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  At seven, she put her head down on the kitchen table in despair, which was how Amy found her a few minutes later.

  “Not going well?” Amy said. “Not to worry. I asked Phin if he’d fix the slow drain in the kitchen sink tonight after the Tavern. And once you get him in the kitchen, how hard can it be to lure him upstairs?”

  “I don’t lure.”

  “Concentrate, Sophie,” Amy said. “Your insignificant other will be back tonight. What are you going to do about it?”

  “I have no idea.” Sophie thought about Phin, and blushed in the heat. “Maybe he’ll just take over like he did last time. And the earth will move, and then we’ll both look beautifully moist without being too disheveled.”

  “You don’t want to have sex,” Amy said. “You want to have sex in the movies.”

  Sophie thought about it. “No, I want to have sex. I’ve been trying to call Brandon all day to break things off so I can have the mayor tonight without guilt, but he won’t pick up the phone.”

  “He knows you too well,” Amy said. “He knows you won’t cheat, so if he doesn’t give you the chance to dump him, you’ll have to be faithful.”

  “I don’t have to be faithful.” Sophie thought again about the night to come, and began to have doubts. After all, this would involve taking her clothes off in front of a semi-complete stranger. “But I probably will be anyway. I have no moves, and I don’t see the mayor making one on his own. He’s not the aggressive type. The only reason he moved last night was that we were sort of talking dirty.”

  “So do that again,” Amy said.

  “I don’t think I can,” Sophie said, looking at the mess on her screen. “I can’t even write dirty.”

  “It’s easy. Just say, ‘Fuck me.’ He’ll take it from there.”

  “ ‘Fuck me.’ ” Sophie tried to imagine saying that to Phin. It sounded so unlike her. “I’ll think of something else.”

  “Simple ways are best,” Amy said. “Go with ‘Fuck me’ and get that scene.”

  Oh, right, Sophie thought. Then she thought of Zane. The least exciting woman he knew, huh? Then she thought of the dock. And Phin. And the heat rose again. Fuck me. “Fuck me,” she tried out loud.

  “There you go,” Amy said.

  “Fuck me,” Sophie said again, and went upstairs to practice while she put on Clea’s pink dress.

  Chapter Six

  At nine that night, Phin sat in the booth across from Wes and watched Sophie, stuck at a table with the rest of the crowd from the farm. She looked as fuckable as ever.

  “Amy’s over there,” Wes said. “We should—”

  “No,” Phin said, still watching Sophie. “As soon as Amy realizes she needs you, she’ll come over here and we won’t have to put up with Frank and Georgia. Although since you gave her that showerhead, she may not realize that anytime soon. Never give a woman an appliance that replaces you. She’ll use it and turn on you.”

  “She’s smart as hell,” Wes said, ignoring him. “And she’s funny and sharp, and she lays it right on the line. I like her.”

  “Try to think about something else,” Phin said.

  “I went to see Stephen Garvey this afternoon,” Wes said obediently. “He said he was going to take care of the Dempseys’ car to avoid negative publicity before the election. He seemed to think I was there because you’d sent me.”

  “Me?” Phin frowned at him. “Why would I—”

  “He said he knew if he went after the Dempseys, you’d be vindictive and use it against him, you being so closely tied to the movie people.”

  “ ‘Closely tied’?” Phin said, his mind drifting to rope and Sophie.

  “His words, not mine. He’s up to something and it’s got something to do with that movie.”

  Across the room, Sophie stretched, and Phin lost interest in Stephen. “Maybe if I ask nice, Sophie will tell me about the movie.”

  Wes rolled his eyes. “That’s good. Concentrate on the important stuff. What happened to her being a dangerous woman to get involved with?”

  Phin watched Sophie nod at Frank. Forget him, come over here to me. “I’m not talking about getting involved with her. I’m talking about seeing her naked.”

  “I’m against you using Sophie for sex,” Wes said. “I like her. Also, I think she’s dangerous as long as Stephen’s got this movie thing going. Besides, she has a boyfriend back in Cincy. Amy says he’s a big-shot therapist.”

  Phin took his eyes off Sophie to frown at Wes. “That was a real hot conversation you had with Amy. Conversations like that will get you in the sack about in time for Y3K.”

  “Amy also said that, based on what Sophie tells her, the guy is extremely boring in bed. So you might be able to talk her into the naked part, but it would be a really stupid thing to do since she’s going to leave tomorrow.”

  “Since when did you become the Chastity Patrol?”

  “I like Sophie,” Wes said. “Do not seduce and abandon her or I’ll arrest you for something.”

  “Police brutality,” Phin said. “Which reminds me, if I get lucky with Sophie, can I borrow some handcuffs?”

  “You’ve still got the last ones you borrowed. Phin, I’m not kidding. Sophie deserves more than your hit-and-run, and Stephen’s too damn pleased that you’ve been out there twice. Just stay away from her.”

  “Hey,” Amy said, as she bounced into the booth beside Wes. “What’s new in crime and government?”

  Phin watched Wes turn toward her, his world a better place. Great, he thought. She’s going to leave and break his fucking heart.

