“No.” For the first time since seeing Reede’s face, she was sure about something.
“But I—”
“No,” she said again and stared up at him.
Roan gave a sigh. “Reede’s ruined everything for all of us, hasn’t he?”
“If by that you mean men in general, yes. I . . . ” She broke off, not sure of what she wanted or needed. It was all too soon, and there were too many confusing thoughts in her head.
All she knew for sure was that it had all been too fast. She’d gone from Carter to Reede in a matter of days. Back in her small Texas hometown she’d seen Carter as her savior. For years, people there had made snide remarks about how Sophie had gone away to a fancy college in the east to learn how to paint pictures. “I learned that in the first grade,” some redneck she’d grown up with said, and everyone had laughed. But Sophie had returned to town because her little sister needed help and she’d stayed there. To her, what she’d done was noble. She’d felt that she was protecting her sister, but the townspeople liked to point out that her uppity college degree didn’t help her in her waitressing, or in answering the phone at the insurance agency.
And then along came Carter. That summer had been wonderful. It was great to be picked up in Carter’s sexy little Jag. While it was true that they didn’t go out to public places often, everyone knew she and Carter Treeborne were a couple.
After about their third date, Sophie began to see changes in the people around her. The teasings were less; the men stopped flirting with her. There were no more comments about how well her uniform fit. Instead, people made a point of saying “good morning” to her.
Was this what she really liked about Carter? Not him as a man but that he was part of the Treeborne family? When Carter had told her it was over, was she angry at losing him or of no longer getting the respect the Treeborne name gave her?
As for that matter, had she latched on to Reede for him or because she’d envisioned throwing a doctor in Carter’s face? “See?” she’d say to him. “I am equal to you. I am marriage material.”
“You okay?” Roan asked when they were again downstairs.
“Just thinking is all. Do you really believe I can make some money with this place? The rent alone—”
“Is free for four months, and I’ll take care of the employee salaries for three months.”
“You can’t—”
Roan’s face went from calm to almost angry in seconds. “You know something? You need to get the chip off your shoulder. Everybody needs help at some point in his or her life, and I’m offering it. If it will make that pride of yours feel better, you can pay me back next year, but for right now you need to learn the word ‘yes.’ ”
Sophie’s first thought was to storm out and drive away, leave Edilean forever, but then she realized that he was right. “I know,” she said. “I’m—” She took a breath and put her shoulders back. It wasn’t easy to ask for anything. “I’m broke and I don’t have a job and I do need help. Do you have any idea where I should begin?”
Roan gave a little smile out of the corner of his mouth. “So who lied to you the most? Lied flat out to your face?”
“Other than you?”
Roan’s smile broadened. “Free rent and paying salaries are my penance. So who else in this town owes you?”
Sophie’s lips tightened. “Those three women who work for Reede. When I think of how I spent an entire day scrubbing his apartment and all along they were concealing his identity . . . I’d like to give them a piece of my mind.”
“I have a better idea. Let’s shower them with guilt.” Roan took his mobile phone out of his pocket and pushed a few buttons. “Betsy?” he said. “I’m over at Daisy’s.” He paused. “Yeah, I’ve found a tenant and she plans to open it right away, so I want you and the other two girls to come over here and scrub the place down.”
Sophie could hear Betsy’s voice raised in anger.
“Since when do you think we’ve become cleaning women for you, Roan McTern? Just because Dr. Reede is out of town doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to do and we are professional women, not—”
“Sophie is going to run it, and she knows everything,” Roan said into the phone.
Betsy took a moment before speaking. “How much is everything?”
“Lies, concealments, the town being in on it. Every last dirty detail.”
When Betsy spoke, her voice was meek, apologetic. “We’ll need to get supplies.”
“Make it fast,” Roan said and clicked off the phone. He looked at Sophie. “What else do you need?”
“I don’t know,” Sophie began, then smiled. “This is like being given wishes.”
“Does that make me your fairy godmother?” Roan asked, eyes narrowed.