Alex Bishop didn’t look like the calm, polite type.
She couldn’t guess how he would’ve responded if he’d realized who Sophie was. After all, it wasn’t every day you met the woman whose mother had disappeared with your father. That terrible and permanent connection had been made even more awkward by Rose Bishop’s simmering hatred. For all Sophie knew, Alex Bishop shared the feeling.
She decided to go the long way around the block on her way home from work tonight, just in case. If the Providence dedication had inspired a Bishop family reunion, Sophie didn’t want any part of it.
“Sophie?”
She jumped, too lost in thought to have noticed the door opening again, but she recognized the man’s voice and was smiling even before she turned around. “Hi, Will.”
“You look lovely today.”
She touched the soft cotton skirt of her favorite green dress. “Thank you.”
“I was wondering if you’d reconsidered my offer.”
Her smile widened. He was awfully cute with his dimpled smile and curly blond hair. “I told you I don’t date men I work with.”
“But I don’t work with you,” he drawled, leaning against the wall and aiming that adorable smile at her again. His blue uniform shirt only added to the cuteness.
“The fire station is just on the other side of that wall. It’s too close for comfort. It would be awkward when we stopped dating.”
“Who says we’d stop?”
Sophie just shook her head in exasperation. She says they’d stop. First of all, while it was stimulating to work in the same building that housed the fire station, it really wasn’t ideal for meaningless sexual flings. Way too close to home.
Second, Will was cute and all, and she enjoyed sitting outside watching him play shirtless basketball with the other firefighters during the summer, but he wasn’t her type. Too local. Too young. And too gullible to her good-girl camouflage. She’d been working near Will for two years and he couldn’t see past the librarian glasses and knee-length skirts to the secrets underneath.
But Will had too much confidence in his good looks to give up easily. “I’ll ask again soon,” he warned.
“So you’ve said.”
He winked. “And don’t I keep my promises?”
She shooed him out and he gave her a gracious wave and headed over to the fire station. She supposed she should feel flattered, but he wasn’t truly invested. It felt like a game. Try to talk the shy librarian into a date.
Only she wasn’t as shy as he thought. She was just circumspect. She had to be. Hopefully Will would never know anything about that.
Parents with kids in tow started passing by on the sidewalk, so Sophie packed up the artifacts and locked the glass cabinet. There’d be a rush of children in the library in a few minutes and she wanted to find a great photo for the display and fire up the poster printer while she still had time.
She pasted a smile on her face and walked past the other librarians.
You okay? Lauren mouthed from behind the circulation desk.
Sophie nodded. Why wouldn’t she be? It wasn’t as if she was helping to promote a ceremony that would remind everyone her dad was a cuckold and her mother had abandoned her small children and run off with someone else’s husband.
Sophie forced her smile wider and walked through the library with a bounce in her step.
No, it wasn’t like that at all.
HE SAW HER again, four hours later, walking down the sidewalk near the center of town as if she’d left his mother’s front yard and never stopped moving. But it was late now and cooler as dusk set in, and she wore a black sweater over that modest green dress.
Alex slowed. He’d gone for a long ride to clear his head, but the clarity had only made him more reluctant to return to his mom’s. She wanted to suck him back into her obsession, and he wanted nothing but distance. Relieved at the prospect of a delay, Alex pulled the bike up next to the redhead and put his boot on the curb.
She stopped and took one step back, uncertainty wrinkling her brow, but at least she didn’t look furious anymore. Alex took off his helmet, just in case she didn’t recognize him with his shaved head covered, but the uncertainty on her face didn’t budge.
“Hey,” he offered as he killed the motor.
“Hello,” she said carefully, as if the weight of the word might change the energy of the air.
“The flyers,” he reminded her. “This afternoon.”
Her chin dipped to let him know that she remembered.
“I wanted to apologize. I gather she’s been bothering you. I can’t say I know anything about it, since I just got into town this morning, but I’m damn clear on how dogged she can be. Do you want me to talk to her?”
She relaxed a little, finally. And he could see more of the real her, now. A mouth that looked naturally happy on a sweet little pixie face. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, but the rest of her pretty red hair was still smooth, twisted into a roll at the base of her neck like something from the 1940s.
She shook her head. “I’ve talked to her plenty of times. Do you think she’d really listen to you?”
“Ha.” He managed a quick smile at that. “No. She doesn’t listen to anyone. Ever. I’m Alex, by the way.” He kicked down the stand and dismounted. “Alex Bishop,” he added, holding out a hand. “I assume you’re a neighbor of my mom’s?”
She blinked a couple of times. Maybe she’d heard of his long absence or maybe she was realizing that he was the crazy woman’s son. But she took his hand and shook it. “I’m Sophie. It’s nice to meet you.”
She looked right up at him now, her brown eyes friendly behind the little black glasses. She was a slight thing, but not short. Five-six, he’d guess, in her delicate black heels, shorter without them. His eyes swept down to admire the little black straps over the arches of her feet. She had a style. He liked it.
“Have you been walking all day in those shoes? I could give you a lift.”
“I’ve been working.”
“The town museum?” he ventured. She certainly didn’t work in one of the bike-rental places or T-shirt shops.
Her laugh skipped over his skin, and he realized he was still holding her hand.
“The museum, huh?” She slipped her hand from his grip, but she did it slowly.
Was this little thing flirting with him? The slide of her fingertips over his palm left him feeling decidedly inclined to flirt back.
“Do I look like I work at a museum, Mr. Bishop?”
He used her question as an excuse to look her up and down again. The little button-down dress kept her all covered up, but the black sweater hugged her narrow waist, emphasizing that there were hips beneath it. Very nice female hips that made the skirt flare out a little. “Yeah. You do. But a museum I’d really love to come visit.”
Yes, she was definitely flirting. Her mouth stretched to a pleased smile. “Really? What about visiting the library? I try not to judge, but you don’t look like the kind of guy who hangs out in libraries too often.”
A