Sophie frowned as her fingers clawed into the emptiness of her purple cloth wallet.
"I swear I had a twenty," she looked back up from her wallet at the cashier and then reached to pat her back pockets.
The man shrugged his shoulders.
"Shit. This is embarrassing," Sophie felt her cheeks burn as she reached back for the Hershey bar and box of tampons that she'd sat on the counter. "I'll just put this back."
The older man ringing her up did not seem fazed by her embarrassment. He immediately went to work cancelling the sale on his register, and Sophie lowered her eyes.
She gritted her teeth as she scooped the candy bar and box of tampons back off the counter and turned on her heels, attempting to avoid the faces of the few people who had stepped in line behind her.
She tried to recall where she'd lost the twenty as she headed back to the safety of the back of the store. Maybe someone had taken it?
"Hey everything alright?"
Sophie stopped to avoid crashing into her dad's partner, Zack Shelby.
"Hey, yeah, no big deal," she brushed past him, heading further back into the store, wishing that the box of tampons in her hands would just melt into her. She hadn't even seen him while she was shopping—not that she would've approached him if she had.
"I can get that for you," he called from behind her, and Sophie knew he was following her. "I owe your dad a few bucks anyway."
Sophie stopped but did not turn back to face him. She shook her head.
"No, I have money. I just forgot it," she started walking again, but he hurried to step in front of her.
"Here, let me get it for you. Seriously." he held out his hands.
Sophie searched his brown eyes for a moment. Of course he was so eager to help now.
Rather than argue with him over a box of tampons and a Hershey bar, she passed both objects to him and lowered her eyes again.
"Thanks," she muttered.
"No problem. You need anything else?"
She shook her head.
"Alright well I'll meet you out front then?"
Sophie avoided Zack's eyes as she headed out of the store. She stopped against a lamppost outside and leaned her side against it.
Her eyes searched the street in front of her and they fell on Zack's police car parallel parked a little ways up the street.
She tiredly ran a hand through her straight dark hair and wiped at her lips absentmindedly, it was a bad habit. She either chewed at her lips or self consciously wiped at them, especially when she was nervous.
The last person she had wanted to run into was her dad's partner.
Sophie pulled at the sleeves of her maroon and white sweater so that the sleeves covered her hands. The wind was getting chilly and it seemed like it was just getting stronger.
A few minutes passed as she listened to people exit the store behind her. It had been pretty busy on lunch hour. She finally heard his voice behind her.
"Here you go."
Sophie turned slowly and took the small bag from him without making eye contact.
"Thanks," She murmured.
Sophie slid the bag into her fairly large turquoise purse but pulled the candy bar out.
"I must have left my money in my other purse. Seriously, I'll pay you back," she grumbled as she fiddled with the wrapper.
"No, no, don't worry about it. It's cool. I owed your dad. Could we talk?" He asked cooly.
Sophie unwrapped her candy bar and pretended for a moment that he hadn't even spoken. She didn't want to talk to him. She only wanted to go back home. She took a bite of her candy and then looked up at him as she chewed.
"There's nothing to talk about Zack," she responded nonchalantly.
"No there really is. You didn't give me a chance the other night and-"
"Don't worry. I haven't told my dad," she interrupted him.
He reached up to scratch his head. "It wasn't right what Summers did. He-"
"I don't get it…You and him?" she demanded. She could feel her anger bubbling back to the top.
"There is no me and him, well not usually," Zack stated defensively. "Here c'mon, let's go sit in my car. It's getting chilly and you don't have a jacket," Zack tried.
Sophie slung her falling purse strap back over her shoulder.
"I lost a lot of respect for you," she muttered.
Shelby's face slackened. "Soph,"
"You only stepped in when you realized who I was. Before you realized that I was your partner's daughter, you thought it was funny."
He looked around nervously before opening his mouth to answer her. "I was off duty, I was drinking, So was Keith."
"It's no excuse," Sophie turned from him but he reached out and grabbed her arm.
Sophie jerked her arm away immediately and was surprised that he let her go.
He glanced around them nervously before meeting her eyes. "I'm not trying to cause a scene," he growled.
She stared back into the brown eyes of White Pine Bay's golden boy. But this time there was anger in his eyes. His tone shocked her.
Something about him had changed over the years…or maybe she'd just grown up and realized he wasn't that golden boy.
"I wasn't going to let him do anything…to you or anyone for that matter," Zack gritted through his teeth.
"Sure…Sure okay," Sophie shrugged him off rudely.
"Sophie, hey. What kind of man do you think I am? Besides, I'm an officer," he lowered his voice.
Sophie rewrapped the chocolate bar and slid it into her purse, ignoring him.
"What were you doing there anyway? I feel like that's why you haven't told your dad," he said quickly. "How many times has he told you to stay away from that part of town, especially at night."
"It doesn't matter why I was there. It matters that you let Keith put his damn hands all over me," she snapped. It was still a touchy subject for her that she had even ended up there.
Zack glanced around nervously again as Sophie raised her voice.
"It was dark," Zack gritted through his teeth.
"I recognized you. You didn't even step in until I screamed your name," she hissed. She began walking away from him, but he followed.
"Listen, Soph, I know it's no excuse, but Keith is upset. He got grabby. He shouldn't have. In no way was it right. But he's upset because he lost his house and that motel to the bank. You know some people just moved in right? He aint the best guy in the world but he wouldn't have hurt you."
Sophie nodded. "Alright, whatever. Water under the bridge right?"
"And you're not gonna tell Romero?"
"That you almost let Keith Summers…," she stopped in her tracks and stared back at him. "No."
"I talked to him. I promise," Zack answered. "He knows he's gotta straighten up. That's the whole reason I went and talked with him."
"Whatever," Sophie turned from Zack and continued down the sidewalk in front of the little shops that she usually visited.
"Hey why aren't you in school?"
Sophie stopped in her tracks. "Why were you at the docks that night?"
She waited a brief second for a response and then began walking again.
She wasn't satisfied until she'd walked past a few of them without hearing Zack behind her.
The events of two nights ago replayed in her mind over and over again as she walked toward the town's little playground. Zack was right, she shouldn't' have been there. But why was he there?
She'd only been there because she'd had a fight with Todd on the way home from his friend's party. He was mad at her because he saw her talking to a few guys from school. She was pretty sure they were over. She didn't know if she could forgive him now. She'd had a few drinks and he'd threatened to drop her off in the middle of nowhere. Being her stubborn self, she'd gotten out of the car, determined to walk because he'd brought it up. And he actually left her there. He didn't try to stop was when she ran into Keith and Zack by the was chilly that night and she went that way because it was a bit of a short cut home. She'd heard laughter before she even got close. What she hadn't expected though was being catcalled from across the docks and then being chased by the catcaller whom she recognized as Keith the moment he grabbed her.
She shuddered at the thought of what may have happened had Zack not been there.
When she screamed his name, he immediately came to her rescue, shoving Keith to the ground and yelling at him. But before that, he'd laughed and said some things she could only take one way.
It was those words and his unwillingness to help at first that made her so unappreciative of his help.
