Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
S ophie was right. Sunny was one lucky girl who should be thrilled with her blessed life. But it was hard to be thrilled when she knew she didn’t deserve any of her blessings. Not when she had lied to everyone. And was continuing to lie to everyone.
She knew she needed to come clean, but how could she do that when Corbin had spent so much money on her becoming an artist? He’d paid for art classes, supplies, the art school and apartment in Paris, and now a gallery. She couldn’t face the disappointment in his eyes when he realized he’d thrown all his money away on a failure. Especially when all she’d ever wanted to do was make him proud. And not just him, but Jesse and all the Holidays who had welcomed her into their family with open arms. What would they think of her if they found out she was nothing but a fraud and liar?
Punching her pillow in frustration, she sat up in bed and looked across the room at the painting sitting on the easel. She’d painted it last night when she got back from packing up her apartment in Houston. It had started out as a painting of Jesse and Liberty’s pug, Buck Owens, frolicking in the fields behind the carriage house. It had ended up another “angry art” painting —a graffiti mishmash of mars black and yellow ochre and copper gold and Bordeaux red. Although, in the morning light, the splatters and slashes resembled two people kissing.
She wasn’t surprised.
The last few days, when she wasn’t thinking about being a failure, she was thinking about kissing. Or not kissing as much as one kiss. One hot, steamy, knock-your-knickers-off kiss.
She had kissed a lot of men in her life, but not one had ever kissed her like Reid. Not one had kissed her as if his life had depended on it—as if he’d been walking through a hot, barren desert for days and she was a tall glass of water he needed to drain dry or he’d die. Of course, once Mrs. Stokes interrupted them, Reid had acted like the kiss had been the worst mistake of his life.
And it was a mistake.
Reid wasn’t just some guy she could have a fling with and go on her merry way. He was Corbin’s assistant ranch manager. Sophie’s guardian. Getting involved with him was wrong on so many levels. Especially when Sunny had never been good at relationships. She was too flighty. After only a few dates, she was always ready to move on. If Reid was as flighty as she was that would be one thing. But it didn’t take a degree in psychology to know he was the type of man who took commitments seriously.
He was stable and reliable and honest.
Everything Sunny wasn’t.
A rap on the door startled her out of her thoughts and she quickly jumped out of bed to cover her angry art. She had just finished throwing a drop cloth over it when Liberty appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Good mornin’!” Liberty glanced at the covered painting Sunny hovered around. “Is that something new?”
“Uhh . . . yes, but I’m not finished with it yet.”
“Well, I’d love to see it when you are. We need a piece of art to hang in the entryway. That looks like the perfect size.” Liberty glanced at the empty boxes in the corner. “So did you get all moved in?”
“I didn’t have a lot to move. I travel pretty light. Something you learn when you move as much as I do.”
Jesse had obviously told his wife about Sunny and Corbin’s vagabond childhood because Liberty’s green eyes turned sad. “Well, you can start collecting things now. Jesse made sure you have plenty of storage. And speaking of things in storage, I came to get the trunk Jesse left in your closet.”
Sunny had seen the trunk as she was unpacking and putting away her clothes. Of course, her curiosity had gotten the best of her and she’d opened it.
“Why does Jesse want to keep a bunch of old letters?” she asked.
“They belong to Mrs. Fields. Jesse discovered them when he was cleaning out the attic before renovations and thinks our guests would love reading through them. But what your brother thinks is appropriate for guests and what really is appropriate might be two different things. So I want to read them first.”
Sunny laughed. “You have a good point. You want help?” Anything to get her mind off her inability to paint . . . and an incinerating kiss that could never be repeated.
An hour later, Sunny and Liberty were sitting on the bed sharing salacious excerpts from the letters spread around them.
“Dearest Fanny,” Sunny read. “I can’t forget the night we spent together. Your lips were like two sundrenched rose petals that brought me to rapturous fulfillment. I look forward to feeling those lips . . . and that fulfillment again next Saturday night. Yours truly, Nathanial Davenport.”
