“I asked him.” Zoe held a dress up to her body and studied herself in the mirror. “Now, I have no idea what to wear.”
“You’re lucky your mom is the queen of last-minute outfits.” Sophia pushed the bowl away and picked up her phone. “Where are you going?”
“Bowling, and we were thinking of dinner after. I don’t know, Mom. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked him out first. What if he thinks I’m coming on too strong?”
“I’m sure he respects that you took the first step. Besides, you’ve got to take risks in life, right?”
“Who are you, and what have you done with my mother?”
Sophia laughed and said nothing.
While she helped Zoe pick out an outfit and settle on a hairstyle, she couldn’t help but marvel at how grown up her daughter was. Zoe had gone from being a precocious and picky young girl to a confident and strong young lady, and Sophia couldn’t have been prouder.
Seeing Zoe get ready for her first adult date reminded Sophia how unfulfilled she felt and how everyone around her seemed to be moving on except for her.
Was this how it was always going to be?
Chapter Eleven
“So, you want to have everyone here at your dad’s?”
Sophia looked up from her recipe book and frowned. “Why are you saying it like that?”
“I can’t remember the last time you hosted a big family gathering, but I seem to remember someone breaking out into hives at the thought of hosting all those people,” Darren teased, pausing to wipe his hands on an old rug. “You sure you want to do this?”
Sophia stood up straighter. “That was the old Sophia. The new Sophia is perfectly capable of having a lot of people over without panicking.”
“Or hiding in the bathroom because there isn’t enough food?”
Color crept up her neck and stained her cheeks. “It was one time.”
Darren came to a stop on the other side of the counter, his mouth twitching. “Does that exclude the time you hid under the covers because you couldn’t get the cake just right?”
Sophia narrowed her eyes and scowled. “I hate you.”
Darren burst into laughter. “No, you don’t. Especially because I just finished fixing the guest bathroom and the sink.”
Sophia rolled her eyes. “Fine, I only hate you a little.”
“I’ll take that.” Darren set the rag down on the counter and stepped back. “Anyway, I’m sure you could rope Dana, Dean, and Kelli to help out. Wasn’t Dana talking about being an event planner or something?”
“She changes her mind every five minutes,” Sophia replied with a sigh. “It’s not a bad idea to recruit them, though.”
“Ian, too,” Darren reminded her. “He’s really good with maximizing space.”
“It sounds an awful lot like you’re trying to get out of helping me.”
Darren held both hands up and took a few steps back. “I would never. I do have to cover for Jared at the station, though, so I’m going to have my hands full into Labor Day.”
Sophia pointed a spatula at him and frowned. “Fine, I’ll allow it, but you still have to come and help whenever you can. No one knows how to pick a playlist like you.”
“I’m pretty sure our kids would disagree with you.” Darren took his phone out of his pocket, a furrow appearing between his brows. “I’ll come up with something, though.”
“Thanks.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“Not just for this…for everything else, too.”
