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SADIE
Ispent the rest of the day holed up in the guest room where I kept my clothes. Thinking of it as my room seemed weird, considering this was short-term and I hadn’t slept in it in days.
I told Drew I needed some time to figure out how I was going to appease my boss without writing about the Everetts, but I already knew I wasn’t going to write the piece Eirin wanted. Even though pushing the boundaries with her could end up with me getting fired.
But why wait until it came to that? While I loved the travel aspect of my job, I’d been getting bored for a while now. I’d shut down that little voice in the back of my head whenever it piped up and told me it was time for a change. I’d answered it with all the things we told ourselves when we were afraid: this job is secure, you know what you’re getting here,and why rock the boat?
But nothing felt secure anymore. Not my job, and certainly not my heart. Sitting on the giant four-poster bed with my laptop cracked open on my lap, I let out a bitter laugh. I didn’t even know where I wanted to look for a new job. Earlier this morning, I would have given Kelly Bay serious consideration. But between him not telling me about the Everetts, and the way he looked at Gwen, I wasn’t so sure Drew wanted me here any longer than the short-term fling he’d signed up for.
Even if he did want me to stay longer, could I survive it if I had to see him look at Gwen like that every time he saw her?
Instead of job hunting, I decided to research my insurance options in case I ended up newly unemployed. After answering a few questions on healthcare.gov I received an email including about a billion options that I wasn’t in the mindset to try to compare right now. And Dr. York’s antiquated website didn’t list which plans his office accepted, so I’d need to talk to an actual person to sort that out.
A soft rap on the door pulled me out of my thoughts. “Yeah?”
Drew opened the door and hooked both hands onto the top of the frame, putting his muscular arms on glorious display and tugging the hem of his shirt up enough that I could see the dark trail of hair leading down into the waistband of his jeans. “Hey. How’s it going?”
“Oh. You know…” I typed nonsense into a search engine bar so it would look like I was frantically writing an article.
He drummed his fingers on the frame, then dropped his arms and stuffed his hands into his pockets. Why did he look so nervous? “If you think you’re going to be working for a while, I’m gonna go for a run.”
“Go for it. I’m definitely going to be at this for a while longer.”
He nodded and stared at me. “Okay. After I get back, we should have dinner and talk.”
Talk. Talk?This, coming from a man who getting to open up was like pulling teeth? There was no way this could be anything good. Had his moment with Gwen reminded him that I was just a transient substitute for what he really wanted? Sure, he’d pushed her away and she’d obviously moved on, but was he really over her?
Or maybe this was just another phase in his hot-and-cold cycle. Warm and fuzzy this morning, ready to give me the boot by dinnertime.
“Uh, sure,” I said absently, not looking up from my screen. My brain had already hatched an escape plan. Hopefully he’d think I hadn’t been listening when I blew this talk off later.
“All right, well…it might be a longer run so…see you in a while.”
“Mm-hmm.”
As soon as he shut the door behind him, I slammed the laptop closed and flopped down on my back, cursing to myself. First, I needed an excuse not to be here when he got back. Then I needed some advice. I pulled out my phone to message Kobie.
Sadie: You have any tickets left for the tasting event tonight?
Kobie: Sold out! But you can get in free as my unofficial +1/assistant and Drew is an automatic freebie as Valor King.
Sadie: Just me. I think Drew has had enough peopling for the day.
Or at least he’s had enough of this person.
Kobie: ??Need a ride?
Sadie: Nah, I’ll meet you there at six.
Downstairs, the front door shut, signaling Drew was out for his run. I called Ward. It was time for some sage advice from my work husband.
“Guuuuuurl,” he drawled out when he answered. “I was starting to wonder if you fell into one of those big-ass lakes they’ve got in flyover country.”
“How are things back at home base? Eirin got you working on a new project yet?”
“Things are weird as hell over here. But we can circle back around to that later. Don’t act like you’re not calling for boy-chat.”
“I’m not. I want to hear about you. What kind of friend do you think I am if I only call when I need advice?”