“Nathanial Davenport?” Liberty took the letter from Sunny and examined it. “I wonder if he was the same Nathanial Davenport who started the First Baptist Church.”
Sunny laughed. “If it is, it sounds like he had plenty to repent about on Sunday morning.”
“Since Nathanial’s descendants probably don’t want to read about their great-great-great grandfather receiving a blow job from the town’s notorious madam, this one should probably go in the reject pile.” Liberty leaned over the bed and placed the letter in the trunk with the other rejected letters. “Along with the one about how much fun the mayor of the town had with two of Mrs. Fields’s ‘finest ladies.’”
“It certainly sounds like people had lots of fun in these rooms.” Sunny pulled a paper clip off two letters. She set one on the bed next to her and opened the other one. Her eyes widened as she read the typed words. “Although this one doesn’t sound fun as much as intriguing. ‘Dear Mrs. Fields. Here is your payment as per our arrangement. I expect you to handle the situation with the utmost confidentiality and discretion. If word gets out to anyone, I’ll consider our agreement broken and won’t hesitate to make sure your establishment closes for good.’”
Liberty’s eyes widened. “Wow, that sounds more threatening than intriguing. Who signed it?”
She looked at the bottom. “Just initials. U.T.”
“University of Texas?” Liberty laughed.
“Maybe the letter that was paper-clipped to it will give us more information.” Sunny placed the letter back in the envelope and set it on the nightstand before she picked up the paper-clipped letter. But before she could open it, Noelle came up the stairs carrying a bakery box.
“Hey! What are y’all doin’?”
“We’re just going through some old letters we found in the attic,” Liberty said. “I hope those are muffins. I sent Jesse for some hours ago, but he obviously got sidetracked. I swear the man stops and talks with everyone.”
Noelle held up the box she carried. “Your muffins have arrived. And Jesse did get sidetracked talking to the townsfolk, but it was hard not to when everyone was standing in the street looking at the café sign.”
“Did you get a new sign?”
Noelle sighed. “No, but, once again, some prankster teens thought it would be funny to add a t to the But .”
The letter slipped from Sunny’s hand as she stared at Noelle. “What?”
“You don’t remember?” Noelle said. “I think we were freshmen in high school and someone painted a t on the sign turning it into Nothin’ Butt Muffins.”
Sunny tried to keep her face completely devoid of emotions. “Do you know who did it?”
Noelle shook her head. “Just like last time, the culprit got away with it. But I’m sure it’s teenagers again. Although whoever did it before was a much better painter. This time, the t looks more like an j and they splattered paint everywhere.”
“Too bad,” Liberty said. “If it looked like a t , I’d convince you to keep it. It’s damn funny.”
Noelle scowled. “It’s not funny when you had to spend all morning filling out a police report with Decker when you should be baking. And are you comparing my baking to a butt, Libby?”
“Never.” Liberty held out her hands. “Now give me.”
Noelle held the box back. “Sunny first. I don’t want you eating Sunny’s Strawberry Sweet Cakes in a pregnancy hunger frenzy.”
Sunny graciously took the muffin from the box Noelle held out to her, even though her stomach felt like a jar of nervous bees. “A police report? Are you sure that’s necessary? I’ll be more than happy to repaint the sign for you. Like you said, it was probably just an innocent prank.”
“Thank you, Sunny. That would be awesome. And maybe it was an innocent prank, but we can’t just let it go. Last time, when Sheryl Ann let it go, whoever was responsible just kept right on causing problems. And I can’t see our mayor being thrilled if her underwear ends up flying from the town hall flagpole. Especially when we all know she wears Spanx.”
Unable to sit still a second longer, Sunny jumped to her feet, startling both Noelle and Liberty.
“I just remembered. I have a . . . nail appointment.” She waggled the fingers of the hand not holding the muffin. “I think it’s about time to cover these unsightly things with acrylic.” With her brightest smile, she turned and headed for the closet to get dressed.
It didn’t take her long to get to the high school. Just stepping into the halls brought back all the inferior feelings she’d had when she’d gone there. Once again, she felt like an outsider who would never really fit in—especially when she found herself standing in front of Miss Burrows.
