Page 12 of Searching for Sadie
"I got it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, this is your welcome to Mystic Falls meal."
Another smile. That was two. How many more could he get?
They sat down at the picnic table and were soon joined by Sam and Jackson.
"And who have we here?" Jackson asked with a smile.
Lucas gave Sam a nod of greeting before turning to Sadie to see her looking up at him, her eyes unsure.
"This is Sadie. She moved into Ms. Maple’s old house," he said to them. He turned it on her and a smile came across her face again. He wouldn't count that one though... that wasn't genuine, and not for him alone. "This is Sam and Jackson."
"It's nice to meet you," Sam said.
"Welcome to Mystic Falls, how did you end up here?" Jackson asked.
"Oh... When my great aunt passed away, she left me her house... and I'm kind of in a transition right now, so I thought why not."
The way her hands fidgeted in her lap didn’t escape Lucas's notice. There was something she wasn't sharing. Plus, there was the way her curvy body drew his eye and the way her smile lit him up.
Sam cleared his throat pulling Lucas out of the dream state he seemed to find himself in when he was around Sadie. When his eyes met Sam’s, he seemed to be waiting for an answer.
"I was just asking how the job was going?"
He'd been putting in the electrical for Popstar Liam James who had just moved to Mystic Falls not too long ago.
"Oh good! It’s a lot more intense than what I'm used to. I've never helped install a whole state of the art recording facility."
At this Sadie's ears seemed to perk. She turned to him with a questioning look, so he continued.
"But I'm almost finished. Which is good because I think they just moved back the other day. They've been staying at Lexi's but I'm sure they're wanting to get into the new house."
"I'm sorry, but where did you put in a music studio?"
"Do you not know about our new celebrity in town?" Jackson asked with a smirk that he only had when he was excited to dish.
Sadie cocked her head with a questioning look on her face. "Who is it?"
"Liam James." The look on Jackson's face made Lucas smile and Sam shake his head. Sam had been a good friend of his for years. And while he was so happy he had found Jackson, they were an unlikely pair. Sam was an outdoorsy, flannel wearing guy you would suspect to run an orchard, while his husband, Jackson, was a short Black gay man who used to do drag. He tore it up at the Elbow Room, the local karaoke joint.
"Wait. He lives here?"
She looked up at Lucas with wide eyes and a grin spreading wide across her face. She was radiant. Again, he found himself wishing he could count this smile, but this one was for Liam James, not him. He wasn't jealous.
Of course he wasn't, that would be silly.
"Yeah, he is dating my sister's sister-in-law?" Sam said with his face all scrunched like he was trying to figure it out.
"I went on a walk today around the falls and I swear I saw him, but I thought I was just going crazy."
"Nope, he's a resident of our wonderful little town," Lucas said to her.
"Wow! That's amazing. And you worked on his house?"
Lucas just nodded. "I'm an electrician."
