Chapter 6 The Kiss #3
Brad laughed, his eyes glazing over as he reached back into his past, clearly lost in a memory that made him happy.
Even though Sophie was aware the relationship had ended abruptly and poorly, personal experience said that he and Julia had probably shared many wonderful moments together, too.
Though it didn’t change anything, couldn’t ever alter her time with Drew that had also been a blend of the mundane, sad, and, at times peace, Sophie was filled with a blinding jealousy for the time Julia stole from Brad, only to hurt him irrevocably in the end.
“Actually, no. Not really. We typically hung out at Chris’s house since his parents were always gone, so she barely knew Julia, let alone Betsy.
But it’s so much more complicated than just her being petty.
She’s worried for my future if I stay in this small town where I’m bound to run into Julia, or worse, Chris.
I’ve only seen him once since I caught them, at a bar called Cowboy Joe’s, and it didn’t end well for either of us.
Chris got two black eyes and a lifetime ban from Joe’s, and I had to pay a few grand in bar damages.
I don’t see that fire from either of us dissipating anytime soon unfortunately, so I see her point. ”
“I get it. Are you worried? For your future, I mean?”
Brad smiled, a wide and authentic grin that reached his eyes. At that moment, he resembled his father.
“Not really. I see good things ahead.” Brad leaned in towards her, filling her with his intoxicating blend of soap and a cologne she couldn’t place.
She historically hadn’t been a perfume girl, but this was different.
Brad was different. “But what about you? I’ve been talking all about Julia, Chris, and me and haven’t given you the chance to tell me about your life. Where did you grow up before U of I?”
Sophie swallowed hard, caught off guard by his question.
This was the one topic she didn’t willingly bring up and for good reason.
Drew hadn’t ever brought himself to understand why Sophie didn’t talk to her father anymore.
He considered the whole world a networking platform and reasoned that since her dad was a famous—or infamous, depending on who you asked—TV anchor, Sophie should at least reach out to him for “business purposes.” There were times she wished she could live as simply as Drew did, in a world of black and white, the law and the breaking of the law the only two choices one could make.
Even as a lawyer, though, she saw everything in subtle shades of gray that made her better at her job.
As a human being and a daughter, however, it left everything murky.
How could she tell Brad that her father’d chosen to walk away from her all those years ago to make a woman he’d only known for three weeks happy?
That even now, at thirty-six, she still wasn’t over that rejection?
Telling Brad about her mom seemed easier but still an insurmountable task considering the venue and how long she’d been reacquainted with Brad.
“Um, well, I grew up in Helena. Not too far from here, actually,” Sophie said, twirling one of her curls around her finger. It was innocuous enough, this little bit of information. Hopefully it would be enough for Brad, and they could switch subjects naturally—and soon.
“What about your parents? Are they still there?”
No such luck, apparently. “Yep,” was all she could get out. Her breathing hitched, and she pulled at the corners of her lips, desperate to get some sort of a smile back before the wedding kicked off and Brad worried why things had gotten so serious all of a sudden.
“Are they still together?” There it was, the million-dollar question that led to answers she wasn’t sure of, even after all this time.
“No. I grew up with my mom in the city. I didn’t see my dad much.”
Brad’s eyes narrowed.
“I don’t want to pry, so stop me if I cross a line.
I just feel like if it’s something that was important to you growing up, it’s important to me now.
I hope you can trust me, Sophie.” Brad’s hand squeezed hers.
His other arm was still protectively wrapped around her waist, making her feel stronger than she had any right to feel.
She wanted so badly to trust him, to trust the way he made her feel like everything could and would be okay.
But she’d been burned so many times before and by people she’d known a lot deeper than her high school crush.
Between her dad and Drew, it was a wonder she had any trust left in the males of her species.
Still, she had to start somewhere.
“I lived with my dad when my mom left him,” she began.
She fidgeted. Brad’s question unnerved her but not as much as the realization that she desperately wanted to give him an answer.
