Oh, Baby!. Patricia Kay
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her to see him. She couldn’t give Aidan up. She loved him. It was as simple as that. Sophie might think someone Joy’s age couldn’t possibly know what love was, but she was wrong. Maybe she’d never been in love when she was in high school, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t possible.
I’m going to marry Aidan someday.
“I haven’t seen you dancing tonight,” Dillon said.
Aidan shrugged. “I’m not very good at it.”
“I’m not, either. Doesn’t stop me,” Dillon persisted. “You need to try new things.”
Joy wished Aidan’s uncle would stop criticizing Aidan. She knew he hated it. He’d told her Dillon thought he knew everything because he’d been a “hotshot” quarterback. Aidan shrugged again, then turned to Sophie. “Nice meeting you, Ms. Marlowe.” Ignoring his uncle, he said, “Let’s go get something to drink, Joy.”
Joy looked at Sophie. On her sister’s face she saw empathy, but she also saw something else. Concern. Joy knew immediately that Sophie’s mind hadn’t changed. Joy’s heart sank, and it was all she could do to keep a smile on her face and say a nonchalant “See you later” as she and Aidan walked away.
“I hate him,” Aidan muttered.
“Oh, Aidan, don’t say that.”
“Why not? It’s true. I wish—” Abruptly, he cut off whatever he’d been going to say.
Joy sighed as they approached the drink table. She knew what Aidan wished. He wished he could turn the clock back. He wished his parents were still alive. That he hadn’t had to move to a place where he knew no one and didn’t feel as if he belonged. And yet she knew he cared about her, that he was happy when they were together. She squeezed his hand to let him know she understood.
He glanced down. Grimaced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean...”
“I know.”
While he was getting their drinks, Joy made a vow. No matter what Sophie said, no matter what rules she tried to implement, no matter what anyone else thought, nothing and no one was going to stop her from being with Aidan.
We belong together. And that’s that.
* * *
Dillon stared after the kids. Damn. He knew, without anyone telling him, that Aidan and Sophie’s sister, Joy, were past the point of casual dating. Maybe Sophie hadn’t seen it or sensed it, but Dillon knew, just from their body language that those two kids were together in every sense of the word. Probably looking for every opportunity to be together, the way he and Sophie used to do. He smothered a sigh. Sophie. If not for her and what she’d said to him earlier, Dillon probably wouldn’t have cared what the kids did. In fact, he might have been glad, because maybe having someone like the very pretty Joy as his girlfriend would have gone a long way toward making his nephew happier to be in Crandall Lake. And anything that made Aidan happier and easier to handle made Dillon happier.
But how could he be happy when he knew how Sophie felt? Sure enough, when his glance met hers again as they were sitting back down at their table, he saw the worry in her eyes and the way she kept looking in the direction Aidan and Joy had gone.
He reached over and squeezed her hand under the table, then leaned toward her and said softly, “Don’t worry. I’ll talk to Aidan. See what I can do.”
Her eyes met his again. “You promise?”
He nodded.
“Thank you.”
He wished they were alone somewhere. He wished he could tell her how things were with Aidan. How even if he did talk to Aidan, he doubted it would do any good. But how could he? They weren’t alone. And even if they had been, he wasn’t sure he wanted to confess that he was doing a piss-poor job of being a parent-replacement for his nephew. Hell, being with Sophie again, even as briefly as they’d been the other day and tonight, made him more self-conscience of his image than ever before. Even more so than when he was in front of millions of fans. The last thing he wanted was for her to see him in anything but a favorable light.
That realization didn’t even surprise him.
Hadn’t he known, the minute he’d looked into those gorgeous eyes of hers on Wednesday, that whatever it was that had drawn him to her when they were kids was even stronger now that they were adults? And that he seemed to be just as powerless to resist it as he had been then?
* * *
Sophie had a hard time falling asleep, and when she finally did, she dreamed of Dillon. The first time he ever spoke to her had been at the end of a pep rally the afternoon of a big game against Eagle Hills. She’d been a cheerleader and was wearing her uniform. He’d grinned at her as he passed on his way to the locker room.
All he’d said was, “Lookin’ good, Marlowe,” but those three words had told her he not only knew who she was but had remembered her name. Her heart had done crazy leapfrog things as she watched him walk away. He was the cutest, coolest, sexiest boy she’d ever seen.
That night, at the community center—there was always a dance on Friday and Saturday nights—he’d asked her to dance. She’d nearly fainted with delight as he took her hand and pulled her into his arms. And when he’d whispered in her ear that he’d like to take her home, she wasn’t sure she could walk off the dance floor without help.
They’d gone to the lake afterward. That was where all the kids went to make out. When he’d kissed her, Sophie’s head felt as if it was going to explode. And when his hand had moved from her waist to her breast, she very nearly did faint. Every nerve in her body came alive, and from that moment on, she was his.
The next morning, memories of her dream lingering, she knew her sister wasn’t the only one in this house who was in danger of making a monumental mistake. She also knew she couldn’t put off talking to Joy. Trouble was, Sophie hated confrontation.
She wished Beth, who’d been her BFF since they were kindergartners together, was home so she could run all this by her first. But Beth was on her honeymoon in Italy, and Sophie had vowed she would not yield to the temptation of calling Beth unless blood was involved.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Beth had said when Sophie made the promise as they hugged goodbye after Beth had tossed her wedding bouquet. “You can call or text. Mark won’t mind.”
But Sophie knew Mark would mind, and Sophie didn’t blame him. A honeymoon should be sacred. No man wanted his new bride thinking about anyone other than him. Time enough for real life when the newlyweds got back home.
No, Sophie was on her own. And since there was no one else she trusted enough to confide in, she would have to handle this problem with Joy by herself.
And I can’t put it off, either. Sighing, she got up from the kitchen table where she’d been drinking coffee and reading the news on her iPad. It was almost ten, and Joy was still asleep. Sophie had heard her sister come in at one o’clock the night before, right on time for her curfew, which Sophie had extended for the homecoming dance.
Deciding Joy had slept long enough, Sophie walked upstairs and softly knocked at Joy’s bedroom door. When there was no acknowledgment, Sophie knocked harder. Still hearing nothing, she opened the door and peered in. “Joy? Time to get up.”
“Huh? Wha? Wh-what time is it?”
“After ten.”
“Wh-why do I have to get up?” Joy pulled the cotton coverlet she used over her head.
Normally Sophie would have relented, because Joy was good about getting up on time and rarely gave Sophie problems in the morning, so Sophie gave her some slack on the weekends. But today wasn’t a normal day, at least not in Sophie’s mind. Today was the day she had to take whatever steps necessary to ensure that Joy did nothing stupid, nothing that would get in the way of the future