“Thanks again for coming along with me,” Jess said to Sophie as they headed away from Whitaker House. “It’s nice to have company.”
She could handle the delivery of craft supplies to the women’s shelter by herself. But she genuinely liked Sophie and figured it would be good for the girl to help her.
“No problem. I can’t believe Gram said she would come with us and then backed out at the last minute. You must really be wearing her out. I don’t remember her ever taking so many naps before.”
Jess frowned, worried all over again at her friend’s health. Eleanor seemed to be fine one second, then pale and exhausted the next. Before she left, she intended to suggest that Eleanor have a complete medical checkup. What was the good of organizing and cleaning out Whitaker House if the woman was too ill to enjoy it?
“So. What ever happened with your friend Tyler? Did you ever find out why he didn’t show yesterday?”
Sophie made a face. “Maybe he was too busy making out with Ana Hernandez. I guess she’s his girlfriend now. They were all over each other in the halls. PDAs are so lame.”
Jess cleared her throat, grateful Sophie hadn’t been around to see her own heated kiss with Nate earlier that day.
“I mean, we all get that you like each other, right?” Sophie went on. “You don’t have to throw it in everyone’s face all the time. So lame.”
“True enough.” Jess paused, giving her a careful look. “I’m sorry.”
Sophie shrugged. “I’m not. He probably would have been a bad surfer anyway. Hey, do you care if we listen to music?”
At least she didn’t seem particularly heartbroken, mostly annoyed that she had wasted her time on someone who didn’t deserve her.
Good. Jess hoped she kept that attitude in all of her relationships moving forward, this girl on the brink of womanhood. “No. Go ahead.”
Sophie played around with the stereo until she found a song she apparently liked. She started singing along, bobbing her head and shifting in her seat.
Jess tried to remember what music she had liked when she was thirteen and couldn’t. Probably something emo.
They had been living in Texas, she remembered. Her dad had been at Fort Hood. School had been hard, home had been harder. She had wanted a dog desperately to ease some of the loneliness but of course her father wouldn’t allow it.
She pushed away the memories she didn’t want.
“How was the rest of school today?” She waited until the song was over to pose the obligatory question adults always seemed to ask.
Sophie shrugged. “This time of year is such a waste. I wish we were having summer vacation right now instead of in two more weeks. We’ve already done testing. We’re basically just wasting time until the end of the year.”
“What are you going to do this summer?”
“I don’t know. Probably hang out with my friends. Surf some. Go to the pool in town. And I’m on a softball team, so I’ll be busy with that. I wish I wasn’t too young to get a job somewhere.”
“You do a lot of babysitting, right?”
“When I can. I wish I could do it more regularly.”
Rachel ought to hire her to nanny for her during the summer. It would help on many levels and she knew Sophie would love it. She already had a case of hero worship over Rachel’s social media influencer status.
As soon as the idea took root, Jess thought it was brilliant and resolved to suggest it to her sister while she was in town.
Not that Rachel seemed to want to listen to much that Jess had to say.
“Is there something you could do to help your grandmother?” she offered as a backup idea.
Sophie shrugged. “I mow the lawn and she pays me for that. It can take half a day, even on a riding lawn mower. Sometimes I help her with cleaning the house in between the weeks her cleaners come.”
“Sounds like you’ll be plenty busy.”
Sophie chattered about some of the other things she wanted to do over the summer until they reached the shelter.
“Looks like we’re here.”
“This is just a thrift store.” Sophie looked confused.
“The shelter doesn’t take donations directly, they go through their charity shop. For the protection of those using the shelter, they have to try to keep their location private.”
Sophie seemed struck by the implications of that. Had anyone ever discussed domestic abuse with her? Jess wasn’t sure it was her place. On the other hand, teenage girls needed to know the warning signs of an abusive relationship so they could protect themselves.
If someone had told Roni Clayton, so much pain could have been avoided.
The director of the thrift store was thrilled over the donations of yarn and material and the sewing machine.
“Our clients can definitely use this,” she said. “Thank you so much.”
Sophie was quiet on the drive back to Cape Sanctuary.
“That was a nice thing Gram did. Giving them her extra craft stuff,” she said.
“Your grandmother is pretty special,” Jess said. She gave the girl a careful look. “So is your dad.”
If she hoped she could get Sophie to confide in her, she was doomed to disappointment. The girl’s jaw jutted out. “Sure. Except he’s a liar.”
“A liar?” Nate? She had a hard time believing that. “What did your dad lie to you about?”
“I would rather not talk about it,” Sophie said. Her mouth was tight and she folded her arms across her chest.
“That’s fine. But you should probably talk to your dad about it. I’m sure you misunderstood something he said.”
“I didn’t. I heard him loud and clear.”
This must be the reason she was angry at her father. She had heard him lie about something.
Whatever it was, Sophie didn’t want to talk about it and Jess didn’t push. For one thing, it wasn’t her business. For another, even if Sophie did confide in her, she couldn’t turn around and betray that confidence by telling Nate.
She changed the subject and they spent the rest of the drive talking about books Sophie loved.
She would miss the girl, too, when she left Cape Sanctuary. Sophie was funny and clever, with a stylish flair and her grandmother’s kind heart.
Somehow all the Whitakers had managed to squeeze their way into her heart and Jess had no idea how she was going to push them all back out.
22
Nate