Chapter 13 #2
He lifts his head and walks back toward me. “It’s 115 Broadway, but if someone’s coming here, tell them Cedar Place because that’s where the entrance is.”
Pfft. Why don’t I just share my location with Sadie on Google Maps?
I’ve shared my location with you.
Sweet.
I knock back the rest of my drink, rendering myself speechless for a handful of blissful empty seconds.
“Another double!” I say to the bartender’s retreating back, and he turns and raises his eyebrows, but pulls the bottle from a shelf above the bar.
I’m nursing my third whiskey in my hands when Sadie walks through the door, wearing a loose shirt over smart black pants, her startling gray eyes and caramel-colored hair piled on her head. She looks amazing. I wave at her, and she tilts her head toward me as she makes her way over.
“Hey, James,” she says, sliding onto the barstool beside me. “What’s the occasion?”
“Death,” I say, and her eyes go wide. I hold my hand up, leaning forward to whisper, “Death of a relationship.”
“Oh, okay.” Some of the color returns to her face.
“What can I get you?” I say as the bartender appears next to us.
“An orange juice, thanks,” she says.
“Just warning you, this guy’s had three doubles already and I’m keeping an eye on him.”
“No problem,” Sadie says, surprisingly steadily.
I slap my forehead. “You don’t drink,” I say.
“No worries. I don’t mind watching other people drink. I’ve done it often enough,” she mutters, and I examine her for a second. She has? Is that asshole I met in the lobby a drinker?
“So day-drinking?” she says. “Not something I would have automatically associated with James Royce.”
I grimace, then lay my head on the cool wood of the bar.
“I went for a coffee with Jane today because I had to tell her that I’d permanently moved out of the apartment.
She’s been hassling me, and I needed to talk to her about what’s going to happen with the lease.
You know, I never realized just how mad she is.
” I mumble into the surface. “She talked about how we were best friends and how she wants me to move back in. Des was right about how oblivious she is.” I lift my head and peer at Sadie.
She swims a bit. “She said she misses me.”
“Are you going to move back in?”
“God, no. I only just escaped with my life as it was.”
Shit, I shouldn’t have said that.
But Sadie doesn’t appear surprised or even ask any questions. She picks up her orange juice and clinks it against my glass. “Well, cheers,” she says. “Here’s to escaping your ex.”
I laugh. That sounds like an awesome toast to me, and I down the whiskey in one.
“Have you ever had a long-term relationship?” I say. She shakes her head, and I make a face at her. I find that very hard to believe. I study a toffee-colored lock of hair curling over one shoulder. Sadie is warm, funny … delightful really. “Why not?”
“I just never …” She trails off and swallows. “My mom works three jobs, and if I could do anything to relieve her of that burden, I did it. All my spare time was spent waitressing or cleaning.”
“Makes sense. I did some of that kind of work in college, too.” I fiddle with my empty glass. “Didn’t mind it, to be honest.”
“Me neither. I used to listen to audiobooks.”
I grin. “Now why does that not surprise me?”
Her lips curl up in a wry smile. With every second she sits there and talks to me, the coffee with Jane is receding like a wave. “I knew Jane so well I could finish her sentences. Nothing she said surprised me.”
“Except for the fact that she had a new boyfriend, right?”
A bark of laughter catches me unawares. Where does this quirky sense of humor of hers come from? I really fucking like it. “Good point.” I stare at the rows of bottles behind the bar. “And that she thought of me like a brother.”
“She said that?
I nod.
“Ouch. That’s brutal.”
“Tell me about it.” I reach out and touch her hand; it’s warm and soft. “Thanks for coming to meet me.”
“You’re my boss. You more or less ordered me here.”
“Did I? I’m sorry if I …”
She waves her hand. “I’m joking. And it’s fine, James. I didn’t take it like that. I’m here as a friend.”
“Can I ask you something?”
She eyes me warily. “Is it a deeply personal question?”
“No, but it is a favor.”
“Okay.”
“Will you be my backup for all Jane-related emergencies?”
Her eyes widen. “Me? You do realize I’m more of a crumple-in-a-crisis person. Why would you want me to be your emergency backup?”
“Do you want an honest answer to that?”
“Yes.”
“All my friends are Jane’s, too. The only ones that aren’t are people from work, and I can’t call on Des or Jo. Even in the short time we’ve been sharing a space, you’ve become a good friend.”
