Living With Lies Trilogy (Books 1, 2, and 3 of The Dancing Moon Ranch Series) (64 page)

"I'm absolutely sure," Susan said. "I do have a friend living with me though."

Rick gave a short guffaw. "Yeah, right. Friends." He took Sophie by the arm and tugged her across the room and out the front door. When the door snapped shut, he said, "Are you crazy? You can't stay with my mother. She has a live-in boyfriend."

"I know. That's precisely why I am going to stay with her," Sophie said, "and I hope my father and his wife hear about it." She laughed a low, ironic chuckle deep in her throat. "Maybe it's time I learned what it's like in the fast lane. I've been so long living among nuns and coeds I want to find out what I've been missing."

"Don't do this," Rick warned. "You're mad, you're hurt, and you'll do something you'll later regret."

Pinning him with intense blue eyes darkened by anger, Sophie said, "The only thing I regret right now is that I've never been screwed." Turning from him, she marched across the porch and back into the house.

Rick slammed his fist into the stuffed back of the porch swing and followed Sophie inside, but by the time he was fired up to say his peace, Sophie was walking back out with his mother.

And there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

***

Not more than a half hour later, Sam and Jayne returned from town where they'd taken Rick's step-sister, Becca, to show off the new baby to friends. Rick intercepted his father as he was getting out of his SUV. "I need to talk to you, Dad," he said.

"I've got a wine-tasting scheduled in a few minutes," Sam replied. "Can it wait until after?"

Rick shook his head. "It's pretty important."

"Come on then." Sam started across the grounds toward the winery, and Rick matched his long strides, while saying, "It's about Sophie. She's here. Well, not here at the ranch. She's staying with Mom."

Sam slowed his pace, and said. "What do you mean she's staying with Mom?"

After Rick filled him in on why Sophie left home, Sam said. "You need to go over there and get Sophie and bring her here. Your mother's place is the last place Sophie belongs."

"I know," Rick said. "Mom might have two toy boys now."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.

After Rick explained the situation, he said, "I saw the kid when I stopped by last week. He's man-size, but he's still underage. Do you think Mom would get something going with him?"

Sam looked askance at Rick. "Your mom's had a steady stream of men from the time she left me, but no, I don't think she'd do that. I'm sure it's just the way she said it was."

The expression on his father's face showed doubt, and Rick knew he wasn't convinced, which prompted him to say, "Is it younger men Mom likes, or just men in general? They seem to be getting younger each time she moves a new one or more in."

Sam eyed him with uncertainty. "I don't know," he said. "We've been divorced for years. When we were married she was… that is she never seemed to be able to..." He paused, and his jaws bunched.

"I'm twenty-four, Dad. I know about women. Maybe we can be a little open here. I'm not trying to pry into your sex life, but Mom's always had a steady stream of men in her life, and it was an embarrassment when I was growing up because everyone knew, and now I'm just trying to understand her some."

Sam glanced around, as if looking to see if anyone could hear, then said, in a lowered voice, "Your mom never could seem to have an orgasm, or at least I couldn't hold out until she did. For a long time I thought it was because she insisted I wear a condom, then the one time I didn't she still had the problem."

"And I was the result of that one time," Rick said, setting things straight.

Sam nodded. "Then I got the cancer, but after having chemo and learning I was sterile and no longer needed condoms I figured everything would be okay, but it wasn't. And I think we'd better leave it at that, but you need to get Sophie out of there."

"Like I have some control over her?" Rick said, with irony.

"I see your point," Sam replied. "She's pretty much had you dancing to her tune for years."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Sam shrugged. "Since you want to be open about things, you've been in love with Sophie for years and she has you wrapped around her finger, reeling you in and out like a yoyo. Maybe if you stood up to her you might get somewhere."

"If I stood up to Sophie she'd walk out of my life," Rick said. "And yeah, she pretty much has me dancing to her tune. You're also right about getting her away from Mom. Right now Sophie wants to get screwed, and those were her words. She's pissed at her parents and she's in the process of making sure she goes against everything they instilled in her."

