The Villa

braced her hands on the bench. "I'm too old for this."
    "Don't be ridiculous. You're a beautiful woman in the prime of her life. Why shouldn't you have a romance?"
    "I'm not looking for romance."
    "Sex, then."
    "Sophie!"
    "Mama!" Sophia said in the same horrified tone, then threw her arms around her mother. "I started out here afraid I'd hurt your feelings and that you'd be upset. Instead I find you flushed and rumpled after what I assume was a delightful bit of manhandling by our new and very sexy COO. It's wonderful."
    "It's not wonderful, and it's not going to happen again. Sophia, I was married for nearly three decades. I can hardly just pick myself up and jump into another man's arms at this point in my life."
    "Dad's gone, Mama." Sophia kept her arms tight around Pilar, but her voice softened. "It's hard for me to accept that, to live with how it happened, and to adjust to being denied even the chance to say goodbye. It's hard, even knowing he really didn't love me."
    "Oh, Sophie, he did."
    "No." She drew back now. "Not the way I wanted, or needed or looked for. You did, always. He wasn't there for me. And he wasn't there for you. It wasn't in him to be. Now you have a chance to enjoy someone who'll pay attention to you."
    "Oh, baby." Pilar reached out to stroke her daughter's cheek.
    "I want that for you. And I'd be so sad, so angry if I thought you'd push that chance away because of something that never really existed. I love you. I want you happy."
    "I know." Pilar kissed both of Sophia's cheeks. "I know. It takes time to adjust. And oh, cara, it's not just your father and what happened to us, what happened to him that's an issue. It's me. I don't know how to be with someone else, or if I want to be with anyone."
    "How will you know if you don't try?" Sophia started to boost herself onto the bench, than thought better of it. Under the circumstances. "You like him, don't you?"
    "Well, of course I do." Like? she thought. A woman didn't nearly roll naked in potting soil with a man she liked. "He's a very nice man," she managed. "A good father."
    "And you're attracted to him. He's got a terrific ass."
    "Sophia."
    "If you tell me you haven't noticed, I'm going to have to break a commandment and call my mother a liar. Then there's that smile. That fast grin."
    "He has kind eyes," Pilar murmured, forgetting herself and making her daughter sigh.
    "Yes, he does. Are you going out with him?"
    Pilar got busy tidying pots. "I don't know."
    "Go. Explore a little. See what it feels like. And take one of the condoms in my nightstand."
    "Oh, for heaven's sake."
    "On second thought, don't take one." Sophia wrapped an arm around Pilar's waist and giggled. "Take two."

CHAPTER TWELVE
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    Maddy eyed her father shrewdly as he knotted his tie. It was his First Date tie, the gray with the navy blue stripes. She knew he'd said he and Ms. Giambelli were just going out to dinner so she and Theo would think it was a business kind of thing. But the tie was a dead giveaway.
    She had to think about how she felt about it.
    But at the moment, she was entertaining herself by pushing his parent buttons.
    "It's a symbol of self-expression."
    "It's unsanitary."
    "It's an ancient tradition."
    "It's not a Cutter family ancient tradition. You're not getting your nose pierced, Madeline. That's it."
    She sighed and put on a good sulk. Actually, she had no desire to get her nose pierced but she did want a third piercing in her left earlobe. Working down to it, or over to it, from the nose was good strategy. The kind, she thought, her father would appreciate if he knew about it.
    "It's my body."
    "Not until you're eighteen, it's not. Until that happy day, it's mine. Go nag your brother."
    "I can't. I'm not speaking to him."
    She rolled onto her back on her father's bed, lifted her legs to the ceiling. They were clad in her usual black, but she was starting to get sort of tired of it. "Can I get a tattoo instead?"
    "Oh sure. We'll all go get one this weekend." He turned. "How do I look?"
    Maddy cocked her head, considered. "Better than average."
    "You're such a comfort to me, Maddy."
    "If I get an A on my science report, can I get my nose pierced?"
    "If Theo gets an A on anything, I might consider letting him get his nose pierced."
    Since both ends of the statement were equally farfetched, she laughed. "Come on, Dad."
    "Gotta go." He scooped her off the bed, carting her from the room with his arm around her waist and her feet