“Baltimore,” Roger had declared bursting into the room yesterday afternoon. “She’s in Baltimore!”
Now Alex was on the road in his black Mercedes SL65 listening to the GPS give him directions to her door. It happened to be an off day for the Capitals and he left DC this morning with the idea of finding her on his mind. He had the car up to 100 mph on the Beltway. It didn’t occur to him to be concerned about what she would think when he turned up on her doorstep. He just got in the car and drove. He found a spot near her brownstone and parked. He jumped out of the car, walked straight to her door and knocked.
“Hold on, Cat. There is someone at the door,” Sophie said walking to her front door and peering through the peep-hole. “Oh, my God.”
“What? Sophie? Is it Dave again? You tell that bas…”
“No, it’s not,” she said in shock as she unlocked the door and swung it wide. “It’s Alex.”
He grinned at her, clearly expecting her to be thrilled to see him. And she was, if not completely thrilled, then at least pleasantly surprised.
“Hello Pens fan.”
“Cat, I’m going to have to call you back,” she said dropping the phone from her ear and placing it on the side table by the door. “Alex, what are you doing here?”
“You like breakfast?” he asked, thinking quickly.
“I… uh… sometimes,” she said, still completely in shock at finding him on her doorstep.
“You like breakfast today? With me?”
“Yes,” she smiled. “I would like that.”
She followed him to the SL65. “This is yours? It’s beautiful!”
“It is fast,” he said with another mischievous grin. He held the door open for her while she got in and then trotted around to the driver’s side. The engine roared to life and Alex took off quickly.
“Not too fast in the neighborhood, Alex,” Sophie exclaimed, placing a hand on his forearm as he shifted gears.
“You no worry,” he said momentarily taking his hands off the wheel to pat her hand. Not worry, right.
“So where to go in Baltimore for breakfast?”
“There’s a little place a couple blocks up and to the left. It’s small and the food is good.”
A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of Fell’s Café. It was a quaint little place with a main menu of home cooking. Sophie had never eaten any meal here but breakfast, which was actually quite often and consisted of a fresh, warm Belgian waffle with strawberries. Occasionally, she would divert from her usual and have the cheese blintzes with lingonberries. Fell’s was empty this morning except for one other couple and, of course, Ted, the little balding, retired electrician that was a fixture in the corner booth. Annie, the elderly proprietor was behind the counter this morning.
“Miss Murray, how nice to see you and you’ve brought us a friend. Hello, I’m Annie,” she said warmly and extended her hand. He took it grasping her fragile fingers gently and smiled.
“Annie, this is Alex,” said Sophie. He nodded a greeting and they followed Annie to a booth in the rear of the café.
“Coffee, Alex?” Annie asked, clearly aware that Sophie would want some.
“Yes. Thank you,” he answered and Annie gave Sophie a quick smile of approval as she left the table. Sophie felt her face grow warm as she flushed. She looked up into his smiling face.
“I am starving. What you like here?”
“Annie makes a wonderful Belgian waffle and the Blintzes are really good.”
“Is woman food. She do eggs? Bacon? Sausage?”
“Of course, she does,” said Annie arriving with their coffee. “How about a big omlette with egg, sausage, peppers, mushrooms and onions?”
“No onion,” he smiled and winked at Sophie, “rest is good and blintzes too. And some for Sophia.”
“Would you like the strawberries or lingonberries with that, Sophia?” she asked her mimicking Alex’s use of her formal name.
“Lingonberries, I think.”
“Put strawberries for me, then she can have both,” Alex added.
Annie left to complete their order and Sophie shook her head. He looked at her and raised his eyebrows. She sighed and smiled, “No one’s ever called me Sophia before, not even my mom.”
“Sophie is child’s name. Beautiful woman deserves beautiful name. Sophia is beautiful name.”
It is when you say it, she thought to herself. “I can’t believe you showed up at my door.”
“You did not give me your number,” he said matter-of-factly. “I want to see you.”
She shook her head again. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. He was so different. He was confident that she would want to see him. As if there was no possibility that someone could turn him down. He was sweet and funny and she was captivated by the way he looked at her. They chatted through their breakfast. She laughed so much that her stomach hurt. They had been sitting there for an hour before she realized it. Alex took Annie’s hand again before they left and raised it to his lips and kissed it.
“Thank you, Babushka. It was much delicious.” Annie’s eyes grew wide and she smiled at Sophie.
“You are very welcome. You can come back anytime. You be sure to bring him, Sophie,” she insisted.
The drive home took only minutes and before she knew it he was offering her his hand to get out of the car. He followed her up the steps to her door. Her foot slipped and he caught her arm to steady her. She yelped in surprised at the pain in her arm.
“Sorry. Did I hurt you?” He was perplexed by her reaction. Suddenly, she was very quiet and did not look him in the eye.
“No, you didn’t. I.. I’m fine,” she said. She turned her back to him and unlocked the door.
“Sophia?”
“Really, Alex… you didn’t hurt me,” her eyes were pleading for him to let it go. He grasped her hand and lifted the sleeve of her blouse to reveal a deep purple bruise beneath.
“Someone hurt you,” he felt anger well up inside him. “Who? Who hurt you, Sophia?” She recognized the look in his eye and stepped back from him pulling her arm away.
“No one, Alex. I’m fine. Please, I have to go.” She fumbled with the door and hurried inside.
“Sophia!”
“I’m sorry, Alex,” she pleaded as she shut the door. She waited by the door hugging her arms about her until he left. She felt terrible, but she couldn’t explain it. She couldn’t tell him about Dave. Who would want to get involved with something like that? The tears tumbled down her cheeks. Dave was destroying her life even when he wasn’t around.
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