The Path to Sunshine Cove (Cape Sanctuary #2) - RaeAnne Thayne Page 0,65

weeks her cleaners come.”

“Sounds like you’ll be plenty busy.”

Sophie chattered about some of the other things she wanted to do over the summer until they reached the shelter.

“Looks like we’re here.”

“This is just a thrift store.” Sophie looked confused.

“The shelter doesn’t take donations directly, they go through their charity shop. For the protection of those using the shelter, they have to try to keep their location private.”

Sophie seemed struck by the implications of that. Had anyone ever discussed domestic abuse with her? Jess wasn’t sure it was her place. On the other hand, teenage girls needed to know the warning signs of an abusive relationship so they could protect themselves.

If someone had told Roni Clayton, so much pain could have been avoided.

The director of the thrift store was thrilled over the donations of yarn and material and the sewing machine.

“Our clients can definitely use this,” she said. “Thank you so much.”

Sophie was quiet on the drive back to Cape Sanctuary.

“That was a nice thing Gram did. Giving them her extra craft stuff,” she said.

“Your grandmother is pretty special,” Jess said. She gave the girl a careful look. “So is your dad.”

If she hoped she could get Sophie to confide in her, she was doomed to disappointment. The girl’s jaw jutted out. “Sure. Except he’s a liar.”

“A liar?” Nate? She had a hard time believing that. “What did your dad lie to you about?”

“I would rather not talk about it,” Sophie said. Her mouth was tight and she folded her arms across her chest.

“That’s fine. But you should probably talk to your dad about it. I’m sure you misunderstood something he said.”

“I didn’t. I heard him loud and clear.”

This must be the reason she was angry at her father. She had heard him lie about something.

Whatever it was, Sophie didn’t want to talk about it and Jess didn’t push. For one thing, it wasn’t her business. For another, even if Sophie did confide in her, she couldn’t turn around and betray that confidence by telling Nate.

She changed the subject and they spent the rest of the drive talking about books Sophie loved.

She would miss the girl, too, when she left Cape Sanctuary. Sophie was funny and clever, with a stylish flair and her grandmother’s kind heart.

Somehow all the Whitakers had managed to squeeze their way into her heart and Jess had no idea how she was going to push them all back out.

22

Nate

“Thank you for dinner. It was good.”

His spaghetti was never anything to write home about, just bottled sauce, frozen meatballs and pasta. But he appreciated any positivity from Sophie these days.

“You’re welcome.”

She had been quiet all through dinner and he wondered if it had anything to do with the trip she had made with Jess to the women’s shelter earlier that day.

“Everything okay?” he finally asked.

“Yeah. Fine.” She scraped her leftover food into the trash. “Actually, I wanted to ask you something.”

He held his breath. “Go ahead.”

She gave him a sidelong look, as if trying to figure out the words. Finally, she blurted it out.

“I was wondering if you would be upset if I gave my dollhouse away.”

Of all the things he might have expected her to bring up, the elaborate Victorian dollhouse wouldn’t have made the list right now. He had forgotten about the thing, truth be told.

“I thought you loved that dollhouse. We worked on it for weeks.”

He had cherished memories of sanding the custom tiles for the roof, of wallpapering bedrooms, and helping her figure out how to create furniture out of scraps and items from the recycling bin.

From the time she was about six or seven, the dollhouse had always been her favorite toy. As her own personal style evolved, she had redecorated the rooms several times.

To him, that dollhouse symbolized her childhood.

“I did love it,” she said. “But I’m thirteen, Dad. Don’t you think I’m too old for dollhouses?”

No. He would never think that. She could play with it forever, as far as he was concerned.

“It’s going to waste in a corner of my room, which is pretty sad. Right now, it’s mostly taking up space.”

Taking up space. Kind of like he felt he was doing in her life these days.

“It’s a great dollhouse and there are probably other kids who would have fun playing with it.”

“What other kids did you have in mind?”

“I was thinking maybe the shelter where Gram gave her craft supplies today. Jess was telling me that sometimes women go there with their kids when they’re in a bad situation