Chapter Sadie
Sadie
The Bubble Bursts
The sound of rain tinking off the roof makes it hard to sleep. For most people, that would be calming, and it would lull them to sleep as if they were counting sheep, one drop after the next. But for me, it’s incessant—an unwelcome chorus to the rhyme already playing in my head on repeat.
The key is going to unlock a future. Not mine specifically, just a future that I won’t be able to escape. What does that even mean? I’ve asked myself a thousand times since we left the house, a thousand times in the past thirty-six hours.
This whole thing started as a way to find my fate, supposedly. And now the first real development, the first time I feel like this has moved beyond just another item on my to-do list… it’s not even my riddle to unravel. I’m practical, I play it safe, and this—it’s infuriating.
I reach for a glass of water on my nightstand, and the alarm clock reads 5:46 am. It’s too early to mosey to the kitchen to make coffee. But it’s too late to fall back asleep and not waste the day away, so I lay here. Staring at the ceiling, hoping something other than Max starts to make sense.
But when did that happen?
When did my new friend start to be the only thing in my hectic life that made any sense?
On paper, he doesn’t—we are both leaving in a couple of weeks.
The adventures (some planned and others not), the fun, the laughter we’ve shared…
it will all be a distant memory soon. A time I look back on with reverence.
So why, when everything else has always taken top priority in my life, is it so easy to get lost in him? It’s too easy to forget everything else exists when he’s in the room. Max takes up space. Maybe too much space.
My phone vibrates on the bed beside me, the glow of the screen illuminating the room with a message.
Alex
Hey Sadie, just wanted to check in. Hope things are going well.
A scoff sneaks between my lips. Alex is kind, caring in a way that’s not fake, but we aren’t really friends. And she has to know after months of working closely together when her son was the spotlight player, that being away like this isn’t easy for me.
Hey. Things are fine. What’s wrong?
Alex
Nothing. Just making sure you’re okay.
Alex… it’s not even six in the morning.
My phone rings.
"Hello?"
"Okay, so I didn’t want to alert anyone and start a shitstorm for Levi. But… I heard something." Her voice is hushed, and the faint sound of water running trickles in the background.
Sitting up in bed, I pop my earbuds in, grab my laptop, and power it on.
"I’m listening. What’s going on?"
"Hold on." The phone goes silent except for a door clicking open, then closed. "Okay, sorry. I had to sneak out of the house so I wouldn't wake anyone up."
"Yeah?"
"Well, it could be nothing. It’s probably a rumor, and..."
I push the earbuds in further because she’s either beating around the bush or I’m not fully awake. "And?"
"And there’s an expose. I heard one of the moms at Coop's practice gossiping about how they aren’t sure it’s a good idea for any of the boys to support an organization that’s not keeping a full accounting of where the Gala money is going. She said there’s an article coming out."
Laughter rips through my body. The notion is hilarious. It’s so untrue it’s not even believable.
"Sadie!" Alex huffs. "I’m serious."
I bite my cheek to contain myself. "Oh, I know. But it’s not true. I file hundreds of documents every year with the IRS, not to mention the ones that are needed to keep the charitable arm designated as a 501(c)(3). Which mom was it?"
"I know, but Levi can’t take another hit after last season’s scandal. It almost broke him, Sadie. Why do you think you’re on leave? He’s worried about his people being okay, healthy, happy…" Alex’s voice cracks as she trails off. "It was Jeremy’s mom, Evelyn Green."
I type her name into my social media app, nodding as soon as her picture populates. "Yep, that’s who I assumed. Do you still have access to my email?"
"Yeah, why?"
"She has a folder." I set my computer on the bed next to me. "Classic helicopter enabler if you ask me. Look through the folder, and if you’re still concerned, I’ll do some digging."
Alex hisses as the echo of her fingers clacking computer keys rattles through the phone.
"Is this bitch for real?"
