Love Me Love Me Knot Page 12

  His firm mouth curled as his eyes dropped to her shirt. “It’s a good color on you.”

  Sophie narrowed her eyes to thin slits. “I’m sure it is. How did you know where I was?”

  He nodded toward the kiosk. “They called me a few minutes ago. Told me you fell in.”

  “I hardly fell in. And it was hardly worth mentioning. I’m surprised they did that.”

  “I’m surprised I’m your emergency contact.”

  “Oh, well . . .” She shifted her feet. “I, um, had to put something down.” She dropped her eyes and tucked some of her wet hair behind her ear. “I left my phone on the ship. Your number happened to be the only one I remembered.”

  “Oh, really?”

  She scowled at him. “Don’t get too excited.”

  Ryan raised his hands in defense, still holding the drinks. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Thirsty?” he asked on a half-smile. He stepped toward her.

  “Don’t even,” she warned. “You laugh and you’ll be wearing those pineapples. And I don’t mean in a pineapple bra sort of way.”

  “Duly noted.” He smiled anyway.

  Jerk.

  Sophie gratefully accepted the drink. The dry, salty ocean taste burned her mouth. But before she could indulge in the fresh pineapple juice Jaime’s dad called out, “Hey. Policía here.”

  “The police?” Sophie whipped around so fast her wet ponytail slapped her in the eye. “Who called the police?” More importantly, why would they do that?

  The caterpillar under the man’s nose twitched. He pointed behind Sophie in the direction of the stairs. And sure as this never-ending day was long, a red-faced officer descended and made a beeline for Jaime’s dad.

  Sophie didn’t speak a word of Spanish aside from the normal pleasantries learned as a child, and she knew for certain whatever he said did not include pleasantries. He pelted what she could only assume were foreign insults faster than bullets from a semi-automatic.

  On two different occasions, the police officer gawked at Sophie, raising a judgy eyebrow, then nodded.

  “Do you have any idea what he’s saying?” Sophie whispered to Ryan.

  Ryan shushed her and continued listening to the conversation.

  “Do you understand?”

  “A little,” he whispered.

  “What are they saying?” The hair on the back of her neck stood on edge. What if they sent her to jail? She couldn’t go to jail. Not in a foreign country. She would be fresh bait in there. Did they even separate the men from woman? American prisons were probably like day spas in comparison.

  Ryan smirked.

  She elbowed him. “What? What’s that smirk for?”

  “I didn’t smirk,” he said, pushing Sophie a few feet away from the police officer. “Just relax, it’s fine.”

  Sophie bristled, and something squeezed in her chest. Nothing was going as planned, and now the police were involved. How is this fine? Sophie stabbed Ryan’s chest with her finger. “No, it’s not fine. The police are here. So, don’t use fine with me when things are obviously not.”

  “Don’t worry about my dad,” Jaime said from behind Sophie.

  He shook Ryan’s extended hand. “You here to collect what I fished from the ocean?”

  “It would appear that way.”

  Sophie recoiled. “Excuse me? I’m standing right there.”

  Jaime winked at Sophie. “She put up a fight, but I reeled her in.”

  Ugh. Boys and their fishing innuendos.

  “Hey,” Jaime continued, “you’re Ryan Pike, right?”

  Ryan grinned. “I am.”

  Seriously. In Mexico? Where did Ryan’s tentacles not reach?

  “Great articles, man. I follow your blog and love the interview you posted with Jeter.”

  Pet a man’s ego and he turns into a blimp. Sophie was so irritated with the unbelievable bromance, she nearly forgot there was talk about her future criminal record taking place ten feet away.

  “Excuse me, boys,” she interrupted, “can we please get back to what’s happening over there?”

  “Oh.” Jaime shrugged. “He’s not even talking about you.”

  “Wait. What?” Sophie didn’t follow. “Then why is the police officer looking at me?”

  “I don’t know. You’re kind of cute, I guess.”

  Sophie’s jaw dropped. Then she closed it and studied the men talking. “Then who called him?”

