Folded Corners

by Idabelle Aylor

  On a Tuesday in July after Sofey and Matt had finally started going on real dates every Saturday night for the past month, she decided to show up early to Folded Corners and buy a large coffee and two cinnamon rolls. She grabbed The Count of Monte Cristo for him to start reading.

  She was intentionally an hour ahead of their 5 o’clock meeting time so she could relax and daydream, fantasizing about him and their future together.

  She savored each sip of the hot, bold coffee. She smiled as she saw her and Matt in their future home- that he designed, of course. They would have a beautiful, tall, thin (but not sparse) Christmas tree with ice blue and silver ornaments, white lights, and lots of gifts for each other stacked up underneath. Stockings overflowing with tiny heartfelt gifts would hang on the fireplace mantle. Sofey would get him cologne (she wondered what kind he liked best and thought she would ask him when he arrived). She saw them getting the nursery ready for their first baby. It would be a boy, and they would probably name him Matthew Jr. Then they would have a girl and name her Kathy, after Sofey’s mother. June would be their Godmother. Oh! She would need to talk to him about meeting June. Maybe June could go with her on Thursday to Folded Corners and meet Matt. She just knew June would love him.

  She looked at the clock silently ticking away on the wall. Matt was fifteen minutes late, not like him. He must have gotten held up at the office. Sofey opened The Count of Monte Cristo to the middle and started reading. She was excited to read it again, this would be her third time through the book, but it wouldn’t be her reading, it would be Matt, in his deep, throaty voice. She would watch his lips move under his well-kept black goatee.

  She had just lifted her mug for a sip when he walked in. He smiled when he saw her and walked over, sitting gingerly on the chaise lounge. He didn’t kiss her cheek, like normal, instead he wrung his hands and bit his bottom lip.

  “Hi Sofe. So, I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something for a while now.”

  Sofey felt butterflies in her stomach.

  “We’ve been officially seeing each other now for twelve weeks and one day. It’s been two weeks since we said our first ‘I love you’s,’ and I have loved every minute of it. I look forward to each and every one of our meetings. I love laughing with you, crying with you, the way you smell.” Matt took a deep breath and wiped his brow.

  Sofey thought she might throw up and her hands began to sweat.

  “I look at the pictures of you on my phone every day and think about what a wonderful person you are and how you would make a great mother.”

  Sofey was close to tears and didn't know if she was going to throw up or cry or both.

  “Anyway, there’s someone I want you to meet before I go any further. I’ll be right back.” Matt hurried away.

  Sofey had no idea who she was supposed to have been meeting but she was giddy with excitement. Her lavish wedding suddenly flashed before her eyes.

  “Sofey,” Matt was standing before her with a short, attractive brunette woman and a little black-haired boy, about the age of 3. “Sofe, this Kiley.” He put his arm around the woman. “And this here, is Matthew Jr.”

  Sofey definitely thought she would throw up. Was she sleeping? Where was she? What was going…

  “Kiley is my wife and Matthew Jr. is our son.” Matt was still talking. The woman stared at Sofey, there was no life in her black eyes. The boy stomped over and knocked the book out of Sofey’s hand and onto the floor. Matt sat down again next to Sofey and took her hands in his. “We want you.” Matt swallowed hard, looked up at his wife, and smiled. Then, looking back at Sofey, “We want you to be in our family. We want you to be my wife number two.” He was beaming with excitement.

  Sofey swallowed the bitter bile that had formed in her mouth and slowly pulled her hands away from his. She stood up and wiped her sweaty palms on her favorite red jeans and pushed past Matt, stumbling on Matthew Jr, who had thrown himself on the floor and was barking loudly. She fell towards Kiley, who was all too happy to step out of the way and let Sofey fall on her face at Kiley’s feet.

  Sofey picked herself up, straightened her blouse, and glared at the scowling woman who was staring at her. Then, she turned to Matt and said, “No. Thank you. You will need to find someone else to be your wife number two,” and walked away. Before leaving, she turned back around and said, “Maybe find one who will discipline Matthew Jr.” Yeah, she told them alright. She hit them where it hurt. Then to Kiley she said, “You don’t seem too happy about all this. And why in the world would you be? But good luck with that,” she pointed her thumb towards Matt, and with that, she left.