"Yep." Burrowing down beneath my quilt, my stomach unknots. I was worried for half a second. But I know for a fact that Evelyn Green only cares about one thing—letting everyone know her son is the best. She was furious when Cooper was chosen as our first spotlight, and I’ve been ding-donged by her almost daily since. She’ll say anything—threaten anything—to nab the honor for her son.
"Thanks, Sadie. I’ll handle it."
"Of course. You know I could come back now, if you need me…" My heart thumps at the words, but for the first time in forever it’s not with excitement. It’s with hesitancy, like I’m ready but also not at all.
"No, we’re good. I hope you’re having fun, taking this leave seriously."
"It was worth a shot. But yeah, I am."
"Good. Talk to you soon."
"Bye, Alex."
The phone clicks off, and I strip the earbuds out. This is the thing I should be focusing on. I should be spending my free time making sure I can hit the ground running when I return.
A sense of relief hits me. While talking to her is a reminder that I’ve all but forgotten the rink for the last few days, it’s also the first time that I haven’t felt unsure about my status there.
When I arrived in Mage Hollow, I didn’t know if Levi would take me back.
Now, after gaining a bit of perspective, I’m confident he will.
Maybe that’s the progress he was hoping to see.
I wish I could tell him, share the epiphany… but his fiancée just snuck out to chat with me. I refuse to be the one who wakes him. So instead, I text Max.
Guess what?
Max
Is this a dream?
What?
Max
It’s 6:16… AM!
Whoops! I sort of forgot how early it was.
Sorry! Call me when you wake up. I have news.
Max
Tell me in person? At 10 when I pick you up to go to Zarichny’s?
The flower farm?
Max
It's a whole thing. I’m going back to sleep.
(thumbs up*)
Tossing my phone aside, I lay back against the pillows. I’m still wide awake, but now it’s not annoyance that plagues me… it’s excitement.
"Remind me again why you drive a literal monster truck?" Max grins as he hoists me out of the passenger seat, setting me down gently.
My ankle-height Wellies squelch in the soggy grass, still overrun with water from the overnight showers, as he releases his hold on my waist. The sun hangs high in the sky, starting to reheat the air after the summer storm. But the breeze lingers, dropping a fine mist on everything it touches.
A shiver runs through me, and I clutch my cardigan.
"Cold?" Max asks while unclipping Benny from his vehicle harness, lifting him down, and double-checking his leash.
I shrug, looping my crossbody over my head. "Not really, it’s just damp."
"I thought they’d cancel." Max shuts my door and tugs my hand toward a small white building sitting off in the distance. Windows cover almost every wall, like a greenhouse of sorts but with a standard asphalt shingle roof. And it’s surrounded by the most beautiful flowers I’ve ever seen, rows upon rows of mounded zinnias in a rainbow of colors.
It’s a sight so serene I’m confident it’ll be permanently inked into my memory.
"I’m shocked my sister still wanted to come," Max grunts.
He filled me in on the ride over. Apparently, Bridget recently started dating the eldest Zarichny daughter, Zuri.
And since she teaches a bouquet-making class every Saturday morning in the summer, Bridget thought it would be nice to support her.
As for how Max got roped into attending—he wouldn’t say, but I’m also not complaining.
I’m a sucker for a classroom setting, and I haven’t visited this farm since I was a kid.
Benny bounds between us as we make our way to the building.
There’s a pea gravel pathway about twenty feet out from the building leading to a matching patio, and I’m grateful that both he and I are out of the mud.
His short little legs were sinking with each leap, and I’m confident his belly is covered.
Only a few steps away from the entrance, I stop, unzipping my purse to pull out a small travel pouch of puppy wipes. Dipping down, I pet the sweetest boy on his head.
"Sade?" Max’s voice washes over me. "Did you bring those just for Benny?"
Peering up at him through my lashes, I smile shyly.
"Maybe?" I pull open the top of the blue package and remove one.
"I hoped you were bringing him, but I also didn’t want to carry him the whole time.
