Page 14 of Something Blue

Her breath tickled his ear, sending his nerves into overdrive. “It-it’s okay.” He closed his eyes tightly and opened them again. What the heck was happening? “My parents are over there,” he said, pointing.

Her eyes twinkled as she searched for them. “You’re making me nervous. Is something on my face?”

She reached up to touch her mouth, but he pulled her hands down with both of his. Tingles crawled up his arms, and he wanted to stand with her all night to figure out what this feeling was.

“There you are, son.”

His mom stole Sadie’s hands in a flash and pulled her away from him. A sting of air kissed his skin.

“Oh, I’m so excited to meet you, Sadie. Come join us at the table.”

Andy felt his dad’s approval grow as he studied Sadie. “These are my parents, Judy and Calvin Reed. Dad, Mom, this is Sadie.”

Sadie shook his dad’s hand and held her hand out to his mother, who pulled Sadie in for a hug instead. “We are so excited to meet you.”

Sadie gave him a wary look as they sat down, but he ignored it. No showing weakness.

His mom patted her hand across the table. “So you’re the one my son’s been keeping under wraps for two years?”

Andy draped an arm around her shoulder and gave her what he hoped was a reassuring glance. “Yep. She’s my girl.”

“So, tell me about how you two met.”

“School,” she said, before he had a chance to speak. He gave her a warning look, but she continued talking. “High school. We never talked then, but I always had a thing for him.”

“You went to Vegas Valley High also?” his dad asked.

“Yep. Go Panthers.” She raised her hands above her head in a mock cheer.

Andy smiled and eased back into his chair. Wow, this girl had done her homework. Impressive!

“Then, coincidentally, we met at the grocery store a few years ago and reconnected,” Sadie said.

“So when he was dating Jenna—”

“Yep. I knew her, too.”

Discomfort slipped into his mind and dissolved his confidence. How could she have known? Was this why she seemed familiar?

As if she knew he wouldn’t believe her, Sadie pulled out her high school identification card. “I was a bit of drama nerd, so we never ran in the same circles.”

Suddenly an image of a curly-haired princess falling from a horse came to his mind. “You were Cinderella!”

She lifted an eyebrow. “You remembered?”

He laughed, remembering. “You fell from a carriage. How could I forget? Wasn’t that senior year?”

Her cheeks filled with color and matched her dress. “You had to remember that?”

All Sadie had needed was a new look. Her curly hair flashed into his mind, and he looked over at her newly straightened hair. Both were equally nice, but the curls had given her an innocent look. He shook his head. How could he compare a gorgeous woman to a cute girl in overalls?

“I guess you don’t remember the other times we met?”

“There were other times?” He glanced at his parents as if they held all the answers, but they looked just as intrigued.

“There was this one time I was being picked on by a particularly pesky cheerleader, and you swooped in and took her away, telling her to be nicer. And then another time, my shoelaces became untied, I tripped, and all of my books flew out of my hands. Everyone else laughed, but you stopped to help me.”

He shook his head. “It must’ve been Jenna. Why don’t I remember?”

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