Sweet Sofie (15 page)

Eric smiled. Well, he’d never complain about that. Sofia’s sensuality went hand in hand with everything else about her personality. She was intense when it came to everything. She’d been a little weird all week. Eric had a feeling he knew why.

Her brothers weren’t the only ones with thy o a e short fuse. He’d steered clear of the coffee shop where Asia worked all week; he wasn’t adding any more fuel to that fire. He hoped she wasn’t still worrying about it. He hated to bring it up, but if she was still acting weird over the weekend he’d have to.

His phone rang just as he hopped on the freeway.

“Hey, baby!” Her chipper mood made him smile.

“Hey.”

“You on your way?”

“Yep, just hopped on the freeway.”

Usually, Eric waited until Saturday mornings to leave. Friday night traffic was horrendous, but today he’d got off early. The guy he was assigned to work with had asked for half the day off, so they told Eric he could leave early. He was headed home and not a moment too soon.

“Angel and Alex miss you.” He heard Sarah laugh in the background.

Eric smiled. “They do?”

“Yeah, they’ve been whining about you not spending any time with them on your weekends home.”

He heard Sarah laugh again along with male grumbling in the background.

Eric couldn’t help laughing. “Is that right?”

“Yeah, so we’re ordering from Andolini’s and they want you to come over and play with them.” She laughed. “Seriously, they really wanna play some football out front. Me, Sarah and Valerie will cheer.”

“Andolini’s? I’m in.” He hadn’t had their pizza in ages. When they were younger, they used to eat there all the time. They had the best pizza in town.

After hanging up with Sofia, Eric felt much better. Maybe he wouldn’t have to have that dreaded conversation with her after all.

The guys did seem happy to see him when he got to Sofia’s house, but no one was happier than Sofia. He squeezed her tight and kissed her like he really wanted to when they were finally out of her brothers sight. Even after all this time, he still wasn’t comfortable getting too cozy with her in front of them. And he knew damn well, they weren’t comfortable watching.

Once back outside, he grabbed a beer from the ice chest. “Don’t you bums work?”

“Go long,” Alex said to Angel then glanced at Eric. “Parents are at the restaurant.”

Angel ran out in the street and Alex threw the football at him. A car turned into the cul-de-sac and slowed. Angel moved out of the way, smiling at the driver. When it was close enough, he saw it was Valerie, Sarah’s cousin. Eric wasn’t surprised she was still coming around. She and Alex had been on and off since high school. Alex put up an act that their relationship was just for fun, but as much as Mr. Tough Guy played it down, Eric saw the way he looked at her when they were together. He wasn’t fooling anyone.

Romero showed up a while later and they all hung out like old times. It felt damn good.eltool The girls sat on lawn chairs in the front yard chatting, while the guys stood by Alex’s truck parked out in the street throwing back a few beers.

They were in the middle of clowning Romero about his piece of crap car when they noticed he wasn’t paying attention to any of them. He was looking behind Eric. “Is that Bad News Billings?”

Eric turned around to see a very clean-cut, buffed-up Brandon Billings, walking toward them with a dog on a leash.

It is what it is

“Get the fuck out!” Romero said, smiling, “Is that you, Billings?”

Brandon extended his arms out to the sides. “In the flesh.”

“What?” Angel added, “No way!”

Brandon laughed. As surprised as everyone else, Eric couldn’t believe how different Brandon looked.

Angel reached out, shook his hand, and patted his shoulder. They all did the same except for Romero, who feigned punching him in the stomach.

“Did you just get back?” Angel asked.

“Last week, actually.”

Alex went back to leaning on his truck. “You wanna beer, man?”

“Yeah, I’ll take one.”

Alex swatted Romero on the arm. “Go grab one from the ice chest.”

Romero made a face. “Why me?”

“Because I asked you to.” Alex turned back to Brandon. “So how was it?”

Brandon smiled. “I can’t complain. I mean, it was hard at first. Boot camp’s brutal, but you get used to it and,” he said, looking away for a second, “anything was better than being home.”

