Chapter 4
Chapter Four
By midmorning, Essie had cleaned out and reorganized the pantry, wiped down the kitchen counters that were already clean, and refilled the bird feeder, even though it wasn’t empty yet.
Waiting, she’d learned, made her itchy. It gave her a kind of energy that needed an outlet and doing chores seemed to be the best way to use it up.
She’d tried to read but it was too stationary an activity. She needed to be doing something. To feel occupied.
Frank, who’d had one conference call with the Italian team, now sat at the table with his phone face-down beside his third cup of coffee, doing a crossword he didn’t seem to be that engaged with.
Essie felt for her husband. She knew how this whole situation with his daughter, Sophie, was weighing on him. Essie wished she could make it all go away. She couldn’t, obviously, so the best she could do was be here if he needed her. “I know it’s hard that she hasn’t called,” she said quietly.
Frank didn’t look up. “It is. But she still might.”
“I’m praying she does.”
“Me, too.”
It seemed to Essie that Sophie had a habit of going quiet when things were spiraling.
When she was angry, she shouted. When she was hurt, she disappeared.
Her metaphorical shouting most often took the form of a post to her TikTok account, which had been suspiciously free of new content these last few days.
Sophie had been reposting old content with new music. They were fillers, really. Something to make the channel look active when Sophie was actually hiding.
Essie dried her hands on a towel she hadn’t needed in the first place. “Charlie said she left the condo immediately. Took an Uber somewhere.”
Frank nodded. “Probably a friend’s place. And Ryan didn’t even try to stop her.”
That still stunned Essie. After everything Sophie had given that undeserving young man, her trust, money, and loyalty, he’d let her walk out like she was disposable.
Granted, he had been cheating on her, so Essie was glad Sophie had left.
She’d have felt worse for the young woman if she’d stayed with that sad excuse for a man.
“She must feel humiliated,” Essie said. “Betrayed. Probably wondering how she didn’t see it. I feel awful for her.”
Frank finally set his pencil down. “I keep replaying what Chad said about how she talked about Ryan. How certain she sounded. How she defended him. That can’t feel good now.”
Chad was Frank’s eldest child. The one who was on their side. The one who’d tried to talk some sense into his sister. Essie took the chair across from her husband. “Frank, her lawsuits are still moving forward, aren’t they?”
“As far as I know,” he said. “Her attorney hasn’t reached out to tell us anything different.”
“She has to know the lawsuits aren’t going to get her anywhere now that everything else has just…” She trailed off, not wanting to say collapsed out loud.
Frank rubbed his temples. “I’m less worried about the lawsuits than I am about her state of mind. Sophie doesn’t do well when her image of a situation shatters. When she’s forced to face reality. This had to be a huge blow. A major embarrassment.”
Essie nodded. She chose her words carefully, always aware she was walking a narrow emotional line as Sophie’s stepmother. “I know we talked about this, but it’s been a few days. Do you think we should reach out? Even knowing she may lash back?”
Frank hesitated. “I don’t want to push her further away.”
“But if we don’t,” Essie said gently. “She might think we don’t care. She might be hoping we make an attempt.”
They sat at the table for a while with no right answer. Essie was about to get up and find some laundry that needed doing when Frank’s phone vibrated on the table.
Both of them froze.
He glanced at the screen and swallowed. “It’s Sophie.”
Essie’s heart gave a painful little lurch. “Put her on speaker, please,” she said softly. “If she’ll allow it.”
Frank nodded and tapped the button. “Sophie?”
There was silence on the other end at first. Then a shaky breath.
“Dad,” Sophie said. Her voice was thin, frayed at the edges. It was obvious she was not doing well. “Are you home?”
“Yes,” Frank said immediately. “We both are. Okay if you’re on speaker?”
“Yeah,” Sophie sniffed. “I guess.”
Essie leaned forward, hands clasped together as if in prayer. Considering how much she’d prayed in these last few days, it seemed right.
“I don’t know what to do,” Sophie said, the words tumbling out too fast. “I got back to Miami after visiting Chad and…and everything was a lie. All of it. I know you know about Ryan. If Chad knows, I’m sure you do, too.”
Frank sighed. “Yes, we know about him. What was a lie, Soph?”
“Ryan. All of him. Everything he said. Him, he’s a liar. He’s just…he didn’t even try to deny what he was doing. He had a girl. I saw them together and he just—” Her voice cracked. “He acted like I was the one overreacting. Me.”
“That’s not okay,” Frank said firmly. “None of this is okay.”
