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  “Welp, let’s go home.” Rita smacked her gum and cleaned under her fingernails. “Maybe I’ll call Robbie and see what he’s doing tonight.” Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard. “Remember to use your backdoor when you I drop you off. We don’t need any media finding out we don’t even live together.” Riggin said flatly. “And, you can’t go out in public with Robbie, Rita.” Riggins voice lowered, “At least not yet.”

  Chapter 4

  Stepping out of the hot shower, Sofey wrapped herself in her soft new towel and rubbed it to her face, inhaling the fresh scent of her favorite lavender detergent. She wrapped her curly brown hair in a smaller towel on top of her head and wiped the steam off the mirror. Looking at her nails she chuckled to herself, “Well, at least my books don’t care what my nails look like. See,” she said to Rob Roy who was staring at her, listening intently, “if I decided to get a boyfriend I’d have to keep up appearances. I’d have to get my nails done.” She waved them for the cat to see. “I’d have to put on makeup all the time.” She pretended to put on lipstick and smacked her lips together. “I’d have to…” She lifted her foot and put it on the toilet seat, running her hand up her leg, “I’d have to shave...all...the...time.” Sofey winced at the thought and took a long, slow sip of her after-shower glass of merlot.

  After drying her hair with a towel, she got dressed in her gray sweatpants, a tattered t-shirt, her old slippers with the outdoor soles, and her oversized Seahawks sweatshirt. She went to the kitchen and grabbed the open bottle of merlot and headed for June’s.

  “Well, hello there, Dolly! Glad you could make it. I can’t remember which rerun episode they’re airing today, but it’ll be a good one, I’m sure!”

  “Yeah, I bet it will. I brought a date.” Sofey held up the bottle.

  “Good, good, looks like you two get along just fine. Let’s get in by the boob tube and get comfy. Show’s gonna start in 5 minutes.” June detoured to the kitchen, “I made some corn dogs. OK, well, I didn’t actually make them, I warmed them up, but they’re delicious and they’ll go perfect with your grape juice.”

  “You betcha, Juney.”

  On this rerun episode of Jury of Love, the contestants, who had previously been paired into couples, were tasked with making dinner as a couple in a very short amount of time. B-list celebrity judges were on-hand to judge the quality of the meal. They even showed up for dinner 30 minutes early to see how the couples would handle the surprise intrusion.

  All the couples were to make, from scratch, spaghetti and garlic bread, along with a chef salad. And to end the evening, chocolate cheesecake for dessert. While the couples attempted to cut up tomatoes, dice onions, chop lettuce, and melt butter, opera music was being piped through the ceiling speakers altogether too loud. In the midst of all this chaos, the landline phone would ring, and, if ignored, it would ring again and again until someone answered.

  Of the seven couples left on the show, two laughed the whole time and half-heartedly tried to get their meal on the table, two couples threw food at each other in play arguments, one couple completely quit and ordered a pizza, one couple had an argument that the television staff almost let build into an actual physical fight. This caused both June and Sofey to predict they were the couple that got sent home the week it originally aired. And then there was the final couple- Riggin and Rita.

  The good-looking pair worked seamlessly through the preparation of their meal. Riggin attacked the sauce and garlic bread while Rita worked her magic on the salad and the cheesecake. They had a nonverbal agreement to take turns answering the phone and they each seemingly tuned out the obnoxiously loud music.

  “Wow, it looks like those two have some kind of silent connection between them. They haven’t even spoken once. They just get it done.” Sofey had almost finished the bottle she had brought with her.

  “Yes,” June agreed. “But, I don’t think they really even like each other. I mean, look at how they don’t speak, they don’t look at each other, they don’t smile. Hmm, doesn't seem like a couple having fun to me.” June took a long drink from her can of lime pop. “Take for example me and Barney, God rest his soul, we might not have gotten along in the kitchen all the time but at least when we didn’t get along we would, you know, show some emotion. Crimeany, Riggin and Rita don’t even care enough about each other to even speak to one another. Whether it’s nice or ignorant, people need to speak, to communicate.” She shook her head in disgust.