The office receptionist hadn’t changed at all. She was still as skinny as a pencil, still wore the same large black-framed glasses . . . and was still as mean as a rattlesnake.
“If you want to talk to the principal, you’re out of luck.” She continued to type away on her computer keyboard, not even glancing in Sunny’s direction. “He’s busy.”
Sunny fidgeted. “Actually, I was hoping to talk with Sophie Mitchell.”
Miss Burrows stopped typing and sent her the same look she’d sent her years before when Sunny had come into the office—like she was an airhead who didn’t understand the simplest of rules. “I’m sorry, Miss Whitlock, but we don’t just let random people take our students out of class to talk to them.”
“I know that, Miss Burrows, but I just need to talk to her for a second. And I’m not random. You’ve known me since I was a freshman. Remember?”
A distasteful look crossed her wrinkled face. “Oh, I remember you. I constantly caught you in the halls when you should have been in class.”
“I had passes.”
Miss Burrow scowled. “Ones I’m sure you finagled from your teachers. You fooled a lot of people with your sweet smile, young lady. But you never fooled me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to?—”
She cut off as Jace walked into the office wearing his coaching polo shirt and carrying a clipboard. Sunny hadn’t known Jace in high school. He’d already left for college by the time she and Corbin had come to town and had only recently returned—much to the entire town’s happiness. He had been, and still was, the hometown football hero. Only now he was coaching instead of playing. Hallie said he’d been one depressed grumpy Gus when his professional football career had ended. He wasn’t depressed or grumpy now. Every time Sunny ran into him, he looked like a man who had everything he wanted in life.
A man who had no trouble fitting in.
A big smile spread over his face when he saw her. “Hey, Sunny. What are you doing here?”
“I just stopped by to talk to Sophie Mitchell.” She glanced at Miss Burrows. “But I forgot that . . . random people can’t take students out of class.”
Jace nodded. “Yeah, that is frowned upon.” He flashed a smile at Miss Burrows and Sunny was shocked to see the woman blush. “Thank you, Miss Burrows, for protecting our students. I know everyone at this school feels safer with you sitting behind that desk with your strict guidelines and lovely smile.” Miss Burrows’s blush got even brighter. “Sophie has English this period, right?”
“No, History. But I can’t let?—”
Jace held up a hand. “Of course you can’t. I’ll be happy to walk Sunny out.” Except as soon as they were out of the office, he led her in the opposite direction of the front doors. He stopped a few feet away from a classroom and turned to her.
“Hallie told me about the sisters’ plans to make Sophie feel more welcome here. She also told me that Reid made it perfectly clear he didn’t need the help. And if Reid doesn’t want help, Sunny, maybe we should leave things alone.”
Sunny wished she could. But it was too late for that. She’d butted her nose in where it didn’t belong and now Sophie was going to pay the price. She couldn’t let that happen.
“I totally agree, Jace, but I just need to talk with Sophie for a second.” She gave him the same pleading look she’d given all her teachers when she’d gotten antsy in class and wanted out.
A twinkle entered Jace’s eyes. “Now I know why Corbin gives you everything you want. Okay, I’ll get Sophie for you. But I still don’t think it’s a good idea. Reid doesn’t seem like the type of man who will put up with people interfering in his life.”
Sunny knew that better than most. If Reid found out she was behind Sophie’s prank . . . well, she wasn’t sure what he would do. But it wouldn’t be good. Which was why she was there. Hopefully, she could correct her mistake before things got too out of hand.
Unfortunately, things had already gotten out of hand.
The click of boot heels had Sunny turning to see Principal Tucker and Sheriff Decker Carson stepping out of the office. She said a silent prayer that they would head in the opposite direction.
They didn’t. They headed straight toward Jace and Sunny. And she knew in her heart of hearts the sheriff wasn’t there to give a talk on bicycle safety. She watched in horror as he and the principal stopped at the door she and Jace stood next to. Decker nodded a grim greeting to them both before he followed the principal inside the classroom.
A classroom that held Sophie Mitchell.