Page 34 of Searching for Sadie
She gave a little chuckle. and just like that he felt like he'd just scored a goal.
"Let's just say, it was an awful experience. I'm really not looking forward to reliving it," she said before draining her beer.
"I'm sorry you had such an awful experience. Shows like that can be vultures."
She just nodded and the darkness was back in her eyes. Fuck, he hated it so much.
"Yeah, so I left the show, was fired from my job, and I'm here... living in my great aunt's house... well I guess it's my house, but there ya have it."
"Wait, you were fired?! Because of the show?"
She nodded. "Yes, after they were supportive of my going on it, when they found out how my story line ended, they decided it wasn't a good look for the label and fired me. And gave my sister my job."
The metal spatula he was holding almost fell to the ground at the admission of all that.
"Okay... I'm going to need you to slow down and explain that a little more."
She let out another sigh as she collapsed into her chair. "Do I have to?"
"No, you don't, but I'm here to listen if you want. That all sounds pretty awful. Your sister took your job?"
"She doesn’t think she did. She thinks I left them high and dry, and she can't help it if they were in a tight spot and needed her to step in after I was the one to get her a job there in the first place."
"I'm really sorry, Sadie. That sucks."
"Thank you," she said quietly. "It does suck... but I do actually feel a little better talking about it. Dealing with it for the past couple months under an NDA has been tough. Feeling along with the dread of the show airing has been really hard."
The fact that he had allowed her a safe place to talk about it made him feel so damn good. All he wanted to do was wrap her up in a hug and protect her from what was coming, but that wasn't an option. Firstly, because there was no way to protecther from what was coming. Secondly, because that was not what a good neighbor would do, that is what a boyfriend would do. That is not what she wanted or needed right now.
"Cheese?"
"Of course, cheese," she said like he was crazy. It was a brief moment of levity in their heavy conversation.
Just then her phone dinging on the table, she snatched it up. "I'll be right back."
And just like that she was dashing back into her house.
CHAPTER 15
SADIE
The timer on Sadie's phone went off and she stood and went into her kitchen. She needed to pull her peach cobbler out of the oven. And if she was being honest with herself, that conversation was getting a little too real. But it was good practice because after tomorrow when the promo for the show started, her face would be everywhere, and next week the first four episodes would drop. Then she would find out with the rest of the world just how her story was going to play out.
When she slid open the patio door the smell of the peach cobbler filled the air. The sweet smell was enough to send her right back to her childhood and her stomach gave an approving rumble. She pulled it out of the oven and set it on the stove top to cool before heading back over to Lucas's.
Lucas. Just thinking about him made her smile, and that was hard to do these days.
As she made her way over to Lucas's house, she spied him coming out of his house carrying two plates each with a cheeseburger and a generous helping of pasta salad.
"Is everything okay?"
"What? oh yeah, this looks delicious!" she said as she sat down at the table that already had another open beer sitting for her. "Did you make this too?" She gestured to the pasta salad.
"No, my mom makes it. I bought it at the market today. It's my favorite."
They ate as the sun set, and Sadie found herself relaxing into the moment. She wasn't used to feeling this easy around new people... or any people for that matter. There was just something about Lucas that made her feel safe.
Only then did she realize he was looking at her with his head cocked to the side.
