Page 178 of Between Regrets and Promises

“Once or twice,” Sophie admits but doesn’t expand on it or sound thrilled.

“He means well, but he’s often stubborn like Mason.” Aunt Sylvia pats my leg.

Sophie chuckles, glancing at me with hooded eyes. The signals she’s throwing my way are not going unnoticed. So many stolen glances and unspoken words are exchanged as we continue to flip through the pages. After we’ve gone through every album and Aunt Sylvia has embarrassed me beyond means, we decide to call it a night.

Before we leave, she puts the leftover food in to-go containers and makes us promise to come back. Thankfully,Sophie agrees. As Aunt Sylvia walks us to my truck, she thanks us for spending the evening with her.

“So when’s the wedding?” she asks with a wink. “You know, I can marry you two right here and now. We could deal with the paperwork another day.” She waves it off as if she’s talking about the weather.

Sophie tenses.

“Wait, are you two not together?” Aunt Sylvia’s eyes ping-pong between us. “I know you said you’re roommates, but…I’m not blind.” She snickers, and it grows awkward.

“It’s a technicality right now,” I explain and silence her with a hug and thanks for dinner. Sophie repeats my words as Aunt Sylvia hugs her next. The two of us climb in and wave as I back the truck out.

“What?” I ask with a laugh after watching Sophie grin the past fifteen minutes.

“Nothing,” she singsongs.

“Oh, you’ve got to tell me now.”

She pretends to zip her lips, but a smirk takes over and is replaced with out of control laughter. “You wanted to be a ballerina.”

“I was five!” I exclaim.

“Maddie is gonna lose her shit.”

“You better not tell her. Soph,” I playfully warn.

She shrugs. “We’ll see.”

We pull into the driveway, and I’m thrilled to see Sophie in high spirits. The past few times we’ve gone out have given me hope that things will eventually go back to how they used to be.

“Thanks for taking me with you,” she says, carrying our food as we walk toward the house.

“I wouldn’t have gone without you,” I admit, and time freezes for a moment. The only thing that pulls us away is the sound of laughter on the other side of the door.

“Is that…”

“Maddie.”

Both confused, we walk inside and find her and Liam playing cards on the couch. By the sounds of it, she’s kicking his ass.

“What the hell?” I ask. “What’re you doing here?”

Maddie glares at me, then smiles at Sophie. “You brought me dinner?”

Sophie narrows her eyes. “Whatareyou doing here?”

Standing, Maddie comes over and grabs the containers from Sophie’s hands, then goes to the kitchen and returns with a fork, already eating from the Tupperware. Manners? I’m not sure she has any. “This is delicious!” she says loudly.

“You should share that,” Liam whines. “Aunt Sylvia may be a weirdo, but she’s a damn good cook.” He holds out his hand, waiting for Maddie to share. Instead, she pulls it away from him.

“I was bored sitting in my dorm, so I came over to visit, but then realized you two lovebirds weren’t home, so Liam let me in, and we’ve been hanging out while I waited for Soph.”

I arch a brow at Liam as Sophie takes the other container into the kitchen.

He shrugs helplessly. “I couldn’t tell her to go away. Her ride had already driven off.”

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