Page 65 of The Last Dance You Saved
Filled with a craving to not only finish unraveling her but to keep her.
Chapter Twenty-two
Sadie
TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE
Performed by Boys Like Girls with Taylor Swift
My heart was racing as Ileft Rafe in search of Fallon. It wasn’t just the promises I’d made to him about our unfinished business that had my pulse hammering. It was the devastation I felt for him, and the anger I felt toward his family for the utter disregard and complete lack of compassion for what he’d been through with Lorenzo.
He’d been visibly relieved to see his security team show up, and for that I was grateful to them. I hoped they could ease some of his worries, and I would do what I could to lessen them as well. For now, that meant shadowing his daughter like he’d asked. The only thing I wouldn’t do that he’d asked was leave. I wouldn’t cut and run when he had so few people looking out for him.
When I finally found Fallon, she was with Lauren in the kitchen. I told them four of Rafe’s men had shown up, and Lauren let out a sigh of pure frustration. “And where the hell am I supposed to put them when I’ve got an entire wedding party coming?”
“Other than Sadie, no one else is on the third floor,” Fallon suggested, and Lauren tossed her an exasperated look.
“I haven’t cleaned those rooms in months.” She rubbed her forehead. “Fine. Go make up the beds, and I’ll figure out a meal for a team of people I hadn’t planned on feeding tonight.”
If Rafe hadn’t asked me to look after his daughter, if I hadn’t still been irritated with Lauren for her treatment of him, I might have stayed to help her cook. Instead, I found I needed distance before I said things I couldn’t take back and weren’t my place to say, so I followed Fallon to a linen closet on the third floor.
We worked quietly down the row of rooms past mine, making beds and wiping down surfaces.
“Where’s Maisey?” I asked.
“While all the so-called adults in my life were arguing, her mom picked her up for her lessons at the riding school. She’ll be back on Saturday to help with the wedding. Mom pays us both to act as hostesses.”
After we’d finished up the final room and headed toward the stairs, Fallon stopped, chewed worriedly at her cuticles, and then asked, “Why does Dad hate Mr. Puzo?”
I shifted, uncomfortable with being put on the spot and knowing Rafe would dislike it if I told his daughter things he didn’t want her to know. “I think you need to ask him.”
She sighed in disgust. “He won’t tell me. He treats me like I’m five instead of fourteen. That’s fine. I’ll find the answers the same way I’ve always found things out in this house.”
Worry crept through me. “And how’s that?”
Fallon grinned at me. “I’m not givingmysecrets away if you won’t give me any ofyours.”
I almost snorted because it sounded so much like her father. Negotiating deals. Negotiating relationships. “I can’t tell you anything about your dad and Lorenzo, Fallon. I’d be breaking his trust, and the little bit I’ve earned from him is on shaky ground as it is.”
“You and Dad have a thing going.”
Was that what it was? Athing? It felt enormous. It felt like a black hole sucking me into its vortex from which there would be no escape. I was a bit terrified by what I felt for Rafe. Because what I wanted with him was impossible.
When I didn’t respond, Fallon said, “I like seeing him here. Seeing him with you. He’s a different person. More relaxed. Or at least he was until Mr. Puzo showed up. Is Mr. Puzo really your cousin?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
“How can you not know?”
I told her a bit about my great-grandmother. Not the jewelry part, but the other parts of it. “My family is just trying to trace our roots.”
“My roots are really messed up,” she said. “One side of my family stole from the other and then basically made them indentured servants. I think those bad seeds were what caused Mom and Spence to fight. Uncle Adam told me Spence promised to make it right after nearly a hundred years, but that he’d died before he could. He wants me to give him half the ranch when I take over.” My surprised exhale had Fallon tilting her head toward me and saying, “I don’t believe him. I told Dad that Uncle Adam was up to no good. He and Spence had a huge argument the night Spencer died.”
“Where was your mom?”
Fallon looked away. “She hurt herself last year. A cow rammed her into a fence, and she’d been taking these hefty pain meds. They knocked her out cold.” She stopped on the stairs, hand sliding up and down the dark, lacquered wood. “I couldn’t wake her at first when they came to tell us about Spence…”
My heart fell into the pit of my stomach. She’d faced it alone? Goddamn it. No one should have to find out about losing someone they loved like that, let alone a kid.
