“Okay, so now I’m the doctor, it’s about midnight, and we both need to go to bed.”
Sophie had to suppress a laugh at the way he said it, but he caught his error.
“Foot in mouth. So you go to bed and I go to bed. I mean . . . ”
“I got it,” she said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“And bring your package to send to the very stupid Earl.”
“I will,” she said, smiling. “Good night and thank you.”
“You’re the one deserving of the thanks. What was that orange soup?”
“Butternut squash.”
“And the mashed stuff?”
“Parsnips.”
“That’s what Kim said it was. All right. Go to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”
She said good night again and hung up.
Sophie lay in the bed for a while, looking up at the ceiling and smiling. Maybe things were going to be all right, after all. If she returned the cookbook to Carter’s family they might not pursue her. And if it were postmarked from another country they might not find her.
For the first time since she left her stepfather standing on the sidewalk, Sophie thought she might possibly have a shot at a life. It was possible that the past was done with and that today, this night, was the beginning.
And maybe, she thought as she turned out the light, this moonlit stranger was part of her future.
Six
“Good morning,” Dr. Aldredge said to the three women who worked for him.
Heather was so startled by his pleasant tone that she dropped her folders to the floor. Betsy choked on her coffee, and Alice’s chin dropped by inches.
“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” he said. When no one answered, he picked up the appointment book. When he saw that it was blank it took him a moment to remember that he’d been planning to spend the day in Richmond. He looked back at the staring women. “Sophie, my new assistant, is meeting me here at nine and we’re going to go over her duties. I want to thank you ladies for making her welcome yesterday. In fact, after you say hello, why don’t you take today off?”
They were staring at him so hard and in such deep silence that it was difficult for him to maintain his good humor. But then he remembered Sophie and smiled. She was the first person he’d ever told the whole story of him and Laura. He’d made jokes about the breakup to other people and he’d repeatedly said he was over her, but last night he’d realized that he hadn’t been. Over her personally, yes, but not over the pain of it all. He’d never fully understood why Laura had wanted a man who was so . . . well, less than Reede. His ego, his masculinity, his belief in himself, had been crushed.
But last night it was as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. As Sophie had so wisely pointed out, if he’d married Laura he’d now be trapped in Edilean forever.
“Sophie?” Betsy said at last.
Reede couldn’t help himself as he frowned at her. “Yes, Sophie—” He couldn’t remember her last name, if Kim had told him, that is.
“Did you like her?” Alice asked tentatively. None of them ever dared to ask Dr. Reede a personal question—at least not after the first time. Scalpels didn’t cut as sharply as his replies.
“Yeah, I did,” he said, and again there was that smile. “She’s interesting to talk to.”
“Talk to?” Betsy asked. “You met her? In person?”
Reede put the appointment book down on the counter and took a deep breath. What in the world was wrong with these women? “No, I haven’t met her in person, but I had a lengthy talk with her on the phone. I would like to know what’s going on with you three. Why are you looking at me as though I’ve met a ghost? Is Sophie not real? Did I make her up?”
The women looked from one to the other, then seemed to settle on Heather to tell him the truth.
But when Heather just stood there, Reede had to refrain from snapping at her, but then she was such a timid person. His least little comment that could be construed as less than loving-and-caring and she lost it. But Reede’s eyes bore down on the young woman with the intensity of a hawk’s. It was the look he’d often used in the field to make people get off their behinds and do something.
“She threw beer on you,” Heather blurted, then fell into a chair, as though all the energy had left her.