Page 75 of Promise Me

HUDSON

I want what you just said, to move forward and be happy again.

I was hoping you’d do it with me.

Sadie’s words have played over and over in my head like a broken record since she said them last night. Obviously, I’ve been living, but since the day she showed up and decided she was going to crash in my bedroom, things have been different. I’m not going to get all cliché and say that I wasn’t living before her, but damn, I sure as shit didn’t look forward to each morning the way I do now.

And that says more than I’m ready to admit.

“You should put me on the schedule.”

I slowly raise my gaze from one of the sinks I’m filling before I open the bar to meet Sadie’s eyes. She’s rising from her window chair and walking toward me. The morning sun is at her back, giving her a glow that hits me right in the chest. This is becoming my favorite view of her.

She’s beautiful.

“Schedule for what?” I ask, pulling my attention away from the way her entire face lights up as she smiles at me.

“To bartend.”

I chuckle. “I know we missed a lot of years, but I’m pretty sure you’ve never been a bartender.”

“No, not that I recall either, but you know, it’s a little fuzzy in a few areas.”

I cast a look her way. Her comment isn’t funny, not to me anyway, but the way she’s grinning at me makes it hard not to reciprocate the emotion.

“If you want to work, you can always go back to the bakery,” I tell her. I don’t really want her to go. I like looking up during the lunch shift to see her reading. I like having her close. Which is exactly why I won’t argue with her if she chooses to go back to work.

“I don’t want to go the bakery. I want to be here.” She opens her arms wide. “There is just something about this space.”

I’ll admit, when I set out to open this place, I wanted it to be refreshing and bright and give people a sense of relaxation. The windows really help, and I can see why she wanted this place the way I did.

But it still stands that it might be time for Sadie and me to get a little space during the day.

I can’t do anything with the attraction I feel toward her, so yeah, space is smart.

Instead of waiting for me to reply, she walks to the other side of the bar, hovers her hand over the bar top, and lets her fingers glide against it until she reaches the entrance. She steps through and grins at me.

I toss my towel over my shoulder, cross my arms, and lean my hip against the lower counter. Her hair is braided to the side, and she’s wearing a white and purple sundress that’s tied on the top of each shoulder. You’d think she’d pair it with some strappy sandals, but not Sadie—she’s all about the white sneakers.

“What are you doing?” I ask when she gets so close that I swear she can hear the way my heart is pounding.

“Waiting for you to teach me how to bartend.”

I glance at my watch. We don’t open for another half hour. Everything is basically ready, and the things that aren’t don't need to be prepared until right before the door is unlocked. I let out a sigh as she claps.

“I knew you’d cave for me.”

I hitch a brow at her, and she rolls her eyes.

“Oh, stop, you knew it too.”

Yeah, I fucking knew it, too, but I don’t need her to know it. It’s best if the two of us just keep on pretending that we don’t feel a pull toward the other.

Denial.

It’s been working this far. I need her to keep going along with it.

Especially after the ice rink.

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