When Rick started to walk away, Sam reached for his arm and said, "I'm sorry about all this, son. Do whatever you need to do to get Sophie away from there and we'll figure out a place for her to stay, at least until she starts to reason things out."

"Could she stay with Grandma for a month or so?" Rick asked. "Sophie's not about to go back home and work through this with her folks right now, but she's fresh out of college and doesn't have a job, and her degree's in management. Maybe she could work with Jayne managing the guests. She could send out job applications from here."

"I'm sure we can find something," Sam said, "but if she stays away from her parents too long it could stretch into an estrangement that could last for years, so I don't want to be too accommodating."

Rick was tempted to confide in his father that he wanted Sophie to stay long enough to convince her he was the man for her, then realized how ludicrous that would sound, as if he'd be marrying her to solve her problem with her parents. Instead, he said, "If her parents had been honest with her from the start, she'd understand why she was so sheltered when she was growing up. This way it's like Sophie learning that Mother Theresa lived a double life as a hooker. I just don't understand why her folks withheld the truth." He couldn't help noticing the penitent look on his father's face. "You knew about Aunt Justine too, didn't you?"

Sam nodded vaguely.

Rick eyed his father with vexation. He'd thought he'd been close with his dad over the years, and he was disappointed his father hadn't been open about his aunt's involvement with men, if only to shed light as to why Sophie had been so overprotected while she was growing up. He also wondered now if there were other family secrets.

Picking up on Rick's displeasure, Sam said, as if in apology, "Aunt Justine's involvement with men was a long time ago. She's been a good step-mother to Sophie so there was no reason to dredge up the past. As for your Mom, she's a pretty messed up woman."

"Yeah, well, so is Sophie," Rick said, "so I'd better get over there and see what I can do about bringing her back here."

Twenty-five minutes later, when Rick walked into his mother's living quarters over the fitness center, he was startled to find Sophie half-reclined on one of the two matching couches in the living room, with a glass of wine in her hand. To his knowledge, Sophie hated the stuff. Ignoring his mother and the worthless pony-tailed excuse of a man named Don, who was leaning heavily against her on the other couch, he said to Sophie, "I talked to Dad and you can stay with us, and he said he'll find work for you on the ranch, maybe helping Jayne manage the guests."

Sophie took a long slow sip of wine, swallowed it with a look on her face that told him she couldn't stand the stuff but would tough it out, then replied, "That's very nice of your father, but I'm comfortable here." She polished off the remainder of the wine.

"You don't drink," Rick said.

Sophie tipped her empty glass toward him. "I do now," she replied. "What's more, it makes me feel good. It takes the edge off knowing the woman who raised me like a nun was a whore."

Rick could get into a long diatribe about how Sophie's mother had been a model mother all the time Sophie was growing up, unlike the woman sitting directly across from her, but he knew now wasn't the time. Instead, he glanced at his mother and said, "You got Sophie doing this."

His mother immediately became defensive. "You might not have a very good opinion of me," she said, "but I would not do that."

"She's right," Sophie added. "Actually your mother has been very understanding and very motherly. I don't think you've appreciated her over the years. Furthermore, I intend to have another glass of wine. I'm in no danger of driving while intoxicated since I plan to stay here... indefinitely." She lifted herself up from the couch, brushed past Rick, and refilled her glass. He could tell from her ungainly movements that she was losing control.

After settling on the couch again, she took an extended sip, swallowed with a gulp, and said, while admiring the contents of the half-filled glass, "I could learn to like this stuff."

Rick caught a distinct sluggishness in her speech and knew the wine was going to her head. "We really need to talk," he said, this time his voice more firm.

"We just did," Sophie replied.

"Yeah, but we need to talk some more. I'll take you back to the ranch. We can talk there."

"Maybe tomorrow," Sophie said. "I'm going to a party tonight."

