Sofia looked like she was about to protest but nodded after exchanging glances with the woman. “Fine. But I’m not responsible for him.” She turned on her uber-high heels and pushed through the crowd, her dress shimmering as she marched away from him.
Isaiah let out a deep breath as he watched her go.
Chapter Eleven
SOFIA
Sofia was dancing her heart out when the DJ began the countdown to midnight. “Ten… Nine… Eight…” She glanced around her. Ash and Holly were nowhere in sight. She had a suspicion they’d slipped outside for their New Year’s kiss. They were always slipping away during parties.
Throughout the room, people were beginning to pair up. There were couples who had been married for thirty-plus years and those who were newly together, like Ash and Holly. She spun in a circle, narrowing her eyes.
Why are there so few single people in this room?In past years, she’d had Ash to joke around with at midnight, poking lighthearted fun at the romance around them. This year, she felt like there was a neon sign above her reading “Hey! I don’t have anyone to kiss at midnight! Feel bad for me!”
She saw Park, the owner of the sporting goods store, and she quickly averted her gaze.Right.She wasn’t the only single person, but she also wasn’t interested in encouraging the advances of any of the others.
I’ve done this to myself,she thought with a sigh, grabbing one last glass of sparkling champagne. She slipped into thekitchen just as shouts of “Happy New Year!” and the din of party horns being blown sounded from behind her.
Letting the door close, she leaned back against the stainless-steel counter. The cold seeped through her delicate gown. Sofia swirled the champagne glass for a moment then set it down on the counter. Her head was already fuzzy enough, and the day had been one for the confusing-as-heck history books.
Did I really discover an unconscious man on the hiking trail just this morning? A man who claimed to have lost all his memories but seems to be recovered and wants me to take him back to the trailhead?
She picked up the champagne glass again and wrapped her hands around it firmly.Why does no one else see that the whole situation is as suspicious as an unaccompanied package at the airport?Am I destined to think poorly of new men for the rest of my life? Is it a defensive mechanism that will protect me, or will it turn me into a hardened shell of a person, as Mom warned me?
She’d been grappling with those questions for years, and she felt like all her progress had been erased in minutes that day.So maybe I haven’t made any progress at all.That realization hit her like a punch in the gut.
Her mind flashed to the conversation she’d had with Isaiah after she’d dropped the champagne flute. She’d agreed to take him back to the trailhead.Why did I do that?There had to be some degree of allowing myself to trust involved in that, right? Or was I just trying to get rid of Isaiah as soon as possible, since he was threatening the precarious peace I’ve found for myself here?She wasn’t sure which motive should concern her more.
She pictured the moment. He’d been standing there in the doorway, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. He’d acted as if nothing the least bit strange had happened, as ifnot everyone in the room was wondering who the good-looking newcomer was.
How could a man who had an accident while hiking earlier that day seem so… relaxed? Is he one of those men who is so confident in his looks and swagger that not even something like a possible head injury could deflate him?It was slightly infuriating.
Sofia considered her options, and her shoulders relaxed as she decided on one. She would just have to ask Ash to take him back to the trailhead, and she would never have to see him again.
“No more helping sexy strangers for me,” she said, pouring the remainder of the champagne down the gleaming commercial sink.
“That’s too bad. Are there a lot of sexy strangers stumbling into this town?”
The voice hit her like a glass of cold water to the face, and she jumped, just barely holding back a shout of surprise.
Unfortunately, her hands weren’t as in control as her voice, and she dropped the champagne flute.
It shattered all over the sink.
“What are you doing in here?”Sofia breathed, taking a step back and trying to calm her heart rate. At least the broken glass was contained to the sink.
Isaiah put up his hands, and something that might have been concern flashed over his face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I didn’t know anyone would be back here. Your friend… Holly… She told me I could come find a meal in the fridge.”
Sofia shook her head, flustered.Of course Holly did.She and Ash were going to let him stay the night at the Emerald House,and naturally, they were going to feed him too. That was their way. Sofia inwardly cringed that he’d heard her refer to him as “sexy.” She decided the best course of action was to ignore it and distract him with something else.
She walked to the fridge and flung open the door then whipped her hand in front of it like she was the host of a game show. “Here it is. Take your pick. We always store extra food in here for employees to eat or take home.”
Uncertainty filled his expression, and he didn’t step toward the fridge.
“I’m sorry about the glass,” he said, glancing toward the sink. “I guess that makes two of those I’ve made you break this evening.”
Sofia pursed her lips. “Youdidn’t make me break them,” she said a moment later.
She noticed it again, that pull at the corner of his mouth. Her hands moved to her hips, the fridge door swinging closed. “You didn’t!” she insisted.
