19. Sadie
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Sadie
The early morning air was crisp as I stepped onto the front porch, coffee cup warm between my hands.
Medford was quieter at this hour, the streets still waking up, the world not yet demanding answers from me.
Three months.
Three months back in this town, and I still felt like I was hovering between two worlds… the one I had left behind and the one I was trying to build.
I took a slow sip of coffee, letting the warmth settle in my chest, as Hayley stepped out beside me, wrapping a sweater around her shoulders.
“You’re up early,” she noted with the kind of gentle concern that had always made her feel like home.
“Couldn’t sleep,” I confessed.
She gave me a knowing look before settling into the porch chair next to mine, cradling her own mug. “Your brain won’t slow down, huh?”
I huffed a quiet laugh. “That obvious?”
“Sadie, sweetheart, I have known you for years. I can see it all over your face.”
I smiled, letting my shoulders relax as I sank into the conversation. “I’m just trying to figure out my next move. Job hunting combined with apartment hunting in… well, God knows where, isn’t exactly a thrilling adventure.”
“Do you really have to go?”
I hesitated, staring down into my coffee. “I don’t know.”
Hayley sighed, tucking her legs up beneath her. “You’ve always been restless. Even when you first got here, you were always looking ahead, always wondering what came next.”
I let out a dry laugh. “Yeah, well, right now, ‘next’ is looking a little blurry.”
She was quiet for a moment, watching me the way only she could.
“And Kai?” she asked finally, a knowing lilt in her voice. “I see the way he looks at you, sweetheart. And the way you look at him when you don’t think anyone’s watching.”
My stomach twisted.
Guilt curled in my chest like smoke, thick and choking.
If only she knew the truth.
I forced a small smile. “It’s… complicated.”
Hayley arched a brow. “Love always is.”
Love .
My throat went tight, and I turned away, staring out at the street as the town slowly came to life.
I wasn’t sure if what I had with Kai—what I had with any of them—could even be considered anything real.
And if it was, it was tangled up in so much more.
Hayley waited, patient as always.
I swallowed hard, fingers tightening around my mug. “I made a mess of life, Hayley. That’s why I’m back here.”
She didn’t say anything, just gave me the space to speak.
I exhaled, the words pressing against my ribs like they had been trapped inside me for too long. “There was a man. My boss. We… we had a thing.”
Hayley’s expression didn’t change, but I could see the shift in her eyes—the quiet understanding, the worry.
“It wasn’t supposed to be anything serious,” I continued. “Just a fling. But then it got… messy.”
Hayley’s fingers curled around her mug. “Messy how?”
As messy as it could get with three bosses, if I let it.
I let out a bitter laugh. “I thought I was in control. That I could keep it casual. But he had power, Hayley. Over me, over my job, my reputation. And when he was done with me, he made sure I was done too.”
Her face darkened. “He fired you?”
“Worse,” I murmured. “He made sure no one else would hire me. Ruined my name, my career. Everything I built… gone, just like that.”
Hayley inhaled sharply. “Sadie…”
I shook my head, blinking back the sting of tears. “I was stupid. I should have seen it coming.”
“No,” she said firmly. “You weren’t stupid. He was a predator, and he took advantage of his position. That’s not on you.”
I swallowed hard, letting her words settle over me.
I had spent so long blaming myself, replaying every mistake, every misstep, convincing myself I had deserved it.
But hearing Hayley say it out loud made it feel… different.
Lighter.
She reached over, squeezing my hand. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
I nodded, exhaling slowly. “That’s why I came back. I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
Her grip on my hand tightened. “You always have somewhere to go, Sadie. You have me. And this town? It’s still yours if you want it.”
The lump in my throat thickened. “I don’t know what I want.”
Hayley gave me a soft smile. “Then maybe you don’t have to figure it all out right now. Maybe you just take the first step.”
I let out a shaky breath, nodding. Maybe she was right. Maybe I didn’t need all the answers yet.
Maybe I just needed to stop running.
“I do know that I want to help,” I admitted, the words tasting right. “The orphanage… Willow Creek. I want to find a way to give back, to help kids like me.”
There was a beat of silence, and then I saw the unmistakable softness in Hayley’s smile.
“That doesn’t surprise me one bit.”
“It doesn’t?”
“Not at all. You’ve got a big heart, Sadie. You always have. And I think that’s exactly where you belong.”
I swallowed against the tightness in my throat. “I just don’t know how to do it yet. Money, resources… it’s not like I can just snap my fingers and make it happen.”
“Then you figure it out, just like you always do. You don’t have to have all the answers right now, sweetheart. You just have to start.”
Maybe she was right. Maybe I didn’t need to know every single step before taking the first one.
This was the town I had run from, the place I never thought I’d come back to for more than a visit. But now…
I bit my lip. “What if I stayed?”
The words slipped out before I had fully thought them through, and once they were in the air, they felt bigger.
Heavier.
Hayley didn’t react right away. She just watched me, as if she’d been waiting for me to say it. “Do you want to stay?”
“I don’t know,” I told her. “I think I might.”
And wasn’t that terrifying?
I had spent so much time convincing myself that Medford was just a pit stop, a place to regroup before I figured out where I was really supposed to go. But what if this was it ?
What if this was where I was supposed to be all along?
Hayley smiled, a knowing look in her eyes. “That doesn’t surprise me either.”
I huffed. “You seem to know me better than I know myself.”
“Of course I do,” she said simply. “And I know that no matter where you go, you’ll find a way to make it yours. But maybe you don’t have to go anywhere at all. As you know, you always have a place here.”
As she hugged me, I knew I still wasn’t sure.
But I had just put another option on the table for myself, and that was something.