That was the question he’d asked her. Sophie came because yesterday she went to meet Keith for dinner, hoping for a glimpse of Ransom. Nine times out of ten, when she was with her boyfriend, she was thinking about Ransom. Was it right? No, and she certainly wasn’t proud of her thoughts, but she couldn’t escape them. The office manager at the firm told Sophie that Ransom was out sick. Then this morning he didn’t show up at the bike shop. She never completed the route, doubling back so she could run off and get supplies for him. She’d worried about him, so it only made sense that she was disturbed to hear him dismiss his talent, like someone severing the spoiled spot from an apple and tossing it away. “Forget I said anything.” Sophie left him in the living room. She returned to the kitchen and ran water in the sink to wash the dishes. She had no business being there, intruding on his life and space. “I’m sorry.” He stood in the open entrance between the kitchen and living room.