  Across the bar, Rachel was standing, and Sophie looked unhappy.

  “Later for you two,” Phin said to them, and went to see what Sophie needed.

  ❖ ❖ ❖

  Half an hour earlier, Frank had sat down across from Sophie, friendly-drunk but not reeling, and said, “So how’s it going?”

  “Just great,” Sophie had said, pretending not to notice Georgia crawling into Zane’s lap beside them. It was difficult because she was also pretending not to notice Phin sitting across the room. She’d planned to play hard-to-get, but if that got her Frank’s conversation and Georgia’s seduction in stereo, she was going to get a lot easier very soon.

  Georgia said loudly, “You really are some man, Zane Black, you really are,” and Frank shrugged at Sophie and gave a little laugh.

  Five minutes, to be polite, and then I’m heading for that booth. “And how’s your life?” Sophie said, trying to make conversation, realizing too late that it was a dumb thing to ask at that particular moment.

  Frank drank some beer. “Oh, pretty good.” He started to peel the label off his bottle. “That’s all I ever wanted anyway. Pretty good.” He let his eyes drift over to Clea at the bar, laughing up at his son.

  “ ‘Pretty good’ ‘s not bad,” Sophie agreed, wishing there was someplace she could look that didn’t have evidence that Frank’s life was pretty terrible.

  “You know, growing up, I knew exactly what I wanted,” Frank said, expanding into contemplative used-car salesman mode. “A good job, a nice house, a pretty wife, a son, and two cars, a Jeep and a big luxury car to take the wife places. I had it all planned out by eighteen.”

  “Well, you got that,” Sophie said. “Of course, I’m guessing on the cars.”

  “I got it all,” Frank said. “And it is not a bad life, not at all. Except...” He looked over at the bar again and took another swig of beer. Then he leaned forward, and Sophie leaned forward a little, too, to get farther away from Georgia. “Did you ever one day look up and realize you’d been staring at the ground when there was a whole sky on top of you? Just one day, realize that there was more out there than you could have imagined?”

  “No,” Sophie said. She’d always known there was more out there than she could imagine, that was why she was so careful not to look up. Bat country.

  “By the time I was a senior in high school,” Frank said, “I had it all lined up. Even the job
with my future father-in-law.” He stopped and stared at the bar. “And then one day there was Clea.” He shook his head. “Sure, she’s beautiful now, but you should have seen her at eighteen, Sophie.” He leaned back. “We were in the school play together, you know.”

  Sophie nodded to be polite, and stole a look at Phin. He was talking to Wes, looking as detached as ever. She wondered if anything ever made him sweat, and then she thought, I could. No matter what Zane thought.

  Frank was still talking. “And after the last performance, she said, ‘Let’s go out to the Tavern, Frank,’ and we sat out in back, with a thousand stars over us, and she said, ‘We could be like that, Frank, we could be stars. We could go to Hollywood.’ ” Frank laughed, a little shamefaced. “Yeah, I know it sounds corny.”

  “Not as much as you’d think,” Sophie said. “Everybody needs dreams.”

  “Yeah, but Hollywood?” Frank leaned forward, serious again. “The thing is, I believed her, Sophie. When I was with her that night, I believed I could make it. I mean, I’m a damn good actor, and I have a really great voice. I might have ...” He looked back at Clea. “No, I wouldn’t have. She didn’t even make it, really. But, boy, it was a hell of a night. We were going to have it all.”

  “I heard you got it all,” Sophie said.

  Frank looked down at his beer. “She told you that?” He shook his head. “Finest moment of my life when she said, ‘I want it to be you, Frank.’ ”

  Sophie frowned. This story was not the one Clea had told. She let her eyes slide to the booth in the back and saw Phin watching her and her pulse kicked up.

  “You know...” Frank looked back at the bar and Clea. “It wouldn’t be so bad if I hadn’t thought, for just that one night, that there was more. You know? If I just hadn’t seen what... It’s like losing something you never had. You can’t really be sorry, but you can’t ever really forget it, either. Even when you’ve got everything you ever really knew you could get. Sometimes, it still comes back.”

  “In this case, literally,” Sophie said, looking at Clea, who was flirting with Rob, oblivious to the carnage at the table behind her.

  “Yeah,” Frank said. “I was ready to go to Cincy to make the land deal, but she said she wanted to come here. And I thought...” He sighed. “Oh, hell, you know what I thought.” He drained his beer.

  “Yeah,” Sophie said. “I know what you thought.”

  “Dumb,” Frank said. “Jesus, I’m dumb.”

  “Well, human,” Sophie said.

  “No, dumb.” Frank finally looked the other direction, away from Clea and toward Georgia, now hanging all over Zane.

  Sophie opened her mouth to say something comforting, but she couldn’t think of anything. The man’s lost love was at the bar moving on his son, his wife was molesting a TV anchorman, and he was stuck nursing a warm beer in an ugly bar in a creepy little town. About the best thing that could happen to Frank would be a direct hit from an asteroid.

  “We’ll be gone in a week,” she said finally, and Frank said, “That calls for another beer,” and got up.

  Rachel slid into his seat, looking miserable.

