Take Me Home for Christmas

22

Sophia must’ve slept because the next time she was conscious of being awake it was three hours later—nearly midnight. She had to go to the bathroom so she peered out her window as she passed by and noticed that the lights were off at the main house. Eve had either gone home. Or she was staying over.

The thought of her staying over made Sophia crave a drink again. Somehow, for the past week or so, she’d been able to push her addiction into the background. But now that her other problems had receded just a little, her love affair with alcohol was shoving its way to the forefront.

Couldn’t she have a single night of peace?

When she returned to bed, she tried to fall back asleep, but she kept imagining Ted with Eve.

“Whatever fulfills him,” she murmured. He was with the right person; Eve had so much more to offer him. She wasn’t down-and-out. She didn’t have a drinking problem. And she’d never hurt him in the past, so they had nothing to overcome. Sophia didn’t want to be like a drowning person flailing around, dragging under everyone who was trying to help.

That image brought home the reality of her situation. But it didn’t bring the oblivion she desperately needed. She kept tossing and turning, wrestling with her envy.

At last, she got up, put on her swimsuit, grabbed a towel and went out to the Jacuzzi. She thought the hot water might help her relax.

It was doing just that—until she heard a door open and close and two sets of footsteps cross the deck. She tensed. With the lights off, she’d assumed Ted and Eve were in for the night!

What was she going to do? She didn’t want them to catch her in the hot tub. She doubted Ted would care if she used it, but it would be horribly awkward to interrupt his private time with Eve.

Because he and Eve were talking, she hoped they couldn’t hear the splash of the water as she scrambled out. Fortunately, she hadn’t turned on the jets for fear they’d make too much noise. But there was no way she could get the cover on or creep back to the guesthouse without being seen, not beneath a full moon.

So she picked up her towel and darted under the deck instead, thinking she’d slip around the perimeter of the yard when she had the chance. She didn’t dare move quite yet, afraid she’d draw their attention.

“I still can’t believe your mother invited me to lunch.” Eve sounded pleased, and Sophia could understand why. She’d probably pass out from shock if Mrs. Dixon ever extended such a friendly invitation to her.

“Why?” Ted asked. “My mother’s always liked you.”

“You’ve told me that before. But it can be hard to tell.”

A bitter smile tugged at Sophia’s lips when she heard the wry note in Eve’s voice. She could’ve told Eve what it was like when Mrs. Dixon didn’t like you.

“She’s...selective about the people she accepts into her life,” Ted said. “But she has a positive impression of you from elementary school. So you had that going for you from the start.”

“She sure knew how to police the yard at lunch. I was terrified of her—like most other kids,” Eve said. But Sophia hadn’t been afraid of Mrs. Dixon back then. She hadn’t been afraid of anyone. She’d been sitting on top of the world.

Too bad she’d had to learn just how fast one could fall from such a lofty perch.

“My mom comes off as stern, but—” Ted stopped talking when they reached the hot tub—obviously he was reacting to finding the cover off. He glanced around as if he expected to see her or someone else, but she shrank farther into the shadows and behind one of the support beams, and his gaze passed over her without stopping. Since the guesthouse was dark, he probably thought she’d used the Jacuzzi earlier and forgotten to be polite about it.

She didn’t like the idea of him thinking she was careless enough with his belongings to do that—letting the heat escape when it was so expensive to keep the water hot. But he didn’t make a big deal about the cover to Eve. He didn’t even mention it, and she didn’t seem to notice. They just got in.

“She certainly wasn’t too pleased to hear about Sophia living here.” Eve’s voice was barely audible above the gurgle of the jets. She was no doubt being careful so that her voice wouldn’t travel to the guesthouse. Ted was careful, too, when he responded. But that didn’t make as much of a difference as they thought—not when she was standing a mere ten feet away.

“She’s never been one of Sophia’s admirers,” he admitted.

That came as no shock yet Sophia hated hearing it. She was too vulnerable to withstand much these days. And she felt even worse when Eve climbed into Ted’s lap and slipped her arms around his shoulders. “It’s nice out here.”

“We’re having a mild fall.”

“That means winter will probably hit hard.”

“It’s supposed to rain this weekend.”

When they kissed, Sophia attempted to look away. She didn’t want to see it—but her gaze moved back as if drawn there by a high-powered magnet.

Fortunately, Ted broke off the kiss before it led to anything else and started talking about the book he was writing. Then Eve brought up Adelaide’s baby, whom they’d just learned was a girl. After that they talked about the fact that both Kyle and Noah had invested with Skip, which Sophia hadn’t known and was sad to hear.

Hoping they might finally be preoccupied enough not to notice, she began to creep over to the fence so she could swing wide and follow it to the guesthouse. Despite the towel she’d wrapped around her, the heat she’d absorbed from sitting in the hot tub had slowly dissipated, leaving her chilled to the bone. But with the reference to Skip, the conversation had already worked its way back to her, and that made her pause despite her discomfort.

“Did you tell Sophia she can’t smoke in the guesthouse?” Eve asked.

“No, it never came up.”

“You should’ve warned her, since you feel so strongly about it.”

“I don’t think she’s smoking at all. At least, I haven’t seen her. Haven’t smelled it on her, either.”

“That’s good. It’s so unhealthy.”

He stretched out his arms along the sides of the Jacuzzi and leaned his head against the rim. “On the phone last Friday you said something that made me curious.”

“What was it?” she asked.

“You said Sophia told you she was taking up smoking because she couldn’t drink.”

Sophia clapped her hand over her mouth so they wouldn’t hear her gasp. Eve was aware of her drinking problem; they’d discussed it at length the night Eve brought Alexa home and made dinner. Sophia had been so despondent she hadn’t held anything back. She’d needed friendship too badly to pretend she was anything other than what she was, knew it was either grab on and trust, or sink into the quicksand of her depression.

But she didn’t feel quite the same need to be transparent now, didn’t want Eve to tell Ted about her addiction. Her situation was pitiful enough. She preferred to leave town without him ever having to learn.

“That’s what she said,” Eve told him.

“So...what stopped her from drinking?”

Eve had no reason to keep Sophia’s secrets, not from Ted. Sophia was mildly surprised she hadn’t already told him—and was downright stunned when Eve covered for her instead of blurting out the truth.

“She was in a vulnerable place,” she said. “She probably didn’t want it to mess with her mind.”

Relieved—and grateful—Sophia let her breath seep out.

“You’re okay that she’s living here, aren’t you?” Ted asked.

At least, that was what Sophia thought he said. He was almost whispering now.

“I’m trying to be,” she replied. “It’d be easier if she wasn’t so damn beautiful,” she added with an uncomfortable laugh.

Ted kissed her again. “You’re beautiful, too,” he said, and Sophia had to agree. Eve was even more beautiful on the inside.

Not long after that, Eve said she had to go; she had a big group coming to the B and B in the morning—several ladies from the Red Hat Society who were on an antiquing odyssey. Ted got out with her. Once he’d turned off the jets and they’d gone inside, Sophia had the perfect opportunity to return to the guesthouse. But she’d become so cold she couldn’t stop shivering.

She waited to see if Ted would come back and put on the cover. But when the minutes lengthened and he didn’t reappear, she assumed he’d forgotten, and decided to warm up before returning to bed.

After tossing her towel on a nearby chaise, she sank into the hot water all the way up to her neck. Blessed warmth! But before she could get comfortable, she heard the door open again. And this time she didn’t make it out of the Jacuzzi before Ted saw her.