Chapter 36
Sadie
S adie sat anxiously in her car outside the gynecologist office as she tapped her hands on the steering wheel to the beat of the Taylor Swift song. Ellie had told her to be there by noon, but it was currently almost twelve-thirty and Ellie hadn’t come out yet. Picking up her phone, Sadie checked her text thread with Ellie. Her last three messages had gone unread, which means Ellie was definitely away from her phone.
Ellie has been so excited yesterday about her day with Vera at work. She’d gone on and on about how fun it was and how much she looked up to her mama that it made Sadie’s heart happy simply listening to her talk over FaceTime. It was clear that Ellie was discovering a new passion, and Sadie was glad she had a front row seat.
After another ten minutes, Ellie finally came out the door with the widest grin Sadie had ever seen. Ellie had a duffle bag over her shoulder, and was wearing a Blondie T-shirt and short pink shorts. She quickly got into the passenger side of Sadie’s Mustang, closing the door behind her.
“I’m so sorry I’m late.”
“It’s okay.” Leaning toward her, they quickly kissed. “Big day today?”
“The biggest.
As Ellie put on her seatbelt, Sadie backed out of the parking spot and headed toward downtown. They’d made plans the night before to do Straight to Ale for lunch then hang out before Ellie had to be at rehearsal. Ellie excitedly talked about everything she had helped Vera with, and Sadie loved listening to her. She was so happy, which in turn was making Sadie happy.
“And then, Austin let me take the doppler and I found the baby’s heartbeat! It was so cool!”
“Aww, Ellie, that’s awesome!”
“I really love doing ultrasounds. Austin is so good at it, too. Mama says she’s the best.”
All Sadie’s excitement for Ellie dissipated with one pronoun.
“Austin is a girl?”
“Well, yeah,” Ellie nervously laughed.
Sadie tightened her grip on the steering wheel. She wasn’t jealous of Austin; she just must have missed the memo that Austin wasn’t a dude. And Ellie had been with her for the past two days. Which meant they were probably getting closer and becoming friends.
And it was clear Ellie already looked up to Austin who was obviously older than them. Did she like Austin? Sadie didn’t know if she wanted to know the answer. As she parked the car outside the bar, Sadie turned to Ellie, who looked obviously confused.
“Is that a problem?”
“What?”
“That Austin is a girl.”
“Why would it be a problem?”
“Because you’re acting like it is.”
Sadie scoffed. “I’m not jealous.”
“I never said you were.” The slightest smirk played on Ellie’s lips.
Dammit. She knows me too well.
Sadie leaned her head back against the headrest. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Ellie placed a hand on Sadie’s upper thigh. Thanks to the shorts she had on, her hand mostly made contact with bare skin. Which only sent Sadie’s mind into overdrive.
She and Ellie had been on the on-ramp to sex a few times recently, but they hadn’t done anything yet. That did little to keep Sadie’s mind off of it, especially as Ellie’s fingers slid under the hem of her shorts. There was no way they’d risk anything now; not in a car in front of Isla’s bar in broad daylight. But that didn’t stop Sadie from thinking of when something more finally happened between them.
“Hey,” Ellie moved her hand from Sadie’s thigh to her shoulder and squeezed, “you know I love you, right?”
“Yeah. And I love you, too.”
Leaning in again, Sadie kissed her. She loved the way Ellie’s arm stayed casually around her neck as they kissed. Kissing Ellie was sweet and soft, but filled with more passion than Sadie could process.
But a tap on the window behind Sadie sent them separating like mice when the lights were turned on.
“Mom,” Ellie gasped as Sadie rolled down to the window. She smiled sweetly at Isla.
“Hi, Isla.”
“Hello, Sadie.” Isla bent down to see Ellie through the window. “Hi, Ellie.”
“Hi, Mom.” If Ellie was annoyed, she didn’t seem like it. Sadie didn’t know what she’d do if her parents caught them kissing like that. “We were just coming in to eat lunch.”
“I got you a table reserved. Mama called and said you were on your way.”