  “My dad did,” Jaime said. “But that was more because he was angry about the lost kayak and then there’s tourism protocol and all. But we dragged you back to shore. No worries. Now he’s telling Officer Jorge that the chalupas his wife gave him made him sick.”

  “So are we done here?” Sophie asked.

  “It appears so.” Jaime’s grin spread into a full-forced smile. “Feel free to keep the shirt as a little memento reminding you about your amazing adventure here, and drop a Yelp review if you wouldn’t mind.”

  Sophie wrapped her arms around her front. Doubtful. The sooner she could tear this shirt off and burn it, the better. “No problem.” She smiled tightly. “Sorry again about all of this.”

  Jaime waved his hand. “No worries. We never see this much excitement.”

  At the top of the landing, Sophie walked ahead of Ryan, but wasn’t prepared for the gawkers. At least down by the kayaks she was without an audience to witness her walk of shame. Now, dozens of sets of eyes followed her, many with their smart phones at the helm.

  “So what happened to you?” Ryan asked, his soothing voice a low hum. He tossed their now warm pineapple drinks into a garbage can.

  Sophie dropped her head, watching her shoelaces bounce against her shoes as she placed one heavy, wet foot in front of the other. “Don’t ask.”

  “Hey, Mommy, there’s the lady that took our picture. You said we couldn’t swim here.” The littlest nerdling from the family she’d met earlier pointed and ogled, along with everyone else. “Is she going to jail?”

  “Probably,” the mother answered. “That’s what happens when you don’t follow the rules.”

  Sophie shot the woman a scowl so harsh, she was certain that whole nerdling family felt it.

  Ryan must have caught the scowl because he wrapped his arm around Sophie, and she surprised herself by letting him. Actually, it felt nice. Having him with her felt nice.

  Ryan’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He kept his arm around her and answered. “Ryan Pike.” After a brief pause his eyes dipped to Sophie. “It’s for you. She sounds upset.”

  For her? Who was upset? A sinking feeling sunk in Sophie’s gut like an anchor. She took the phone and slid away, feigning some privacy. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Sophie, it’s Tanya.” Her edgy voice shook with each word. “I couldn’t reach you on your cell, so I called Red and he gave me Ryan’s number and said he’d be able to find you.” Her words came in short, forced spurts as if she were out of breath.

  Sophie’s insides froze, except for her heart. She gripped her chest as a million worst-case scenarios raced through her mind. She wasn’t sure what a heart attack felt like, but this had to be close. “What’s wrong? Is anyone hurt?”

  “I don’t know, ask Deidra,” Tanya said, with a bite.

  “What’s wrong with Deidra?” It’d occurred to Sophie that in the years she’d ran the café, she’d never been gone longer than a day or two. And only when Donovan or Amy could cover. She should have known the place would fall apart without her. Any number of things could go wrong. Her eyes cut to Ryan. His brows creased together as he mapped her face with concern.

  Sophie held up a finger and then turned around, walking double time back through the flea market. Whatever was wrong in the café most definitely required her presence pronto. From her e
nd of the call, even though she could still hear the geyser and the hustling of her surroundings, she sensed that the café was unusually quiet. Music or conversation almost always hummed, so quiet meant mischief or trouble. “Where is everyone?”

  “Deidra has the pukes,” Tanya hissed into the phone. “She’s in the bathroom praying to the porcelain god.”

  A softball size knot formed in Sophie’s throat on those trigger words. “Oh my God, Tanya. Are you for real?” Sophie didn’t realize her voice carried so loud. Ryan, with unease etched in his expression, lightly gripped her elbow as if he were asking her to explain.

  She jerked away, not meaning to be harsh, but wishing she could wring Tanya’s puny little neck. “Why aren’t you in there? What’s going on?”

  “Sophie, I don’t think you understand the severity here.”

  Holy cow. Sophie felt the sweat pool at the back of her neck. She was ready to hijack a race boat at this point and channel the Pacific. “Tanya, stop telling me that something is wrong, and tell me what is going on.”

