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My stomach sank at the thought of all the mornings I wouldn’t get to wake up seeing her in the future.
She grinned, setting her cup on my dresser. “I see you snuck down and got some coffee.”
“I’m sure it’s God’s gift to all of us non-morning people.”
Her grin widened as she nodded. “Yet, you leap out of bed before five o’clock without a second thought to help people.”
I nodded and took a sip of coffee. “I have no problem doing it. I’d prefer if problems in the world started around noon.”
She laughed and came closer before sitting on my bed. I’d pulled up the navy blue comforter and fluffed the pillows up top, so the room looked somewhat decent. That had been one of her pet peeves, so I always tried to make the bed. Now, I just did it out of habit.
“So, what’s up?” I looked at her over the rim of my mug.
“I couldn’t sleep very well last night.”
“I’m sorry. I never should have said what I did at dinner.”
She shook her head and patted the place next to her. “No, I’m glad you did.”
“You are?”
She let out a soft sigh and nodded. “Yeah, and it made me realize I’m tired of being scared. I’m done with it. It was a freak set of circumstances that led Carmella to me. I was nothing more than easy pickings for her, and it accomplished what she wanted. She got the attention of the Volkovs and my sister, the infamous crime blogger.” Sadie looked at me. “And then my psycho first boyfriend was just another instance of bad luck, wrong place, wrong time, wrong person.”
I studied her expression, wishing I knew where she was going with this.
“I wasn’t even supposed to go out with Tim. He was expecting to meet my college roommate for a blind date, but she got sick and sent me.”
I chuckled, shaking my head. “That is some bad luck.”
Sadie smiled. “But I know my luck is turning around. I’m no longer going to let these people dictate how I want to spend my time on this earth. It took last night for me to realize that. When you told me what your plans were, it really hit home. I don’t want to miss out on something or someone so special. I don’t want to plan a life that is hidden from the people I care about.”
“It would be devastating.”
She nodded. “And saying my plan out loud last night made me really internalize what that meant.”
I slid my hand on her leg, and she looked into my eyes. I felt the familiar charge between us as I imagined pulling her close and kissing her.
“I don’t know how we’re going to get through everything with Tim, but I want to believe there is a way to end it. And Carmella? I’ll deal with it when the time comes. But until then, I’d like to be your first client at the training facility.”
“You mean that?” I asked, tipping my chin.
It felt like the weight of the world had been lifted, but I knew we still had so much in front of us to get through.
But the thought of settling into a life with Sadie wasn’t anything I'd let myself dare dream of since she’d broken things off.
She let out a deep breath and kicked her legs underneath her. “When you shared what happened about your parents and how that shared trauma didn’t drive you and your brother away from one another, but it brought you closer, I realized how wrong I’d been.” She shrugged. “I’ve been wrapping myself in a cloak of fear and worry, trying to run away from something that is impossible to run away from. And yet I had a man right next to me who made me feel… safe.”
“Well, I wasn’t always next to you, which was one of our issues,” I offered with a smile.
“True, but I can’t expect my partner to stay next to me twenty-four, seven.”
“I wouldn’t mind doing it.”
She smiled and nodded as my phone buzzed. It was a message from Officer Carl, wanting to go over some stuff later. I clicked the message off and turned to face Sadie.
“Thanks for sticking with me even though I’m the most messed up creature on the planet.”
“You’re the strongest woman I’ve met who finally realized that your problems don’t have to define you, and you certainly don’t need to solve them yourself.” I cupped her chin between my fingers as her mouth parted.
