32. Kai
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Kai
The storm had passed, but it had left its mark.
Water pooled on the floor of The Foundry, seeping under tables, and turning the back storage room into a damn swamp.
I stood in the middle of it all, hands on my hips, letting out a slow exhale.
“Well, shit.”
Adam whistled low, surveying the damage with a grimace. “Gonna take all day to dry this out.”
“Longer,” Samuel muttered, rolling up his sleeves. “That back wall’s got some damage. We’ll need to check the foundation.”
Sadie let out a quiet sigh beside me, pushing her hair back. She’d gone home to change, but still came back, refusing to leave us to handle this mess alone.
She looked exhausted.
Worn, but… softer.
It was clear her feelings had shifted last night, and they hadn’t faded with the sunrise.
I resisted the urge to reach for her, to tuck a stray curl behind her ear. Instead, I nudged her with my shoulder.
“You okay, S?”
Her eyes flicked to mine, a tired smirk tugging at her lips. “I’m ready for some hard labor, that’s for sure.”
Samuel cut in, voice firm. “She’s not helping.”
Sadie blinked. “Excuse me?”
“You’re pregnant,” he said, not even glancing up. “You’re not lifting a damn thing.”
Adam, for once, didn’t argue. He pointed a finger at her. “Doctor’s orders. Or they would be, if you let us drag you back to the clinic every other day like we want to.”
Sadie opened her mouth to protest, but I raised a hand.
“Nope. Don’t even try it,” I said, blocking her path to the back room. “You can supervise. Maybe hold a clipboard or something.”
She crossed her arms, leveling a glare at all three of us. “You do realize I’ve done a hell of a lot more than this before.”
“Not with a baby on board, you haven’t,” Adam said. “Your job is to stand there, look cute, and maybe yell at us if we start slacking.”
Sadie rolled her eyes. “Unbelievable.”
“You love it,” I muttered with a grin.
She narrowed her eyes at me but didn’t argue—which told me she was more tired than she let on.
And just like that, we fell into a rhythm.
Buckets and mops.
Towels and fans.
Lifting, dragging, laughing… because what else could we do?
The place was a mess, but it was our mess, and if there was one thing I knew, it was that none of us were going anywhere.
Sadie hovered nearby, clearly itching to help, but every time she stepped forward, someone blocked her.
She reached for a mop. Samuel took it from her hands without a word.
Tried to lift a chair, and Adam snatched it up before she could even bend.
Went to open a heavy window… I got there first and shot her a look.
“Nope,” I said again, voice low. “You’re officially on light duty. Doctor’s orders, remember?”
“I never agreed to those,” she grumbled.
“Tough,” I said, brushing a curl off her cheek. “We agreed. You know, you could always wait in the apartment. You’ll only be upstairs…”
“I’m not going anywhere.” She chuckled. “How could I supervise from up there?”
Somewhere between mopping the floors and arguing with Adam about whether we could save the jukebox, I caught Sadie watching me.
Not just watching.
Seeing.
She didn’t look away when I met her eyes.
A warmth settled in my chest.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead. “You good?”
Sadie hesitated, then shrugged. “I don’t know.”
It wasn’t the answer I expected, but I appreciated the honesty.
I glanced toward the others—Adam was now wrangling a fan into place, Samuel was muttering under his breath about warped wood—then reached for her hand, tugging her toward the bar.
She followed without argument, stepping over puddles until we were leaning against the worn counter together.
I let the quiet sit for a moment before asking, “What’s on your mind?”
She huffed out a breath, dropping her head against my shoulder for a second. It was quick, barely there, but my stomach clenched all the same.
“I guess I just…” She trailed off, exhaling. “I never expected to be back here. To want to be back.”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah.”
“I ran from this place,” she admitted. “From you. From all of it.”
I squeezed her hand, rubbing my thumb over her knuckles. “And now?”
She looked up at me, her gaze open in a way I hadn’t seen in years. “Now, I don’t want to run.”
Something inside me went tight.
Because I knew what that meant.
Sadie Collins, the girl who had bolted without looking back, was potentially choosing to stay.
Choosing us.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat and smirked, nudging her lightly. “Well, that’s good, S. Because you’re kind of stuck with us now.”
Her laugh was soft, but real. “Yeah,” she murmured. “I think I am.”
Across the room, Adam let out a triumphant sound as the fan finally roared to life. Samuel shot him a look, but he was clearly amused too.
I let myself breathe.
We’d make this work.
We had to.
Sadie shifted beside me, her fingers tightening slightly around mine. “You know,” she said softly, “I’ve been thinking about something for a while.”
