Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
R eid woke with a nagging headache. He hoped a hot shower would help, but Sophie had used all the hot water. After his ice-cold shower, he couldn’t find a clean pair of underwear. He headed to the laundry room where he found his dirty clothes piled up on the floor in a heap. He tossed them all in the washer with a couple detergent pods and started it before he went to his room and scavenged around until he found a holey pair of underwear.
Once dressed, he went in search of Sophie. He found her sitting at the kitchen table, spooning cereal into her mouth as she scratched out math problems in a notebook. Since the day had started out so badly, he thought about just ignoring the laundry situation. But a good parent wouldn’t do that.
He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. “Look, Soph, I know you’re mad at me for taking your phone, but that doesn’t mean you get to shirk your chores. We agreed that I’d clean the bathroom and vacuum and you would dust and do the laundry. So make sure you get those chores done when you get home from school.” He glanced down at the notebook. “After you finish all your homework. Homework shouldn’t be rushed through at breakfast.”
He wasn’t surprised she completely ignored him. She had been giving him the silent treatment since last night’s party. He didn’t know if it had to do with him refusing to give back her cellphone for two more weeks after finding out about her texting and driving or not letting her have a rabbit.
Probably both.
When she continued writing out equations, he sighed. “Finish up so I can get you to school.”
She continued the silent treatment on the way to school. Which left him to his own thoughts. Or one thought. One thought that had plagued him since the party.
He wanted Sunny Whitlock.
He wanted her in a bad way.
All she’d had to do was touch him and he’d ignited like dry prairie grass struck by lightning. He knew she had been trying to prove a point. He also knew she had felt the sexual attraction too. There had been a moment when he thought she was going to kiss him.
And he’d wanted her to.
Which was dangerous.
She was a seductress he needed to stay away from if he wanted to keep his job.
Although, last night, she hadn’t looked like a seductress. She’d looked like a sweet country girl in the modest yellow sundress that fell to her knees and cute little yellow sandals. Half of her strawberry-blond hair had been twisted up in a pile of curls and the rest fell around her shoulders in soft waves. The only makeup she’d worn was the softest pink lipstick he’d ever seen. He’d tossed and turned all night thinking about what he wanted to do to that soft pink mouth . . . what he wanted it to do to him.
Those weren’t the only thoughts that had plagued him.
He hadn’t followed the crowd upstairs to see the room Jesse had renovated for his sister. Instead, he had slipped outside to cool off. So he was there when the entire party had moved outside. Standing in the shadows, he’d been able to watch Sunny’s expression when she realized Corbin had renovated half the carriage house into a gallery for her. Her expression hadn’t been that of a woman overjoyed with a gift.
She had looked overwhelmingly sad before she’d pinned on a smile and squealed with happiness. Reid couldn’t figure out why. If someone gifted him a ranch, he would be . . . ticked off he hadn’t earned it himself.
And maybe that was why Sunny had looked so upset. Although that was doubtful. She hadn’t had to work for anything in her life and she wasn’t about to start now. She probably just didn’t think the gallery was big enough or the sign glitzy enough. And what was he doing wasting his time thinking about it? He didn’t need to be thinking about Sunny. He had other problems.
Mainly, the one sitting in the passenger seat.
He glanced over at Sophie and made another effort to end her silence. “So what did you think of the party? Pretty extravagant, huh? I mean who spends that much money on flowers and decorations that you’re just going to throw away?” He shook his head. “What a waste. No wonder Sunny is a spoiled brat. Her family, obviously, doesn’t understand the value of money.”
Faster than he could blink, Sophie whirled on him. “Decorations and flowers are never a waste! They make things pretty. But you wouldn’t know anything about that because you don’t like pretty things. Which is why you don’t like Sunny . . . and why you never liked my mama!”
Reid stared at her in shock. This was what he got for trying to talk to her. “I loved your mama. She was my sister.”
“No, you didn’t. If you had loved her, you would have helped her when she needed help.”
He tried to tamp down his temper, but it was impossible after everything he had done for Bree. “You don’t think I helped your mama? In case you don’t remember, I was the only one there helping the last few months of her life.”
“I’m not talking about you coming after she was already dying. You did that out of guilt—because you wouldn’t have been able to keep your holier-than-thou image if you hadn’t. But that’s not love. If you had loved her, you wouldn’t have let her leave home in the first place.”
“I was a kid when she left, Soph. There’s no way I could have stopped her.”
“Did you even try?”
When he didn’t reply quick enough, she snorted. “That’s what I thought. And news flash, you weren’t a kid when she got pregnant with me or when she was a young mother struggling to make ends meet. But you still didn’t call or come to see us once. Not once!”
He waited until he had pulled into the drop-off lane at the high school before he turned to her. “It was her choice to leave, Soph. No one made her. And she could have come home anytime she wanted. She chose not to.”
“Because she didn’t feel like you wanted her! She didn’t feel like you and Grandma cared. And you didn’t care. You didn’t care about her at all. You didn’t even care that she got cancer and died. You just cared that it inconvenienced you—that it’s still inconveniencing you. But you don’t have to worry. As soon as I can, I plan to stop inconveniencing you.” She jerked open the door of the truck and jumped out, slamming it hard behind her.
He started to open his door to go after her, but then stopped. Go after her and say what? That she wasn’t an inconvenience. She’d read through the lie as easily as she had read his mind. He did feel inconvenienced. And who wouldn’t when their sister called out of nowhere and dropped a huge burden on them?
Except it wasn’t the burden’s fault.
But somehow Reid had blamed Sophie anyway.
