Page 46 of Karma's Kiss

I hear footsteps coming up behind me just as I add my last bushel of grapes. Oh thank god. There, I’ve proved myself. I’ve filled a bucket. I try to lift it—but can’t, so I set it back down into the mud and point down at it proudly. The green grapes glisten in the sun. I picked only the juiciest ones. He’s going to be impressed with me.

I didn’t expect you to actually do it, Madison!is what he’s about to say, and then we’re going to laugh and feed each other freshly picked grapes and get muddy for entirely different reasons.Wink wink.

This fantasy is so compelling I’m sad to be drawn out of it when Sawyer says, “Two more,” dropping empty metal buckets unceremoniously at my feet so that they splatter a new layer of mud on my already-ruined dress.

I close my eyes and breathe deep. Okay…this is a little elaborate. If this is some Carry Your Weight lesson, surely I’ve passed.

I blink my eyes open.

“Sawyer—” I say his name with a touch of desperation, but he’s already turned around.

“I’ll be back,” he promises brusquely, scooping up my bucket and walking away.

He’s leaving me out hereagain?!I don’t understand any of this, and worse, I’m starting to get seriously annoyed. It’s onething to put me to work. I would have had no problem standing alongside Sawyer, harvesting grapes while we chatted so long as I had a hat and maybe some water to drink! In fact, I could have probably survived without either of those things if he’d just been here, teasing me, helping me pick the best grapes, leaning in for a kiss. I don’t even care about my dress or the mud. I just want to know what’s going on.

Sawyer leaves me in the vineyard twice as long as last time. I suppose he’s giving me enough time to fill up both buckets, but I’ve worked myself into quite a rage by the time he gets back.

The buckets are filled. He can do whatever he wants with them. I’m standing cross-armed when he reaches me. If he looked at my face, he’d be able to tell how mad I am, but he’s going straight for the buckets.

Oh my god. He’s going to just ignore me again!

“Is this your idea of a joke?” I ask bitterly.

He reaches down to grab the buckets and, with a flat tone, replies, “Sorry the date didn’t live up to your expectations.”

Oh no. Not happening.

I take ahold of one of the buckets before he can leave me out here again. For a second, we struggle for ownership. Then he lets go and leaves me with its full weight; I have no choice but to let it slam back into the mud. UGH! Mud splatters onto my arms and neck. Some gets onto my face. “What’swrongwith you?!” I explode.

“What do you mean?” he asks, and his calm tone only infuriates me more.

Then he cocks his brow and props his hands on his hips like he’s oblivious to the problem. “Tell me. What were you hoping would happen here tonight? Another picnic? More flirting? Haven’t you succeeded?”

“Succeeded?What in the world are you talking about?”

He responds with a booming, sarcastic laugh. “God, you’re a good actress. Is this fake? That look in your eyes.” He points at me. “Did you practice it earlier in front of your mirror?”

A foreboding shiver of fear rolls down my spine. It’s a tingling, like every one of my body’s alarm bells are going off. “What are you talking about?” I repeat, my voice level again.

His jaw clenches, his eyes hard as steel. He comes toward me, but only one step.

“I know what you’ve been doing, Madison. You were fucking around with me for the fun of it, right? What did you and Kendra call it?” He looks off as if trying to come up with something he’s forgotten. Then he snaps. “Take Sawyer Down. Wasn’t that your plan?”

His glare is so menacing I’m tempted to cower. I’m too shocked to answer him, so he shrugs and shakes his head.

“Have a nice life, Madison.”

He leaves the two buckets of grapes forgotten at my feet and turns back in the direction he came.

“You have it all wrong!” I call after him.

His long strides don’t slow down.

“It’s not what you think!”

Then finally, just before he disappears altogether: “What am I supposed to do with these grapes?!”

It’s obvious Ms. Pink Ballet Flats has come back to haunt me. That’s the only way Sawyer would have heard about Kendra’s stupid plan. Kendra would have never blabbed about it, and I certainly didn’t.

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