I turned to her, giving her my full attention. “Yeah?”
She nodded, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip before she released it.
“I was looking up the Willow Creek Orphanage recently, and it needs help. A lot of help.” She let out a deep sigh.
“It was a hard time in my life, being at that place, but what would I have done without it? I mean, it led me to Hayley, and to Medford too. It gave me a place to live when my parents died, and…”
Sadie’s expression turned distant, her fingers tightening slightly around mine. I gave her hand a squeeze.
“And?” I asked gently.
She let out a slow breath, shaking her head as if trying to gather her thoughts.
“And I don’t want other kids to go through what I did…
alone, scared, feeling like they don’t belong anywhere.
” Her voice wavered but didn’t break. “That place needs help. More funding, repairs, people who actually care. I was thinking… maybe I could do something about it.”
A warmth spread through my chest at the sincerity in her voice. “You want to fix up Willow Creek?”
She nodded. “More than that. I want to make it better. I want kids who end up there to have more than just a roof over their heads. I want them to feel safe. Wanted.” She glanced up at me, hesitating. “I know it’s a lot, and I don’t even know where to start, but?—”
“You start by saying it out loud,” I said, cutting her off gently. “Which you just did.”
She looked at me, like she hadn’t expected me to take her so seriously. But this wasn’t just some passing thought. This was real; she had been carrying this inside her for a long time.
I leaned in slightly, lowering my voice. “Sadie, if this is something you want, we’ll figure it out. You’re not alone in this.”
Her breath hitched, just for a second, and I saw it. The walls she’d spent years rebuilding around herself cracking just a little more.
Before she could say anything, Adam’s voice rang out across the room. “Hey, lovebirds! Less whispering, more working.”
Sadie rolled her eyes, but I caught the small smile tugging at her lips.
Samuel cleared his throat from across the room. “The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can figure out how to help Willow Creek.”
Sadie’s eyes snapped to his, surprise flickering across her face. “You… you’d help?”
Samuel didn’t even hesitate. “Of course.”
Adam clapped his hands together. “Alright then. First, we save The Foundry. Then, we save the orphanage.”
Sadie let out a soft laugh, but her eyes were shining. “You make it sound so easy.”
Adam grinned. “That’s because it is. We just need a plan.”
Samuel shot him a dry look. “A plan that actually works.”
I smirked, wringing out a towel over a bucket. “Alright, genius, any ideas?”
“Fundraisers, obviously. Medford loves a good cause. And booze. We’ve got both.”
Sadie perked up at that. “A charity night at The Foundry?”
“Exactly.” Adam pointed at her. “Live music, raffles, maybe an auction if we can get people to donate some cool shit. I bet half this town would line up to bid on a private dinner with Samuel.”
Samuel’s brow twitched. “Absolutely not.”
Sadie covered her mouth, trying to smother a laugh. “Come on, Sam, for the kids.”
His jaw tensed, but there was a flicker of amusement in his eyes. “Fine. But if I have to suffer through that, Adam’s bartending all night.”
Adam pressed a hand to his chest, mock offended. “Like I wouldn’t already be?”
I chuckled, grabbing another towel. “We could make this big. Another festival for Medford, maybe…”
Sadie practically lit up, stepping closer. “Yes! Medford loves a festival anyway. We could do a bake sale, get the schools to help, set up booths—oh, what about a dunk tank?” She turned to Samuel, eyes bright. “You’d be a big-ticket target.”
Samuel sighed, but the corner of his mouth twitched. “If it gets us the money, I’ll consider it.”
“See? Now we’re getting somewhere.” Adam grinned, tossing an arm around Sadie’s shoulders. “You’re a natural at this, S.”
She barely seemed to notice, her mind already racing ahead.
“We could reach out to businesses in other towns, too. See if anyone wants to sponsor. And we’ll need to set up a donation page online.
” She glanced up at me, excitement practically buzzing off her.
“Do you think Hayley would help with that?”
“She’d love to,” I said without hesitation.
Sadie nodded, chewing her bottom lip, her fingers tapping against her thigh. She was glowing. This was more than just an idea now. It was real.
And she wasn’t second-guessing herself.
She was in.
Samuel rolled his sleeves back down, surveying the now mostly dry floor. “Alright. We get through today, get this place back in order, and tomorrow, we start figuring out logistics.”
Adam clapped his hands together. “Look at us, saving the town one flooded bakery at a time.”
Sadie laughed, a sound so easy and unguarded that it settled my heart deep in my chest.
She was home.