Then he smiled.
‘You got it.’
She nodded.
‘I got it.’
James stood and extended his hand.
‘Congratulations.’
Sophia shook it.
‘Thank you for the reference.’
‘They hired you because you earned it.’
‘I know.’
That answer made him laugh.
Her final two weeks in the Bel Air house were strangely emotional.
Sophia had once believed leaving such a place would feel like escaping somebody else’s life.
Instead, she realized the house had been part of hers too.
She knew where morning light first touched the staircase.
She knew the sound the heating system made before winter.
She knew which window still stuck.
On her final afternoon, she stood in the entryway with her purse over her shoulder.
James walked her to the door.
Neither of them seemed to know what came next.
Then James said, ‘I’ve wanted to ask you something for several weeks, and I deliberately haven’t.’
Sophia raised an eyebrow.
‘That sounds dangerous.’
‘Would it be inappropriate if I called you after today?’
She watched him struggle not to sound like a businessman negotiating terms.
‘You’re asking whether you can ask me on a date.’
James looked almost relieved.
‘Yes.’
Sophia let him wait.
It was only a few seconds.
After The Golden Rose, she had developed an appreciation for making a man survive a reasonable amount of uncertainty.
‘You can call me after Friday,’ she said.
James smiled.
‘After Friday.’
Their first real date was not at The Golden Rose.
Sophia chose the restaurant herself, a small place where nobody inspected her dress before showing her to a table.
James arrived early.
When Sophia walked in, he stood immediately.
She noticed.
He noticed her noticing.
Neither mentioned Ryan.
They didn’t need to.
What began that evening grew slowly.
James learned that Sophia hated being treated like a symbol of hardship nearly as much as she hated being overlooked.
Sophia learned that James’s loneliness was not mysterious at all.
He had simply spent years believing work could protect him from needing anyone.
They argued sometimes.
They disappointed each other occasionally.
That mattered because it made what followed real.
James never offered to solve Sophia’s life with money, and Sophia never allowed his wealth to become the most interesting thing about him.
Months passed.
Her new job became a career she was proud of.
Her paychecks stopped disappearing entirely into survival.
She could send money to her mother without calculating whether she would have enough left for parking.
One afternoon, she opened her purse at a gas station and found several bills inside.
The sight stopped her.