“What’s this?” Romero pointed at Brandon’s upper arm, after handing him the beer. “You got a tattoo?”

Brandon turned his arm to them when he saw the interest in everyone. It was the US Marine embeltooloo?lem, the one with the eagle sitting on a globe with an anchor going through the globe. The detail was impressive, and by the look on Brandon’s face, there was no doubt he was proud.

“That’s cool.” Romero studied it closely. “You know I’m thinking of getting a tattoo. Did it hurt?”

The guys chuckled. “What are you gonna get, Romero? A picture of your cat, Flea?”

Romero looked at Alex, disgusted. “Its Fee Fee, and he’s not my cat, he’s my uncle’s.” He brought his attention back to Brandon. “I was thinking of getting a gun right here.” He lifted his shirt, exposing his abdomen. He stuck his hand in his pants. “So it looks like I’m packin’.”

They all busted up, including Brandon.

“That’d be the only thing you’d be packin’,” Alex said.

Romero looked at all of them, obviously failing to see the humor. Without commenting on their laughing, he looked back at Brandon. “So does it hurt?”

The girls had come over to pet the dog. He was cute, just a pup. Instead of bending over and petting the dog like Sarah and Valerie, Sofia came over and leaned against Eric, slipping her hand in his. Brandon glanced at them, then brought his attention back to Romero. “Nah, it doesn’t hurt too much. The vibrating needle kinda numbs it.”

“Damn, Brandon,” Romero said, looking at his arm, “looks like they worked you out pretty good.”

Brandon chuckled. “Yeah, I thought I was used to getting worked out, but I got back home and,” he looked at Sofia, “got worked out pretty hard here, right, Sof?”

Sof?

Sofia smiled. Eric held her hand a little tighter. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he wasn’t jumping to any conclusions like he knew her brothers would. They all stared at Sofia. Brandon saw the looks on their faces. “I knew she was on the track team, but damn. I didn’t know how fast she was.”

Eric glanced at Sofia. In very unlike Sofia fashion, she blushed. She hadn’t mentioned Brandon was even back in town, much less that she’d been running with him. Eric didn’t want to make too much of it, but he had to wonder if had anything to do with her behavior this week.

“So you raced?” Romero asked. Before either could respond, he added, “Did you beat ‘im, Sof?”

Sofia and Brandon exchanged glances. It was just a glance, but it held the weight of an elephant. It turned Eric’s stomach. The carefree afternoon he’d been having up until then took a nose dive.

“I almost beat him,” Sofia answered.

Brandon smiled. “Don’t worry, Sof, You’ll get me next time.”

Eric squeezed her hand. The hidden message in Brandon’s eyes wasn’t missed. Sofia didn’t respond. Much to Eric’s annoyance, Romero went back to asking about the tattoo. As if one tattoo made Brandon an expert on the subject. Eric wanted to hear more about Brandon and Sofia running. If he didn’t now, he’d sure as hell make sure he did later. Unfortunately, later would have to wait. The guys had planned a night out, bowling.

After chatting for a while longer, Brandon finally said he had to take off, but not before turning to Sofia one last time. “You gtim heonna be out there tomorrow morning?”

Eric felt her tense up. “No. I only run during the week.”

“Alright, then I’ll see you out there Monday morning.”, he said, and Sofia shrugged in response.

To top it off, Angel insisted that since Eric had had such a long drive, there was no sense in taking two cars—they should all go in his. The only moment he would’ve had alone with Sofia before tonight was the drive to bowling alley. Now that was shot, too. He wouldn’t even be able to take advantage of the ride home.

Alex and Valerie must’ve taken a detour along the way, because they’d all been at the bowling alley over twenty minutes, and they still weren’t there. Those two did that a lot. With Angel and Sarah off to buy drinks, and Romero showing off his bowling skills, Eric took advantage of the moment.

“So how come you hadn’t mentioned Brandon being back?”