  “Maybe that’s how they work together. Maybe they have a silent type of communication. Maybe that’s what makes them a good team.”

  “Baah, it’s disturbing. And what do you know about cooking dinner with a man?”

  Sofey rolled her eyes so far back in her head, it actually hurt. “Well, I have had a boyfriend or two before, June. Actually,” Sofey massaged her temples and finished her glass, pouring the last of her bottle in it, “I’ve had like... three boyfriends, thank you very much.”

  “Really? Hmmm...” June furrowed her brows at Sofey. “After all these years of knowing each other, this is the first you’ve talked of these ‘boyfriends’. It’s a commercial break, so go ahead, spill it.”

  Sofey kicked off her slippers putting her feet underneath her and shrugged, “Well, it just never came up, you know? OK,” she raised her glass in the air, “his name was Mike, and probably still is. I don’t know, whatever. Anyway, we went to the same college and both ate at the cafeteria. I hadn’t really noticed him until one day I was waiting in line, holding my tray, and this guy comes up to me and says, ‘Hi, what’s your name?’ I tell him and he says, ‘I’m Mike, see my friend over there?’ He points to a short, dark-haired, stocky guy, who waved at me.” Sofey cleared her throat and took another drink. “And he waved very enthusiastically, I might add. Then he says, ‘That’s my friend, his name’s Mike, too. He is too scared to come talk to you but he wants to go out with you.”

  June’s hand flew up in a ‘stop talking’ motion. “What are you telling me? This second Mike was too scared to say ‘hi’ to you?” June’s laugh was loud and annoyed Sofey.

  “Would you like me to continue?”

  June wiped her eyes, “Yes, Dolly, keep going. I haven’t laughed like this since Barney was alive. I wish you would’ve told this story when he was around to hear it.” June tried to stop laughing, but the giggles came uncontrollably.

  “Anyway, I went out with him a couple times. On our second date as we were saying goodbye and I turned to leave, he told me he was going back to his ex. He said she had made a mistake by leaving him and he was taking her back. Soooo…” Sofey shrugged.

  June laughed, not even trying to hide her amusement. “Well, sounds like that was a good thing for you.”

  “Then there was Richard. We met online.”

  June was in full-fledged hysterics, holding her stomach. “Oh, my, please stop. You’re hurting me.” She managed to say through sobs of laughter. “You kids and the ‘online’.”

  “So, we met online and after a few emails, I gave him my number. He called one night about 8 PM and after I said ‘Hello’ he said, ‘Hi, this is Richard. How are you?’ I said, ‘Hi. I’m good. How are you?’ And from there, I didn’t get to say another word until 11 PM when I said, ‘I’m sorry, I have to work tomorrow and need to go to bed.’”

  “What in Hades did he talk about for 3 hours?”

  “Himself.” Sofey looked June in the eyes. “Literally, he talked about himself the entire time. If that’s not bad enough, he started from the day he was born and went through every year up until the day we were talking on the phone.”

  “Well, that’s not a boyfriend. You only talked once on the phone.”

  Sofey shook her head. “No, he asked me out to a movie.”

  “You went to a movie?” June laughed. “Why? Did you want to see how the rest of his life turned out?”

  “I don’t know, Juney, maybe I was bored and wanted to do something new. Anyway, we went to an action movie with cops and
robbers and stuff. He cried 30 minutes into the movie. I mean he was literally crying.”

  June could not control herself. If it weren’t for the arms on her chair, she would’ve fallen onto the floor.

  Sofey chuckled, “He made sure I saw he was crying. He touched my arm so I would look at him and when I saw his tears he said, ‘I always cry at movies like this. I’m just very sensitive.’” June’s laughter was contagious and Sofey started laughing with her. Both women were in tears. Happy, cleansing, rejuvenating tears.

  “OK, OK, OK, you have to save the third one for next time, Dolly. I can’t take it anymore. My stomach hurts so bad.” June said through labored breaths.

  Sofey nodded, “Yeah, let’s wait for next time.” She was glad June had such a good laugh at her expense and that she wanted to wait for story number three because story number three was much too embarassing and to endure June’s hysterics through that one would have been torture.

