Page 11 of The Wayward Son

He laughed. “Romance. With Skittles.” Never in a million years would the idea ever have crossed his mind. Until she showed up at his door in a wedding dress. He shook his head. “She needs your friendship and support. That’s all.” He sighed. That hair though. Her hair was incredible.

Chapter four

"Am I that predictable?"

After a long, hard day at the gym, Sawyer went home and found Jade in the kitchen. She was sitting at the table eating a ham sandwich and drinking a beer. There were several bags on the table next to her. Some with groceries, and some from clothing stores. It appeared she had a successful day of shopping.

She smiled when he came in. “Welcome home.”

He took a bottle of water from the refrigerator and sat down across the table from her. “Looks like you had a good day.”

“Probably a lot more fun than yours. Until it wasn’t.”

He took a long drink of water. “What happened?”

“I finally answered Seth’s phone call.”

“He’s been calling?”

She set down her sandwich. “Can I make you a sandwich? Or something else?”

“Jade, tell me what happened with the phone call.”

She leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. “I shouldn’t have answered it.”

“Was he being an asshole?”

“No. The opposite, actually. He apologized. Said he made a mistake.”

“He wants you back?” The thought of that bothered Sawyer. It’d only been a couple of days, but he liked having Jade back in his life.

“So he says.”

Sawyer hesitated before asking his next question. “And what do you want?”

Jade sat up straight and picked up her sandwich. “Not him.”

“Are you sure?”

“One hundred percent. Being here with you, I feel like I’m coming out of a two-year fog. I have no desire to wade back into that mess.”

Sawyer drank some more water. “I’m glad to hear it.” He truly was. He wanted to spend more time getting to know Jade as an adult. A woman who had survived a traumatic childhood.

She cocked her head. “You are?”

“Yeah. I’m glad you showed up on my doorstep. Until the other night, I didn’t realize how much I missed you.”

“Aww.”

“How’d you leave the conversation?”

“I was trying to be amicable. But then, I got pissed off.”

“What’d he say?”

“It’s not what he said. It was where he was calling from. He went on our honeymoon. He was in Vegas. I could hear the slots going off in the background. He went on our honeymoon and was having a grand old time in Vegas. How upset could he havebeen? ‘I made a mistake. I’m sorry. But in the meantime, I guess I’ll catch a show and play some Blackjack.’”

Sawyer shook his head. “Jerk.”

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