Chapter 37
Sophie
Ashton is… he’s…
We’re kissing.
The way he leans down provides the perfect angle when I tilt my head just so.
Soft lips, and just the right amount of insistence, like this is what he’s wanted to do for a while.
I really hope it is.
His hand cups my cheek, like he’s cradling my head. Cradling my heart.
This kiss feels like it’s more of a promise than the spark that was lit with our first kiss. Our lips fit together in a way that makes me smile against him.
“You’re smiling,” Ashton says against my mouth.
“How can you tell?”
“I can always tell when you’re smiling.”
Now I can’t stop smiling, which is taking away from the kiss. I give a huff of disappointment when Ashton pulls away.
He is also smiling, his blue eyes brighter than I’ve ever seen. “Now will you let me take you shopping?”
“Is that why you kissed me?” I demand.
“No.”
Why did you kiss me? is what I want to ask, but maybe I don’t need to.
Maybe just the way he looks at me is enough.
“I knew you’d finally agree, though,” he adds, straightening, his hand falling from my cheek to my shoulder.
His hand is warm. He smells amazing.
Of course I’m going to go shopping with him.
After that kiss, I’m going to do just about anything he wants.
He kissed me.
And there was no discussion of bad first kisses to force his hand. One moment Ashton was being annoying by interfering in my game of Solitaire, and the next moment his lips were on mine.
But shouldn’t there be more? Not more kissing—although I’d be perfectly happy with that—but more of something?
I’m confused, and maybe I shouldn’t be, but I am. And I don’t like feeling like that. “Ashton…” I begin.
He pushes the cards into a pile. “No talking,” he says. “Unless it’s the type of talking that involves you telling me you’re happy that I’m taking you shopping.”
“I am.”
“Or the type of talking that involves you inviting me to go to the dance with me?”
I catch my breath, but Ashton keeps his attention on the cards as he pushes them back into the box. I wasn’t going to the dance.
I decided that days ago, after a difficult therapy session. If I can’t walk properly, then what makes me think that I can dance?
But I’ve never been one to give up
“You really want to go with me?” I ask in a quiet voice.
“Why do you think I’ve been sticking around?” He helps me to my feet. “Go get your coat. I’ve got money to spend.”
I pull back. “You’re not buying me a dress.”
He frowns. “That’s not the usual response that I get.”
“I’m not your usual shopping companion.”
“No, you’re not.”
And from the smile on his face, I think, for the first time, that Ashton might believe that’s a good thing.
Ashton helps me to the elevator because he says we’ll be doing enough walking.
He holds my hand in the car.
I don’t know what to say.
I don’t know what to do other than let my hand rest in his and let his thumb trace patterns on my wrist, which sends shivers up my arms and begins to make simple sentences a challenge.
“I thought we… I thought… you wanted… friends?”
“We are friends. This is—” He looks at our hands, fingers tangled together. “I don’t know.”
“I don’t know either.”
But I do. I’ve known for a while, but haven’t wanted to admit that what I feel for Ashton is not just friendship. There’s a warm swell in my chest when he’s around, and an ache when he’s not. I like spending time with my friends, but I want to be with Ashton all the time.
I like him. Maybe more than like.
It’s been four weeks of slow, getting to know him. Of finding out layers of Ashton that no one else knows about.
I more than like him.
But I don’t say any of that, because if the kiss was supposed to confirm things, it’s done anything but.
I don’t say anything.
The air in Battle Harbour is cool and crisp, and really cold. Being shut up in the castle for a month has made me forget how cold January can be near the Arctic Circle.
“Coffee for the Sole?” Ashton asks after he helps me from the SUV.
I walk gingerly across the street with my crutches, Ashton hovering at my side. I haven’t been using them much, but for this outing, I thought it was a good idea to have them with me.
“There’s no ice,” Ashton encourages. He’s been my own private cheering squad this month. “You won’t slip.”
“I know.”
“I’d catch you if you do,” he tells me. “Maybe I’ll hang on if it makes you feel better.”
This is my first time out in public since the accident, which took place as I was walking across the street, so of course I’m a little apprehensive.
Of course, I’m not about to tell Ashton that.
But I make it across the street to the sidewalk, which is free of snow and ice. Silas must shovel at the sight of the first snowflake. I even manage to pull the door open. A gust of coffee-scented warm air hits me in the face.
I close my eyes and breathe it in. How can I think a pot of tea can compare to this?
“Sophie!”
Silas is behind the counter with Leodie, both with big smiles on their faces.
“How are you?” Leodie cries.
I wave one of the crutches. “Good,” I tell her. “I’m good.”
Ashton chuckles to himself, and keeps a hand on the small of my back as I make my way across the coffeeshop.
The Christmas decorations are down, leaving just the paintings and the fishing nets and the automated flopping fish by the bathrooms, until Leodie begins to decorate for Valentine’s Day.
Having a fish-flavoured décor might not seem the norm for a coffeeshop, but I think it works for Coffee for the Sole.
It’s busy for a weekday afternoon, the tables full of townsfolk.
I’m greeted by most of them, so that it takes a few minutes before I can get to the counter.
I know every inch of this place. I’ve tasted most of the menu, and am always happy to sample new pastries for Silas to try. I know what table to avoid on a sunny afternoon, and which one is unsteady unless there’s a piece of cardboard under the leg.
It’s been over four weeks since I’ve been in, and I had no idea how much I’ve missed it.
“Hey, you.” Leodie grins from behind the counter. She is Silas’s second in command; a few years younger than I am, but she spent a summer working at the fish and chip place before I pushed her in the direction of the coffeeshop. “Want the regular?”
“I feel like I should have a bucket of it, just to make up for missing so much.” I try to take everything in. “How is everything?”
“The same. You really haven’t missed much. Oh, are you able to come to the dance on Friday? Will your foot be okay?”
“I think so,” I say, as Ashton presses his hand firmly against my back. I sneak a glance at him and see that he’s smiling.
“It’s good to see you,” Silas says as he hands us our coffees. “Good to see you out and about.”
“It’s good to be out and about.”
Fenella sits at the table by the window with a laptop open before her.
Fern is beside her, and I slowly make my way over to them.
“If I’d known you were coming into town today, I would’ve waited for you,” Fern says.
“It was a last-minute decision.” Ashton gives me a covert wink. “Sophie decided she needed supplies.”
“You could invite her along,” I say under my breath as we leave. Ashton carries both drinks so I can use my hands for the crutches.
I didn’t really think this through. Maybe we should have stayed with Fenella and finished our coffee, but Ashton seemed eager to start shopping.
How excited can a man really be to go shopping?
He shakes his head. “It’s okay.”
“But she’s your friend,” I press.
“I’m friends with her friend. That does not make us friends.”
“You’re back to being grumpy.”
“I’m not grumpy, I just don’t want anyone else tagging along. Maybe I just want to take you shopping.”
“But why?”
Ashton shakes his head with a little chuckle. “Are nice people always this clueless?”
I hit him on the shin with my crutch.