Chapter 9 Sophia
Sophia
The door to the gallery chimed as I opened it, the scent of recently cooked breakfast lingering in the air.
I expected Henry to demand an explanation for not calling him last night, but the gallery was eerily silent.
I walked through the display cases towards the narrow hallway and climbed the squeaky stairs to my room.
Slipping inside, I let out a relieved breath.
I didn't have time to make Henry feel better about himself today. I didn’t even have time for myself.
I peeled off my clothes, adding them to the pile in the corner, and looked at myself in the mirror.
My makeup was ruined, my hair a sticky mess from the whiskey.
I felt my neck where Gabriel kissed me, then ran a hand down my cold, tacky chest where the wet clothes had hugged me.
Desperately needing a shower, I turned on the hot water.
I didn't know how long I stood in the bathroom, trying to fully accept that this was all real. Reaching out, I felt the hot, crooked streams of water shooting out of the old showerhead and stepped in. The hot water grounded me, I wasn’t poor anymore.
I didn’t have to worry about security. I smiled, recalling the vision board I made a year ago, even though it didn’t last long on my wall before I stuffed it under my bed, feeling stupid.
Could that really have been how this happened?
If anyone were to look at my life from the outside now and analyze the events that led to my financial security and a hot guy in the picture, there would be a logical explanation, not a mystical one.
I imagined Gabriel standing behind me in the shower, his arms around my waist. He wasn’t my boyfriend, but he had treated me better than anyone else I’d ever had.
I lathered myself in soap, rushing to wash my hair.
He made an absolute mess of me, but he did a good job getting all the glass out of my hair.
I rinsed off, hurried out of the shower, threw on a light blue sundress, and dried my hair.
Emma told me guys preferred minimal makeup.
I didn’t believe her, but with so little time left to get ready, I needed it to be true today.
“Sophia? Are you in there?” Henry's voice came from outside my door. I froze, I was so distracted I didn't hear him coming up the creaky stairs.
“Um, yes, I’m here. I'm getting ready.”
“I thought I heard the shower.” The locked doorknob wiggled. What was I supposed to say to that?
“Yeah, I showered.”
“Can I come in? I have something for you.”
His shadow shifted nervously in the gap under the door.
“Just a moment.”
I finished my lip gloss and opened the door. Henry stood there with a plate of waffles and a wide smile.
“You had a long night of work. I figured you would need to recharge your batteries. There is no better way to do that than with my waffles.”
“Thank you, Henry. It was definitely a long night.” I reached out to take the plate from him.
“Ah ah, the plate is way too hot.” He looked around my shoulder at the small spot on my desk that wasn’t cluttered and squeezed past me toward it. After setting the plate down, he turned towards me with his hands clasped together.
“So, what have you got planned today, Sophia?”
I was about to go eat with Gabriel, but I didn’t want to make Henry feel bad about not eating what he made for me.
“I’ve got a meeting with my new boss.” I gestured to my outfit. “It’s pretty casual, I think.”
Henry nodded. “Well, don’t be nervous. He probably noticed you are a good worker and wants to reward you, especially after last night.”
“That’s sort of what I was thinking.”
He smiled and nodded before letting his eyes wander around my room, landing on my pile of dirty clothes in the corner. The silence stretched on as we just stood there.
“So, I’m going to finish getting ready and enjoy these amazing waffles! I’ll see you when I come downstairs in a few minutes?”
“Yes.” He snapped his fingers. “I’ll be in the gallery to see you out.” He quietly closed the door behind him, and I plopped down on my bed, anxiety creeping up. I was finished getting ready; I just needed a minute to be alone, to let my mind be silent.
I creaked down the stairs, where Henry waited at the end of the long hallway. “I bet you're ready for the day now,” he said confidently.
“I just hope this meeting goes well.”
“I’m sure it will, Soph. The most beautiful thing in this gallery could never disappoint anyone.”
I knew what he meant, but I wasn’t about to miss this opportunity. “Oh, I’m just a thing, huh?”
