Page 58 of One Little Indiscretion

Ten

“Sadie, I wasn’t expecting you.”

Even via the intercom, Sadie heard the note of displeasure in Beth’s voice. Her friend had never been a fan of people dropping by unexpectedly.

But tough. Beth had messed with Sadie’s life and she wasn’t going to make a damn appointment to set Beth straight.

Sadie ran her hand over her head. She’d pulled her hair back into a ponytail, a style that made her look harder, older and tougher. She’d kept her makeup simple and this morning, after a sleepless night alternating between tears and anger, she’d slicked her lips in a shade of red lipstick that should be called don’t-mess-with-me-today.

Sure, she was sad, hurt, but damn, she was also beyond pissed. With Beth, with Carrick, with her life.

Both Beth and Carrick, people she should be able to trust, had let her down. Sadie had never felt more adrift, lost. Was there ever going to be a time when she didn’t feel so alone? Would she ever have someone to stand with her, her very own soft place to fall?

Right now she couldn’t imagine that, couldn’t envision a future with anyone but Carrick.

But a future with Carrick wasn’t going to happen.

Her family had disappointed her by believing Dennis over her. Beth hadn’t listened when Sadie told her to butt out of her life. And Carrick couldn’t trust her.

Well, on the plus side she still had Hassan. God, why hadn’t she listened to him?

“It’s early, Sadie, and I’m not dressed,” Beth said.

Weak excuse. “Beth, I’ve seen you in your pj’s before. Open the damn door.”

“Why are you here?”

“Oh, because you and I need to have a chat about how you deliberately gave Finn the impression that I was going back to France. You knew he would tell Carrick. You ambushed my relationship, Beth. Open the damn door.”

Beth muttered a curse. “Give me ten minutes and I’ll come down.”

“I’ll give you five minutes and if you don’t let me in, I will lean on your doorbell until you do.”

Beth didn’t reply so Sadie presumed she’d agreed. If that door didn’t click open in five, she would use the emergency key Beth had given to her years before, the key Beth had probably forgotten about.

Sadie hadn’t and she was prepared to use it. But she still had five minutes to kill. Pulling out her phone, she stared down at the screen and dialed a number. She was in the mood to kick ass and it wasn’t like she had anything to lose. The video call rang and then, for the first time in years, she saw her mom’s face on the small screen.

“Sadie, are you okay?” To her credit, her mom’s voice was threaded with a ribbon of fear. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m fine, Mom. Is Dad there?” Sadie asked and then she saw her dad’s face over her mom’s shoulder, anxiety in his eyes, too.

“Hey, pumpkin.”

Sadie narrowed her eyes at him. He’d lost the right to call her by her childhood nickname when he’d chosen Dennis over her. “I just called to tell you that I’m super-pissed at both of you. I am beyond hurt.”

Two mouths dropped open in shock. Yep, bet they hadn’t thought they would start off their Friday morning with a lecture from their estranged daughter.

Well, life, as she could tell them, didn’t always go as planned.

“When my marriage fell apart, I needed you. I needed you to believe me when I told you how badly Dennis treated me. I needed your love and support. But you sided with him. You chose to believe a man you hardly knew instead of believing me.”

“The things you said, they were, are, difficult to believe...”

Her mom’s excuse made her temper bubble and pop. “Mom, I’ve never been a liar. And it’s your job to stand by your kids. If my daughter ever comes to me and tells me that her husband is treating her like crap, I will take him on, no questions asked. My loyalty will be, forever and always, to my child. I will not disappoint her...or him. My child will always, always know that I have his back. You did not have my back. You still don’t.”

They were both making fish mouths, gulping in air. Sadie wasn’t sure their silence was from shock or because she’d finally had the guts to confront them, to tell them how unhappy she was with their behavior. It didn’t matter; she’d needed to clear the air, to express her disappointment. She didn’t know if she’d have a relationship with them again, but that was okay. She’d needed to confront them, to stand up for herself.

Because if she couldn’t stand up for herself, she’d never be able to stand up for her child.

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