Page 102 of Married With Lies

In the hallway, Sadie reaches for my hand. Hand holding is a corny display of affection that would never ever have appealed to me with anyone other than her.

Seated at an outdoor table not far from the hot springs are Richie, Franco, Brisetti and Vinny. They all turn to stare at us. There’s really no way to walk right by without acknowledging them.

Richie finally waves us over. There’s a big straw sunhat covering his nearly bald head. “You kids escaping or what?”

“I’m taking Sadie home,” I say, noting the flat eyes of the other men at the table.

My uncle folds his hands over his fat belly. “She’s welcome to hang out here. We’ve got the place until tomorrow.”

There’s no chance I’ll leave Sadie alone here with them. I have no reason to believe she’d be harmed. On the contrary, she’d get around the clock armed protection. But it’s bad enough that I even brought her here this weekend. She’s too good for them, all of them.

She’s too good for me.

“Thank you so much,” Sadie says with characteristic sweetness. “But I really need to get back to the ranch. It was a lovely weekend. Thank you for including me.”

Richie, easily charmed by a pretty face, winks at her. “Our pleasure sweetheart. And you’ll always be included. You’re family.”

“I’ll be back shortly,” I tell Richie.

He nods. “I know.”

Sadie stays close to my side as we leave the whole mafia poolside party behind.

I can feel her eyes on me on the walk to the parking lot. She’s still watching me as we leave the resort behind and drive down the mountain. Sadie never fails to jumpstart a conversation but this morning she’s nervous. She’s repeatedly tucked her hair behind her ears. She keeps touching the big diamond ring on her finger.

What I ought to do is say something reassuring. Something that lets her know the last thing I’d like to do right now is leave her.

“Did you ever get a record player?” she asks. “Elton John doesn’t like to be kept in a cardboard sleeve.”

“I did. Ordered one online.” And then I stuck the unopened box in a closet.

Sadie clucks her tongue and scrolls through her phone. “You haven’t listened to it, have you? Never mind. I’m going to play you a sample whether you want to hear it or not.”

After listening to the first thirty seconds I say, “I don’t recognize this one.”

“Someone Saved My Life Tonight. Not his most well known song but it’s always been one of my favorites.”

The song isn’t short. I’m too preoccupied to listen to the lyrics but I don’t hate the tune.

Sadie waits until the song is finished and switches off the music. She rubs her hands nervously on her jeans.

“Cale,” she says. “Can you just tell it to me straight if you have regrets about last night?”

“No regrets at all,” I reply in an instant. I take her hand off her knee and kiss it. “Not even close.”

She smiles. But it looks like it takes some effort. “You seem like you’re worried about something.”

She’s not wrong. It has little to do with the upcoming mission. I’m not looking forward to it but it’s nothing I haven’t done before.

Today when I woke up with Sadie in my arms, I felt a moment of incredible happiness before everything kind of crystallized.

I’ve bought a lamb into a wolf pack. And I had no right to do this, to entice Sadie into a deal that would force her to lie to everyone she knows and sit at a dinner table with deranged mobsters.

“Last night was the best night of my life,” I say to her.

This is one hundred percent true.

“Mine too,” she says and now she’s smiling for real.

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