But in the car, Dillie stonewalled him. “You have lots of stuff you won’t tell me about. So now I do,  too.”
“Dill,” Phin began warningly, but Dillie began to hum to drown him out. She had no musical ability  whatsoever, so he couldn’t tell what she was humming. “You know, you’re asking for it here,” he began,  but then she threw back her head and belted out, “Now listen, honey,” to really drown him out, and he  pulled off the road.
“Where,” he said, “did you learn ‘I Only Want to Be with You’?”
Chapter Nine
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Sophie met Phin at the door that evening, still not sure how she felt about that afternoon. “Hello, Dad.”
“It never came up,” Phin said. “Or I’d have told you.”
“She’s a pretty big deal to never have come up,” Sophie said.
Phin looked past her into the living room. Amy and Davy were on the couch, listening with a great deal  of interest.
“How you doin‘, Harvard?” Davy called. “Or is this a bad time to ask?”
“Can I talk to you alone?” Phin said to Sophie, and she said, “Anyplace but a bedroom,” so they went  down to the dock.
“It’s all right,” Sophie said when they were sitting, watching the river muddy by. “It was just a shock.
Especially when she said I looked like her mother. I mean, it explains a lot about why you—”
“You don’t look like her mother,” Phin said. “Diane had dark hair, but she was shorter than you are, and  younger than you are, and her face was different. Most of the pictures Dillie has are from far away. She  just sees a woman with dark hair.”
Sophie turned away. “I didn’t even know you had a wife. I know you Tuckers are detached, I know  you’re going to forget my name before I’m back on the highway—”
“I married Diane because she was pregnant,” Phin said, his voice flat. “She got pregnant because she  thought I had money.”
Sophie drew back a little. “Women don’t get pregnant all by themselves. Men help. And of all the men
I’ve slept with, you are the most Johnny-on-the-spot with a condom—”
“She told me she was on the pill and I believed her.” Phin drew back, too, until they were sitting apart

like strangers. “I don’t make the same mistake twice.”
Sophie’s temper flared. “You think I’m trying—”
“Of course not.” Phin bit off the words. “Christ, Sophie.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t think about  her much. We were only together a couple of months, and she died in an accident three months after
Dillie was born.”
“An accident,” Sophie said. “The Old Bridge?”
“No.” Phin stared out across the river. “She died over there. She came home in the middle of the night  and fell down the porch steps and hit her head and bled out before her mother woke up and found her.”
“It must have been awful for Dillie.”
“Dillie never knew her,” Phin said. “Diane had complications after Dillie was born, so I took the baby  home to my mother. Diane never came after her when she got out of the hospital.”
“You weren’t living with her?”
Phin closed his eyes. “My marriage lasted about two months, and they were the worst two months of my  life. When my dad died, I moved back to the Hill to stay with my mother because she collapsed. I  thought I was going to lose them both.”
Sophie thought of Liz’s frozen face. “That could explain a few things.”
“And I never went back. Mom was rocky, and Diane was happier without me as long as she could keep  the river house.” He shook his head. “She’d moved up with the in people. She didn’t want me, she just  wanted my name and my house.”
Sophie said, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right,” Phin said. “I didn’t want her, either. I was stupid, and I paid. But I got Dillie, so I’d do it  all again in a heartbeat. Dillie’s worth everything.”
Sophie nodded. “I can’t believe Diane didn’t want her baby.”
“She wasn’t the maternal type,” Phin said. “And I think there was another man by then. She was  spending a lot of money and she wasn’t getting that kind of cash from me.”
Sophie felt awful. Some guy that soon, right after... She straightened. That couldn’t be right. No woman  wanted to date right after she’d given birth. “Right after the hospital? And you never heard who the guy  was?”
“No. I didn’t care. I don’t care now.”
Sophie looked at him in exasperation. “Phin, this is Temptation. Everybody in town would have lined up  to tell you who the guy was.”
“Sophie, I didn’t care. I had a mother who was half crazy with grief and a baby I didn’t know how to  take care of and a brand-new job as mayor to fill out my dad’s term. Diane was the least of my

problems.”
“She was the least of your problems once she moved back to the river house and let you alone.”
He frowned at her. “What are you talking about?”
Your mother bought off your wife. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter what you did nine years ago.”
Sophie stared at the river. “So Dillie told you she came to visit. Are you upset?”
He nodded, and she felt like hell. “It makes things more complicated. She’s decided she needs a mother,  and I don’t want her getting attached and thinking you’re it.”
“I think I want to go in now,” Sophie said. “This conversation is depressing the hell out of me.”
“I know,” Phin said. “It’s not doing a damn thing for me, either.”
Neither of them moved.
“So other than that, how was your day?” Sophie said.
“Stephen got the porn permit pushed through,” Phin said. “It’s the first time I ever opposed something  that the council still voted for. He’s also managed to convince damn near everybody that I’m involved in  this movie, so if anything goes wrong out here, you’re taking me down with you.”
“Good to know,” Sophie said.
“And my mother thinks you’re the new Diane. She warned me Dillie would find out. That’s the thing  about my mother. She’s always right.”
He made it sound as if he’d been doing something vile, and Sophie flinched. “You know, nobody’s  forcing you to come out here and play with the unclean. Nobody’s making you cross the tracks.”
“I think I’ll go home now,” Phin said and stood up. “I’ll call you.”
Sophie nodded and didn’t turn to watch him walk away, trying hard not to cry. She didn’t turn at all until
Lassie poked her cold nose at her. “Hey,” she said, blinking tears back fast, and turned to find Davy  standing there with the dog and two unwrapped Dove Bars.
“Want me to beat him up?” he said, handing her one of the ice cream bars.
“No.” Sophie sniffed once and took the bar, patting the dock with her free hand. “Sit down and stop  talking big.”
Davy sat beside her, and the dog took her other side and looked longingly at the Dove Bar.
“He was mad because you met his kid, right? You’re good enough to screw but not to bring home to the  family.” Davy bit into his Dove Bar as Sophie winced. “Okay, that hurts,” he said around his ice cream.
“But cop to it now while there’s still time. He’s not right for you.”
“Nobody’s right for me,” Sophie bit into the sweet chocolate and let it melt in her mouth. It was a great  comfort, but it wasn’t enough. She thought of Frank saying, “It wouldn’t be so bad if I hadn’t thought, for

