“It probably has more to do with bad reception out here than anything else,” she said absentmindedly, then started pulling me towards the DJ stand. What was happening?
“Uh… why are we going over here?” I whispered as the music suddenly went quiet.
“The wedding party is about to be introduced. You’ll be with Sadie.” She stopped and looked at me for a moment as if she was just remembering why that might be a bad idea. “We didn’t thinkyou were coming,” she admitted, “and we might have told Sadie that.”
Then she left me there.
Well, fuck. I scrubbed a hand over my face nervously. Me being here was going to blindside her. I started to edge my way out of the tent in the hopes no one would question why I was leaving.
And then I saw her.
I sucked in a breath. She was even more gorgeous than she’d been when we were dating. I wasn’t sure how, because I’d thought she was the prettiest girl in the world then. But now? She was lethal she was so beautiful. She had the same waterfall of blonde hair that fell perfectly down her back. Her face was more mature, as if she’d grown into it. Sadie had never been pudgy at all, but her face had thinned out. It was as if she’d lost whatever baby fat had been left, and there were angles and hollows now that made her even more stunning. Her eyes were still that perfect shade of cornflower blue. I noticed she wore more makeup now, but it looked great on her. It wasn’t over the top. It just enhanced everything perfectly.
And her confidence. She walked around and danced like she owned the place. She seemed to have lost any shyness she’d ever had. Any insecurity or self-esteem problems I had caused were clearly gone. She still looked like a nice person. But she also looked like a person who wouldn’t take any crap from anyone.
And there was a hardness to her eyes I didn’t recognize. It gave me a little chill. She seemed to look at the world warily, as if she expected people to hurt her. I closed my eyes briefly and wished I could punch myself in the face without looking like a total lunatic.
I had done that. I’d taken the sweetest, happiest girl and turned her into a cautious woman full of distrust.
I wanted to cry, and I knew I’d have more fodder for Dr. Huntsberger this coming week in therapy.
She laughed and danced over to the DJ stand with Carrie, Blair, and their husbands. Melinda and Drake had been rushed off to the side already to make a grand entrance.
Melinda’s mom lined us all up. I could tell from the look on Sadie’s face that she thought she’d be walking in solo.
“And here’s Harrison, dear,” Melinda’s mom said, pushing Sadie toward me before walking off to handle something else.
“What?” she asked, looking confused.
And then she saw me. I smiled nervously as her lips parted and her face turned pink. A collage of emotions ran across her face, and it was difficult to catch any of them it happened so fast. I thought I saw horror, disgust, anger, and a broken look I never wanted to see again. But for just a flash, I thought I saw… interest.
“I thought you weren’t coming,” she said.
“Surprise,” I did jazz hands trying to joke.
She didn’t think it was funny. She turned away from me, and I saw her take a couple of deep breaths.
“If it would be better for you if I left, I’ll do it,” I said putting my hand on her shoulder.
She jerked away from my touch as if I’d poured acid on her. That didn’t feel great. “No,” she hissed. “They can’t know that there’s any animosity between us. I don’t want our ancient history to negatively affect their joyat all. Do you understand?”
“Of course. But I don’t feel any animosity towards you Sadie…”
She snorted. “Why would you? I didn’t do a damn thing wrong. That’s all on you, bud.” With that she crossed her arms over her chest, her very nice chest, and seemed to close the discussion.
“You’re absolutely right. I’ve regretted it every day since. Itisall on me.”
She turned to look at me through narrowed eyes as if she didn’t quite believe that I was taking full responsibility for my actions.
“I’m so sorry for all the hurt I caused.”
She studied my face. “You know, I think you might actually mean that.”
“I do,” I said softly. “I completely lost myself for a while. I let sudden fame go right to my head, and I became someone I couldn’t look at in the mirror for a couple of years. But I’ve been working on myself ever since.”
She looked skeptical. “How?”
“You might not remember, but the last time I saw you I was in therapy. Well, I still am. It turned out that it was as much about you and what I’d done to you as it was about the end of my dream to play in the NFL.”