“Yup,” Ellie laughed, and for the first time Sadie could hear a bit of nervousness in her laugh. “Me and Sadie are here. Ready for lunch. Me and Sadie.”
“Mhmm.” Isla’s brown eyes narrowed at Ellie. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a credit card, handing it across Sadie to Ellie. “Here. Lunch is on me as long as you stop making out outside my restaurant. That’s usually only reserved for me and your mama.”
“Oh, I know,” Ellie laughed as she unbuckled her seat belt. Sadie watched as she got out of the car and walked around to hug Isla.
As Sadie stepped out of the car, she locked it before tucking the key and her phone into the tiny pockets in her shorts. She said goodbye to Isla, who was heading home for the day, as she and Ellie headed inside.
Everyone knew Ellie, and she was almost treated like royalty by the staff. Not that Sadie could blame them; it would be helpful to be nice to the owner’s daughter. They were led over to a booth near the bar beside the stage where they had local bands perform and karaoke on select nights.
They placed their lunch orders—a Diet Coke and a cheeseburger for Ellie and a water and chicken tenders for Sadie—before they went back to talking about Ellie’s day.
Or, more specifically, Austin.
“So,” Sadie twirled her straw around inside her water glass, “is Austin pretty?”
Ellie sighed with a laugh as she dramatically put her hand to her forehead. “ Sadie ,” she whined, “I don’t like her. She’s just a mentor. That’s all.”
“That’s how it always starts.” Sadie was teasing her. Mostly. “She starts to show you the ways of the world and you slowly fall in love with her while your girlfriend is thousands of miles away at college.”
“Oh, geez.”
“Studying my ass off.”
“Stop it.”
“Going to practice while you’re making out with Austin.”
“Ew, shut up,” Ellie waved Sadie off with a laugh. “Austin isn’t my type.”
Sadie arched an eyebrow at her. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. I mean, she’s tall and has green eyes and blonde hair but that’s so not my type.” Ellie reached across the table, intertwining her fingers with Sadie. “My type is the red-headed softball player with blue eyes.”
“Thank god I fit that type.”
They leaned across the table and quickly kissed just as Emily Crawford brought their food over. “Ahh, teenage love. I miss it.”
“Says the woman who’s girlfriend would have been arrested for kissing you as a teen.”
Sadie knew about Emily and Sophia Beauchamp’s age gap, but she never would have joked about it with her like Ellie did. Emily rolled her eyes at Ellie as she sat their plates down in front of them.
“Yeah, fair. Anything else I can get for you two? Ranch? Mayo? Keys to the back room so you can make out in privacy?”
Ellie held up an onion ring to Emily. “You can have this if it’ll get you to leave us alone.”
“Done.” Emily snatched the onion ring and popped it into her mouth before walking away with a wink. Picking up a chicken tender, Sadie dipped it into the honey mustard sauce before taking a bite.
“So,” Sadie swallowed before continuing, “do you know everyone in the Cove?”
Ellie looked at her over her burger, confused. Sadie quickly continued.
“I mean, I’m not asking because I think it’s bad. I don’t.” She stumbled over her words as Ellie thoughtfully chewed her food across the table. “It just seems like everywhere we go you know someone or we run into someone. It’s cool. I’ve never had that.”
“Well, my family is fairly big, so that helps. And my parents are well known in the community. And I know a lot of people because they’re friends of Mason’s. That’s how I know Emily. She was at our house a lot when I was younger, so she’s basically like an older sister. Just slightly less annoying than Mason.”
Sadie chuckled. “But you love it.”
“I do.”
After they finished up their lunch, they headed over to the arcade for a bit before walking down by the cove. Sadie loved being able to hold hands with Ellie in public without any judgment. She’d been worried about going to a school in the south because of that, but she hoped things would work out. Besides, she wasn’t planning on dating anyone but Ellie anyway.
“Are you excited about your birthday tomorrow?”
“I am. My parents have this tradition where they do something special with us on our birthday. Brayden picked to go to some baseball game next weekend, but they’re taking me to New York City in a few weeks for a play.”