  “Are you okay?” Sophie said.

  Rachel rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah, I’m great. I’m in Temptation, how bad can it be?” She was trying to come on cool, but she sounded a little shaky.

  “Yeah, I heard you want out of town pretty bad, Rachel,” Zane said, as he leaned toward her across the empty chair between them. “I told you, if there’s anything I can do—”

  Rachel leaned back.

  “Want to trade places with me, Rachel?” Sophie said. “I have Mace.”

  “You wouldn’t need it,” Zane said.

  “What are you talking about?” Georgia nudged Zane with her shoulder and batted her eyes at him. “Go on, now. You were telling me about being a news anchor. I just think that’s so sexy.”

  Zane leaned back and began to talk about the joys of being a celebrity, and Rachel looked even more miserable, so Sophie leaned forward and said, “Okay, what’s wrong?”

  “I want out of this town,” she finally said. “I was lousy at college and I’m not good at anything else, and my mom and dad are hipped on me getting married and living next door to them forever, and if I don’t get out of Temptation I’m going to go crazy, and I’m not kidding.”

  Sophie nodded. Given Rachel’s parents, she wasn’t exaggerating.

  “And I thought, like, maybe the movie thing would get me out, but you’re going back to Cincinnati, and Amy said no, and Clea hates me.” She shot a look of loathing across the table at Zane. “And I talked to him about it for maybe two seconds, and he stood real close and put his hand on my butt and told me we could talk about it in private.”

  “Stay away from him,” Sophie said. “He’s a complete loss as a human being.”

  “I know,” Rachel said. “But he’s telling people how much I want to leave, just like I told him, only he’s making it sound like I offered him something that I didn’t. And he keeps touching me.”

  Sophie picked up her purse and took out her Mace.

  “Just in case he goes deaf when you say no,” she said, and handed the lipstick-sized can to Rachel.

  Rachel cheered up a little bit as she turned it over in her hand. “I’ve never had Mace.”

  “Well, now you’re armed and dangerous,” Sophie said. “And I’d be so delighted if you used it on Zane. Really. Use all of it.”

  Rachel grinned at her, almost back to normal. Sophie let her eyes drift back to Phin. He was looking at her with a half smile on his face.

  Sophie’s pulse give a little surge of lust and panic.

  Okay, there was no reason to get rattled just because he was looking at her as if he wanted her. She wanted him, too, right now, no waiting. That sounded slutty, so she told herself it was for the movie. It really wasn’t sex —she took her eyes off Phin so she could think better— not sex, that would be depraved, it was work. That was it. She had work to do tonight. Important work to do tonight. Imperative work to do tonight. And it was just sitting over there waiting for her—

  “Sophie?” Rachel said.

  “We’ll think of something for you,” Sophie told her, babbling a little. “We’ve got an extra week, we’ll think of something.”

  “Really?”

  Sophie looked back at Phin. “Absolutely.”

  Frank came back to the table and put another rum and Diet Coke in front of Sophie, and Georgia said loudly to Zane, “Tell me more about being a big TV star.” She pressed her breast against Zane’s arm, and Sophie thought he was going to say something rude. Then he smiled and said, “What do you want to know?” and she realized what he was doing.

  “Georgia, would you show me where the bathroom is?” Sophie said, and Georgia jerked her thumb over her shoulder.

  “Behind the bar, sugar.”

  Zane leaned closer to her. “Sophie wants you to go with her so she can tell you what a bad man I am.”

  Georgia widened her eyes and giggled. “I love bad men.”

  “Georgia,” Frank said quietly. “You’re drunk.”

  Georgia leered at him. “Oh, you’re a real rocket scientist tonight.”

  “I think I’ll go home,” Rachel said, and stood up.

  “Wait.” Sophie nodded to the bar where Rob was leaning close to Clea, clearly not leaving soon. “Rob brought you, didn’t he? How are you getting home?”

  “I can walk,” Rachel said, and Sophie stood up and said, “No, you can’t. I’ll get the keys from Amy.”

  “I’ll drive her,” Phin said from behind them. “You want a ride home, too?”

  Sophie turned and caught her breath. “Oh. Yes. Sure. If it’s on your way.” Of course it’s on his way. Jeez, Sophie.

  “I’ve had about all the Tavern I can stand for one night,” Phin said. “We can take Rachel home and then go back and fix your kitchen.”

  “Sounds good.” Sophie looked across the room at Amy, who waved her on and tur
ned back to smile at Wes. Clea and Rob were practically in each other’s laps. Georgia was whispering something in Zane’s ear. Frank looked confused and sad.

  “Get me out of here,” Sophie said, and Phin said, “Thought so,” and gave her a gentle push toward the door.

  Half an hour later, Sophie leaned on the kitchen sink with a glass of wine and tried to calm her pounding heart while Phin worked on the plumbing. With his head under the sink, she could scope out his body without having to face the distance in his eyes, and, having reacquainted herself with how very nicely he was put together, she felt a lot better about having fallen the night before, not to mention her plans to fall again tonight. Clearly this was quality stuff. If she could just get him to shut up, he’d be perfect.