Page 32 of Spotlight
Freddie next to me is taking a drink from his beer and coughs. His cheeks turn pink.
“Are you okay?” I ask him.
“Fine.” His tone has a little grit to it as he blushes and sneaks an embarrassed glance at Sadie.
“A bad first impression isn’t a deal breaker,” she says with no hint of recognition that I meant Freddie. In fact… I’m not just talking about him.
“Good to know. How does he recover?” I ask.
She takes a second to consider it. “At our core, women just want to be acknowledged and recognized for who we are individually. Everything is so surface level nowadays. Ask her questions, show an interest in getting to know her. Most men, and even other women for that matter, barge in with their own agenda and unless it magically matches my energy we never connect.”
Well shit. I’d expected a noncommittal reply about complimenting her hair or some shit. Sadie doesn’t strike me as vapid, but I wasn’t ready for her to drop reality bombs either.
“That’s a real fucking good answer,” I say as I think back to my last few encounters with Olivia. I’ve been so certain that we had this great connection that I jumped right in like we were going to pick up where we left off. Clearly, that hasn’t worked.
“Thank you.” She beams. “Who’s the girl?”
“Am I that obvious?”
“Let’s just say if you were hitting on me the past hour, you’re doing a terrible job.”
I bark out a laugh. Freddie snickers too.
“I can help more if I know the full details.” She crosses one long leg over the other and leans forward.
So, I tell her everything. Or a lot of it anyway. About New York, and then running into Olivia now.
“Maybe she’s seeing someone else. It’s been months.” Freddie finally finds his voice.
The idea of Olivia dating someone else makes me scowl. “I don’t think so.”
“Are you sure?” Sadie asks. “That’s actually a good point.”
“Thank you.” Freddie is loosening up and blushing less. I’m glad my misery could bring them together.
“I don’t think that’s it.” Olivia doesn’t seem like the type to keep that to herself. If the reason were that simple, she’d just say so.
“Have you asked her?” Sadie’s brows lift as she questions me.
“Of course. She says she isn’t dating at all right now.”
“That’s bullshit,” Freddie says, then looks at Sadie. “Right?”
She preens at him. “Yes,butthere’s a story there. Figure that out and you’ll be closer to figuring out what the real problem is.”
The conversation shifts after that. Freddie seems to have gotten comfortable, but while they switch topics, I’m stuck on Olivia. Seems to be a common problem lately.
“I think I’m going to head out.” I elbow Freddie. “You good?”
“Yeah. Are you?” He briefly studies me, then glances toward the inside of the club as if to remind me of Olivia.
“Fantastic.” I grin. “See you tomorrow.”
We bump fists and I stand.
Sadie smiles softly. “Good luck.”
“Thank you.”
