Chapter 2
CHAPTER
TWO
The following year…
SOPHIE
Two truths and a lie. Have you heard of that game?
It’s an icebreaker they seem to play at every corporate event I’ve ever been to.
One of those excruciating ‘getting to know you’ kind of games where you have to tell two interesting facts about yourself, along with one complete lie, and everybody has to guess what the lie is.
The thing is, I suck at it. I can’t tell a lie to save my life. I have a billion tells, from my eye twitching to my feet shifting like I’m dancing to Saturday Night Fever.
Maybe that’s why I chose the profession I did. I’m expected to tell the truth. People rely on it.
The world can sometimes collapse because of it.
“And it’s over to Sophie in our weather corner,” Dan, the midday news anchor says, turning to his left where I’m standing in front of the green screen. He raises his brow expectantly.
“Hi Dan,” I smile at him, the camera light blinking.
“It’s my daughter’s wedding this weekend,” he says, steepling his fingers beneath his chin and putting on a serious expression. “Please tell me the weather is going to be fabulous for it.”
I swallow. We haven’t rehearsed this bit. We rarely do, because we’ve worked together for so long that our conversations flow.
“Um…” I’ve looked at those charts. I know the answer. “I’m sure the wedding will be fabulous no matter what the weather.”
His smile falters. And this is the part of the job I hate. You wouldn’t think it would be so difficult to be a meteorologist. Especially one whose main job is to present the weather on the local television station.
He blinks. “It’s going to be glorious sunshine, right?”
“There should only be a few spots of rain,” I say cheerily, trying to minimize the impact. “And late in the afternoon should be much better.” Or at least by then it’ll stop raining. That’s something, right?
Dan nods and says nothing. But the expression on his face is worth a thousand words. He looks like I killed his favorite puppy. There’s an awkward silence that’s suddenly pierced by the producer shouting into my earpiece for me to move on.
“But let’s get onto today’s weather,” I say, turning to the camera, trying to not wince at the volume of the screaming.
“It’s getting warm out there, folks. Already in the high seventies, and we’re looking at hitting eighty-three by mid-afternoon.
” I click the button in my hand that changes the greenscreen behind me and talk through the slides I made this morning until I hear a shout in my earpiece to wrap it up.
As soon as the camera is back on Dan, he gives one of his trademark smiles that makes the heart of most women over the age of fifty flutter, and like the professional he is he thanks me and reminds the viewers that I’ll be giving a full long term forecast in the next broadcast.
With the camera now firmly on the news desk, where they’re talking about an influx of fireflies, and how that’s preferable to last year’s locust infestation, I pull out my earpiece and put it in the box, then grab my files and head back to my office.
Madison, our intern, looks up as I drop the files onto my desk and let out a big sigh. Our eyes catch and I can tell that she watched the airing. She hands me a coffee she must have bought from the shop at the front of the station.
“Don’t look at Twitter,” she advises me. “People think you’ve done some sort of rain dance to spoil Dan’s daughter’s wedding.”
I grimace and take a mouthful of the latte. “Oops.”
Just then my phone rings and an unknown number flashes up.
“Sophie West, WVFY,” I say as soon as I accept the call.
“Miss West, my name’s Sam Lawson. I work for Liam Salinger. He’s asked me to liaise with you about a christening gift for your new godson.”
Two emotions hit me at once. Elation about Charlie being my godson, because I’m so happy that Ava and Myles have chosen me to be his godmother.
He’s a bundle of gorgeousness and at three months he already has the best personality.
Every time I see him I can’t help but feel broody.
His christening is in two weeks and I’ve been helping Ava arrange everything. It’s going to be the best day.
The second emotion is annoyance. Which happens whenever I hear Liam Salinger’s name.
He promised me that things wouldn’t be awkward between us, but in the past ten months since that hugely embarrassing day he’s done nothing but antagonize me. He enjoys it. I think he might live for it.
All I know is that I kind of want to smash his face in whenever I see him. And I’m not a violent person.
It’s also not the thing you’re supposed to do to your fellow godparent. I’m pretty sure the church would frown on it. So would Ava and Myles.
