“May I take you home?”
“Sure.” She turned back to the Sand Queens. “Josie, Wes said he’d take me home.”
Josie swiveled around on the barstool and peered at them from underneath the brim of her bowler. “As long as you two behave and he has you home before curfew,” she mocked in a motherly tone, which had no effect due to her silly outfit.
“We’ll do our worst, Mother.”
“Okay. Good night.” Josie waggled her fingers and sent her stool swiveling back in the other direction as August took the seat beside her.
“Good night,” Sophia repeated, following Wes out into the night. The air met her on a refreshing breeze, and she paused long enough to appreciate it. “You guys missed some great dancing,” she mumbled, lifting her damp hair up so the breeze could cool her neck.
“I thought about asking the guys if we should join in, but Lincoln’s leg is swollen, so I didn’t think it was wise.” Wes replaced Sophia’s hands with his and held her hair away from her skin while combing through it. “It’s a medical miracle that man still has his leg.” He recapped the leg injury, using a lot of medical terminology that was over Sophia’s head, but she didn’t mind. Her focus was on the massaging motion of his fingertips along her scalp and neck. Wes could speak about any subject he wanted as long as his fingers continued delivering pure bliss.
Wes concluded the medical commentary and released her hair. Sophia reluctantly turned to head toward the parking lot, but he wrapped his hand around her wrist. “I walked here.”
“You plan on giving me a piggyback ride home then?” She raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“The house is only a mile up the beach. I suppose I could carry you.” Wes turned and bent down. It was tempting to shove him over, but she tamped that idea down along with the chuckle it tried to produce.
“Just let me take these boots off and I’ll be able to manage the mile on my own two feet.”
“Suit yourself.” Wes straightened and helped to steady her as she worked the long zipper on the side of the boot.
Once she had both boots off and tossed into the back of Josie’s truck, Sophia began trudging through the sand beside him. The beach was still lively with folks out and about, so they had to skirt bonfires and gatherings until reaching Wes’s house.
“Do you mind if we sit out on the deck for a while?” he asked.
Sophia scanned the dark space that was barely illuminated by a few solar torches. “I guess not. Why?”
Wes unraveled his tie and unfastened the top button of his shirt. “For one, I’ve not spent much time with just you in the last week. I’d like to catch up. Plus, I found something for you. Give me a minute.” He held a finger up and disappeared inside.
The outdoor sectional sofa had the best view of the giant Ferris wheel just south of Wes’s house, so Sophia chose to sit there. Besides, the giant piece of furniture was downright comfy. Watching the brightly lit wheel slowly rotate, she heard the back door open and close. He sat close beside her and balanced a small gift box on her leg.
She picked it up and weighed it in the palm of her hand. “What’s this?”
“An apology for my failed attempt at fake dating.”
“It hasn’t been a fail.” She tried handing the box back, but he refused to take it.
“Clearly it has, but this is more than an apology.”
She opened the box and found a delicate silver ring tucked inside. An anchor sat horizontally on top of the band. “It’s lovely.”
Wes took the ring out and slipped it on her left ring finger. “Even though marriage can be fickle, I wanted to give you a ring to remind you of an everlasting love.” He tapped the top of the ring. “The anchor is a Christian symbol of hope. Each time you run your thumb along the back of this ring, you’ll be reminded that no matter how many people break their promises, God never will.”
Sophia moved the ring closer to a beam of light to get a better look at it, moving it one way and then the other, remembering the day Ty slipped a two-carat diamond on the same finger. Sure, she was blown away by the grandeur of the ring and the proposal, but it didn’t hold a candle to the significance of this understated silver band.
Wes reached inside the box and pulled out a small card. “This came with the ring.” He read, “‘We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.’ It comes from Hebrews 6:19.”
“Wes . . . thank you.” Sophia offered him a slight smile and touched the back of the band with her thumb, surprised that he’d picked up on her habit. His attentiveness said so much about him. Undoubtedly he had made one fine husband. “How long were you with Claire?”
He wiped his palms down the sides of his pants and released a heavy sigh. “We were college sweethearts. I went to a women’s softball game my freshman year and was blown away by the agility of the pitcher.” He smiled out into the night, seeming to wander deeper into his past. “I couldn’t take my eyes off the blonde beauty. She owned that field. And by the end of the night, when Claire agreed to go grab an ice cream with me, she owned my heart.”
Starting as college sweethearts seemed like an eternity compared to her mere four years with Ty. Knowing Wes had a better grasp on marriage than she’d ever had, Sophia asked, “What do you miss most about marriage?”
Wes blinked out of whatever memory had engrossed him and glanced at her thoughtfully before focusing on the glowing whitecaps of the ocean. “Sex.”
Sophia sat straighter and popped his leg. “Wes!”
He shrugged, taking on the air of innocence. “You asked, and I’m just being honest. But it’s more that I miss the intimacy of it. The closeness that was privately shared just between Claire and me. It was the two of us, but it felt like we were one, you know?”
Sophia did know. She and Ty had that for a brief time in their marriage, and it created the most precious gift of her life. She was blessed with Collin during the beautiful part of their time together. She would live the bad a thousand times over for his sake.
Wes cleared his throat, bringing her attention back to him. “It’s been so lonely without Claire. I still miss her touch. Her comfort. Her steadfastness.” He leaned back and spread an arm along the back of the couch, appearing weighed down by that loneliness. “What about you? Do you miss anything about your marriage?”
She thought it over until glimpses of happiness flickered past the painful memories. “Ty is an amazing man, until he’s not. He can be the sweetest when the mood strikes him. One time he decided he wanted to make me a chocolate cake like my momma makes, because I was homesick. I had my doubts and voiced them.” A quiet laugh released on an exhale. “That only spurred him on. Said if he could handle a three-hundred-pound lineman, then he could tackle a little ole cake. He thought he could cut the sugar and balance it by adding more cocoa powder.”
“And?” Wes nudged her shoulder as he settled his arm around her.
“It was awful. But Ty being the stubborn man that he is, he was determined to eat it even when I refused. Three bites in, he said, ‘Okay, that’s the worst cake I’ve ever eaten.’ We laughed it off, and the next day I received a delivery from a fancy bakery in Charlotte. And that was the best cake I’ve ever eaten.” Sophia shook her head and leaned into Wes’s side. “As I said, Ty can be the best. I just wish he could have thrown away his worst as easy as he did that cake.”