Chapter 21
21
S adie watched Monique and Ginny’s rapid progress along the sidewalk toward her building with dread. As they headed up her stairs, she waved down at them as enthusiastically as she could, all the while searching their faces for signs—had they spotted her surprise visitor? “I’m so sorry!” she called out.
A few steps ahead, Monique looked all business in a sleek, dark navy pantsuit and shiny black heels. Occasionally, she had real estate showings or negotiations on Sundays after their brunch. This seemed likely, because she even had her bright red shoulder bag with her, something she called her “power purse.” She wasn’t smiling, but Ginny looked up at Sadie and gave her a little wink.
“You’ve never missed Sunday brunch at the diner before,” Monique said, her tone brusque, when she reached the top of the stairs.
Sadie pressed a hand to her cheek. “I know. I fell asleep watching a movie last night and forgot to set my alarm.”
Ginny joined Monique on the stoop. No one eyeing them from afar would have thought the two women were related, let alone sisters. Ripped jean shorts and an oversized, pink sweatshirt, its loose neck drooped over one shoulder, made Ginny look like she’d just walked off the set of Flash Dance . She cocked a hip as she tilted her head in theatrical suspicion. “And did your dog eat your phone?”
“I don’t have a d…” Sadie started to say, before realizing Ginny and Monique must have been trying to call her. “Oh, shoot! I turned it off and shoved it in a drawer. I'm so sorry you had to come all the way here.”
Monique swished past her and into her apartment. “Well, you’re alive. And so long as I’m here, I might as well see the place I pay for.”
Sadie stiffened as she swallowed a reply. Monique paid half Sadie’s rent. Sadie had found a cheaper place that wouldn't have required her sister’s help, but both Ginny and Monique had insisted the location wasn’t safe. In the end, Sadie had accepted the aid, but she didn’t much care for Monique’s habit of bringing it up.
Ginny slipped an arm around Sadie’s waist, gave her a squeeze, and whispered, “How are you doing?”
How could she answer that question? Yesterday was so confusing, and just when she thought she’d settled the matter for herself, Grant’s visit had turned her thoughts to scrambled eggs. What did he mean he was friends with her roommates? That wasn’t possible, was it? He’d been a complete jerk to them.
Regardless, she could hardly explain all that to her sisters. It would make them even more suspicious. “I’m fine. Just feel dumb about missing Rick’s this morning. I hope he’s not worried about me too.”
“I think he was too busy to notice,” Ginny said. “Word’s gotten out that you eat there, and people are showing up hoping to see the curly-headed half of the #mudpuppies. The place was packed this morning…and highly disappointed. I was worried a few heads were going to crack right off their necks each time the bell over the door dinged.”
“I’ll stop by later and make it up to him,” Sadie said. Monique sat in the living room, foot tapping. It was the same spot Julia had used, and the similarities between Julia and her oldest sister were suddenly jarringly obvious. The straightness of their spines made carbon steel seem limp.
Sadie tipped her head toward Ginny. “Want to come in too?”
“I’d better,” Ginny said, lowering her voice conspiratorially. “Monique might have a chastity belt for you in that big red purse of hers.”
Sadie grimaced but also laughed. Ginny was good at defusing tension, but part of Sadie’s laughter stemmed from relief that her sisters must not have seen Grant. If they had, Monique would have immediately started grilling her, and Ginny would have teased her mercilessly. Shooing Grant away so abruptly had been rude, but when Monique’s car had pulled into the lot, what else could she do?
Sadie closed the door behind Ginny and followed her into the room. “I don’t have much in the kitchen, but I can do coffee and toast? I have a nice honey from?—"
“So, he spent the night?” Monique said, interrupting her. She eased back in her chair and stared up at Sadie, her tongue practically poking a hole in the side of her own cheek. “Yes. We did see him slinking around the corner.”
Sadie’s insides melted. She took the chair opposite Monique, as she had with Julia, sighing as her rear end hit the upholstery. “He stopped by out of the blue. He didn’t even stay ten minutes, I swear.”
“He’s been a very busy boy,” Ginny said.
Ginny tapped her phone, and Sadie realized the internet must be plastered with pictures of Grant and Julia embracing on the beach. Sadie made no move to look. She didn’t need to see that again. “Uh, yeah, I suppose he has.”
“A real hero,” Monique said, rolling her eyes.
What did Monique mean by that? Whatever. As far as Sadie was concerned, Grant was nothing more than a colleague from here on out, another actor on the set of her first movie. Now to convince her skeptical sisters of that. “I honestly don’t know why he came here. Yesterday was our last fake date. We went to the beach. It was fine. Nothing special. I don’t even think there were any photos of us, because I didn’t see any photographers, but whatever. They asked for three dates, and I did three dates, and so now we’re done.”
“Call me stupid, but a man at your apartment on a Sunday morning with you in your bathrobe doesn’t exactly scream done,” Monique said.
Sadie made a frustrated gargling sound as she lifted both hands in helpless supplication. “He showed up on my doorstep trying to apologize for how he treated my college roommates.”
Monique’s eyebrows were rising. “Apologize? And what did you say?”
“I said he wasn’t making any sense, because he wasn’t, and then I told him to leave.”
“Because you spotted us coming,” Monique said.
“Because I wanted him to leave.”
“Aw, you could have let us meet him,” Ginny said, going into full pout mode.
