Sisters by Choice (Blackberry Island #4)(86)

She didn’t want that again. She didn’t want to work her butt off seven days a week only to have some man take half of it from her. She didn’t want to be the only one who was ambitious. She wanted...

She had no idea what she wanted, she admitted to herself. She liked Dugan. He was fun to be around and he was insightful, which was a little scary, but maybe also a good thing. God knew she had the insights of sandpaper. If only he wasn’t so together. She didn’t like that about him. It was too off-putting. Which made no sense. If she liked him being insightful, shouldn’t she appreciate him having his life together?

Maybe it was because she knew she couldn’t say the same about herself. She didn’t have any life balance. Of course, she didn’t think life balance and wild success were possible. Not that she’d been wildly successful, but she’d done a good job and that meant working long hours and why did anyone get to judge that if it made her happy? Stupid life balance judgers.

She shook off her thoughts and focused on moving the pallet. Coming to the warehouse didn’t seem to be having its usual calming effect on her. Maybe she should have gone to see Kristine, although her cousin had said she was going to spend the weekend cleaning the bakery. Why anyone would want to scrub walls and floors before a remodel was beyond her, but that was Kristine. And while Sophie was looking for a distraction, she did not want to get roped into scrubbing anything. Logging in inventory was much more satisfying.

Heather was an option, only she should be hanging out with friends her own age and not her aunt. Which left Amber and that was a nonstarter. Although Sophie still had to figure out what to do about the apartment. Was she willing to cosign a lease so Heather didn’t have to? If she did, she knew there was a better than even chance that Amber would simply stop paying the rent. Assuming she had enough money in the first place. Sophie didn’t want Heather to be trapped, but shouldn’t Amber be the one taking care of her own daughter?

The obvious solution was to make more friends, she thought, loading a cart with cases of cat food. Then she would have a wider group from which to choose when she needed to hang out with someone. Not that she was very good at making friends. She was always busy with work and—

“What do you think you’re doing?”

The loud question startled her so much, the case of food she’d been carrying slipped from her hands and nearly landed on her foot. She jumped back and spun to see Bear standing by the pallet, his hands on his hips, his eyes narrowed.

Sophie pressed her palm against her chest. “You scared me,” she gasped. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

“You didn’t answer the question.”

“What question? Oh, I’m logging in merchandise.”

His slightly hostile expression didn’t change.

“What?” She lowered her arms to her sides. “I was feeling out of sorts, and working in the warehouse relaxes me. I’m not doing anything bad.” She resisted the need to roll her eyes. “I’m following procedure.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I am, too.”

Bear glared at her. “We had a deal, Sophie. You’re to stay out of my department. You said you would stop messing with things. You can’t show up on a Sunday afternoon and do your own thing. It doesn’t work that way.”

He had a point. As much as she wanted to say that it was her company and that she could damn well do whatever she wanted, she had, possibly, promised Bear she wouldn’t get in the way. Not that she wanted to admit that if she didn’t have to.

“How did you even know I was here?”

“Since we made changes in the alarm system, I get notifications if anyone accesses the building after hours. Once I got the alert, I checked out the cameras and saw you messing in my department.”

He’d been watching out for the company, she thought. That was so nice.

“Sophie, you can’t keep doing this. It’s not fair to me and sure isn’t healthy for you.”

She hung her head. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Can’t you go shopping like every other woman? Or get your hair done? The Mariners are playing. Go watch the game. Something. Anything.”

He was right, she told herself. She had promised and he was doing a good job and she really had no right to mess with that.

She picked up the case of cat food and put it on the cart, then logged out of the computer and shut it off.

“This whole pallet is logged in,” she said. “The others aren’t. You’re right. I shouldn’t have started messing with things. I promised I wouldn’t. I’m sorry you had to come out on a Sunday afternoon.”

He stared at her, obviously unconvinced. “And?”

“And that’s all. I’m leaving now.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. I’d say it won’t happen again, but it probably will.”

“But you’re actually leaving now?”

“We can walk out together if you’d like.”

“Huh. Every now and then there’s a miracle. Who knew?”

  Kristine sat across from the barrel-chested manager of the CK warehouse. She was nervous and excited and ready to absorb whatever information he was willing to share with her.

“Thank you again for meeting with me,” she said. “I know you’re busy.”