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“So you’re still coming for Thanksgiving tomorrow?” Annie asked, interrupting Sadie’s brooding sky gazing as she looked over at her expectantly. Annie was doing her own dance in an effort to warm herself against the elements, hopping from one foot to the other with her hands buried deep in her pockets and a green knit hat covering her wild, brown curls.
After smiling gratefully at her friend, Sadie shifted her eyes back up to the turbulent sky. She had Annie to thank for helping her out of her lack of female companionship. Annie had been going through her own troubles with her boyfriend, Ian, when they’d started to hang out during the past summer. Regardless of her own issues and drama, though, she’d been a consistent and steadfast friend. Sadie didn’t know what she would have done if Annie hadn’t come along.
“Of course I’m coming,” she answered, settling her eyes on her friend with a wide smile. While she was going home to Antelope Grove for winter break, she was in Lake Conrad for Thanksgiving.
There was nowhere else she’d rather celebrate than with Annie … and Annie’s friends, she supposed. Said friends were still in the process of warming up to her, though. The thought of Jake, Lena, and Morgan’s sour faces made her heart skip a beat.
Ugh. It’s fine. They’re okay with me at this point, right?They’d all been a bit piqued at the misunderstanding between her and Jake, and to tell the truth, Sadie hadn’t exactly been her best self during the whole mess with him and his now-girlfriend, Lena … who just happened to be Annie’s best friend.
Since she and Annie had become friendly, Sadie had hung out sporadically with Lena and Annie’s other good friend, Morgan, but it was never exactly comfortable. She could tell they didn’t actually want her around … they were just humoring Annie.
As if she read her mind, Annie continued speaking in a quiet, assuring tone. “Jake and Lena will be there,andMorgan. Even though I think our dinner is coming in second to her grandmother-friend-maid’s dinner.” Annie scrunched her face up in confusion. “Apparently Cole will be at that one, though, so she’s settling for us.”
Annie’s boyfriend, Ian, and his cousin, Morgan, wereConrads—their family had founded and named the town. They were both … interesting people … unlike anyone she’d ever met in Antelope Grove, that was for sure.
Morgan had had a falling out with her family and was living with Lucy, the elderly maid from her family’s house. Sadie thought the whole situation was super dramatic and bizarre. Again, nothing likethatever happened at home.
To make it even more contentious, Morgan and Lucy’s grandson, Cole, hated each other. This was another point against Sadie as far as all of Annie’s friends were concerned—Cole was a friend of hers from The Blue Sky.
“That sounds like fun,” Sadie lied with a tight smile at the grim thought of all those people and the various places they landed in the ranking of people in Lake Conrad who disliked her. “I’ll make a pumpkin pie?”
“Perfect. Oh, and Liam is coming,” Annie said, turning toward her with an exaggerated grimace. “I invited him on a whim when he said he didn’t have any plans. Is that okay?”
“Of course it’s okay, Annie,” Sadie replied serenely. However, her thoughts were much more alarmed at the thought of her angry boss. She could see why Annie’s friends might not like her after the way things went down with Jake. But Mr. Cohen’s problem with her? A mystery.
Why am I gathering with all these people who seem to have an innate dislike of me … on freaking Thanksgiving of all days?
“It’s just that you guys don’t really like each other….” Annie looked at her hesitantly, her eyes crinkling up in worry.
I like him just fine, Sadie thought sourly.It’s he who doesn't like me for some unknown reason.
“It’s totally fine,” Sadie assured her, disguising her thoughts with a placating smile. “We’re actually meeting after school today to talk about the play. He was serious when he said he’d help me plan it.”
“Really?” Annie said, her eyebrows raised in surprise. “I thought he was just talking out of his A-S-S when he said that.” She looked nervously at the kids running around them in circles.
“No, apparently he really wants to help. I told him he didn’t have to … I’m worried he doesn’t trust me to do it myself,” Sadie admitted, scrunching up her nose in concern.
“Ugh, maybe I should talk to him—”
“No,” Sadie interrupted firmly. “Believe it or not, I was once considered pretty darn charming,” she said with a winsome smile. “I can winthisguy over.”
Annie laughed, her eyes settling on Sadie happily. “I know you can. You won me over.”
Before Sadie could respond, her phone alarm went off, signifying that recess was over. Pulling out her phone and silencing it, she looked at Annie with disappointment. “Time to get the kiddos. Wish me luck with Mr. Cohen this afternoon, and I’ll see you tomorrow for sure … pumpkin pie in hand.”
“Are you going to make it or buy it?” Annie asked after she blew her whistle and held up her hand for their students. “Ms. Hoffman’s and Ms. Sullivan’s classes over here!”
“Um, make it?” Sadie said with a furrowed brow as all their students lined in front of them.
“That’s what I thought,” Annie said with a knowing laugh. “I’m excited to see how it turns out.”
As Sadie gathered her class and wove them through the bitter wind and into the building, she thought about Thanksgiving and all the work she would have to do to plan the play with Mr. Cohen. It sounded like a lot of emotional effort.
I can win him over. I can win them all over.
She had to and she would. The great Sadie Sullivan never lost … well, almost never.
“Mr. Cohen?” Sadie knocked on his office door, feeling a severe sense of déjà vu. Just like earlier in the week, she nervously stuck her head through the gap in the slightly open door while still in the process of knocking on it, too scared to more fully enter the room without his explicit permission.
