Just Around the Corner

“But you know what I love most about him?” Sophie asked, her eyes and voice still full of emotion.

“What?”

“The way he makes me feel about myself. It’s like he thinks I can do anything. And when I’m with him, so do I.”

Phyllis really liked this man. And was suddenly hopeful that helping Sophie wasn’t going to be all that difficult. Not when she had a support system like the one she was describing.

“So why haven’t you told anyone about him yet?” Phyllis asked, rocking back in her chair, rolling a pen between her thumbs and forefingers.

“I don’t know. I guess because it’s still too special.”

“But you’re certain he loves you as much as you love him.”

“Oh, yeah. I matter to him. A lot.”

“He’s told you so?”

“He tells me all the time, and in ways that really matter, too.” Sophie sat up straight. “You should hear him,” she said, grinning again. “He’s always telling me how much he values me, how much he wants me around. I can’t count the times he’s told me he doesn’t know what he’d do without me. He praises absolutely everything I do, finds good even when it isn’t there. You know how love is blind,” she shared in an aside.

Yes, she did. She’d wasted four years on Brad because she’d been blinded by love.

“And when I’m down or having a problem, he just has to look at me with those dark eyes and there’s so much warmth and concern there that it takes my breath away. I only have to be with him for a few minutes and I feel better.”

Phyllis flashed back to the day Matt had taken her to Phoenix. After her exam, while they’d been waiting for Dr. Mac to come talk to them in her office, he’d given her a look similar to the one Sophie had described. Of course, Matt’s eyes weren’t just dark. They were black.

And while there’d been warmth and concern, the emotions had been impersonal. There’d been no love present.

Still, he’d made her feel better.

“Since he’s so eager to be with you, he probably wouldn’t be happy that you’re keeping him a secret,” Phyllis said, homing in on the only thing about Sophie’s boyfriend that wasn’t making sense.

“He’s okay with it,” the girl assured her hastily. “As a matter-of-fact, for now, he prefers it that way.”

Phyllis’s instincts were nagging pretty strongly. There were so many similarities between Sophie’s “boyfriend” and Matt Sheffield. Too many?

No. She trusted Matt. If Sophie was telling the truth, she couldn’t be talking about Matt.

“Why is that?” she asked. “Why does he want you to keep this a secret?”

“I’m sure it’s for my sake,” Sophie said, not seeming at all concerned, although both her legs were now bobbing slightly. “He’s trying not to rush me, to give me a lot of time so I’m sure about what we’re doing. I kind of suspect he wants me to finish school first.”

“You don’t know?”

“He’s never come right out and said so, but he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t want to put any conditions on me.”

Hmm.

“Well, I suppose if you’re sure you love him, there’s no need to rush.”

Sophie’s leg-bobbing was becoming more pronounced. “It’s just that…” She stopped. Phyllis thought she saw a flash of uncertainty cross the girl’s face, but it was gone so quickly, confidence once again at the forefront, she couldn’t be positive. “He’s older than I am,” she finished with more than a hint of defensiveness.

The pen between Phyllis’s fingers stilled. “How much older?” Were the girl’s emotions playing a cruel joke on her? Was she trying to find a father and mistaking security for love?

Now that could explain the eating disorder.

“Just a little over ten years.”

Not quite father material, then. But within Matt’s range.