Swallowing the lump in her throat, Sophia took a deep breath and demanded, “Get your lips off my husband.”
The blonde jumped and then tumbled sideways, but Ty caught her as he shot Sophia a warning look. “Mind your own business, Sophia.”
“I’m pretty sure this is my business.” Her voice came out much calmer than she felt as she watched the woman hang her head and try to scurry past her. “It’s a little too late to be ashamed of fooling around with a married man now, honey.” Sophia’s tart comment had the woman setting off in a sprint, nearly tumbling a few times in her heels.
“It was just a friendly kiss . . .” Ty’s innocent facade held in place until the blonde was good and gone before it slipped to reveal the darker version lurking just below his surface. The gold flecks in his brown eyes grew into a raging fire as his nostrils flared. “It’s my night, and you’re ruining it with this bitter-wife act.” Ty gritted the words through clenched teeth as his massive hand reached out and gripped Sophia’s upper arm, his fingers pinching into her flesh.
“You’re hurting me, Ty. . . . You said . . . you said you wouldn’t again.” She blinked back the tears, refusing to give him the satisfaction.
He dropped his hand as if her skin singed him, and he stalked out of the hall and away with the last sliver of dignity Sophia had been carefully hanging on to.
6
Quietness pressed down around him as Wes stared at the mountain of paperwork on his desk Wednesday afternoon. Sure, it was Agnes’s job, but he was on her bad side at the moment. He chose to keep his comments to himself and simply told her he’d happily take care of it. She cackled all the way out the door, obviously thinking he couldn’t handle it.
Yanking his tie off and unfastening the top button of his dress shirt, Wes slipped on his reading glasses and hunkered down in his chair. He rolled up his sleeves, determined to do what needed to be done.
“I’ll show Agnes who’s boss.” Pep-talking himself for the task at hand, Wes picked up the top file and got down to business.
A few hours later, the mountain had dwindled into a manageable hill and Wes’s eyes were blurring. He set the pen down, pulled off his readers, and massaged his temples. His stomach let out a mean growl, an irritating reminder that he’d skipped lunch and would be skipping supper also if he wanted to prove a point to his stubborn office manager.
After a litany of growls vibrated through him, Wes decided to go plunder Agnes’s snack drawer. She’d shown it to him on the first day and said he could help himself. That offer had probably been retracted as of Monday, but he was going to help himself anyway. As he stood to stretch his sore back, the door flew open and banged against the wall with such exuberant force his entire body jolted.
“Have you gone pure fool?” Doc bellowed, his white tufts vibrating with rage.
“I don’t believe so, sir.” Wes had seen that wild-eyed look before, so he readied himself for the lecture that was about to commence.
“You ain’t supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth.” Doc trudged over and shooed Wes out of the way so he could take his chair.
“I haven’t seen a horse since arriving in Sunset Cove.” Wes walked around to the other side of the desk but remained standing.
“Don’t get smart with me, kid.” Doc picked up the top sheet of the open file and tsked at it before releasing it to float back into the pile. He crossed his arms and let out a harrumph. “That young lady would be an asset to this office, yet you turned her away faster than you would a door-to-door salesman.”
“I don’t think Ms. Prescott is suited—”
“That dog won’t hunt, kid.” Doc leveled a look at him. “My wife says I ain’t allowed back into my own bed until I talk some sense into you.” He pointed toward the files in disgust. “But I’m thinking you’re a lost cause.”
Wes mirrored Doc, crossing his arms and scowling. “I’m not making excuses. And this wouldn’t even be an issue if you’d switched over to computerized record keeping ages ago, like the rest of the world.”
“If you’d hire that perfectly capable woman, she’d square away these files into some fancy computerized hogwash for you in a heartbeat.”
“Ms. Prescott’s disrespecting me and publicly questioning my credibility are both valid reasons not to hire her.”
“You’ve gone and went off with your pistol half-cocked again. How many times have I told you not to be so foolish?”
“But—”
“Kid, I’ve heard what happened here in the office.” Doc leaned back in the chair and grew solemn. “Sophia has had her world fall down on her in the past year. Now I know that’s neither here nor there, but she came in here a distraught mother needing her child’s physician to give her some reassurance her baby was okay. She didn’t need snide judgments cast on her over her parenting skills. She needed you to do your job and nothing more.”
When Wes didn’t comment, Doc pressed on.
“I know you don’t do the social media stuff. I don’t either, but I had enough wits about me to ask my daughter to pull up Sophia’s page so I could see the post myself. All the woman did was suggest the pediatric office on the other side of the waterway. Good doctors over there, if you want my opinion.”
When it was all laid out like that, Wes felt right foolish for getting so upset over it. “You know I came here because I promised . . . but I’ve never wanted to break a promise so bad in all my life.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked over to the window, noticing for the first time that a heavy rain was coming down. He peered over his shoulder and met Doc’s dark eyes. “In return, you promised I’d be left alone. You swore I’d have peace and quiet.”
“Wes, son . . .” Doc slowly shook his head. “You gotta get on with living, and sometimes that can be a bit unruly.”
“So I’m supposed to hire her and let in unwanted unruliness?”
“Won’t be like that as long as you don’t allow it.”
“I haven’t had any control over matters since arriving.” Wes released a pithy snort and leaned against the windowsill. “Can I get a refund?”
“You don’t want that,” Doc commented as Wes’s stomach let loose another growl. “But I can buy you supper and then you can sit with me during Bible study tonight, being as I’m in the doghouse with my wife because of you.”
It sounded more like Wes was doing Doc the favor, but he was too hungry to protest. He walked over and gathered the stack of files and his briefcase, determined to finish the paperwork before Agnes arrived the next morning. Maybe even tie it sweetly with a bow . . .
The men gorged themselves on flounder sandwiches and hush puppies at Sunset Seafood House before heading over to Sunset Cove First Baptist. They entered the cozy sanctuary and were met up with friendly greetings and chatter.
“Come on, let’s sit over here.” Doc led the way to the left side of the aisle.
With a quick glance around, Wes found Agnes sitting with none other than Sophia Prescott on the right side. Clearly the battle lines had been drawn.