just that one night, that there was more.” Right there with you, Frank.
“Are you okay?” Davy said.
Sophie nodded. “I know you’re right. If he’s that upset about me seeing his kid, he doesn’t deserve  me.”
“I don’t want to be right, I want you to be happy,” Davy said.
“I don’t think that’s one of the choices at the moment,” Sophie said, and finished her Dove Bar in  silence, leaning on Davy’s shoulder, concentrating on the good stuff she could have instead of the great  stuff she’d just lost.
For the next three days, Sophie watched as Rachel threw everything she had into convincing Leo to take  her with him while avoiding her mother, who had begun to drop by frequently. At the same time, Amy  threw everything she had into the video. Amy was the most successful. On Thursday, Leo had gone back  to L.A. alone with the rough cut of Cherished—“Gotta change that title,” he said on his way out the  door—and Amy was deep into cutting her documentary. “I’m going to call it Welcome to Temptation,”  she told Sophie. “Just like the sign when we came in.”
“Cute,” Sophie said. Then Zane cornered her and threatened to tell Phin all her secrets if she didn’t stop  the movie so Clea would go home with him. Since the only exciting or deviant things about her were the  things she’d been doing with Phin, she wasn’t worried. Of course, he could tell Phin they’d been shooting  vanilla porn, but if he did, then at least Phin would have to call. She hadn’t heard from him since the  afternoon on the dock, so clearly he’d decided that his kid was more important than great sex, a decision
Sophie applauded in the abstract but resented in the specific.
So when Amy blew fuses, Sophie took a deep breath and went down and changed them the way he’d  showed her. Then she cleaned the house to distract herself, putting the ugliest of the furniture in the barn  and airing out the rooms. It was a lovely little place, she discovered, as she cleared it out. The rooms  were cozy and the windows were wide and she couldn’t help but picture it painted and papered and  beautiful. It was already beautiful on the outside; the Coreys had finished painting, and the house glowed  blush and peach in the sunlight. Sophie looked at it and thought, I’m going to lose this, too.
Even so she asked Rachel to get her some green paint for Saturday, something that matched the leaves  in the wallpaper. “I just want to see one room done before I go,” she said, and on Saturday they papered  halfway up on the other walls and added two apple green stripes for a border, and then painted all the  woodwork and cabinets apple green, too.
“It’s pretty,” Rachel said, when they were done. “I didn’t think it would be, but it is.” She began to pack  the empty cans and used brushes into a garbage bag.
“Yeah, it is,” Sophie said, and then pulled herself together. “Have you heard from Leo?”
“Oh, yeah, he calls every day, but it’s always about business, and what’s going on here. I mean, he  never says he misses me.”
“Rachel, if he calls every day to talk about business, he misses you. There is no business in Temptation.”

“Well, he’s not saying, ‘Rachel, honey, come out to L.A., I need you.’ ”
“You may be asking for too much,” Sophie said.
“Just a job. I’d be a great personal assistant.”
“Oh, just a job,” Sophie said, feeling sorry for Leo.
“It’d be a great job and I’d get out of here.” Rachel dropped into a kitchen chair and surveyed her  green-stained manicure. “My mother is driving me nuts because of all the rumors about you and Phin.
That’s why she keeps dropping by here. That and to see Zane.” Rachel rolled her eyes.
“Rumors,” Sophie said, feeling the chill again.
“The town knows you’re doing it,” Rachel said, and then added hastily, “Phin hasn’t been bragging or  anything or taking you to dinner to show you off. It’s not his fault, he’s kept you real quiet.”
Yes, he has, Sophie thought, and then kicked herself for feeling wounded. She hadn’t wanted to go to  dinner anyway.
“But my mom is hipped on me marrying him so she hates you,” Rachel finished. “That’s why she keeps  showing up here.”
“Oh. Well, tell her she can stay home. Phin’s lost interest. Doesn’t call, doesn’t write, what the hell.”
“That can’t be right,” Rachel said frowning. “Phin’s not like that. He’s a gentleman. He wouldn’t just  walk off. And he really wants you. The last time I saw you guys together, he looked like he was going  down for the third time.”
“Well, his mother threw him a rope,” Sophie said, getting mad just thinking about Liz and the rest of the  insiders.
“You should talk to him,” Rachel said. “He’ll probably be at the Tavern tonight. You should go.”
“Maybe,” Sophie said, wanting to see him again, which was too pathetic for words.
“Definitely you should go,” Rachel said.
Outside, thunder rumbled in the distance.
“Okay,” Sophie said.
Back in town, Phin flipped over the closed sign and thought about Sophie. Davy had made it acidly clear  when Phin had called that Sophie never wanted to see him again, and when he remembered the things  he’d said to her on the dock, Phin could understand that. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t seduce her  back to him if he could just get her alone. Maybe he could drug Davy— Somebody knocked on the  glass door, and Phin turned to see Zane. Since it was unlikely that Zane had felt a sudden need to read,