Chapter 5 #2
“I'll wait.” She pulled out a stool, then picked up the box again and turned it over, scanning the back.. “Why didn’t you get one for Tanisha or Marcus,” Sophia asked referring to the brother and sister that Rylie and Dare had adopted.
Rylie set down the box in front of Sophia and tapped the corner without a word.
Sophia read. Recommended for ages 14+. Strong mechanical aptitude required.
“They could do it. They’re smart.”
“They’re eight and ten. You couldn’t do it. She set the box down.
“I bet I could,” Sophia said.
“Mm-hm.”
“I'm not unintelligent.”
“No one said you were.”
“I'm very capable with my hands. I bake. Baking is precise.”
“Sophia.” Rylie's voice was gentle in the way it got right before she said something devastating. “You called Mason home from base because the childproof lock on the cabinet was stuck.”
She opened her mouth. Closed it. “He was already on his way home.”
Rylie lost it. And honestly, Sophia couldn't hold her own laughter back either, because it was true, and it was funny, and this was exactly what she'd needed today. She declared the cupcakes ready enough and brought two back on a plate. Rylie didn't stand on ceremony.
“Sophia.” She was already halfway through the first one, eyes closed. “What is in the frosting?”
“Brown butter cream cheese.”
“You have an actual gift.” She reached for the second without breaking stride. “A gift from God. Mason knows how lucky he is, right?”
“I'll tell him you said so.” Sophia wrapped both hands around her mug, content to drink her coffee and watch Rylie eat. This was one of her favorite things—Rylie in her kitchen, the world quiet for a minute. “What are you and Lydia and Angie working on right now?”
Rylie waved a hand. “Corporate espionage. Tech company out of San Jose. Their R&D director has been selling proprietary code to a competitor.”
“That sounds serious.”
“It would be, if either party were remotely good at it.” Rylie looked genuinely bored by her own story.
“He's sloppy, the competitor is sloppier, and Lydia had the whole thing mapped out by Tuesday.
We're just documenting now so it holds up in civil court.” She shook her head.
“Angie said it's the dullest case we've touched in two years.
I think she's right. I actually miss the art forgery ring in Scottsdale.”
“At least boring is safe.”
“That's what Dare says.” The words came out easy, automatic, and then Rylie glanced at the window the way they all did sometimes, that unconscious drift toward wherever their men weren't. Sophia felt it too.
With some of the other wives managing younger children right now, the weight of a deployment settled differently on everyone. It always had. It always would.
Neither of them said it out loud. They didn't need to.
“How's Kayla?” Rylie asked.
Sophia felt the familiar swell of pride and low-grade panic that came with the question.
“She's wonderful. She's terrifying.” She set down her mug.
“She's fourteen, and there are boys in her class who have noticed she exists, and I am rationing that information very carefully. The second Mason finds out, he is going to lose every last bit of his mind.”
Rylie grinned. “He really will.”
“I love that man with everything I have, but he will treat every boy within fifty feet of that child like a mission objective.” Sophia shook her head. “Kayla has my heart and his brain, and she is going to break people in half, and her father is not emotionally prepared.”
“She is a beauty,” Rylie said, straight and sincere and with no decoration. “You're in real trouble.”
“I know.” Sophia sighed. “You didn't have this problem with Charlotte?”
“Not even slightly.” Rylie shook her head. “Charlotte had zero interest in boys until she was at UC San Diego. Zero. She was an absolute dream in that department.” A beat. “We got Sawyer for the gray hairs instead, but that's a story for another day.”
Sophia laughed. “I keep hoping Kayla inherited my timeline.”
Rylie raised an eyebrow. “What was your timeline?”
Sophia picked up her mug. “I'm not answering that.”
“Sophia Gault.”
“More coffee?”
Rylie studied her for a long moment, clearly filing it away for later use. “I hope she gets your timeline too,” she finally said, magnanimous about it. “Pray for a late bloomer. Free advice.”
“I am praying.” Sophia topped off their mugs and sat back down.
“Okay. I need us to do this more.” She gestured between them, the kitchen, the coffee, the Viking ship on the table, Rylie eyeing the last inch of her second cupcake.
“I want to get everyone together. All of us. Not a barbecue, not a dinner where we spend three hours chasing children. A real afternoon. Just the Midnight Delta wives.”
Rylie sat up straighter. “One hundred percent in favor of this plan. But it’s going to be tough. Evie and Karen spend more and more time in Jasper Creek.”
Sophia’s shoulders slumped. “I miss them.”
“We all do. Do you think Lydia's in?”
“Lydia will have a spreadsheet and calendar invites out within twenty-four hours.” A pause. “Angie will ignore the calendar invite and show up at the right time anyway.”
Sophia laughed, because that was exactly right. “Let's make it happen, with or without Evie and Karen.”
“Let's make it happen.”
Rylie looked at the empty plate. Then at the cooling rack, still full of cupcakes. Then back at Sophia.
“Can I have another one?”
Sophia was already getting up for seconds.