  Sofey had been in too much shock to give Matt a better tongue lashing. Her brain had shut down and left her there standing all alone with those horrible dream-snatchers. However, when her brain had returned and she had forgiven it for its blatant cowardice, she thought of plenty of things she should have said. She had contemplated for weeks afterward calling him up and saying what she should have said in the first place, and it included lots of cuss words to make herself feel better.

  Sofey shook her head and rubbed her temples, thinking about Matt gave her a headache. She had never told anyone the full story about him (June was the only one who heard a small snippet of it.) and she didn’t really know if she ever would. Whoever she told would want to know what she said to him and if she stood up for herself, and she couldn’t bear the looks of pure astonishment and disappointment she knew would cross their faces when they found out she hadn’t...at least not fully.

  She ate some more ice cream then let Rob Roy lick the spoon clean. “Well, Rob Roy, it might be you and me forever.” Rob Roy glared at her and put his ears back, turning his face from her he licked his paws and cleaned his face.

  She rolled over and looked at the cup of uneaten carrots on her nightstand and grabbed her list that was lying next to it. Sighing, she started reading through it. She had made the list when she first started running into Matt at the bookstore. He had met ALL the requirements. Then she met Kiley and had to add number ten to the list.

  Sofey’s Demands of Her Future Man

  (In no particular order)

  1)Friendly

  2)Smiles - A LOT

  3)MUST like cats! (Rob Roy must approve)

  4)Have a great job - I don’t need to raise a grown kid

  5)Loves to read

  6)Can NOT be popular (That’s wwwaayyy too self-centered)

  7)Christmas must be favorite holiday

  8)MUST make me laugh

  9)Has a big family (Great for holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas)

  10)Is NOT married and NEVER has been married. (TOO much DRAMA)

  The men in the movie were now trying to prove to the poor girl who really loved her more. Sofey glared at them, crumpled her list into a ball and threw it at the TV, watching it bounce off and roll under her dresser.

  Chapter 9

  Riggin started up the BMW and sat in it with his eyes closed, taking in deep breaths of the leather smell. He didn’t want to go home to an empty house that smelled like Pappy. He didn’t want to go out with his buddies, especially since there was a good chance he would run into Rita and a better chance she would want to act married. He reached to turn up the radio when the book on his passenger seat caught his attention. He picked it up and smiled, the cowboy on the cover was sitting on the tailgate of his red pickup with his arm wrapped tightly around his brown-eyed girl’s shoulders, pulling her to him. He was smiling. She was smiling. They were happy. Riggin liked that. And when he read romance books, he even felt happy. I think I’ll head over to Folded Corners and get a coffee and a new book. He looked again at the girl on the cover of the book. Maybe Sofey will be there…

  He ordered an Americano with two extra shots of espresso and, even though he didn’t usually eat sweets, he ordered a cinnamon roll because the store smelled like cinnamon heaven and the white creamy icing was layered on so thick you couldn’t see an ounce of dough.

 
The red chaise lounge where he had run into Sofey two weeks ago was empty. He sighed and grabbed a book with a red spine from the Cowboy Romance section and made himself at home.

  He had eaten half the cinnamon roll and was a quarter of the way through The Cowboy and the City Girl when he drank the last of his coffee and decided to go get another. He bookmarked his page and left the rest of his dessert covered with his napkin. It was 7:45 PM but he was in no hurry to leave and he was finally starting to feel relaxed enough that he thought he might actually be able to sleep through the night for the first time in months.

  The barista smiled at him when she handed him his Americano, “Hey, you look familiar…” She cocked her head to the side, her blonde ponytail dangling down to her shoulder. “Hey! I know! You’re Riggin! The guy from the show!”

  Riggin’s face turned red and he grabbed his coffee, spilling some on his hand.

  “Oh here, let me help you.” The barista grabbed a towel and patted his hand with it. “You know, I was rooting for you. I always knew you and Rita belonged together. I’m glad you guys made it.” She was staring at him, twirling her hair. “Oh, you must be heartbroken that you can’t date anymore, huh?” Her hand was touching his.

