Almost every game came down to two final competing teams—Sadie and me versus Melinda and Drake. The party had gone from being boring to being the best time I’d had in months, if not years. Sadie and I wiped the floor with them in several games, and they bested us in others. It came right down to the wire as to who would be declared winners of the night.
I had taken my tie off long ago. Sadie’s shoes had disappeared sometime during the Pictionary round. People were cheering and choosing sides. Even the bartenders and waitstaff were watching intently as we faced off in the final round. We were playing Trivial Pursuit and were basically tied. Whoever rolled the die to the right number and landed in the middle would be asked one last question that would either keep the game going or decide the entire night’s competition.
I held the die for Sadie to blow on and then rolled. She jumped up and down when it landed on the exact right number for us to move our game piece to the middle of the board.
Melinda and Drake were looking nervous. Drake had tied his tie around his forehead so he would ‘look more like a warrior,’ and Melinda looked a little sweaty from jumping around and cheering. “What’s their worst category?” I heard Drake whisper to Melinda.
“History,” Melinda said. “They’re still good at that one, but notasgood.”
“We can do this,” I said to Sadie.
She grinned up at me. “You bet your ass we can.”
It was just like old times, and my heart swelled at how normal everything was between us. How we could fall back into who we used to be together even after all these years.
“Okay, here’s the question,” Drake intoned. His voice started out strong and loud but faded as he realized what the question was about. By the time he reached the end of the question, he looked a little pale and couldn’t look us in the eyes. “Who did Prince Charles of Great Britain have an affair with while married to Princess Diana?”
Damn. Neither of us wanted to be reminded of affairs or people cheating on each other. For obvious reasons. I looked quickly at Sadie. The smile had fallen from her beautiful face, and I watched as she swallowed hard. “Camilla Parker Bowles,” she answered flatly, not looking at me.
Many of the people in the room went wild, not realizing the history between Sadie and me. Everyone else grew quiet as the levity and fun seemed to be sucked from the event hall.
Melinda recovered first. “We lost fair and square,” she announced with a big, forced smile. “The winners, Sadie and Harrison, have won this incredible gift basket full of all kinds of goodies. Thank you for coming tonight, everyone! There’s still plenty of food, and the bar will remain open for another hour. Enjoy yourselves and be sure to pick up a smaller gift basket on your way out this evening.”
When I turned to look at Sadie, it was as if all the noise in the room stopped and it was just the two of us. I didn’t know what to say and neither did she. So, we found ourselves just staring at each other in the center of the room.
“Affairs are so awful,” I heard an older woman say behind us as she picked up a gift basket. “They have such long reaching consequences and affect so many more people than just the people involved. A person has to be incredibly selfish to have an affair,” she concluded.
“Among other things,” her husband agreed.
I thought about what my cheating on Sadie had done to our friend group and our families. Hell, even our small town. Everyone had picked sides, and nothing had ever been the same.
The familiar feeling of shame caused my cheeks to darken and my stomach to roil. I would never escape the fallout from what I’d done. Never. I swallowed hard and met Sadie’s eyes. I thought I saw moisture there, and I worried that she was trying not to cry.
I opened my mouth to say something, but she held up her hand to stop me. “Tonight was fun. You can have the gift basket.”
Then she hurried away from me and out the building just as one of my old teachers grabbed my arm to speak to me. “Harrison! It’s so good to see you and Sadie back together. I always did think the two of you were perfect as a couple.”
“Thank you,” I said, distracted. I tried to keep my eye on Sadie, hoping I could catch her before she left. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to grab her real quick before she leaves.”
I didn’t wait for a response, just started jogging for the door. I made it out to the parking lot, looking right and left. By the time I saw her car, it was too late. It was pulling out of the lot. For a brief second, I thought about getting in my car and following her, making her talk this out.
But then I thought of what my therapist would say. He would insist that she needed me to respect any space or distance she put between us. I’d hurt her terribly, and I had to remember that it was her decision whether she wanted to have anything to do with me or not. I sighed and massaged my temples. I couldfeel a migraine coming on, probably brought on by the intense competition.
Or maybe it was just a side effect of heartbreak.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Harrison
Sadie had brought a date to the wedding rehearsal and dinner. I sat in the pew waiting for the wedding planner to get to a part of the rehearsal where I was needed. Right now, she was going over the order of the ceremony with the preacher, the vocalist, a couple of Melinda’s friends who were reading scripture, and so on. It seemed to be taking forever.
And the only ones in the whole church who didn’t appear bored were Sadie and her date. He was a handsome fucker. He was tall and muscular with blond hair and blue eyes. He and Sadie seemed incredibly comfortable with each other. They were talking a little too loudly, laughing, and I was pretty sure I’d seen him trying to arm wrestle her, which was weird dating behavior, but whatever. I couldn’t take my eyes off them.
She looked so damn happy. It made me feel like a selfish bastard that I wished all those happy, genuine smiles she was giving him were directed at me. After the wedding tomorrow, I’d probably never have the chance to earn one of those smiles again. I got the strong sense that Melinda and Drake would rarely be inviting Sadie and me to the same events anymore once this was over. Our friends had closed ranks to protect her from me, and that was fine. The wedding and all the parties surrounding it had been a brief respite from that, and I wasn’t sure if it had been a good thing or a bad thing for her.
It had been both for me. It was good because I loved being around her. It was bad because I was reminded even more of what I’d lost and how unlikely I was to ever find something so great again.
Drake came and flopped down in a chair beside me. “Is it terrible that I can’t wait for all of this to be over with?” he whispered.
