Page 9 of Searching for Sadie
The next morning Sadie woke up still in the guest room. As she opened the door, she still felt like a guest in this house. It was so clearly the home of a sweet old lady, not a nearly 30-year-old woman. And it definitely wasn't her style. She went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth. The room was lilac with a picture of her lilac bush outside over the toilet. Even the soap dispenser was a flower. She liked flowers as much as the next girl, but this was intense.
Still, she couldn't bring herself to sleep in the main bedroom or change anything. Surely at some point this house would start to feel like hers.
She popped a bagel in the toaster and started the coffee pot. She sat down at the kitchen table and a ball of orange fluff bumped its head against her shin. She patted him on the head as he purred.
"Hey, Georgie. How’re you doing?"
She bent down to pick him up, but he wriggled out of her grasp. He was an ‘affectionate on his terms’ kind of cat, and she could respect that.
Her phone dinged as she got up to pour her coffee.
Becca- Hey girl, what are you up to tonight? No one's talked to you in a while. Some of us are going to The Round-Up tonight. Meet us there!
Becca had been one of the girls on the show she’d been friends with. Honestly, she was friends with most of the girls. There was a part of her that felt bad for going radio silent on all of them. Maybe they could be friends again, she did feel bad for leaving the way she did. But after they wrapped filming Sadie needed to put some space between her and the show. And that was just what she’d done by moving here, literal and figurative space.
She scrolled up through all the old text messages as she sipped her coffee. There were many unanswered texts. Her castmates didn't even know she left town. Her family and a few of her close friends did, but that was it.
She turned her phone face down on the table. How had this happened? She'd gone on that awful show, been heartbroken, then kicked out of her own life. Now she was living in a house that had wonderful memories but didn't feel like her home, in a town that was charming but had nothing to really offer her.
As she took her plate to the sink she looked out the back window. It overlooked the back yard and into the woods butted up against town. When she was younger her and her sister had hiked to a waterfall when they would visit. Maybe a long walk in nature would clear her mind. It was worth a shot.
Looking at the clock on the microwave she saw it was only 10:30. She still had a whole day to kill before her and Lucas would be going to the festival. And while, yes, she did need to try and find a job here, she just couldn't bring herself to do it... so a hike it was.
About thirty minutes later she was pulling up the small gravel parking lot that sat outside of the state park outside ofMystic Falls. It was waterfall the town was named after. She grabbed the blue bottle for the seat next to her and got out.
The wind blew gently as the sun shone down on her. After a deep breath of the fresh air, a little bit of the dread that had been weighing her down fell away. Tightening her ponytail, she set off out the trail.
Before long she was under a canopy of trees. The sound of birds overhead and her own footfalls were all she could hear. With each step a little more of the weight fell away. While she was no closer to figuring out her next step, she was at least starting to feel like there might be a way out, she just needed to find it.
Her muscles started to burn as she trail's incline and she started to climb the hill. After about twenty minutes she came to a look out. There was a large rock that looked like it might be a good place to take a little breather. This trail was a giant loop, and she was almost halfway done. Sitting on the rock, she unscrewed the lid to her water bottle and took a drink. Then something caught her eye.
This spot overlooked a field and there in the middle of the meadow was a large redheaded man riding a horse... in a kilt. He looked like a relic from the past. What on earth was he doing there?He gave a horse a little kick as he disappeared into the tree line.
What on earth was that?
She took a deep breath and with another sip of water she made her way down the trail further.
After about another ten minutes she came the best view. There was a bench here that overlooked the waterfall. She sat down and took another sip from her water bottle. This is what she needed. She needed to get away from it all. The birds sang over her head, and she closed her eyes as a gentle breeze blew ruffling the leaves above her head.
The sound of voices below caused her to open her eyes. Squinting she looked harder. Two people were wading along the edge of the water down past the falls.It appeared to be a short blond woman with a full round body and a man who looked familiar. Her eyes must be deceiving her because she would swear the man looked like pop superstar Liam James. Blinking hard, she gave her head a little shake. But nope, when she opened her eyes, she would still swear the man in the water below was Liam James.
What was wrong with her? Had she fallen and hit her head and was in the woods hallucinating Jamie Fraser on horseback and a pop star in the water? That was the only explanation that made any sense. Maybe this had all been affecting her even more than she had thought and how she was spying on her dream men.
At the thought of that, her brain took another turn she wasn't quite expecting. At the thought of her dream men, her neighbor popped into her mind's eye. That was new. But there was just something about him that made her want to know more. And while she wasn’t ready for another relationship after everything, Lucas still seemed like a guy she wanted on her side.
With another sip of water, she stood up and got back on the path to finish the lap and get back to the car. By the time she pulled up to her aunt's house it was almost three. It looked like she had just enough time to eat something and get ready before she had told Lucas she would be ready to go.
If she was honest with herself, there was a part of her that wanted to cancel and hole up back in the window seat, listen to some Dolly, and feel bad for herself. But if Dolly had taught her anything, it was that she needed to get up and dust herself off. As hard as it seemed, that was exactly what she planned on doing.
She got everything she needed for a shower and made her way into the bathroom. As she got the water running, she staredat the pink crochet flower that was used to disguise the extra toilet paper. Her aunt may have been a cliche of an old lady, but she did it all the way. That was how she'd always been. She liked what she liked no matter what people thought about it. And while yes, she was the little old lady on the block who taught piano lessons and handed out Werther’s caramels, she was also took Sadie to see her first punk band. If her aunt was anything, she was eclectic and unabashedly herself. Sadie could use a little of that right now.
What advice would her aunt give her? As Sadie stepped into the shower she could help but think about that. She was sure she wouldn't want her holed up in this house hiding and being miserable, but sometimes hiding and being miserable felt good. But she knew her aunt would tell her to wallow if she needed, but she would encourage her to get out there. This house and this fresh start could be good for her; she just needed to find her way through all this.
The clock told her she had about ten minutes before Lucas said he would be here as put on the finishing touches of her make-up. While she evaluated herself in the mirror there was a knock at the door. She checked the time on her phone to make sure she was right. Yep, she still had ten minutes. Lucas was early.
She made her way quickly down the stairs, stopping for one last look in the mirror before opening the door. She wasn't sure what she was expecting. She'd only seen him when he'd gotten off work, but before her stood a tall strapping blond man with a well-groomed beard, big broad shoulders, and flowers in his hand.
"What's this?" she asked, a bit surprised.