“Oh, what are you seeing?”
“ Moulin Rouge with Joanna Levesque and Aaron Tveit,” Ellie squealed, although Sadie had no idea why.
“I’m assuming you like those actors?”
“ Love them. Especially Aaron.”
“And Aaron is a man?” Sadie teased, which made Ellie roll her eyes.
“Yes, he’s a man. So definitely not my type.”
“Good to know,” she said with a laugh. “What about tomorrow? Any big plans aside from the party?”
Sadie had been trying to figure out a time to give Ellie her birthday present without it being in front of everyone. She wanted it to be just the two of them. But she’d yet to figure out when that could be.”
“Tomorrow we’re doing breakfast together, just the three of us. They’re doing lunch with Brayden before our party.”
“I love that.” Sadie looped her arm around Ellie’s as they walked. “I love how they make the day special for both of you so you’re not stuck sharing it with your brother.”
“Yeah, they’ve always been great about that. I’ve never felt like one of the twins. They always made sure we felt like Ellie and Brayden.”
“That’s genius.”
“That’s my parents.”
They walked for a few more feet before Sadie asked, “So, will you have time tomorrow to squeeze me in?”
“Squeeze you in?” Ellie furrowed her brow. “Babe, you’ll be at the party. Right?”
“Yeah, no, totally. I will be. But I just don’t want to give you your gift in front of everyone. ”
Ellie stopped walking, a smirk on her face as she pulled Sadie close to her body. “My gift, huh? What is it?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
Ellie kissed her, putting her hand on her neck as she did. Sadie knew what she was doing, but it wasn’t going to work.
“I’ll let you kiss me all night long but I’m still not telling you what I got you.”
“You’re mean.”
“And it’s worth the wait.”
“I know it is,” Ellie kissed her again, this time with more tongue.
Why does this keep happening when we’re not alone?
Ellie’s phone buzzed, and Sadie knew what it was without asking. “I gotta get to rehearsal.”
“Come on.” Sadie quickly kissed her again. “I’ll drive you.”
“Um, I thought that was always the plan, because otherwise I’d have to walk miles.”
“Kiss me again or I’ll make you walk,” Sadie teased as Ellie giggled.
“I’ll kiss you once we get there.”
Following Ellie back to the parked car, Sadie opened the door for her and let her in. They drove to the theater with Sadie’s hand on Ellie’s inner thigh, which was a feeling that sent butterflies throughout Sadie’s entire body. As she parked the car at the theater, they resumed their kissing.
At least until Isla interrupted them.
Again.
This time she was on Ellie’s side of the car, so Ellie rolled down her window.
“Hi, Mommy.”
“Hi, baby.” Isla pushed her sunglasses back into her thick brown hair. “You know, there are much more comfortable places to make out than a car, right?”
Sadie wanted the earth to open up and swallow her whole. She could feel the embarrassment rising into her checks, which would undoubtedly give her away to Isla. Her damn freckles couldn’t hide that.
“Yes, Mother, I know.”
“Don’t mother me,” Isla arched an eyebrow at Ellie, but there was a smile on her lips as she opened the car door. “Now, come on. We have rehearsal to get to.”
“Can I at least kiss my girlfriend goodbye in private , please?”
Isla hesitated and for a moment, Sadie wondered if she was legit mad at them. But the wink eased her mind.
“Well, since you said please. ”
Isla walked back toward the theater, giving them a chance to quickly kiss.
“I’ll text you I’m done.”
“Okay, and I’ll see you tomorrow. Six, right?”
“Yeah, I’ll see you then.”
After another kiss, Ellie got out of the car and ran to catch up with Isla. Sadie watched as she wrapped her arms around Isla’s waist and Isla held her tight. Isla kissed her head as they headed into the glass doors of the theater. Their interaction put a smile on Sadie’s face as she drove home.
Not only had she had a great day with Ellie, but she was insanely excited to celebrate her birthday with her the next day.
Now all she had to do was find the perfect time to give Ellie her gift and think of the perfect words to say as she did.
Easy.
Right?
“Ugh.”