  Riggin quickly moved his hand away, “Um, no not really. Thanks for the coffee.” He turned to leave, being careful not to spill again.

  “OK, WELL, LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED ANYTHING!” She yelled after him.

  Turning the corner, he found the safety of his empty section and the chaise lounge chair waiting for him. He was able to make himself comfortable, which surprised him because his long muscular legs and stocky frame made it difficult to get comfortable on most furniture. He settled back and continued reading about Abbot and Marcy. They were total opposites, obviously; he was a cowboy and she was a city girl, trying hard to get along because she was there to help save his dying ranch from going financially under.

  “Wow, fancy seeing you here.”

  The feminine voice made Riggin jump, dropping his book, which fell to the floor, face up.

  Sofey picked it up. “The Cowboy and the City Girl, huh?” She handed it back to Riggin with eyebrows raised and a smirk on her face.

  Grabbing it from her, he shoved it under his arm and grabbed his cup, suddenly very thirsty for scalding coffee.

  “Sooo, how was your drive from Caraway? It’s like a twenty-minute drive isn’t it?” Sofey wasn’t good at starting conversations.

  Riggin smiled and nodded, “Yeah, it’s about twenty minutes. And there’s usually no traffic, so it’s a nice drive.” He leaned back and set the book next to him, getting comfortable.

  “Yeah, it is a pretty nice drive.” Sofey shifted her weight on her feet. The bookstore was more crowded than usual tonight and this stocky, football player-looking, heart throb, married guy had usurped her favorite chair and she didn’t exactly know what to do. “How are the cinnamon rolls?”

  Riggin looked down at his plate and picked up the napkin that had fallen on his boot. “Absolutely delicious.” He handed the plate to her, raising an eyebrow, “Would you like to try it?”

  Yes, yes, Sofey did want to try it. Cinnamon rolls were her absolute favorite. “No, thank you.” Sofey fought the urge to grab the plate and shovel the half-eaten sweet goodness in her mouth. Stress eating, ugh.

  Riggin shrugged and put the plate down, “That’s too bad, it really is good.” Riggin sat up and moved over on the chair. “You don’t have a book with you. Why don’t you try this one?” He handed The Cowboy and the City Girl back to her.

  Sofey took the book from his hand and frowned, looking at the cover with the smiling couple. “Mmm, I’m not really into romance,” she lied. What? Why would I say that? I’m writing a romance. I should be reading a romance. OK, just take the darn book, Sofe. I mean…

  “You’re not into romance?” Riggin sounded surprised. “I thought all women were into romance.”

  “Books, I’m not into romance books.” Sofey rolled her eyes, “I mean, OK, I kind of like them. Sometimes.”

  “So you are into romance, just not reading about it?”

  Sofey could feel her face getting hot. “Romance is overrated. And romance books are just fairytales.”

  “What’s wrong with fairytales? I mean, yes, they’re made up stories but sometimes I prefer them to real life.” Riggin blushed.

  Sofey laughed, “Yeah, I don’t know. They give us all a skewed vision of what relationships are like, I guess. Like, they make people think that everything can always be perfect.”

  Riggin slowly sipped his coffee and nodded. “That’s quite a cynical way of looking at romance, don’t you think? I mean in that one statement about fairytales you have squashed courting, the union of marriage, and dare I say, love itself.” He winked at her.

  Sofey rolled her eyes and sighed. “OK, let me ask you why you like romance books. Umm, cowboy romance for that matter.”

  “This might take a few minutes. Want to sit with me?” Riggin indicated the empty space on the chaise lounge.

  Sofey shrugged and sat gingerly on the edge of the red chair. “Thanks.”

  “OK, so, your question was why do I like romance books, specifically, cowboy romance.” Riggin leaned back and stroked his black goatee. “Well, I’ll tell ya. My parents were best friends. They loved each other more than life itself. And, even as a child, I noticed that, I felt that. Anyway, my Pappy always liked cowboy shows and so when I was like eight, he took me to the library because he said I needed to read and that it was a healthy habit and it would keep me out of trouble.”