So although I want to groan as soon as I hear his name, I use my grownup voice and respond.
“Hi Sam,” I say, immediately feeling sorry for her because she sounds nice even though she works for the devil.
“Hi Sophie,” Sam replies, then pauses. “Is it okay to call you Sophie?”
“Of course,” I say warmly. “And I’ve already bought Charlie a christening gift.
” It’s perfect, too. I’ve arranged for an artist to paint a mural of Dandy the Lion in Charlie’s new nursery.
Ava has been agonizing over what to do to make the room perfect.
The artist is a friend of a friend and I know he’ll work with Ava to get it exactly how she wants it.
“Can I ask what you’ve bought?” Sam says, sounding awkward. “Just to make sure I don’t duplicate anything.” That’s just so Liam, expecting his assistant to sort out his gift.
I pull my lip between my teeth. I want to tell her, I do. But Liam has this habit of one upping me anytime I do something nice. He has ever since that day… ugh. The one I don’t like to think about.
It’s like he gets a kick out of annoying me. Like when I hired a singer to serenade them on their honeymoon, and he had a mariachi band arrive at exactly the same time.
This time I’m not giving him the opportunity. “I tell you what,” I say to Sam, who I still don’t want to upset. “Tell him it’s a big secret and I can’t tell him because I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”
“He won’t be happy,” Sam says, clicking her tongue. “He really wants to know.”
Of course he does.
“Tell him to call me if he has a problem. This isn’t your fault,” I tell her.
“I know,” she agrees. “It’ll be fine. He can throw a fit if he wants, it doesn’t bother me. He’s not even in New York at the moment.”
“He’s not?” I frown. “Where is he?”
“In Charleston. Not far from you.”
My stomach tightens. Liam’s here? I don’t like that thought. I can deal with Liam Salinger at a distance. But knowing he’s close?
Yeah, that’s near impossible.
“Already? I didn’t know he would be in town this early.” I know he’s coming for Charlie’s christening, but I thought he’d come at the same time as the rest of his family, just for the weekend.
“It’s a last-minute change of plan,” Sam tells me. “Well, I’d better go. Thanks for taking my call.”
“No problem. It was nice talking with you.”
“You too. Have a great day.”
She disconnects and I pick up my coffee.
It’s cooled considerably but I finish it anyway, and try not to think about Liam Salinger being so close.
He’ll probably be staying with Ava and Myles.
They live in an amazing huge house on Virginia Street, which has a fully equipped guest house that Myles’ brothers – including Liam – use whenever they’re in town.
Luckily Liam isn’t here very often. He’s too busy building his empire to spend time in this little sleepy city in West Virginia. It must be boring to him, after the excitement of New York. Plus, there aren’t models on every corner to hang on his arms.
No, I haven’t been stalking his Instagram.
Okay, maybe a little.
I drop my cup in the trash can next to my desk and stand, rolling my neck. I need to clear my head and a walk around the block should help before I have to go in to update our webpage with the latest forecasts.
“You okay here for a minute?” I ask Madison, because although she’s a great intern, she’s only been here for a few months and is still learning how things work. “I’m going out to buy some lunch. You want anything?”
“I’m fine,” she says, smiling. “Just running some forecasts for you to do the updates with later.” She glances at the currently empty desk in the corner, where our boss, Michael sits. Luckily he’s working the late shift, which means he doesn’t come into the office until three.
It’s ironic that every man in my life right now is a thorn in my side. Okay, not every man. Just Michael and Liam.
Charlie’s a man and he’s definitely not a thorn. Nor is my dad, or Myles come to think of it.
And as I walk out into the warm July sun, I find myself grimacing at the thought of Liam being in town. Because even though Charleston is the state capital, it’s still small, and there’s every likelihood I’ll bump into him at some point.
Which is awkward as hell, because I told him a dirty lie and he believed it. I could live with that when he was hundreds of miles away. But when he’s close I feel uncomfortable. Like I’m about to blurt out the truth at any minute.
The thought makes my stomach twist.