  “My shoes, Sophie. She upchucked all over my shoes, and I just bought these. They are three-hundred-dollar Khloe Kardashian flats with real cheetah print trim. And I want to know who is going to pay for them.”

  Sophie stopped dead in her tracks and Ryan nearly ran into her. Her head spun six different directions from sideways. Any bile or bulging knots buried deep in her chest turned into burning fury. “What?” She snapped.

  “Yeah, this is bull crap. I’m here on my time, and the fat little twit got upset about something and then stuffed her face with so many marshmallows and God knows what else, she billowed up like a balloon and freaking spewed all over my shoes. Three hundred dollars, Sophie!”

  If it was possible for someone to be so infuriated they actually saw red, Sophie would be seeing deep crimson scarlet dipped in blood. Tanya’s blood at that. She squeezed the phone until her fingers tingled and then slowly moved it away from her ear and put it directly in front of her face. “If you ever scare me like that again, over something so stupid, I will personally take your shoes and shove them so deep down your throat that you’ll be crapping shoelaces until your proctologist begs for mercy.”

  Sophie took a deep breath. Tears threatened to fill her eyes. She felt like she just aged a decade. How could someone mean so much to her that any hint of failing them instantly flung her off the ledge, head first? All the anguish that had built up inside her released, leaving her spinning like a top. The girls fully relied on her to help them, and here she was hundreds of miles away, trying to do something, anything to help, and she couldn’t even come up with one meager scavenger item.

  “Why are you so mad at me?” Tanya mewled.

  Sophie summoned all the patience she could conjure. “Because you are responsible for the café and the girls while I’m gone. Did you call Deidra’s aunt?”

  “Charlie did.”

  “And where is Charlie?” Sophie asked, surprising herself by remaining calm.

  “She’s in the bathroom.”

  “Don’t you think you should be in there, too?”

  Tanya exhaled loudly. “I was. I was cleaning my shoe, and they kicked me out. What was I supposed to do?”

  Sophie pictured what that must have looked like and smiled to herself. Charlie was a bit of a scrapper, so if she chased someone out of the bathroom, that person would know they were in trouble. “Why was Deidra eating like that? Where were you?”

  “I don’t know. I was watching Downton Abby while I waited for business in the lobby. You can’t expect me to go running in there every time a girl starts crying over a boy.”

  A boy? Blinding fury rose in Sophie’s eyes again. She heard Tanya chomping on something. A carrot maybe.

  “Tanya!” Sophie barked into the phone.

  “What?”

  The words caught in Sophie’s throat so tightly she was surprised she didn’t choke getting them out. “You’re supposed to call me when there’s an issue! That’s what you do. Not sit on your butt and watch British TV.” Sophie grabbed the back of her neck, squeezing as if she could summon the right thing to do. She was too far away to be of any help, and Tanya was officially elected the mayor of Uselessville.

  “I tried,” Tanya said, raising her voice. “And before you yell at me, the person who’s actually here when I should be home cooking dinner for my cat, maybe you should answer your phone.”

  Sophie’s blood surged. She wanted to call Tanya out for being the most incompetent person to ever walk the face of the earth. But she was right. Her stupid phone was next to her computer where she’d spent the first part of the morning trying everything she could to raise money. This outreach was not a one-woman job. She needed a team. A reliable team. But what she had was sitting on their fat tail watching TV.

  Ryan hadn’t taken his eyes off her. And his concern strewn across his face was giving Sophie a migraine. She held the phone away from her ear and cupped the bottom of it. “It’s fine. A little mishap at the café. I have it under control.” No she didn’t. But Ryan wasn’t the person to confide in. Even Amy couldn’t help right now. She just wished she could be at the cafe. Everything would be okay if she were the one consoling Deidra. Not the half-wit Tanya.

  Ryan didn’t say anything, but his knowing eyes said he understood.

