Page 88 of Puppy Love

“You’re not thinking clearly right now,” she said. “You’re upset, and you’re feeling hurt, and that’s okay, but—”

“Goddammit, Sophie! Can’t you understand?” He let go of her then, dropping her like a man who’d just been burned. “I’ve hadenough. Enough of you sauntering around and acting like you know what I need, like you have all of life’s answers stored up in the tip of your pinky.”

She opened her mouth and closed it again. The hurtful things Harrison was saying were bad enough, but even worse was the way he was saying them. He was like a trapped animal, a puppy-mill puppy cowering in fear inside his tiny cage. He was howling and lashing out at his captor.

He was howling and lashing outher.

“Fearless little Sophie Vasquez, tackling the big, bad giant. Brave little Sophie Vasquez, taking on the case that no one else will touch.” His voice mocked her even as his arms crossed in a protective and antagonistic move over his chest. “We both know you’re not nearly as strong as you pretend to be. It’s easy for you to tell me that I need to forgive my mother for what she’s done, but you don’t even have the nerve to tell your own mother that she’s suffocating you.”

Sophie stood motionless, feeling as though she’d been slapped.

He gave a short, bitter laugh. “It’s not so fun being on the receiving end of all that pushing, is it? Do you want me to keep going?”

She shook her head against what she knew was coming, what she was powerless to stop.

“You push and you smile and you laugh and youfuck, but only because you know there are ten thousand people ready to catch you if you fall.”

It couldn’t be true. It couldn’t be Harrison saying these things.

But it was. “Spend one day in my shoes, and I guarantee you won’t be so bold,” he said, his upper lip curling. “There’s no one here for me, Sophie. No sisters. No parents. No nice knitting ladies. When I fall, it’s a long, dark descent that never ends. My mother abandoned me, my father gave up on me, and evenyouhave finally realized that I’m not worth the effort.”

“No,” she said, but her throat was so thick with emotion she wasn’t sure she made any sound at all.

“I can’t spend another twenty-two years in that house waiting for a love that won’t last,” he said. “And even more to the point, Iwon’t. Not even for you.”

Every wall, every shutter, every barrier came crashing down over him at once, sealing him up tighter than a tomb. There would be no getting in there now, Sophie knew. Not if she pushed for the rest of her life. Not if she died trying.

Which was why she stood perfectly still and accepted the words she knew were coming next.

“I’m done, Sophie. We’re done. It’s over.”

Chapter 19

“I brought you some ice cream for breakfast—it’s rocky road, your favorite.”

“And coffee. Fresh coffee. With a little brandy in it. Okay, it’s all brandy, but it’s the good kind, so sip slowly.”

“What about a hot pad? You always used to like a hot pad when you weren’t feeling well.”

Sophie kicked off the blankets that had been solicitously wrapped around her and took the mug of brandy from Dawn. Downing it in one quick gulp, she glared at the relatives hovering over the couch as though she’d rung death’s doorbell and was merely waiting for someone to answer.

“Knock it off, you guys.” The kick of the alcohol hit her in a fiery wave. She welcomed the burn both in her stomach and in her resolve—she could use it right about now. “I’m not going into a decline. I broke up with a guy. There’s a big difference.”

She didn’t miss the look that passed between her two sisters.

“Is it really breaking up if you were never formally dating? I mean—”

“Lila, so help me, if you take it upon yourself to analyze my relationship with Harrison right now, I’m going to turn this bowl of chocolate ice cream over onto your pristine white couch. And I’m not going to clean it up afterward. In fact, I’m going to stand watch over it while it dries.”

Dawn chuckled at this outburst. So did Lila, though she was careful to pick up the ice cream and put it well out of Sophie’s reach.

Her mother, unfortunately, wasn’t so easily put off. She placed a warm hand on Sophie’s forehead and peered anxiously down into her eyes. “I still don’t understand what happened. Did he yell at you?”

“No.”

“Did he say all those terrible words like the ones Paulette heard?”

“I wish.”