“I’m fine; it’s a…family emergency,” he replies, and I think of my dad being sick and wonder if someone in his family is ill. “And it’ll be fine. I just had to meet my brother, though—like immediately—to sort this out. I…I know that makes me an asshole. I should have gone home first and gotten my phone, but I really had to get to his office. I was thinking of you, though, and how upset you’d rightfully be, and I don’t blame you if you want to tell me to fuck off right now.”
“I won’t do that,” I reply and lean against the wall outside the coffee shop. “I believe you that this was an unexpected, unavoidable stand-up.”
“Still, I am so sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I say because I am starting to feel bad for him. “Is there anything I can do to help out with your emergency?”
“I wish,” he replies and sighs heavily. “I’ve just got…Well, my life is more complicated than I originally thought when I made the date…which is why I can’t schedule a do-over just yet.”
Wait…what?
Suddenly I feel like he’s changed his mind about me. My heart sinks, and the burn of rejection stings me, turning my cheeks red. “Oh. Okay.”
“I sincerely wish I could, Sadie.”
Is he sincere? I don’t know him well enough to recognize if he is or if he’s just good at acting like it. But my gut says this is an excuse.
“No problem,” I reply, and that burning feeling of rejection sparks my self-preservation instincts. I just want to end this call and put this failed attempt at dating behind me. “Maybe I’ll see you around a game. Take care, Griffin. It was nice meeting you.”
I hang up.
There is no point listening to him apologize or blow me off again. I don’t know what happened in his life, and he sounds like he is legitimately regretful that he can’t reschedule, but a blow-off is still a blow-off. It still sucks. I delete his number from my phone before calling a Lyft. And that’s that.
6
Sadie
When I open the front door to the apartment, my goal is to slip stealthily back into my room the same way I slipped out. But the place is filled with the sound of family—plates and glasses clanging, laughter, talking and baby giggles. And the smell of my mom’s roast chicken and scalloped potatoes makes my mouth water and my stomach roar.
I glance into the kitchen, where Mom is standing at the stove, Zoey’s tossing a bowl of salad, and Winnie is slicing up chicken. Jude pops his head out of the dining room, sees me and walks into the hall. He’s got a smiling, gurgling Declan in his arms. I hate that my heart explodes when I see this—every time—and I want to hug Jude. Braddock siblings show love by annoying the crap out of each other and teasing each other mercilessly. This kid has thrown off our natural dynamic…. But he’s too damn cute to be mad at.
“Give me that chubby-cheeked nugget,” I demand and drop my purse on the floor as I reach for him. Jude hands Declan over, and I immediately nuzzle my face into the crook of his neck, inhaling his perfect baby smell and the silky feel of his baby skin on my cheek. Declan giggles.
“Why are you here?” Jude asks.
“Because I live here, genius,” I snark and make a silly face at Declan.
“Yeah, but Dix said you were out for the night,” Jude replies, and I glance over his shoulder and into the kitchen. Dixie is staring back at me with disappointment.
“I was hoping you’d be gone all night,” she says with melancholy in her voice.
“You thought I was going to go from coffee to nudity in one night?”
“I would,” Winnie adds as she walks by us in the hall and into the kitchen. I follow, frowning.
“Do not start talking about your love lives in front of—”
“Declan is too young to understand,” I interject.
“I was going to say in front of me,” Jude replies.
Zoey laughs at him and runs a hand over her son’s head as I pass by with him and head into the dining room to sit down. “Who were you on a date with?”
My eyes fly to my sisters, and I give them the loudest DO NOT SAY A WORD glare I can. They both snap their mouths shut at the same time. “Just someone I met at the hospital. It was no big deal. Not really a date. Super casual. Anyway, he had a thing and ended up having to cancel.”
The energy in the room shifts so fully and completely, like air being let out of a balloon, that I can feel it. Every face staring back at me is wearing various degrees of disappointment. “Jeez, family, it’s not the end of the world. Don’t worry, you’ll marry me off one day. Jude has enough money to pay someone to take me.”
“Oh, honey. Chill,” my mom says, and it makes the rest of her kids snicker. “We don’t want to marry you off. It’s just nice to think you’re getting out and meeting new people. You used to be such a social butterfly in Toronto. All you do now is work and hang out with us. We’re boring.”