  Good. She picked up her pace, barely noticing that Ryan was left to follow her without any idea what was happening. She’d fill him in after she processed what was happening in her absence. Of course she knew nothing herself . . . other than she shouldn’t have come. She should have told Red she had the walking flu. The symptoms were easy enough to fake. “Give the phone to Charlie.”

  “Okay, Sophie. Calm down. I’m upset too, you know.”

  “If you even utter the word ‘shoe’ . . . ” Sophie held her breath until Charlie’s calm voice answered.

  “Mrs. Croft?” Charlie said when she came on the phone.

  “No, it’s Sophie.”

  “Oh, hey! How’s the cruise?”

  What? Who cares? “How’s Deidra doing? Are you with her?”

  “Yeah, were sitting here. Deidra’s head’s on my lap and she’s seriously regretting the Chinese she ate for lunch.”

  “Chinese? That’s not what I mean. What triggered her?”

  “I don’t know. Salmonella? I’m waiting for Deidra’s aunt to come get her before her food poisoning gets any worse.”

  Wait? Salmonella. “Like, she’s got food poisoning?”

  “That’s what I said. Are you even listening to me?”

  Food poisoning! That’s all? The ten thousand pounds of bricks that had been crushing Sophie’s chest cavity suddenly lifted, igniting a bout of nauseated relief. “Food poisoning? Oh, oh, man, that’s just great.”

  “Great? How’s that great? I’ve cleaned up two splash attacks already. It’s about as far from great as possible. She ate bananas, Sophie. Chow mein, marshmallows, and bananas. You know how I know that? It was all over the bathroom and my shoes.”

  “From food poisoning, though, right? Tanya is under some guise that she overate because of a boy.”

  “Well, yeah. There was a thing with a boy. But don’t worry about it.”

  Sophie was eternally grateful Charlie wasn’t a typical teenager. It wasn’t fair to plant adult-sized problems on her tiny shoulders, but she handled them with twice the aptitude of an average adult. Ten times the aptitude of Tanya. “But she didn’t”—Sophie lowered her voice so Ryan wouldn’t hear her—“force herself to vomit.”

  “Not that I know of. Though maybe the combination of what she ate was all the force necessary to projectile like that. She did binge on the marshmallows after . . . You know what, we’ll talk about it later. Her aunt needs to get here in case the food decides to head for the southern exit.”
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br />   Sophie sighed. Guilt swirled in her belly. She should have been there, plain and simple. She slowed her pace and noticed Ryan was still by her side. He wasn’t crowding, but he was there. Warmth reversing the chills from her dip in the sea sent gooseflesh up her arms. She wasn’t used to someone by her side in moments of chaos. Especially when she barked at them. False alarms or not. This was . . . nice.

  Sophie’s muscles relaxed and though she was grateful for the misunderstanding, it clearly reminded her that the café must stay open. The girls needed her. So what if this time was just food poisoning. Next time it might not. She calmed and summoned her cool, composed voice. “Can I call anyone else for you, Charlie?”

  “No. I have it under control. But thanks.”

  “Okay, I’ll let you get back to her. And I’ll check in tomorrow. Okay?”

  “You better bring me home something good.”

  “Done.” When Sophie disconnected she had to stop. It was all too much. The rush of emotion from the last few hours felt like cymbals clashing together in her brain. It hurt so much she bent over and cradled her head.

  “Hey. Are you okay?” Ryan crouched down and placed a hand on her knee.

  She looked up and caught his worried eyes. “It’s fine. I’m sorry. I . . . Here.” She handed him his phone and stood up. A light breeze reminded Sophie she was still damp and now cold.

  “Not to pry, but is everything okay at home?”

  Ryan looked as sincere as she felt dreadful. The last thing she wanted was to share details of what it was that made her heart beat—the girls. She didn’t want him to see her like this, because she didn’t want to see herself like this. She didn’t like feeling so helpless, but that’s exactly how she felt. And over an upset stomach, not even a real crisis.

  “Everything is fine. One of the girls got sick.” Sophie slowly stood and ambled back through the dirt lot.