“I feel so stupid,” Sophie whispered. “Some of my friends tried to warn me and I didn’t listen. And now…I don’t even know what to do. Or who I am anymore.”
Essie’s chest tightened. She opened her mouth, then closed it again, letting Frank lead. As much as she wanted to comfort Sophie, she knew Sophie wouldn’t want to hear from her.
“You’re still Sophie Holt,” Frank said. “You’re still my daughter. You’re capable of being strong, even when you don’t feel like it.”
There was a long pause.
“Maybe.” Another sniff.
“You are, Sophie. Just because you’ve made some mistakes—”
“I didn’t call to fight,” Sophie said abruptly. “I just…I needed to hear your voice.”
“You don’t ever have to fight with us,” Frank said, his own voice roughening. “We’re here. Both of us. We can talk about anything.”
Another breath. Unsteady. But less fragile.
“I don’t want to talk about the lawsuit right now,” Sophie said quickly. “I can’t.”
“That’s okay,” Essie said softly, knowing this moment mattered more than any legal strategy. “You don’t have to decide anything today. Your dad and I love you and we only want the best for you.”
“You don’t mean that,” Sophie snapped.
“Yes,” Essie insisted. “We do.”
Sophie sniffed. “You really don’t hate me?”
Essie closed her eyes. “No, Sophie. Not even a tiny bit. Mostly, we’re worried about you.”
Essie’s words seemed to crack something open on the other end of the line. There was a pause, then Sophie exhaled shakily. “Thanks. That’s…kind of you,” she admitted. “All I want is to go back to my place and be left alone so I can get my head together. But I can’t.”
Frank straightened in his chair. “Why not?”
Sophie hesitated. “I think Ryan’s probably still there. I can’t deal with seeing him. Not yet. Not ever, really. And I definitely can’t see that woman he had there.” A sob punctuated her words.
Frank didn’t miss a beat. “Then don’t.”
Essie turned to look at him, surprised.
“Sophie,” Frank said gently but with enough volume to get her attention. “Why don’t you come stay with us for a while?”
Essie had suggested it previously. She knew having Sophie here would be interesting, to say the least. But it would give Frank more time to talk to her, face to face. It might be just what Sophie needed.
There was silence again but finally Sophie spoke. “I don’t know,” she said at last. “I don’t want to be…in the way.”
“You wouldn’t be,” Frank said. “Not for a minute. Right, Essie?”
Essie nodded slowly, praying for strength and the right words. “That’s right. You could have the guest room. No pressure. Just somewhere safe to get yourself together.”
Sophie swallowed audibly. “I appreciate that. I do. But I think…I think I need to be in my own space. I just don’t want him in it.”
Frank’s jaw tightened. “Then that’s something I can handle.”
Sophie’s voice got edgy. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” Frank said with the kind of cool strength that Essie had fallen in love with. His take-charge voice. “That condo is in my name. Always has been. Ryan doesn’t have any legal right to be there.”
Essie’s breath caught, but she said nothing. This was Frank doing what he did best. Taking charge. Fixing bad situations.
“I’ll take care of it,” Frank continued. “I’ll make sure he’s out before you go back. You shouldn’t have to pack up your life because of someone who betrayed you.”
Sophie let out a shaky laugh that sounded half like disbelief. “You’d really do that?”
“Yes,” Frank said. “And not because I’m angry—though I am—but because you deserve peace right now.”
Another pause. Then, softer, “I didn’t think you’d be on my side.”
“I’ve always been on your side,” Frank said. “Even when we disagree. Always will be. You and Chad will always be a priority.”
Essie leaned closer to him, her hand finding his on the table.
“Okay,” Sophie said quietly. “Then…okay. I’ll wait. Just let me know when it’s done.”
“I will,” Frank promised. “But Sophie, you don’t have to go through this alone. You really can come here for a few days. You can lay by the pool and eat Essie’s amazing food and go to the beach. It’ll be like a little vacation. And we can talk. Get things sorted out.”
Sophie sighed. “I’ll think about it, okay?”
The call ended not long after that with nothing resolved and everything changed.
Frank sat back, staring at his phone.
Essie held onto his hand. “Are you sure you can get Ryan out of there?”
He nodded without hesitation. “I am. Just need to make a few calls, get a few balls rolling.”
Essie squeezed his hand, understanding settling deep in her chest. Whatever storms lay ahead—with Sophie, with the lawsuits, with Ryan—in this moment, they’d shown Sophie that she was what mattered. Not money. Not pride. Not what anyone else thought.
They had chosen love over litigation.
If Sophie didn’t respond to that, Essie wasn’t sure what else they could do.