“He and I were close, but he remarried after only three weeks to some gold digger he met on set—he’s an anchor on KTVB—and she didn’t want kids.
Me included. So, I packed back up and went to live with my mom who never missed the opportunity to remind me what a favor she was doing me by taking me back, or what a schmuck my dad was.
The thing was, I loved him, so it took years for her manipulations to convince me he didn’t love me back and change my mind.
By the time his wife dumped him for the more successful co-anchor at the studio and my dad reached out to me, I was poisoned enough to tell him to go to hell.
It’s safe to say none of us are very close anymore…
” Sophie trailed off, nervously using the tip of her peek-toed heel to kick at the end of the chair in front of her.
“Is he Anthony Kellerman?”
Sophie nodded.
“No offense, but I always thought he was a little too into his own looks, what the public thought of him. And that laugh…” Brad trailed off, and Sophie nodded vigorously, agreeing with Brad’s summation of her father.
“Right? Like he was auditioning for daytime television or something. It was awful. He didn’t laugh like that with me, though.
He used to laugh so hard his belly shook, and sometimes he’d even cry if he thought something was funny.
” Her smile fell as she recalled the man she’d loved before he’d chosen someone else, someone who wasn’t his flesh and blood.
More than anything she wanted to keep things light, but once Brad had asked about her folks—a perfectly reasonable first-date question—it was inevitable that this was how it would go.
Even after all this time, her father had a hold on her that nothing could break.
“Sophie, I’m so sorry. And I want to get into this more, but later. I didn’t mean to drag this all out of you on what’s probably not the best night to trudge through family history. But I can promise you this—I’ll be here to hear it all and help if I can. Pinky swear.”
Sophie laughed, trying not to focus on how open-ended Brad’s pinky promise had been. Imagining him around, holding her as she spilled the secrets of the past that still haunted her, filled her up in the places that were empty before that night.
He wagged his pinky at her.
“Pinky swear?” she said, a giggle escaping. She found she wasn’t dreading the conversation coming up again at a later time. Not with this man, whose heady scent of cologne and something sweeter, something more rustic, fogged her brain every time she tried to think.
“Yeah. Pinky swear. It’s some serious business, Kellerman. More so than any law you might see come through your courtroom, that’s for sure.” Brad’s bottom lip trembled as he tried to keep a straight face. He hooked her pinky in his, drew them to his lips, and kissed them.
Sophie’s heart plummeted to her feet, and she wet her lips with her tongue.
God, the way he spoke, the way he held her hand, the way he touched her, like he already knew her.
She resisted every urge to put her lips on his, arguing with herself that it wasn’t the right time.
Besides, who knew if that’s at all what he wanted.
“Speaking of serious business,” Sophie said, trying to make her voice sound as solemn as she could, “I have a bone to pick with you.”
Brad’s smile faded from his face.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“You totally undersold how much ass you kicked in the literary world. Three movies, huh?” She couldn’t keep her smile hidden anymore, and she let a small giggle pass through pursed lips. Brad smirked, playfully nudging her with his shoulder.
“Yeah,” he admitted. He ran his hand through his hair, a gesture she’d recognized as his nervous tell. She longed to be the one to feel the soft, wavy tendrils between her fingers, to take away any nerves he had. “It’s still a little hard for me to talk about myself like that.”
“Well, then you should hire me. I’ll tell all the people I see you’re a famous writer. I’ll sing it from the rooftops, even. Trust me, I’ll be the best PR person you’ve ever had.”
Brad laughed, a heavy sound that sprung from his chest, drawing a few stares from the guests seated in front of them, but neither Sophie nor Brad gave their haters the pleasure of showing them any attention.
“Fair enough. I could pay pretty well for that kind of positive publicity. Especially after tonight. I think I’ve been found guilty in the court of public approval, Counselor. What do you think?”
Sophie glanced around at the seats in front of them, noting that more than a few heads were still craned back to catch a glimpse of the newly famous writer-in-residence and the scandalous date he’d shown up with.
Instead of being worried like she’d been when she first arrived, now she found it entertaining.