Page 4 of The Do Over
“I’ll put the little one down. You three catch up. It’s been what…college? I remember when you three used to come home together—Sophie in freshman year and you two in your senior year. Then she moved away, and you went far, and we had to deal with Andrew.”
“Dad,” Andrew protested. “You say that like I’m not your favorite child. I wanted to leave Oregon, but you told me that Sophie was the wild one and someone had to be responsible.”
“You said that?” Sophie was on her feet, arms akimbo. “You forget all the things that Andrew did in college. Remember that girl we thought he got pregnant? You were already telling him to get a job and take out a loan on a house because you weren’t going to let him stay in your house and not be a man.”
Their father pointed to Aidan and placed his finger on his lips.
“He’s sleeping.”
Jack stood there, watching the drama unfold, but his eyes were on Sophie. She had changed since he last saw her eight years ago. She was no longer the teenager with braces, and if puberty were a goddess, then he would offer sacrifices for the things he did to Sophie Davis.
She had mom jeans on and a snug top, and boy, did she fill it out nicely.
“Jack,” Andrew turned to him again, this time pulling Jack in for a bear hug that had disengaged almost immediately and breathing heavily.
“I’ll never get used to your hugs, man,” he replied.
“It’s good to see you,” Andrew threw a hand around his shoulder, almost pulling Jack down. His best friend was a head taller than him, but Jack was bigger.
“I didn’t think you’d make it with Aidan, but I’m glad you did. The nanny is a friend of my mom’s, and she’ll be here in the morning, so you can leave Aidan for tonight since my mom has him covered.
I’d have offered you, Sophie, because she works as a nanny now, but Emily will kill me. She doesn’t want her maid of honor doing anything besides maid of honor duties.”
“It’s okay. If your mom vouches for the nanny, then I trust her with my son’s life,” Jack said, which was the truth. Mary had been a mother to him throughout college when his parents refused to pick up slack the second he graduated high school.
Then Andrew pulled him to sit on a single armchair while he went to sit next to his sister.
“So, two of you are the main people in the wedding, besides Emily and me, Mom and Dad, of course. Emily thought we should pair the groomsmen and bridesmaids, but we had to get a bigger house for the rest.
However, you two will be staying in a two-bedroom guesthouse just thirty minutes from here. It’s fifteen minutes to the wedding venue, so you’ll make it in time for rehearsal dinner and other activities.”
What the hell?
Jack didn’t like it one bit. He didn’t want to be stuck in the same house with only Sophie, given their history and how they parted, which was definitely not only friendly terms.
But he took a chance to look at her, and she didn’t look bothered one bit. If she wasn’t worried, he did not need to be, right? Maybe she didn’t remember… perhaps she didn’t care and he was the only one bothered by it.
But Sophie Davis wasn’t the kind of woman you couldn’t avoid being bothered by.
“All right,” he nodded. “Are you driving us there?”
Andrew shook his head, looking apologetic.
“I would, but Emily will be back soon, and we have some things to sort out. I rented a car, though. Either of you can drive, and the other handles the direction. You follow the map, and you won’t miss it.”
Then it was down to who was going to drive. Thankfully, Sophie spoke up before he could.
“You just arrived,” she said, “so you must be tired. I’ll drive.”
“Thanks,” he muttered.
“When you get there, you’ll find name tags on the doors to show your rooms. We’ve tried to decorate it according to your individual tastes, but if it looks a little off,” Andrew said, “I apologize.”
They gave their respective goodbyes to Mary and Ben, with Mary assuring Jack that Aidan would be fine without him and that he needed a break from parenting. She did not fail to add that he was doing an excellent job as a single father.
Jack found that hard to believe since he could barely handle Aidan most of the time. His wife, Angel, had lived up to her name in the family. He was struggling to get by with his toddler.
Andrew walked them out of the house, gave them individual hugs, and handed Sophie the key. To avoid any interaction, Jack got into the backseat and promptly closed his eyes when his head hit the headrest.
