a
photo, do you?”
“Probably not. The
fences he did last week out behind my place look really good.”
Sophie nodded. “Yeah, I
went out and looked at them on Friday. They actually look like brand new. He
does really good work.” And he looks
gorgeous doing it, she added in her mind.
Sophie drove through
town until they came to the street that was blocked off for the market every
Sunday morning. She parked the SUV and went around to help her mother step out.
“Really, Sophie, I am not an invalid.”
“I don’t want that ankle
to get worse,” she told her. “I wish you
would go to the doctor. It shouldn’t still be bothering you so much.”
Brenda pulled her arm
gently from her daughter’s grasp. “Who says that it’s bothering me?”
“You’re still limping after
two weeks.”
“That’s my bursitis.”
“You don’t have
bursitis—”
“Oh look, it’s Tina,
the lady who did my hair yesterday.” Brenda lifted her arm and waved, and Tina
motioned her over to the booth. “I’ll catch up with you, honey.”
Sophie rolled her eyes.
She was glad her mother was making friends, but that had been a blatant escape
attempt. Brenda was always so busy taking care of everyone else that she forgot
to take care of herself sometimes. Sophie looked around at all of the little
booths set up. It seemed that everyone in the community had something to sell—or
maybe barter, she wasn’t sure. She saw Mrs. Larson as she was walking around
and stopped to say hello. The old lady seemed thrilled to see her and gave her
another cup of free lemonade.
“Thank you, Mrs. Larson.
Do you know where Drake sets up?”
The older lady pointed
to a table about five booths past hers. “He’s right there, honey, behind the O’
Dells’ booth.” Sophie looked but she couldn’t see him. There was a stack of
containers on the grocer’s booth that he must be hidden behind. Mrs. Larson
told her, “You see those blue containers? Those are his. It looks like Brooke
is there with him.”
Sophie moved a step to
the right, and she did see him. He was sitting at the little table with the
blonde she’d seen with him in Huckleberry’s. “Mrs. Larson, who is Brooke?” Sophie
heard herself ask, and she was surprised. Once again, it was very unlike her to
feel jealous or threatened by another woman—especially since she wasn’t even in
a relationship with the man.
“She’s our doctor now.
It’s funny to me, sometimes. I watched that girl grow from diapers to medical
school, and now she’s the one who writes out my prescriptions. A lot of folks
are still driving the seventy miles down to the city because it just seems too
strange to them.” She paused, and Sophie was just about to excuse herself when Mrs.
Larson said, “Some things never change though. Those two have been sweet on
each other since they were kids. I remember my dear departed husband running
them out of our barn once when he found them in there kissing. They couldn’t
have been over fifteen then. Brooke’s family lived just across the back field
from us.”
Sophie didn’t like the
way the sound of that made her feel either. What was happening to her? She’d
never mooned over a man before and got jealous at the very idea of him kissing
another woman—and twelve years ago at that!
She chastised herself
once more, and Mrs. Larson asked, “Are you okay, dear?”
“Oh yes, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? You look
a little peaked.”
Sophie wasn’t sure what
“peaked” meant exactly, but she thought she might feel a little “peaked” as
well. “I’m fine, Mrs. Larson. Thank you for the lemonade. I hope to see you
again soon.”
“You’re so welcome, dear.”
Sophie walked away from Mrs. Larson’s booth, but she wasn’t sure what she
should do. Maybe she should go over and talk to him and see if he introduced
the blonde this time—now that she really thought of it, he never said he didn’t
have anyone in his life. What he had
Sarah Castille
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