The thought had crossed her mind. She didn’t like surprises, which was another reason she was mad at Joe. But then again, when Landon asked her to dinner, she’d gotten that giddy feeling she hadn’t experienced since high school when Peter Lewis, the captain of the basketball team, had asked her to senior prom. Of course, those feelings faded quickly when she found out he asked her as a favor to her sister, Lis, who was on the cheerleading squad. Still, she and Peter had enjoyed the prom, even though there was nothing romantic between them.
“Good grief, you’re overthinking as we speak.” April moved from the love seat where she’d been sitting and plopped herself next to Sophie on the couch. “The next time a man asks you out, you say yes. Do you hear me?”
“Except for Joe.” She scowled. “I will never, ever go out with him.”
“Never say never.”
April’s singsong tone irritated her. “I can’t believe he asked me out,” Sophie muttered. “The nerve—after what he’d just done?”
“I guess he really wanted to go out with you.” She tapped Sophie’s arm playfully. “Not that I blame him. You’re a real catch.”
“That’s what all my friends say.” She picked up her tea again. “I’m not sure Joe really did want to go out with me. Like he said, he wanted to make up for wrecking my potential date with Landon.”
“Or,” April said, giving her a pointed look, “he wrecked your potential date with Landon so he could go out with you.”
Sophie thought about what Joe had said—that he’d come to the shop to ask her out. But he was acting weird when he said it, rocking back and forth, his gaze darting around the store. Which made her think he was lying.
“I wonder what he has against Landon,” April mused.
“Don’t know, don’t care.” Well, that wasn’t exactly true. She was curious why Joe—who, as far as she knew, was an upright guy—would lie to Landon, then turn around and lie to her. But she was still too irritated with him to find out, because that would mean she would have to see him again.
“That doesn’t sound like you.” April frowned. “Neither does kicking someone out of your shop.”
Now that she’d had some time to cool down, she felt a little bad about that part. She let out a sigh. “I shouldn’t have kicked him out,” she admitted. “But I was so angry.”
April nodded, her expression sympathetic. “Maybe you should try online dating after all.”
Sophie groaned and tapped the back of her head against the couch cushion. “No way. I’m thinking about dropping this entire romance thing.”
“After just a little bit of drama?”
“A little bit? That was more drama than I’ve had in an entire year.”
April laughed. “But isn’t it just a little bit exciting too? I’ve never had two men want me at the same time.”
“Joe doesn’t want me.”
“Mm-hmm.” April grabbed the plate of sugar cookies from the coffee table. “Keep telling yourself that.”
I will. Besides, even if Joe had been serious about wanting to go out with her, after today he’d never come near her again. She should be glad about that, but for some reason she wasn’t. She didn’t like having loose ends, especially when she was in the wrong.
“I’m going to end up apologizing to him, aren’t I?”
“Yes,” April said, handing her a cookie. “Because you’re a woman of integrity.”
Sophie snatched the cookie out of her hand. “Just this once, I don’t want to be.”
* * *
Joe leaned his chin on his palm and stared out at the class full of students in front of him. Study hall had started thirty minutes ago, and he’d barely made a dent in the stack of history quizzes he brought to work on. He’d been lucky with his study hall class this year—the students were mostly upperclassmen and mature enough to keep quiet and at least pretend they were studying. He also didn’t have a problem with them closing their eyes for a minute or five. There was enough pressure on these kids as it was, and if they wanted to snooze a little, he wasn’t going to stop them.
“Mr. Johnson?”
He blinked and sat up straight, looking at the young woman waving her hand in front of him. “Yes, Mandy?”
She got up from her seat and walked over to him. “Can I go to the restroom?” she whispered.
Joe nodded and quickly scribbled a pass for her on a sticky note. Only after she left the room did he realize she’d already been to the bathroom once this period. She was one of the students who always tried to see what she could get away with, and usually he told her no when she asked to leave the room a second time.
He glanced at the rest of the students, and a couple of them smirked, knowing exactly what had happened. He ignored them and looked down at his papers. Soon, however, his mind was drifting again, back to Sophie and what happened yesterday at Petals and Posies. He inwardly cringed for the dozenth time.
He’d made a mess of things, and now he wasn’t sure how to handle it. Should he go back to the store and try to apologize again? But she’d told him not to come back, so that wouldn’t work. Should he forget it ever happened? That would be the easiest tack, since their paths rarely crossed anyway. Still, he would know he’d made a mistake and hadn’t rectified it, and that didn’t sit well with him. Maybe he could call the shop, since that would technically not be going to the store. But he didn’t relish the idea of her hanging up on him—
“Bye, Mr. Johnson!”
He gave his head a hard shake as the students filed out of the classroom. Oh boy, this wasn’t good. Not only had he not heard the bell, but he had no idea if Mandy had returned. Not that it mattered now, since she would be on her way to her next class anyway. He gathered up his papers and walked back to his classroom, determined to focus on the last two classes of the day. They were both about civics, which he enjoyed, and at least when he was teaching his mind wouldn’t get away from him again.
At the end of the school day, Joe shut his door and sat down at his desk, determined to finish grading the quizzes. He plowed through them, recorded the grades in the gradebook on the computer, then shut down the machine for the day. He headed for home, still unsure how he was going to apologize to Sophie. He’d even thought about writing her a letter but nixed that idea too. What could he say, other than “I’m sorry”? She would probably tear it up anyway.
He needed to burn off some steam, and his favorite way to do that these days was to go to the driving range. His football-playing days were long behind him. During the season he helped coach the team, worked out with the guys in the school workout room, and tossed the ball with them before practice began. As much as he still loved football, he’d really settled into golf and played as much as he could in his free time. There was nothing better than whacking a few balls to work out his frustration. He kept his clubs in the back seat of his extended cab, so he headed straight to the nearby range.
An hour later he was feeling much better and headed home. He pulled into his driveway and stopped his truck like always to grab the mail from the mailbox. When he pulled out the stack, he was surprised to see a small envelope with only his name on it. He climbed back in the truck and opened the envelope, then pulled out a small note card.