Chapter Forty-Three, Part Three

It had taken all Sophie’s effort of will to remain at the party and interact with their guests after Mateo gave her the book. The Christmas music jangled on her nerves, the cookies were tasteless, the grownups dull and predictable. She even found herself feeling impatient with Mateo. He must know how eager she was to start reading, so why didn’t he tell his parents that it was time to leave? Wasn’t it almost time for Midnight Mass or something? Finally the guests started making their good-byes. Without prompting, Sophie began cleaning up, putting uneaten food into tins and taking cups and plates to the lodge kitchen to be washed.

“I think it went well,” her father said as he placed a bag of trash near the kitchen door and joined her in washing the dishes.

“Yeah. Everyone had a good time.”

They washed and rinsed in silence for a few minutes.

“I had a nice conversation with Norma this evening,” Robert finally said.

Sophie glanced up from rinsing crumbs off a plate.

“She’s interested in buying the store if we decide to leave. She can’t pay cash up front, of course, but she might be able to give us some money down and then make payments.”

“We don’t really need the money,” Sophie said. “Why not just give it to her?”

Robert smiled and reached for a towel. “Having plenty of money today doesn’t guarantee we’ll have plenty tomorrow. If we spend it all now, what happens if we have an emergency?”

Sophie sensed they were on the brink of another of her father’s lectures about the importance of planning ahead, and with her mind on fire over what might be in her new book, she wasn’t up for it. “Norma likes managing the store,” she said, trying to deflect the conversation. “And the employees like her.”

“Yes, that’s why this might be a good solution, even though I could probably find someone else who can pay the full asking price up front.”

With the last of the cups and plates clean and rinsed, Sophie grabbed a towel and joined her father in drying them. “Maybe we can leave before the school year ends,” she offered hopefully.

“No.” Robert shook his head. “If we leave, and it’s still an ‘if,’ we’re going to do it right and not disrupt your studies. Besides, I still want to find a buyer for the lodge, and we haven’t even decided where we’re going. I know there are times when you think anywhere is better than here, but I’ve been around a little longer than you, and I can assure you that’s not so.”

Sophie nodded. Planning again. Was that all he ever thought about? She couldn’t wait to look at her book and find out. Surely he had done something reckless or impulsive at least once in his life.

“Well, that about does it.” Robert looked at their stacks of dishes. “Do you want to put these away, or go clean the tables in the lodge?”

“I’ll wipe the tables.” Sophie grabbed a damp rag and fled before her father could suggest she should have a plan about this as well. As she cleaned crumbs and sticky spots off the coffee tables and little end tables where guests had set their food and drinks, she thought about Mateo. It was very thoughtful of him to have found the book and gotten it for her, even if he had to steal it.

She stopped rubbing at a ring of spilled hot chocolate. She would miss him. It would be pointless to ask if he could go wherever they were going. That wasn’t a favor as easily granted as the purchase of a jacket. Sophie sighed. The prospect of leaving another friend after having left so many was daunting. But there was nothing she could do about it. She would just have to write letters and hope that when they were old enough to choose their own fate, they could live near each other again.

Sophie finished wiping the last of the tables and looked around the room. It seemed fine to her, but knowing her father, he would probably suggest they sweep as well, so she went to look for the broom. But when she returned to the lounge, she found her father waiting. To her surprise, he merely told her that it was late and they could finish cleaning up in the morning.

They went back to the apartment and Sophie took the stairs two at a time to get to the bathroom first and brush her teeth. Then she put on her pajamas and went to wish her father good night. If he was surprised to see her so eager to go to bed, he gave no sign. He had already spread out one of his maps of the USS on the kitchen table and was gazing at it thoughtfully. Sophie looked at him for a long moment, trying to imagine him as a young lieutenant plotting troop movements, rather than a man approaching middle age, pondering where to run telephone lines.

Robert looked up and gave a distracted smile. “Sleep well.”

“You too.” But as she climbed the stairs to her bedroom, she had a feeling she wouldn’t sleep at all.