golden heart and a will of steel. She knew what she wanted, and she refused to settle for less. How could he blame her? Wasn’t he built like that, too?
He’d passed judgment on her for letting her mother run her life, but hadn’t he done the very same thing when at his mother’s dying request, he’d turned his back on his carefree, fun-loving nature and cultivated a head for business? When he’d tamed down the part of him that was wild and creative in favor of his button-down life?
Rex had criticized Sophia for wanting financial security, but didn’t he do the same thing daily? He made deals. He toyed with the stock market. He monitored the bottom line. His whole life was about money, but then he had the audacity to be resentful to her for wanting the same thing. If anyone had ever sent out mixed signals, it wasn’t Sophia but rather Rex Michael Barrington himself.
Truthfully, he’d never been able to reconcile the dual aspects of his nature. When Rex had promised his mother he would grow up, he’d meant it.
To deal with his inner conflict, he had buried the part of himself that was the epitome of Mike the handyman. By constantly focusing on work and leaving no room for anything else in his world.