Page 52 of Spark
After two days, Chris was still blowing up her phone with apology texts.
And to make matters worse, Matt was texting her, too, asking whether they were still on for dinner and a movie on Friday.
At least neither of them tried dropping by again.
She didn’t know what to reply, so she didn’t. She was tormented by the possibility that Matt and Chris might be secretly laughing at her while sending her those texts. Were they testing her, seeing if she was going to be needy and pathetic enough to fall for their bullshit a second time?
The whole time, when she wasn’t simmering with anger, she felt completely miserable. Chris and Matt were the two male friends she had thought she could trust completely.
What changed? Did something happen while I was in Todos Santos?
Things had certainly been different between them since her return.
Exhausted by the storm of emotions, she finally got a good night’s sleep on Wednesday night. When she finally awoke, the edge of her pain and betrayal had finally dulled.
In the shower, she started wondering if she had overreacted. Chris and Matt had been her friends for over half her life, and they’d stood by her and defended her throughout their middle school and high school years. She’s known both of them for years. Until this week, they’d always had her back.
When she went to make herself some coffee and toast, she found a note from her Mom on the kitchen whiteboard, with a request to go grocery shopping in town and a list of items.
It was a relief to get away from the ranch for an hour or two.
When she returned to the house, loaded with heavy shopping bags, Mom was back at the house, working busily away at the home office set up in one corner of the great room.
“Thanks so much for doing that,” Mom said, looking up from her computer as Sophie walked in. “Mitya and I are in wall-to-wall teleconferences until 7 p.m.”
“No problem, Mom.” Sophie spotted a bowl sitting on the counter that hadn’t been there when she left.
Her chest contracted when she saw that it was filled with the same fancy, chocolate-dipped strawberries that Chris had made for her birthday dessert. Tucked under the bowl was a folded note.
Sophie hastily put down the bags she was holding. Her fingers were trembling as she reached for the note and unfolded it.
I’m sorry I screwed up. I was an idiot and I was wrong to say that. Can we please talk? —C
“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” Mom asked. “Are you okay? I don’t want to pry, but you’ve seemed really down this week, and when Chris came by a while ago, he looked like death warmed over. What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Sophie lied. “Everything’s fine. I, um, just have a lot to think about right now.”
“Uh-huh,” Mom said, her tone relaying that she clearly didn’t believe a word of that.
Despite her anger at Chris and Matt for treating her love life like some kind of joke, Sophie didn’t want to unleash the Wrath of Damaris on them.
She remembered the big trial of that Mafia boss when she was still a kid, the year after she and Mom moved to Bearpaw Ridge. That’s when Sophie had discovered the reason for their sudden departure from New York City, and why Mr. Rizzo and his friends had kidnapped Sophie, an event that had given her nightmares for years afterwards.
Mom had testified at the trial that she hadn’t just worked in Human Resources for Mr. Rizzo’s nightclub. She’d been a Mob assassin. Sophie’s mother hadkilledpeople and made it look like an accident.
Sophie was pretty sure that Mom didn’t kill people anymore, but Mom had always been very protective of her, and she didn’t want to take the chance that she’d wake up tomorrow to the news that Chris had suffered a fatal car crash or something.
She shuddered. “Look, I really don’t want to talk about it,” she told Mom, firmly. “This is something I need to work out for myself.”
Mom sighed. “All right, kiddo. But if you do want to bounce anything off a listening ear, I’m here for you.”
“I know,” Sophie said, warmed by reminder that at least one person in the world absolutely and totally had her back. “Thanks, Mom.”
Her phone chimed with an incoming text message. She didn’t have to look at it to know it was either another apology from Chris, or a message from Matt, wanting to know if they were still on for Friday night.
Why are they still bothering to try?
As if reading her mind, Mom said, “Whatever’s going on between you and Chris, I hope you actually talk to him about it. You guys have been friends forever. Don’t you think you at least owe him a chance to explain himself?”
