“I can’t see Joe marrying someone he wasn’t attracted to.” Amanda’s lips curved. “Trust me, he’s not that practical.”
“Then why did he place the ad?”
“Knowing Joe, he wanted a relationship but he lives thirty minutes outside of town and women don’t just wander on to the Wyatts’ property. It’s not easy to meet someone when you live on a ranch as remote as the Wyatt’s.”
Sophie thought about this for a moment. “He apparently had a lot of women answer his ad.”
“I’m sure he did. The man’s hunky, and he’s financially solvent, smart, successful, and incredibly loyal to his family. He’s marriage material. And now he’s yours.”
*
He’s yours.
Amanda’s words stayed with Sophie as she drove back to the Wyatts’ at the end of the day.
Amanda had no idea how accurate her words were, because Joe was already Sophie’s husband, even though it was in name only.
It felt weird having a husband that wasn’t totally her husband.
It felt weird marrying someone without getting intimate.
It felt weird getting married to someone she really didn’t know.
It felt weird to be living in Montana.
It felt weird not to have her own place anymore.
In short, nothing felt normal or familiar or comfortable. And there was nothing Sophie could do but deal with it, and learn to get comfortable with the uncomfortable.
*
Something was off with Sophie. She’d been unusually quiet at dinner, and had barely eaten anything, using her fork to move food from one section to another.
When the meal ended, she stood and began to gather the plates, but she didn’t look at him and made no eye contact with anyone.
Joe frowned, worried. “You’re not coming down sick, are you?” he asked her.
She shook her head. “No.”
“Nothing’s going around at the salon?”
“No.” She finally glanced up but her gaze only met his for a split second before shying away. “Why?”
“You just seem… off.”
“I feel fine,” she said, carrying the plates to the sink and setting them on the counter while she filled the sink with hot water.
“You hardly said a word tonight.”
“I just have things on my mind.”
“Like what?”
She added a squirt of dish soap to the hot water. “I was thinking I’ve been in Montana three weeks now.” She flashed him a half smile, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “A lot has changed in three weeks.”
He eased the drinking glasses into the hot soapy water. “Is that why you’ve been in a mood all week?”
“I’ve been in a mood?”
“Yes. Everyone’s noticed.”
She faced him, hands on her hips. “Just who is everyone?”
“The point is, if you’re upset, you should talk to me.”
“We’d have to actually spend time together for that to happen.”
Joe could feel his temper stirring. “What does that mean?”
“I came here for you. I came to Montana for you. But we’re never really alone, not unless we’re cooking dinner or doing dishes.”
“Because there’s the wedding to plan—”
“But I didn’t want the wedding. I wanted you.”
“Is that why you’re upset? Because of the wedding? If so, let’s just call the whole thing off—”
“Now you say that! But this isn’t about the wedding, Joe, it’s about us. There is no us. It’s just work, and then the news, and then bed, and then we do the same thing the next day, and the next day.”
“That is life on a ranch,” Joe said, gathering the silverware from the table and dumping it into the sink, feeling blindsided by the attack. “It’s not all fun and games—”
“I don’t expect fun and games. But I would like more of a relationship with you!”
“I don’t get it. I’m here. All the time.”
“But we don’t have alone time. We don’t do things, just the two of us.”
He said nothing and she turned away, and attacked the first of the dishes. “Are you happy with the way things are?” she asked after a long minute as she scrubbed a plate. “Because it doesn’t seem like it to me.”
He turned away from her, battling to tamp down his frustration. He didn’t want to fight. He didn’t like conflict. He hadn’t married Sophie to have drama, either.
For several minutes, they both worked in silence, Sophie washing, while he transferred leftovers to Tupperware containers. He carried the empty casserole dishes to the sink. “Move over,” he said gruffly. “I’ve got this. You go.”
“Go where?” she asked helplessly. “I have nowhere to go. I have no one here in Montana but you.”
The crack in her voice made his chest tighten and ache. He’d tried hard to help her settle in, tried hard to let her know she was wanted here, but if she wasn’t happy, what else could he do? What more did she need? “I don’t know. To your room? To read a magazine, take a bath, maybe go take a walk—”
“You’re not stuck with me, you know.” She choked, facing him, tears shimmering in her eyes. “It’s not a done deal, yet. You can get out of this—”
He closed the distance between them, his voice dropping. “You’re giving up like that? You want a divorce already?”
She dropped her voice, too. “I’m just saying no one knows—”
“I know.”
“And I know, too, but I’m realizing that the only reason you’re getting married in the first place is to make your mom happy, and that, my friend, is not the reason to get married!”
“What about you?”
“What do you mean?” she demanded.
“You’re marrying me because your heart was broken in December and instead of trying to get out there and meet someone new, you just answer an ad—”
“Yes, your ad!”
“But you’re not who you pretended to be.”
“I’m not?”
He huffed a breath. “You’re emotional. You’re sensitive. You’re full of feelings and you’re the last woman who should agree to a practical, businesslike marriage.”
“But that is what I want—”
“Stop. Be honest. You want romance. You want flowers—”
“I wouldn’t turn down flowers, or another nice dinner date. I’d enjoy a fun cocktail at a swanky restaurant, but I also enjoy just driving around with you in your truck. I loved eating cheese stuffed in a cold biscuit sitting on the back of your tailgate and watching a hawk circle overhead. That was fun. This, fighting with you, isn’t fun.”
“Do you know what I want?” he retorted. “I’d like to carry you upstairs and strip off your clothes and spend all night learning your body. I want to see you and feel you and do things to you that would make your mother blush. But instead we’re planning a wedding neither of us want, just to make other people happy. We’re doing dishes because there’s no one else here to do them. We’re being mature adults even though it’s boring and unsatisfying, because sometimes life is just boring and unsatisfying.”