Concern flashed across his face. “No, that’s not what I meant, I—”
“I’m messing with you, Henry. I know what you meant.” He forced a laugh, but his head glistened in the fluorescent lights of the gallery with fresh nervous sweat.
“Well, let’s get you to your meeting.”
With a warm smile, I walked past him. “That’s okay, I’m just going to walk. It’s right down the street.” The sad look on his face revealed he took it personally. But he took everything personally. I learned years ago to ignore it.
“See you later, then,” he said as he walked with me to the front door.
I was grateful for the hair tangling breeze after a few minutes of walking under the scorching sun.
It was peak tourist season, and the two-lane streets were packed with cars, filled with people angrily on their way to enjoy the day.
The restaurant was just across the street now, but no one was letting me cross at the four-way stop.
Each car that forced its way through the stop sign before its turn was an out-of-state visitor.
They were preventing me from crossing my own street, all to save a few seconds.
I never took part in the negative conversations about tourists, but standing there for more than a minute watching each selfish face give me a “Fuck you, me first” glance before speeding forward wore my tolerance down, one car at a time.
The next car slowed to a stop at the stop sign.
I crossed my arms and stared narrowly at him.
He smiled at me from inside his obviously expensive yellow sports car.
His smile looked warm, but there was something dark about it.
With a wave of his hand, I finally crossed the street.
There was something familiar about him that I couldn’t place.
I looked at him again as I crossed. He wasn't smiling anymore, but the darkness remained etched on his face.
Thankfully, it wasn't directed towards me.
I followed his irritated gaze to the restaurant parking lot, where Gabriel had parked his car.
That's what it was. He kind of looked like Gabriel in a way, but his expression was so irritated, so angry.
This guy was letting his envy for a car that looked just as nice as his ruin his day, despite having one most people couldn't dream of affording. Ridiculous.
I walked into the restaurant I had been in countless times.
The coastal theme was interesting to the tourists but held no novelty for me or anyone else who lived here.
I scanned the restaurant, looking for Gabriel.
The place was packed, just like the rest of the town.
A young hostess stood at the podium, smiling up at me nervously.
“How many for your table?” she asked.
“Just two. Well, none I guess. The guy I’m with is already at a table.
” I looked around again, hoping to find him.
Through the masses of families walking to and from their seats, a gap formed and I saw him in a booth at the back of the restaurant.
He was looking at the dozens of old black-and-white pictures on the wall next to him.
I felt myself smiling at the sight of him admiring those old pictures instead of the tacky decorations.
“What's his name?”
“Gabriel,” I said without taking my eye off him.
The hostess tapped away at a keyboard and sighed. She stared intently at her computer screen, looking more flustered with each passing moment.
“I’m really so sorry. I’m having trouble finding where we seated him. What does he look like?”
“Don’t worry about it. I see him now. Thank you.
” The sea of people parted for me as I navigated my way across the restaurant toward the booth.
As if sensing me coming, his attention shifted from the pictures to me.
Seeing his gaze, his smile, sent tingles throughout my body.
I slid into the booth across from him. His clean-shaven face held the scent of an aftershave that mixed perfectly with his cologne.
I hadn’t noticed how good his skin was until now, with him clean-shaven.
He ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back.
“You clean up well, Sophia,” he said with a smirk.
“I was about to say the same thing. Did you bathe in a sink at the office or something?”
We both laughed softly, a sound drowned out by all the noise others were making.
“I saw you looking at these old pictures.” He took his eyes off me for the first time since I’d sat and looked at the pictures again.
Men in fine clothes stood on a pier holding fishing rods, patiently watching the water.
Another captured the moment an old man shared with what was probably his grandson.
The boy held a fish half his size, and the grandpa was crouching down next to him, a content smile on his face from his grandson’s joy.
I pointed back to one of the men in fine clothes on the pier. “Believe it or not, this was my great grandpa.”
His eyebrows lowered as he looked closer. “Really? How long has your family lived here?”
I looked down at the table. “I’m not sure, my grandparents raised me and-” The hostess from earlier interrupted, clutching a little notepad.
“Hello, I’ll be your hostess, I mean, server today. Would you like drinks?”