“I could if I were a masochist,” Sadie said. She stood up. “Now, do you want coffee or not? Because I need a shower and a trip to the grocery store.”
“He didn’t spend the night?” Monique asked.
Sadie pulled her bathrobe tighter around her. “Absolutely not!”
“And you didn’t even kiss him a little bit?” Ginny said.
“Definitely not!”
“Swear it,” Monique said.
Sadie sat back down, knowing exactly what Monique expected her to do. She smoothed her robe over her knees and looked directly at her sisters. “I swear on the name of Mom and Dad that I have never kissed Grant Mason.”
“Good. Keep it that way,” Monique said. She stood. “Thanks for the offer of coffee, but I had to leave Rick’s early today anyway. I have an important meeting on the other side of the city. Ginny, I can drop you somewhere if you want?”
Ginny shook her head. “You go on. I’ll have some coffee and toast with Sadie’s fancy honey and then uber it.”
“Enjoy,” Monique said. She walked around the coffee table toward Sadie, who stood to meet her. “The apartment looks nice. I’m sorry I said that earlier about paying for it. I know I forced you to let me do that, and I do feel so much better with you living here, okay?”
“I know,” Sadie said, and gave Monique a hug. Nobody got on Sadie’s nerves quite like her oldest sister, but no one made her feel as safe and cared for either.
When Sadie and Ginny were alone, they headed to kitchen. Ginny hopped up onto the counter to the right of Sadie’s sink, while Sadie retrieved her kettle and her can of coffee grounds. Holding the kettle under the faucet, she flipped the water on.
“He was a hero, though,” Ginny said, “the way he rescued that woman.”
Sadie whipped her head round. “What rescue?”
“Weren’t you there? You didn’t see it?”
“No. I…I left the beach.”
“Oh, right. And your phone’s been off. Some woman was drowning and he Baywatched out there and saved her. No one else heard her screaming, so she might have been a goner if he hadn’t. I guess he was a lifeguard in high school, but still. Rescuing someone from the ocean is way different than rescuing someone from a swimming pool. Social media is all #newbaywatchbabe and #rescuemenext .”
The water intended for Sadie’s kettle began to overflow into the sink.
Ginny reached over and turned off the faucet. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”
Sadie shut her eyes as she scrunched her face in thought. She’d never had a more confusing morning. “Wait…were there two women?”
“No. Only one. Here.” She woke her phone and quickly found a photo of Grant and the woman.
Sadie set the dripping kettle down in the sink, wiped her wet hand on her bathrobe, and grabbed Ginny’s phone. It was a close-up, probably taken from someone in the crowd directly around the pair. In the picture, Grant sat back on his haunches looking a little exhausted and like he wasn’t in the mood for photography. The woman on the sand with him, with her blood red nails and black swimsuit, matched the woman Sadie saw and didn’t match Julia . Sadie’s heart pounded like a heavy bass drum. She’d been completely wrong.
“Pretty impressive for a mashed potato sandwich on white bread with the crusts cut off,” Ginny said. “How did you two end up at Be-Seen Beach, anyway? Monique says that place is super exclusive.”
Sadie gave the phone back to Ginny and slumped against her kitchen cabinets, her knees no longer up to carrying her weight. The room swirled.
Ginny hopped off the counter and grabbed her by the elbow. “Hey! You all right?”
Eyes glued to the floor but seeing nothing, Sadie spoke. “I saw Grant and that woman from a distance. I thought they were kissing, and I was certain it was Julia. I thought she’d come to the beach to be with him, so that’s why I left.”
Ginny did a small shrug. “But they’re dating, right? So that’s not so…hold on.” She gave Sadie’s arm the gentlest squeeze. “Were you upset when you thought it was Julia?”
Sadie closed her eyes to try to stop the tears building there, but it only hastened their journey down her cheeks. The air in her lungs felt like it didn’t belong, like she didn’t deserve oxygen anymore. “I wasn’t lying when I told you Grant was only here for a few minutes this morning, but I didn’t tell you everything he said.”
“Hey, let’s go sit on the couch,” Ginny said, worry in her voice as she grasped Sadie’s upper arm firmly. “The coffee can wait.”
Sadie let Ginny lead her to the living room, where they sat down next to each other on the couch.
Her sister had grabbed a paper towel as they’d left the kitchen. She used it to dab at Sadie’s tears. “Now, what else did he say to you?”
“That he’d been in love with me since the moment he first saw me freshman year.”
Ginny’s green eyes bulged. “What? But I thought he dated all your roommates? You never even went out with him, did you?”
“No, but I guess he tried and tried to get me to like him and I…I ignored him, wouldn’t give him the time of day. So, he said he started dating my roommates, but more as friends, as an excuse to hang out with me.”
Ginny tapped her chin as she looked at the ceiling. “A bit questionable, but also kinda romantic.”
Sadie swallowed hard. “Is it? I don't know. He upset them. Or I think he did. He says they’re all still friends, but that can’t be right.”
“Does he seem like the kind of person who would lie to you?”
“No. I mean, yes. I mean…” Her shoulders drooped like melting wax. “I don't know anything anymore.”
They were quiet for a bit, before Ginny said, “Why don’t you call your friends and ask them?”
“Right now?”
“Why not? I’ll leave if you want some privacy.”
Sadie dropped her face into her hands. “I don't need privacy. I need sanity.”