  Chapter 5

  Sofey grabbed her best purse, a deep red leather handbag, in one hand, and one of the seven layer bars sitting on the counter that Linda and Beau had dropped off yesterday as an early birthday gift. Taking a huge bite, she grabbed another one. She couldn’t eat it in front of June without at least offering her one, and if she didn’t want it, she’d eat hers too. It was her birthday after all! Sofey pinched her belly and smiled, she didn’t care today that she needed, no, not needed but wanted to lose those 10 pounds that had snuck on since she started working at Cordon Bleu. She was tired of worrying about her weight so damn much and flip flopping about whether or not she loved her body or hated it. She watched people like June, and Linda. They weren’t perfect and they couldn’t care less. They loved life and they loved themselves. A pang of jealousy ran through Sofey. She wanted to be carefree about herself too. She played a cool act about liking to be alone to finish writing that novel she’d been working on for five years and liking her books more than people, but she knew the truth, she was scared of being judged and falling short of other’s expectations; and, she was tired of being scared, just not tired enough to change anything. “I’m COMING!”

  The doorbell was being pushed again and again and again. Sofey swung open the door with one half eaten seven layer bar in her mouth, one in her hand, and her purse swinging from her arm. “What’s the rush?” flakes of coconut fell from her mouth.

  “We got a reservation, Dolly, let’s go.” June turned to lead the way to her yellow Volkswagen bus, stopped and turned around. “You look very nice.” Putting her arms around Sofey and giving her a bear hug, she whispered in her ear, “Happy birthday. I love you. I wish Barney, God rest his soul, was here to see you.” Then, pushing her away at arm’s length, “Let’s go, we’re gonna be late, and you know I hate being late.”

  Sofey smiled, her heart was warm. “This is going to be the best birthday yet!” She closed and locked her door when she got into June’s bus. “Want a seven layer bar? They’re delicious.”

  June eyed the snack, “Yep, I sure do. Never pass up dessert. And, when available, always eat it first.” June winked at Sofey.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I know how much you like wine. And you know how much I like food. So, I wanted to take you to a place that has the best of both. Me and Barney used to eat there all the time on date nights.” June’s voice cracked just a little. Sofey watched her soft face turn young again for just an instant.

  “I can’t wait! What’s the place called?”

  “Chateaux Ridge. It’s off the beaten path a little but once there, it’s like a different world.”

  “Oh! I think I’ve heard of it. They are supposed to have really good salmon, aren’t they?”

  “Among other things, yes,” June smiled.

  Sofey felt her stomach rumble for the salmon, it was her favorite expensive splurge on the rare occasion she went out to a fancy place. And the thought of pairing a good wine with it, was over the top. She sighed and smiled.

  “Let’s listen to some Mozart, hmmm? It’s so nice to drive through the pines to.” June turned up the music and drifted off to a different place in time.

  Sofey settled deeper in her seat and looked out the window, taking in the sight of the evergreens. Her window, slightly rolled down, let in the fresh scent of pine and late fall freshness.

  Her thoughts drifted as she swayed with the movement of the VW bus. She watched the clouds floating in the sky. One cloud looked like a birthday cake with six haphazard candles protruding from the top. Her mother was there. Her father was there. They were all laughing and ice skating in the town’s ice rink. Her friends were there skating around her and she was doing a pirouette on ice skates, for the very first time! Her dad was laughing and clapping. She skated toward him, smiling, with arms outstretched. “Daddy, I did it!” His arms were reaching for her, “Happy Birthday, big girl! I knew my big six-year-old could do it!” Then he was on his back, on the ice, his body in convulsions. She was next to him in the hospital bed watching him take his last breath. Her mother on his right, she on his left, crying. Everyone crying.

  “OK, here we are!” June’s voice yanked Sofey back to the present. Sofey rubbed her eyes and blinked back unfallen tears.

  June drove the bus around a tight corner where the trees gave way to a brick, castle-looking building with a red steep roof and a cobbled walkway to the main entrance.

