Chapter Seventeen
Sophia
I pulled my cell out of my purse as I stopped in front of the hotel. I double-checked I had the right place, then walked up the front steps and inside. I looked around the lobby, but didn’t see the person I was looking for, so I made a call.
“Mom? I’m in the hotel lobby, and I don’t see you. Did you come down already?”
“Sorry, honey! I was a little busy with something, let me come down. Stay close to the entrance, and I’ll come to you, don’t move around, okay?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m a grown up, Mom, I think I can handle getting around just fine on my own.”
“Whatever you say. Stay put.”
She hung up, and I stood to the side of the entrance, so I wasn’t in the way and waited. I saw her the moment she appeared in the lobby, but I waited for her to come to me because of her earlier comment. Mom just looked amused.
“Hey, honey,” she said, pulling me into a hug.
I rolled my eyes but hugged her back. “Didn’t you tell me you’d be coming in a couple of weeks? You could have warned me you were coming a week early.”
“Oh, did you have things to do? I didn’t bother any of your plans, did I?”
“Not really.”
Elijah had texted me that he’d have plans today, and Dana had something with Logan. I could have asked her to come along, but Mom had surprised me. I hadn't even decided if I was going to tell her about Elijah yet, so I’d decided not to let him know she was around after I got her call yesterday. I was still wrapped in a scarf from Friday night, anyway.
“Did you bring anyone with you?” she asked, looking around. “You said you’d introduce me to some friends of yours, didn’t you?”
“Everyone’s busy,” I said with a shrug. “I didn’t want to bother them when they already had plans. Besides, I’m here for something important, right? If it weren’t, you’d wait until I came back home.”
She went still, and I arched an eyebrow at her. Then, she smiled.
“My girl is so smart, you figured that out on your own, huh? I could have just missed you.”
“You know how serious I am with my studies,” I countered. “So it’s not like you to bother me while I’m in the middle of the semester. Don’t get me wrong, but it’s not your regular pattern.”
She sighed. “My smart little girl, not everything has to follow a pattern. You need to be a little more flexible, you know? You’ll be a lot happier that way. Is it so wrong that I was too impatient to see my baby? Of course, I came quicker!”
I bit down on my lip and shifted my eyes from hers. I knew she was right, even more so know. When I gave Elijah a chance and let him in, he didn’t disappoint me in the end. Besides a few negative ideas I had in my head, our relationship was going fine. This weekend, we’ve both been too busy with our own thing to even meet, but before that, our relationship was great. I couldn’t even say I hated sports players anymore. I still hated my ex, though.
There was that whole thing on Friday that we didn’t get to talk about…but every time I thought about it, I told myself it was nothing and pushed it back.
“Although,” Mom murmured. “I did have something I wanted to run by you. And I’d be in the area anyway, so I decided just to call on you this week.”
“What is it, then?”
She looked around, then wrapped an arm around me and led me to a lounge area with a bunch of seats. She sat me down, then sat beside me, and shifted the two of us, so we were facing each other. Then, she took my hands in hers and looked at me with a serious expression.
I blinked, wondering if something big had happened, but I waited silently for her to tell me.
“Honey, if I asked you…what you would think about Mom dating again, would that bother you?”
I blinked hard for a second, then chocked out, “What?”
She chewed on her lip, and just like I did when I was unsure or anxious because I’d learned the trait from her.
“I know it’s nothing new, but if it’s something I want, you’re going to support me, right?”
“Mom, I… I mean, I’m not surprised, but I’m not going to say anything against you being happy again. Especially, since you’d start dating and just as quickly stop again. So, I thought that you’d given up on love. So, it’s just a little unexpected.”
I felt dazed by the news. I used to have a dad until he left the two of us. I just barely remembered what he looked like anymore, and I didn’t bother looking at his photos, that Mom had stored away. He’d left us, so there was no reason to even remember him, right? I had been around three years old when that happened, and because of him, I’d grown into the kind of person that did not forgive betrayals easily.
It’s not like it was something he could help. Dad had loved us both, but he died, only back then, I was too young to understand the concept, so Mom just told me he’d gone and wouldn’t be coming back. By the time I realized the difference, it was already too late for me.
I even hated it when my mom lied to me, but she and I had an open relationship.
So, of course, it would come off as a surprise when she just sprung something like this on me, but I wasn’t going to give her a hard time about it.
“I’m so glad you understand,” she said with a sigh. Then she smiled and giggled. It was so unlike her that my eyes widened. “It’s an old love of mine, believe it or not. I knew him long before I knew your father, but because of circumstances, we broke up, then I went off to college and met your Dad. We met up again by total accident, got talking, and here I am, telling you I’m seeing someone.”
“Wow,” I murmured. “What a coincidence.”
“Oh, we’re going to be meeting him soon. He’s in the hotel’s café already, and we have one more guest, he should be coming here soon. I think you’re early. So…let’s go and let me introduce you to your new stepdad.”
My mind went blank, and I just blinked at her again. “…What? What happened to you dating again?”
Her face flushed, “We got married! I just said dating to get your reaction. Before I told you the real news.”
I gaped at her like a fish out of water, opening and closing my mouth because I had no idea what to say, but I wanted to say something.
“Honey? Is that her?”
Mom’s head turned around at the voice. It wasn’t familiar to me, but it obviously was to her. I watched as her face lit up as she’d just seen a particularly beautiful sunrise, a look I hadn’t seen on her face in a long time.
“Ted. Is he here yet?”
I followed her gaze and saw a man, tall, well-built and blond with blue eyes, looking at her with adoration. He was dressed casually in a polo shirt and khaki slacks, and he had his hands in his pockets. He looked around my mom’s age, but he was still attractive for a man his age.
He shook his head as he came closer to us. “Not yet. He’s running a bit late, but he can find his way here just fine. He said he'd meet us at the café.” Then, his eyes moved to me. “Is this her?”
“Yes, this is my daughter.” She smiled at me, standing up and pulling me with her. “Sophia, I’d like you to meet Ted, your new step-father.”
“You can call me Ted,” he said, holding his hand out. “It might be too awkward to call me Dad, and I’m only used to hearing it from my son.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Ted,” I said and shook his hand, still sounding a bit dazed.
“Why don’t we all go to the café? I’m guessing you haven’t had breakfast yet.”
Mom released my hand, and ted wrapped an arm around her as we headed toward the hotel’s café. We were seated at a table for four because we were still waiting on my new step-brother, it seemed.
“Can I ask how the two of you met?” I asked.
Mom looked at him with a smile. Their entwined hands were on the tabletop, and I couldn’t help but look at them. I hadn't noticed before, but I saw it then, the ring on my mom’s finger that hadn't been there the last time I saw her a few months ago.
“We met on vacation in the Bahamas. You know that I’ve been lonely since your dad died, and Ted was also married, and his wife died, too, only a little later in life. We met again, and we talked. We figured that the old feelings we had were still there…”
Ted matched her smile. “It was like we fell in love all over again while we were on the island. We talked about our lives for the past twenty years or so, and it turned out we both had kids that went to the same school!”
Mom laughed. “What a coincidence, right? You could have met your new stepbrother without even realizing it! You’re both the same age, too. Ted tells me he resembles him a lot, like how you resemble me.”
Their words were ringing in my mind. I looked over at Ted again. Looking at him more closely, I thought he looked…a bit familiar? My heart started beating faster in my chest. And then, a voice came from behind me, a painfully familiar one.
“Dad? You guys didn’t have to wait for me; you could have just ordered something.”
Oh…shit.