" I swipe the cloth over his belly, working to clean off the brown gush coating him. "It felt like we’d be going backward if we didn’t allow him to walk on the grass. "
He looks like he wants to say something, but his eyes zip to my right instead. Following his line of sight, mine land on a pair of red hunter boots that are attached to a shivering Bridget.
"Please tell me he looks like that because you’re taking care of his baby voluntarily and not because he asked you to," she coos, and I laugh.
"Just being practical." I raise my hands, shoving the dirty wipes into the pocket of my black denim overall shorts. Cleaning Benny required the entire package, so it looks like one of us is carrying him despite my thinking ahead, unless this is an indoor class.
"Mm-hmm." Bridget smirks. "Okay, so I don’t really know what to expect. Just that Zuri said we would do a class inside first, then a tour." She fiddles with the hem of her knotted tank top.
"Don’t forget the picnic." Max winks at his sister.
"I didn’t know there was a picnic." I grab the leash from Max’s hand, twisting it around my wrist a few times so Benny can’t stray far enough to undo my work.
Bridget’s cheeks flush, and she gnaws on her bottom lip.
"Ugh! You’re the worst, Max." She shoves her brother's shoulder.
"Sadie, I sort of begged him to come and make this a double date after class.
Things are new, and our mother keeps insisting that Zuri come to family dinner.
I thought easing her in, one sibling at a time, might make us easier to digest. But it was all supposed to seem natural… spur of the moment."
"Like you eased me into it at the beach when seven people randomly had a Wednesday off?" I laugh. She groans, mumbling an apology under her breath. "It’s fine. I’m not long-term, but Zuri could be."
Max’s face twists at my statement, mimicking the way my heart felt saying the words.
We can’t be anything, but voicing it doesn't make it easier—I’m falling for him.
In a perfect world, I think Max and I could make this work.
He has everything I’ve ever looked for in an ideal man.
But that’s not reality when the timing isn’t right.
He clutches my hand, pulling me closer to his side as the door to the little white cottage swings open, and out steps a tall, slender woman with hair as black as a raven’s feathers.
"Welcome!" she calls to us and the group of guests that have congregated on the stone patio. "Come on in and find a seat. We will get started in about five minutes."
Bridget leads the way, greeting Zuri with a small peck on the cheek.
It’s adorable, heartwarming to watch the way they look at each other—like no one else exists because they are completely and hopelessly enamored.
Squeezing Max’s hand a little tighter, we slip past them and find a spot near the far back corner.
The space inside the cottage is set up exactly like a classroom.
There is one long table at the front, with large white buckets overflowing with flowers in a line down the center.
And there’s about ten smaller rectangular tables made of whitewashed oak in two equal rows, with matching stools for the guests to sit at.
"So, a picnic? What did you make?" I elbow Max gently while rubbing my other hand over Benny’s head. Max is cradling him in his arms like a baby.
He kisses the puppy’s head. "I bought stuff as cooking isn’t really my strong suit. But I think you’ll like it."
Max is sweet, and he continues to surprise me.
On one hand, he can be such an overzealous flirt, but on the other, he is kind—caring enough to help his sister out on a Saturday when he could be sleeping in.
I lean in, pressing my lips to his cheek.
He leans his head toward me, resting it on the crown of mine while I burrow into his shoulder.
I’m sure we look like a picture-perfect couple, and for a second, I close my eyes, allowing myself to pretend we are.
"What did you want to tell me this morning?" he whispers as people continue to shuffle in and find their seats.
"Oh, I talked to Alex this morning—Coach Montgomery’s fiancée." I shift back to an upright position. "I was worried that maybe he wouldn’t bring me back after all this… but it sounds like my job is secure." Picking at the strings on the hem of my shorts, I avoid his eyes.
"Of course he is. He’d be crazy not to." Max tips my chin up with his index finger. "You’re amazing at what you do. You’ll be helping those kids again and burying yourself in work before you know it."
And the bubble I built around us this morning bursts.
Max is right. The clock is winding down, and I still have so much to figure out. I don’t have time to fantasize about what this could be between us, not with puzzles to solve and riddles to unwind.