A cacophony of horn honking made him realize that he had brought the drop-off line to a complete standstill. He inched up and slowly followed the line out of the parking lot. He needed to get back to the ranch. He and Hallie had planned to check out the spring calves and make any changes they needed for the next breeding season. But his mind was racing so much he didn’t think he could plan anything.
What did Sophie mean when she’d said she was going to stop inconveniencing him? Was she going to run off like her mother had? Or maybe do something worse? He knew kids committed suicide, but surely Sophie wasn’t talking about that.
Was she?
A series of pings drew his attention to the glove box where he’d stashed Sophie’s phone when he had confiscated it. After what she had just said, he couldn’t help flipping it open and taking the cellphone out. A line of texts filled the screen.
Texts from someone named JC.
Where r u?
Still on for 2nite at Cooper Springs?
Got the johnnies so NP.
Reid was trying to figure out what the text meant when a horn blared.
This time, it wasn’t behind him.
It was in front of him.
As he was looking at the phone, he must have veered over into the opposite lane and was now heading straight for a big monster truck.
“Shit!” He swerved back into his lane before they hit, then watched with sick horror in his side mirror as the truck swerved off the road and crushed an entire row of weeds before coming to a dust-spitting stop.
Reid made a quick U-turn and pulled up behind the truck. He knew the vehicle. Everyone in town knew the big-assed truck with its monster tires, faded bumper stickers, and Texas and American flags hanging from poles situated on either side of the chrome roll bar.
He jumped out, ready to profusely apologize to Jesse Cates.
But it wasn’t Jesse who hopped down from the seat of the high truck.
It was Sunny.
She wasn’t smiling her usual bright smile. For the first time, she looked pissed off. Like really pissed off. Her brown eyes flashed with anger as she stomped toward him in an ordinary pair of scuffed brown cowboy boots that actually looked like they had been worn for more than just two-stepping at the Hellhole. Her cut-off shorts and T-shirt were splattered with paint and her hair was twisted up in some kind of messy bun that sprouted in all directions.
She looked hot.
Or maybe he was the one who was hot. He suddenly felt like he’d swallowed a shovelful of hot coals and they were burning their way through his body. The feeling only intensified when she poked him hard in the chest with her finger.
“What is it with you Mitchells running people off the road? And don’t you dare try to make this out as my fault. I was minding my own business when you veered over on my side—” She thumped her chest and his gaze lowered to the swells of her full breasts in the pink lacy bra that was visible through the thin white cotton of her shirt. “My side! And believe me when I tell you that I’m over taking the blame for Mitchells who can’t drive!”
He pulled his gaze away from her breasts and back to her flashing eyes. He had no problem dealing with fake-smiling, frivolous Sunny, but there was something about this fiery, angry Sunny that made him speechless.
“Well?” She crossed her arms, causing tempting cleavage to fill the vee neckline of her shirt. Out of nowhere a vision popped into his head of brushing his tongue between those two sweet swells before sucking the soft flesh into his mou?—
He mentally shook himself.
What the hell, Reid. Get a grip!
He took a step back and cleared his throat. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Are you okay? My insurance will pay for any damage to Jesse’s truck.” Although he figured that was unlikely given the huge push bumper on the front of the truck. The only things damaged were the flattened weeds.
She blinked those big brown eyes. “Did big bad Reid just apologize?”
He scowled. “Are you okay or not?”
“I’m fine.” She glanced down at the cellphone in his hand. “But I now know where Sophie got her texting while driving. Cute pink rhinestone phone case, by the way.”
He felt his cheeks flush. “It’s not mine. It’s Sophie’s. I got distracted reading her texts.” And then even more distracted by a redheaded Daisy Duke. What was the matter with him? He had no business letting his libido sidetrack him from the problem at hand.
“You were reading her texts?” Sunny stared at him with horror. “You can’t do that. That’s like reading a girl’s diary.”
He glanced down at the phone. “Well, if it’s any consolation I didn’t understand a word of it. Do you know what johnnies are? Are they drugs?”
“Umm . . . no. They’re not drugs.”
Reid heaved a sigh of relief. “So what are they?”
Sunny hesitated. “Condoms.”
His relief evaporated. “What!”
“I could be wrong. I’m not up on teenage texting lingo.” She held out her hand. “Let me see what context they were used in.”
“I thought you were appalled at me for reading Sophie’s texts.”
“Well, that was before I knew what she was texting. She’s too young to be texting about condoms. Now let me see.”
He handed the phone to her. “Maybe it’s a joke. Maybe it’s just her and her friend JC joking around.”
Sunny read through the texts. “Nope. This doesn’t sound like just joking around to me. It sounds like she has plans to meet this person tonight at Cooper Springs.”
“Well, she can’t. She’s on restriction.”
Sunny glanced up from the phone and shook her head. “Wow. You really are clueless, aren’t you? I got in the most trouble on the nights I was on restriction.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean Sophie is obviously going to sneak out and meet JC.”
“Like hell she will!”
“And how are you going to stop her? Are you going to lock her in her room? Stay up all night every night? Because I can tell you from experience that the more you try to stop a strong-willed teenager from doing something, the more they’re going to try and do it.”
He pushed back his hat and released an aggravated huff. “Then what am I supposed to do? Just let her have sex with some random guy when she’s still struggling with losing her mama . . . and being stuck with an inept uncle who doesn’t know shit about raising a teenager?”
“You don’t have to do it alone, you know? Mimi and the Holiday sisters wanted to help.”
“Thanks, but I’d just as soon not have my bosses in the middle of my family issues.”
Sunny studied him for a long moment before she spoke. “What about me? Would you take help from me?”
He drew back. “What kind of help?”
She smiled slyly. “The kind of help that only a woman who understands wild teenagers can give you.”