Sophie was tired of pacing around and around the house. She wasn't able to go to sleep, and was a bit off put that Daniel hadn't been able to call or stop by all evening. She had no cause to be upset – he had told her he might be busy – but that didn't make it any easier to swallow.
The note she'd written at work that afternoon was burning a hole in her pocket, and she wanted to get it off her chest and put the issue of their relationship into Daniel's court as soon as humanly possible.
Maybe she could pull one of his stunts – break into his house and sneak into his bedroom and wake him up.
It had worked for him, she thought with a smile as she leaned over to pull on some shoes.
Taking a flashlight with her, Sophie crossed the quiet lane in the dark, pulling on the front door of Daniel's farmhouse gently and breathing a sigh of relief that the door was unlocked and swung open easily.
Quietly, she crept through the house, heading for the master bedroom at the back of the house with a plan to leave the note on his pillow where he would be sure to find it when he woke up the next morning.
Cautiously, she opened the bedroom door, grateful when it didn't squeak in protest. The room was dimly lit, and Sophie stumbled over a pair of shoes as she approached the bed, suddenly tempted to join the sleeping form there, rather than just leaving a note and fleeing the house. The thought of falling asleep tangled in Daniel's arms warmed her from the inside out. Maybe she would end up staying after all…
She crept over to the sleeping figure…
And stifled a scream.
It wasn't Daniel.
It was…
It was another woman.
Starkly beautiful, with long blonde hair that fanned over the pillow and delicate features, Sophie felt anger and indignation rise in her throat as she gazed at the woman sleeping in Daniel's bed.
She knew it.
She KNEW it.
She knew Daniel was too good to be true, she knew she would never deserve another chance at love after Peter.
Looks like she was right after all.
Crumpling the note into a ball and throwing it onto the floor in anger, Sophie fled into the night, tears blurring her vision as she stumbled back across the street, not even trying to be silent in her retreat.
**
"Sophie, open the door!"
"Go away!" Sophie managed to yell back through the front door between sobs.
Daniel had begun banging on the front door shortly after daybreak.
She had made sure to lock every door in the house, unwilling to allow Daniel to sneak up on her ever again; hell, to ever even set foot in the house again.
"Sophie, please, I want to explain, and I'm not going to do it through this bloody door!"
"Leave me alone!" Sophie shrieked, hating herself and her high pitched, pleading, girly tone.
"Sophie, please…" Daniel's voice lowered, pleading now. "Please… I can't talk to you through the door. I wanted to apologize…"
"No," Sophie's voice was strangled at the sound of Daniel's anguish.
"Sophie, please let me in," Daniel tried again, and Sophie reluctantly shifted her body and unlocked the door from her sitting position beside it. Daniel threw open the door, then turned and saw her on the floor, knees pulled up to her chest, arms folded around herself, turning her into a small bundle against the wall.
He knelt, bringing his eyes level with hers. "Sophie…" he breathed, but she backed away slightly from the hand he raised to caress her. He dropped his hand like a stone, but refused to move away from her.
Unwilling to be seen as any weaker than she already was, Sophie brushed away her tears angrily, then tilted her chin up at him. "Well? What is it?"
"Sophie, it wasn't what you thought…"
"You mean the part about not being able to love me, or the part where I find another woman in your bed?" Sophie shot back, and Daniel visibly winced from the harshness of her words.
"I knew I buggered that conversation in the car, I knew it," Daniel said, half to himself. "Sophie, it wasn't like that. And as for the woman…"
"You know what," Sophie interrupted him. "I don't care. It's none of my business what you do. It's not like… we're in love."
She said the words coolly, steadily, and Daniel wondered if maybe that's how she felt after all – that she didn't love him.
But then he remembered the note he'd found on the floor, and closed his eyes, holding on to her written words – the words he'd read a hundred times with shaking hands and a quaking heart.
"Sophie, I found your note. On the bedroom floor. Next to where my cousin, Cassie, was sleeping."
Sophie blinked at him, but said nothing.
Cassie is my solicitor – she lives in Worcester. She came out to finish up the land deal, and ended up spending the night. I slept in the guest room. That's the truth. She's still here – you can run over and ask her. She's horrified that she might have screwed things up between us. She's a sweet girl, but she's my COUSIN. Please, go ask her, she'll tell you," Daniel pleaded, his blue eyes boring into Sophie's, trying to force her to see the truth through him.
Sophie swallowed hard, staring at him, and then nodded curtly. "I believe you."
"Do you?"
Sophie paused, and then nodded again. "I do. You can go now."
"Am I being dismissed?"
"No, I just assumed you'd want to flee as quickly as possible. Go – I release you."
"Soph, it's not like that…"
"Well, then, Daniel, what's it like? Tell me," Sophie demanded, her voice hard as nails making him wince again. "Tell me."
Daniel ducked his head, trying to formulate into words all the things he wanted to tell the woman in front of him.
Another tear slid down Sophie's cheek, much as she tried to hide it. "You know what? Never mind. I don't want to hear it. Let's just… let's just leave it here, okay? I don't think I can handle much more emotional heartbreak just now."
"Sophie, I'm not breaking anyone's heart, I just…"
"Daniel, just go," Sophie whispered, her voice breaking. "Please, just go."
"You really care this much about me?" Daniel asked, hardly daring to believe that anyone was capable of shedding tears over him. His fingers itched to brush away the tears, to pull her into his arms and keep her there for the next thousand years. "Me?"
Sophie nodded slowly, another tear snaking down her cheek.
"I really do," she confirmed, sniffling. "I only wish that you felt the same way about me."
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