Off the Grid Read Free

and warrior. Too bad her cute little nose turned up at the sight of him.
    The line inched forward. A harried customer shoved past, bags in hand, on his way to the doors and freedom. Caleb checked in with the blond cashier. He sighed. Glanced at his watch. Rotated his shoulders. She scanned items, instructed customers to insert their card, bagged their items with agonizing slowness. No wonder, her fingernails were purple talons.
    Not Sophie’s. Hers were short and unpainted. He supposed doctors didn’t do manicures. Not that she looked like any doctor he’d ever met, in her faded jeans and leather jacket. The thought of her in a dress and high heels had him reaching up to loosen his tie.
    He’d set out to charm her, instead she’d challenged his ideologies. Had accused him of being in denial. Worse, biased in favor of the privileged. It had stung, and wound him up enough to challenge her to a date. She would accompany him to the Silent Night, Safe Night Gala. One night to prove their agendas weren’t at odds. A chance to show he wasn’t the ass she assumed he was. She’d agreed. Because she wanted to prove him wrong.
    Then Tiffany had walked in and given the impression they were involved. Not true. Never would be. But office politics were his problem, not Sophie’s. The atmosphere in the room had gotten a lot less friendly, but it had been too late for Sophie to back out.
    So, he may or may not have a date for tonight, which meant things could get a little awkward when he arrived to pick her up.
    The customer in front of him glanced over her shoulder, a questioning look on her exhausted face. Caleb realized he was talking out loud. Further proof Sophie was already making him the kind of crazy he tried to avoid.
    “Sorry.” He offered a shrug and a smile. “Just going through last-minute lists in my head.”
    With a no-comment kind of eye roll, she turned to face the front of the line and the cashier who was taking a timeout to check her phone. He glanced at his watch again. They weren’t due at the fundraiser for an hour and a half. Plenty of time. His pocket vibrated. He pulled out his cell phone.
    Sophie calling.
    He put his phone to his ear. “Sophie?”
    “I’m sorry. An emergency at the clinic has come up. I have to cancel tonight.”
    “Cancel? You can’t cancel.” She had to be kidding. Didn’t she? “500 people are expecting us for dinner.”
    “It can’t be helped. Please give everyone my apologies. I have no choice. I have to deal with this. There’s no one else.” She sounded distracted, and although he didn’t know her well, worried. She rushed through the words so fast Caleb scrambled to keep up. Someone yelled in the background. “Look, I have to go. I’m going to text you the number of Amanda Brine. She runs Safe Night. She’s filling in for me.”
    “Wait a minute. You can’t blow this off. People are counting on you.” He was counting on her.
    “Caleb. If there was any other way to handle this situation, I’d take it. Believe me…emergency…help.” A muffled clanking noise masked most of her words.
    He strained to listen. Gave up. “I can’t hear you.”
    More noise in the background. “…to go.”
    Dial tone.
    “Unbelievable. Shit.” This time the woman in front of him turned to glare. He held up his phone, tried for sheepish and sorry. He was neither. “Sorry. Bad connection.”
    What the hell? This evening meant everything to Sophie and Safe Night’s Refuge. The size of the donations depended on her wooing some very important, insanely wealthy people. After dinner the evening was spent garnering further support and hitting up the who’s who of Vancouver for donations. She wouldn’t shrug off the loss of funds. Something was wrong. He didn’t know how he knew it but he did. He hit redial and listened to her phone ring and ring and ring. His decision was no decision at all. There was enough time left to check things out. He rushed toward the big glass doors. The