Sofia lifted a shoulder. “I dunno. I forgot. I only ran with him a couple of times.”

“You forgot?” Eric didn’t want to be pissed. He didn’t want to ruin the weekend before it even started. But he knew if he ever
forgot
to mention something like that to her, she’d go postal on him. He knew he could trust Sofie. He just couldn’t shake the bad vibe he got when she exchanged glances with Brandon.

“It was in the morning and only for a few minutes. By the end of the day it had totally slipped my mind.”

That made sense to him. Still, he squeezed her hand. “Anything else you
forget
to tell me?”

She shook her head immediately. Eric leaned his forehead against hers. “Look Sof, if you
forgot
to tell me because you thought I’d be mad, that’s not cool. Remember just like I’m always reminding you that I’ve never given you any reason to doubt me, you’ve never given me reason, either.” He lifted her chin. “I’m okay with you taking a jog with a friend, it’s when you start keeping it from me that makes me wonder why, okay?”

“Okay,” She stared into his eyes.

He stared back. “Promise me you won’t keep things from me no matter how mad you think I’ll be.”

“I promise,” she said, then squeezed him tight, “I love you so much.”

They kissed until someone cleared his voice loudly. Angel stood behind them with a frown. She was still his little sister. “Will you two knock it off?”

Sofia laughed. “If you can keep your hands off Sarah for even five minutes, I will.”

Ignoring her, Angel turned to Romero. “So do we get to play or are we watching you all night?”

Eric turned back to Sofia, who leaned into him. He’d let the bad vibe go for now and hope that’s all it was. But he’d be damned if he was letting his guard down. The thing about knowing Sofia so long is he knew her better than most boyfriends knew their girlfriends. That’s what made him a little nervous. In all the years he’d known her, she’d never ceased to amaze him or surprise him, and yet he knew her like the back of his hand.

If her brothers so much as suspected even halfcteris of the things they’d done when they were younger, stuff usually suggested by Sofia, Eric had no doubt they’d blow a fuse, even now. Eric expected to be able to trust her. He knew she loved him as much as he loved her, and that she would never do anything to intentionally hurt him. But if there was one thing he’d learned over the years, with Sofia you just never knew what to expect. Very little, if anything, ever made Sofia blush, so her blushing was a red flag.

***

It is what it is, but sometimes it’s not.

What you get is what you see.

You get only what you think it is.

Always been that way. And will always be.

Sofia read the damn poem she found buried under other stuff she’d pinned over it. After all these years, she still didn’t get it. When Brandon emailed it to her back in high school, she read and reread it. As much as she loved to write, she didn’t get poetry. All poetry seemed to go over her head, and Brandon’s was no exeption. It made her feel stupid. If she wasn’t deep enough to get it, how could she possibly write it?

She wanted so bad to tell him she understood, but she didn’t. Finally, she ‘fessed up and told him she liked it, but didn’t get it. She remembered that conversation and Brandon laughing. “I thought for sure you of all people would get it.”

Sofia stared at him, feeling even stupider. “Me? Why?”

Brandon looked down at his notebook on the desk. “I guess because you can relate to me… at least I think you can.”

What did that mean?
Good God, she felt dumber with each sentence he spoke. “I think I can relate to you. I’ve just never been good about deciphering hidden messages in poems.”

He finally lifted his eyes away from the notebook and their eyes locked. “There’s no hidden message, Sof.” The bell rang and Sofia realized she was holding her breath. She let her breath out slowly and they both stood and grabbed their books. Brandon smiled at her. “It’s right there, Sof. The words say it all.”

Sofia pinned the poem back on her tack board, frowning at all the useless junk she had tacked on over the years. She’d clean it off eventually.

Even though the weekend was over, Sofia still couldn’t get over the disaster she’d dodged that past Friday. As sneaky as she’d been through the years because her brothers had forced her to, one thing she’d never been good at doing was lying to Eric. He knew her too well. If he had probed even just a little more, she might have spilled her guts and begged him to forgive her.