Page 48 of Breaking the Rules of Love

I wince. “That had to be awkward.”

“Awkward doesn’t evenbeginto describe it,” Sadie replies. “I took a break from men, but then a couple of years later, Howard gets back in touch and wants to ‘catch up’ with me.”

“Ah, I see,” I laugh. “And you did?”

“I did.” She sighs again, shaking her head with obvious regret. “One thing led to another, and we got back together again.”

“He gotcha.” I smirk.

“He got me,” Sadie says angrily, looking like she’d enjoy tossing her coffee mug against the wall.

“And you figured that after these dickheads, Howard might not be so bad?” I ask.

Sadie nods and flicks a finger at me. “Exactly!”

“But that clearly wasn’t the case.”

She shrugs and kind of shakes her head. “It was at first. He played the goodie-two-shoes role and got me to fall for him. He proposed. Got me a beautiful ring and everything.”

Sadie takes another sip of her coffee. Her face is all red again. She looks ready to boil over.

“And then what happened?” I ask.

“Well, once we were married,” she says, her voice taut and filled with anger, “he emptied our joint savings account and ran off to Vegas with mybest friend, Tiffany.”

And then it hits me.

Tell her Howard and Tiffany say hi, and that Tiffany’s pussy is way tighter than hers ever was…

“Because as it turns out,” Sadie continues, “Howard has amassivegambling problem. Even the ring he proposed to me with was a fake.”

The weight of what Sadie just told me hits me like I’ve gone through it all with her. I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and protect her from all these men who have hurt her. Especially Howard.

“Jesus, Sadie.” I shake my head and go stand beside her. “I’m so sorry.”

She takes a sip of her coffee and looks up at me, her eyes watery from the tears starting to form.

“And that’s why I have to work this job,” she explains. “Where all the girls are younger than I am and just trying to make some money for college. ButI’mjust fighting to keep from losing my house.”

I’d help her keep this goddamn house if she would let me in instead of just pushing me away. But I am making progress. When we first met, there’s no way Sadie would have ever have told me any of this.

“I also didn’t grow up with any brothers,” she adds. “I just sorta said that in the moment…”

“You know, I may look like Mr. Perfect,” I tease, leaning in with a grin, “but things haven’t always gone just right for me either.”

Sadie looks up at me, and I see a hint of curiosity in her eyes. “Oh, yeah?”

“That’s right,” I nod, swallowing hard. “See, I used to be married too. In fact, I had a daughter until–”

“No!” Sadie blurts out, straightening up and setting her coffee down.

“No, what?” I ask.

“We can’t be doing this,” she exclaims. “This is too far. You wanted to know about where my rule came from, so I told you. But we can’t get intothis…sharing our entire lives with each other.”

“Sadie–”

“What I’ve done could already be considered breaking my rule,” she says as she brushes past me, padding back to the bedroom. I can hear her voice calling back to me. “And I can’t do that!”

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