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“Oh, you two have no idea how much of a help this is,” Rose let out a breath over the phone. Oliver said something in the background of the call and Rose said impatiently. “Your brother will be there for a few minutes to drop off some powdered sugar for the banana morning muffins, and he said he’s just going to leave once you guys get there.”
“It’s totally not a big deal for us, we got it,” Sadie told Rose easily, laughing a little at her brother’s antics. “You guys just go see about little Sammy’s poop and we’ll take care of it for you.”
I waited as Sadie hung up the phone and curled against me, still topless and carelessly affectionate. I grabbed the blanket she had been using and I pulled it over us both on the couch. How surreal it was to be lounging half-naked with Sadie Harlow on my couch as if it were normal and we hadn’t been strangers a few weeks ago. Everything about whatever we had going between us just made me want more and more. I needed more bright, happy days spent with Sadie’s family, and dark, chill nights spent curled up together on the couch with takeout and cheesy horror movies. This was the life that I wanted, and it suited me to be with her. There was nothing I wanted more than for this to be normal with Sadie.
I had grown up in the cold fear of abandonment with my father, and the uncertainty of my father’s ever-changing moods. Sadie was like a breath of fresh summer air and sunshine, cleansing me of the scars that my upbringing had left forever on my heart. Her family, though they had no reason to care about me, had made me one of their own without me having to prove myself to them at all, right from the start. They were all warm and welcoming, just as she was, and I wanted to be someone they reached out to for support. So yeah, I was glad to help Sadie at the coffee shop in the morning. More than glad to help. I had never had a family to be a part of and I was happy to be welcomed into the fold like an old friend. I hoped that Sadie understood what it all meant to me. I hoped that she knew how much being one of the people she cared about most meant to me.
“I hope it’s okay that I said we would help them with the store,” Sadie murmured against my collarbone, glancing over at the TV show now that we were sedentary on the couch. She looked up at me, blinking long, dark lashes in my direction as she waited for my answer. I didn’t like the hesitation on her face, as if she expected me to be upset.
I smiled down at her, pulling slow fingers gently through her dark hair until her eyes drifted closed sleepily. “I’m happy to help. You shouldn’t ever think that you have anything to apologize for, Sadie. I want to be there. I can’t wait to watch the store for them.”
There was a knock at the door, and I let out a frustrated breath as Sadie jumped up out of her light sleep, pulling on her long, oversized shirt. I didn’t bother to put on my shirt, though I was still wearing my sweatpants low on my hips. Sadie pulled the blanket around her and curled up, against the arm of the couch, sinking down into the cushions.
I opened the door and Alex stood on the other side. He looked sleepy and disgruntled with his dark hair askew and his camera sitting on his shoulder.
“Yeah,” Alex nodded at my confused expression. “Me too.”
“What’s up, then?” I asked, looking back to see Sadie staring interestedly into the doorway from the couch. “Something wrong?”
Alex lowered his voice, stepping into the room. “The quicker I can get some shots of you guys watching TV on the couch and looking casual, the quicker I can go and get some sleep at home. The execs want more footage after the holidays since I didn’t see you guys much.”
“Are they suspicious?” I asked, determinedly not looking back at Sadie now.
“No,” Alex told me, shrugging. “Not yet anyway.”
Chapter 18
Sadie
I woke up in Connor’s bed, in Connor’s apartment, for what seemed like the hundredth time. I knew that I would never get tired of rolling over and pressing my face into his abandoned pillow, taking in the smell of him in the soft, down feather cushioning. The high-count cotton sheets and puffy duvet were warm and comforting where they pressed against my bare skin. I remembered when I thought I would never be naked in Connor Lennox’s bed. I remembered pushing down my feelings just a few short weeks ago, deep in the haze of my denial. Now, he was in the kitchen frying up turkey bacon and spicy scrambled eggs, and I was cocooned in his sheets like a waiting queen. A slow smile spread over my face where I was half-buried under the fall of blankets. Outside of the windows, the sun was slowly dancing over the horizon. In an hour or so, the both of us would head to the coffee shop and open for Oliver and Rose. I supposed that I should’ve gotten up and pulled some kind of clothing over my body. I didn’t want to leave the familiar coziness of Connor’s bed, but I needed to get up if I wanted to eat and still have time to fix my hair into something slightly presentable. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the old books that Oliver had found at an estate sale in Virginia, tucked into the dust and antiques at the back of someone’s attic. They were on the shelves in the coffee shop at that moment, waiting for someone to flip through their pages. I knew for sure I was going to spend at least an hour tucked into one of the well-worn velvet chairs, reading a leather-bound, annotated version of Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice.