Her face goes a bit pink, and she stares down at her hands.
“I hope that didn’t sound …” I start, but she waves a hand.
“Not at all, and, yes, I’ll do it.” She chews her lip. “If maybe I can ask a favor in return?”
“Of course.”
“You don’t tell anyone about my stepdad or this.” She waves a hand over the bruise, which is a lot less visible now.
“Stepdad?” I thought he didn’t look like Sadie’s actual dad, and she nods.
I purse my lips. The idea that Sadie could be in trouble grips me again. Am I going to regret agreeing to this? Probably. But perhaps she needs someone in her corner as much as I do. “Okay,” I say.
My arm is draped over Sadie’s shoulders as we stagger out of the bar and onto the street.
“Good shing we can walk to Desssshhh’s place from here,” I say as her gray eyes and freckled cheeks swim in and out.
“Absolutely. Can you stand okay?” she says, and suddenly we’re careening across the sidewalk. My shoulder collides with a building.
“Hey! Who put that there?” I shout.
She grips my elbow. “Shhh. Let’s try walking in a straight line.”
“I am walkin’ in a shhtraight line! Whadaya talkin’ about?”
I remove my arm from around Sadie. “Look!” I say as I head up the sidewalk, grinning at her over my shoulder, but then somehow I’m in the road, and a car blasts its horn at me, so I give it the finger. Sadie appears at my side, takes hold of my elbow again, and steers me out of the traffic.
“I think we should find a cab,” she mutters, pulling her phone out of her pocket and swiping across it.
I wrap my arm around her shoulder and peer at her screen.
“Uber. Alwaysh wantada work there. Wasn’t offered the job, though.” I sniff her hair. “You smell nicesh.” I sigh and prop my head on top of hers.
She shifts a bit as she waits for our ride to be accepted, and I rest my cheek against her hair.
“Yours hair’sch shoft, too.”
“James. You know you’re leaning on me, right?”
“Yeeshhhh. It’ss very nicesh.”
“Cab’ll be here in two minutes.”
“Okay.”
The building in front of us starts to tip forward, so I shift back. “I need to shhittt down.” I bend over, but the whole world swims. “Whoa!” I say, straightening up again. “That wasshh weird.”
I gaze around at all the grand buildings, then lean on Sadie again. What is that smell? So goddamn sweet. “Where are we?”
“Broadway.”
“Ah, that’s our taxi,” she says, stepping away from me and taking my elbow.
I shake her off. “You don’t have to hold on to me! I’m fine!”
“Shhh. Don’t shout. I know you’re all right; I’m just helping you walk in a straight line to the cab.” She sounds amused.
“I’m not shouting!”
“Okay, James.”
Then we’re standing by a car, and Sadie opens the door. Lying down! That’s what I’m talking about! I dive across the seat, resting my head on the leather. God, that’s so good! The whole world dips like I’m on a roller coaster.
“Is he drunk?” A voice washes in from somewhere to my right.
“He’s fine. James, sit up.”
I try to shuffle over, but my head is stuck to the seat. Someone is pushing my legs, so I swing them round, and then Sadie pulls on my arm and hauls me into a sitting position. I wriggle up the backrest, head lolling on the top of it.
“You okay back there?” the driver says.
“Never better,” Sadie says.
I squint at the talker, and a pair of glowering eyes meet mine.
“I’m only taking you, buddy, because I don’t want to leave this nice lady on the street on her own with you. You start feeling sick, you holler, because there’ll be a big bill for you cleaning the inside of my cab otherwise. You hear me?”
“We hear you,” Sadie says beside me, and he grunts, turning back around and pulling out into the traffic.
“Slorry I can’t shttand,” I whisper. “Slorry I’m drunk.”
“Shh,” she says. “Not so loud. You can apologize when we get home. Just rest.” She pats my hand, and I take hold of her small palm and weave my fingers through hers. Then I bring her hand up to my mouth and kiss the back of it.
“Thanks for taking care of me. And for getting me back home.”
“We’re not there yet. But it’s my pleasure.”
“I’m recommending you for promotion.”
My head lolls on the back of the seat, and as I twist it to look at her, I find her amazing eyes twinkling back at me.
“Really? That was easy. You better believe I’m going to remember you said that,” she says.
I wave a hand around and clonk it on the window. “Ouch.”