Page 103 of Married With Lies

She’s looking at me as if I’m Superman. The first time I ever took her for a drive, when we parked by the water and I asked her to make a deal, she looked at me like I was Dracula. Her first impression would have been closer to the truth.

We’re on flat ground now and closing in on Sleepy Rock.

“I really wish you could stay,” she says. “Maybe after your trip?”

“I don’t know when my trip will be over.”

Sadie looks out the window. We’re now in the middle of the downtown center of Sleepy Rock. We’ll be at Bright Hearts within minutes.

“Sadie, do you know why I can’t stay here with you, no matter how much I want to?”

“It doesn’t matter. Hop on a plane when you can. I’ll be here.”

Her optimism kills me. Her faith in me is not justified.

We’re within sight of the gates of Bright Hearts Ranch when I pull over into the dirt.

“Baby, listen to me. I’m not leaving for some fucking business meeting. Richie has a new enemy. So now my job is to take Vinny and a couple of other guys, track this asshole down and put a bullet in his brain. That’s what I do, Sadie. That’s the kind of man I am.”

She bites her lip and looks down at her lap. “Why are you telling me this?”

“I’m not telling you anything you didn’t already suspect. Were you planning to just look the other way forever like Aunt Donna and Kiki and the rest of them?”

She shakes her head. “No, but by now I’ve figured out a thing or two about you, Cale. You don’t even want to work for Richie. I know you don’t.”

“That makes no difference.”

“Of course it does. He’s your uncle. He and Donna love you. He’ll let you go. Just leave.”

“I can’t.”

“Because you’re afraid he’ll recruit Luca, right?”

She’s perceptive. Too perceptive.

Rather than answer, I shift into drive and roll the car toward the gate of Bright Hearts. The first time I ever laid eyes on this scene I had just driven hundreds of miles with a bullet hole in my side. I remember thinking that it looked like exactly the kind of place where a carefree good girl like Sadie Wingate belonged. That fact hasn’t changed.

The only thing around here that’s changed is me.

“You can leave me here,” Sadie says. “I’d have to get out to open the gate anyway. I’ll just walk to the house.”

“I’ll drive you.”

“I said I’ll walk.”

She doesn’t sound angry. Only disappointed. And a little sad. She hops out of the passenger seat and hurries around to the back.

I set the car in park and by the time I get back there she’s already dragging her suitcase out of the trunk. She sets it down and looks up at me with a stubborn tilt to her chin.

“When will I see you again?” she says.

“I don’t know.” I really don’t.

It’s not the answer she was hoping for. With a deep sigh, Sadie pulls up the handle of her suitcase and starts rolling it behind her. She pushes one side of the metal gate open and then immediately shuts it behind her.

She turns around and faces me one final time with the barrier of the gate between us.

“I love you, Cale,” she says.

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