  Sofey’s breath caught in her throat. “It’s beautiful, Juney. Thank you for bringing me here.”

  “Oh, sweetie, you haven’t seen anything yet!” June jumped out and handed the keys over to a middle-aged man in a white shirt with black slacks, a vest, and a bow tie who said, “We’ve been expecting you, Mrs. Daily. It’s good to see you again.” He dipped his head to her, got in the van, and drove around a tree lined lane.

  “Valet parking?” Sofey had never been to such a place. And she didn’t realize June had been so frequently that they knew her name.

  “Let’s get inside, it’s a little brisk out here for me.” June wrapped one arm around Sofey’s middle and hooked the other into her arm. “We’ll start with a nice wine and dessert sample while we wait for our table.” June patted Sofey’s arm and grinned her sheepish grin, “We are a little early.” Then stopped and looked Sofey in the eyes, “Barney and I wanted to bring you here on your thirtieth birthday and tell you…” June took a deep breath, “Well, since he’s gone I thought I’d bring you here a couple years early.” June smiled and continued to the door with Sofey in tow.

  As they approached the large wooden front doors, they opened as if mechanically operated. However, once inside, Sofey noticed two men, one holding each door, dressed in long jacketed three piece suits. “Welcome ladies. My, Mrs. Daily….it is so nice to see you again. How are you doing?”

  “Oh, fine, James, just fine. Thank you. This is my dear friend, Sofey.” June motioned to Sofey who was in awe that she apparently knew so little about her dear old friend, whom she had known well for the last eight years. “And, it’s her birthday!”

  “A birthday! How delightful.” James put his hands together at his chest and addressed Sofey directly, “Very happy day to you, miss.” Then to June, “I have good news too! Our feature author has arrived and is set up in the Aristocrat Room. He should be starting his presentation and book signing in about 15 minutes.”

  “That really is very exciting, James. We are for sure going to that. For now though, I’m taking Sofey to get some samples of the wonderful double chocolate cake Barney loved so much.”

  “Excellent. Enjoy your time and please say goodbye before you depart.”

  “We will, James, thank you.”

  Sofey listened in amazement. Who was this woman she knew as Juney? Talking to the doorman and calling him by his first name. Wait, how did she even know his name? How did he know hers? She knew June and Barney would go on ‘dates’ frequently but she didn’t know where. They would always say, ‘Oh just a wonderful drive.’ And Sofey would never push for more info
rmation.

  “Thank you again, Juney, this is so much fun.” Sofey said after they had finished their decadent cake.

  “You’re welcome, dear.” June smoothed her pale pink dress then her white hair that she had had the hairdresser do up in a beehive, just for Sofey’s birthday dinner.

  The two women walked up the giant, red-carpeted staircase toward the crowd that was gathering in the Aristocrat Room. They found two empty seats toward the center of a row of chairs and settled in just as the announcer walked to the front of the room.

  “Welcome friends! We are so excited to have all of you here!” The tall, thin woman in a fitted gray dress with long blonde hair and teeth that sparkled, smiled at the group of book lovers. “It’s time to introduce our featured author of the month! He himself is not local but his grandmother sure is! Now, to hand the stage over to the one we’re all here to see! Please give a warm welcome to romance writer, Ford Daily!”

  Sofey’s arm stopped halfway to her mouth.

  June smiled like a Cheshire cat and beamed with pride.

  Sofey looked over at June and whispered, “You didn’t tell me your grandson was an author! And why didn’t you tell me he’d be here tonight?”

  June kept smiling.

  Sofey rolled her eyes, “Are you trying to set us up, June?”

  This time June rolled her eyes and whispered, “Yes.”

  Ford put on a wonderful presentation about himself as a new author and some of the challenges he faced self-publishing. Someone asked him why he liked writing romance- specifically, cowboy romance- and he said, “There’s just things about love that still needs to be said. And most cowboys get a bad rap as being seen as players, so I thought I’d try and help their reputation.” He got a good laugh from the audience on that one.

  Ford talked about his full-time job as a Wildland Firefighter, some of the dangerous things he had had to face, and how this too had helped him with his raw emotion when writing love scenes.