"What party?"

"No one you know," Sophie replied. Draining the glass, she set it on the table, with a thud, and swiped the back of her fingers across her mouth. After a few moments she said, in a slow, measured voice, "I'd invite you to come along... but I'm sure you'd be a spoil sport. Besides, I plan to get screwed. Actually, if I like it... I might get screwed twice. And you can... pass that on to Justine." Although she was trying to enunciate the words, Rick knew she was soused.

"You're drunk," he said. "You're coming with me."

"Do you have a search warrant?" She looked up at him with wide blue eyes then burst out laughing.

Rick turned to his mother. "Who's giving the party?"

Susan shrugged. "Lauren stopped by and told Sophie about a party her boyfriend's son is having for some of his old school friends. You know him from high school. Buzz Newman."

"Yeah, I know Buzz from high school," Rick said. "I also know what kind of parties he throws. They start out with booze and pot and end up with everyone having sex together before the end of the evening."

"Sounzzzs like fun," Sophie slurred. "I hope I'll be one of the everyones." She laughed again.

Rick looked at Sophie in disgust then turned to his mother, and said, "Don't let her go."

Sophie lifted a wobbly chin, and enunciated, with difficulty, "Neither you... nor your mother... are my brother's keeper. Now if you... will excuzzz me... I think I'll go shower... unless you want to... come too." She laughed as if she'd said something incredibly funny, and added, "That's come to the shower... not the party." She laughed again. "Now that's a thought... me and Mr. Toody Goo Shoes together in the shower. That's Mr. Goody Goo Shoes... Umm... you in the shower screwing me." She lifted herself up, and standing on unsteady legs, placed her palm on Rick's chest to push him aside, and said, in a slurred voice, "I forget. You're mizzter pervfec. You don't screw women." Turning from him, she staggered to the bathroom and shut the door.

"How is she getting there?" Rick asked his mother.

"Lauren said she'd have Buzz pick her up. This is not my doing,” Susan said. “Sophie asked if I had some wine, and I thought it might help her calm down. Then Lauren stopped by and told her about the party and it seemed like something that would take Sophie's mind off things."

Rick let out a short guffaw. "Getting screwed by a half dozen guys while drunk will take her mind off things alright. She's never even been with a guy."

"You can't possibly believe that," Susan said. "She's twenty-three."

"Yeah, well not all women hop into bed before they're married," Rick replied. "I guarantee, she's never been with a man. She never drinks either, which is why the wine's gone to her head, and right now she's mad at her folks, and she's here with you and your stud." His eyes shifted to the pony-tailed, muscle-bound guy in the tank top and cut-offs, who had one arm draped around his mother's shoulders and the other curled in front of him like he was studying his fingernails.

"Stop there," Susan said. "I won’t listen to this. Don and I are discrete."

"You sleep in the same bed, don't you?"

"Sophie's a grown woman and this isn’t the nineteen-fifties," Susan said, in a huff. "Men and women live together all the time."

"You make noises, Mom. I heard them from behind the closed doors to your bedroom every time I stayed here when I was growing up," Rick said. "What you do in the privacy of your home isn't my concern though, but what you do when Sophie's here is."

"You're not her boyfriend," Susan said. "You have no hold on her."

"Yeah, but I've been her friend since we were kids and I can't let this happen to her."

Susan let out an ironic laugh. "You're in love with an illusion, Rick. You've made Sophie into something she's not. You think she's the untouched, respectable girl of your dreams, but the problem is, the girl of your dreams doesn't exist in today's world. You need to step into the twenty-first century."

Rick started to argue that she was wrong about Sophie, then realized he had no argument since Sophie was determined to prove him wrong as a vengeful move against her own mother. But he was just as determined to protect Sophie from herself, which, for the short term seemed to be his crashing a party. Maybe he'd enlist the aid of Adam as backup. Whatever it took, Sophie would not be getting herself screwed tonight. He'd make sure of that.