  “So, you grabbed a cowboy romance book and were sold, huh?”

  Riggin chuckled, “I picked up a cowboy romance by accident. I didn’t realize that was the section I was in, and there was a book with a cowboy on it in front of me. I grabbed it and started reading. And, yep, that sold me.”

  Sofey scooted back on the lounge chair and put her hands in her lap. “At eight you didn’t mind the kissing and all the fluffy stuff? Seems like an eight year-old-boy wouldn’t be that into that stuff. Plus, I have to say, you don’t look like the type of person who reads cowboy romance.”

  Riggin smiled and a sadness crossed his face. “Well, the people in the book reminded me of my mom and dad. So, it’s like it took me to them.”

  Sofey’s face felt hot again. “I like books that remind me of my parents too. My parents, like yours, had a great relationship. They loved each other and did everything together.” Sofey played with the hem of her sweater. “That is until my dad died on my 6th birthday. I don’t know, I guess I feel like that kind of love and respect died with that generation.”

  Riggin looked down at his hands, “I’m sorry about your dad.”

  Sofey smiled, “Thank you. It was a really hard time when he died, and it still hurts. But Mom and I have made it. She lives in Arizona now, that’s where my dad always wanted to be.”

  Riggin nodded. “I had a great childhood. But it was my Pappy who raised me. My parents died in a car accident when I was seven.”

  Sofey’s breath caught in her throat, “I’m so sorry.”

  Riggin waved his hand in the air. “You had no way of knowing. But anyway, that’s why I like to read romance.” He took a sip of his lukewarm coffee, “So, why are you so against romance if your parents had such a great relationship?”

  “Maybe I will try your cinnamon roll. If that’s still o?” Sofey didn’t look in Riggins eyes.

  “Sure, but you have to answer my question.” Riggin’s voice was soft and playful.

  “OK, I will but I’m going to grab a coffee first.” Sofey stood and started to walk away. “Do you want anything?” She said over her shoulder. Her mom had taught her a lot of things, not the least of which was to always be polite.

  “I’m good, but thank you.” Riggin blushed, he wasn’t used to a woman who asked if he needed anything.

  The cinnamon roll was every bit as good as Riggin had said and even better than it smelled. The bitt
er coffee was in perfect contrast to the over the top sweetness of the pastry. Sofey nibbled on the cinnamon roll and sipped her coffee as she told Riggin the stories of her first two attempts at having boyfriends. His response was a lot like June’s, a lot of laughter. But Riggin’s laugh was contagious and it made Sofey laugh unintentionally.

  At 11 o’clock the blonde barista came around the corner and jumped with a start. “Oh, hey guys.” She smiled at Riggin and shot a questioning glance at Sofey. “So, we’re closing. Sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you guys to leave.” She turned to go check the rest of the store. “Oh, and there’s a garbage can by the front door. Thanks!”

  They watched her ponytail swing aggressively as she walked away. They smiled and shared a giggle.

  “I guess, it’s time to go.” Sofey hadn’t realized it was so late. She did have to work the next day and she suddenly felt very tired. “Oh, hey, is Rita going to upset it’s so late?”

  “Oh, um, no. No, she’s fine with it. She knows I love to read.” Riggin picked up their plate, napkins, and empty coffee cups and threw them in the garbage on the way out of the front door.

  Walking Sofey to her car, he paused and shoved his hands deep in the pockets of his down vest. “Do you always come here on Wednesday nights?”

  Sofey felt tickling in her stomach and her face getting warm. “Yes, I usually always come on Wednesday nights. Sometimes on Mondays too.”

  Riggin nodded. “Do you come on Friday nights ever?”

  “No, not really, there’s usually a lot of people here on Friday nights. I mean, sometimes I’ll come with a couple of my friends, but usually I’m just here on Wednesdays.”

  “You don’t like being around a lot of people?”

  Sofey chuckled, “No, not really. And this place is super popular on weekend nights.”

  “Yeah, I bet it is.” Riggin looked back at the bookstore just as the inside lights went out. “It’s a great place. I’d like to come try their real food some time. Have you ever eaten a meal here?”