“Isn’t Pace in New York?”
“Yeah, Sadie really liked it and she said they did a good job of preparing her to be a teacher.”
He blinked. “You’re still talking to Sadie?”
“Duh, why wouldn’t I? She’s awesome.” Hayley gathered her purse and backpack and headed toward the door. “See you later.”
“Bye.”
The door slammed and Sam was left alone with his thoughts. He took his toolbox to the end of the hall where his mom had propped the mirror. She’d marked the appropriate spot on the wall, and he was glad to see the mirror had come with hardware.
He began measuring for placement, thinking about what Hayley had said about keeping in touch with Sadie. It had been a long six weeks since he’d last seen her. He couldn’t help but wonder how her book was going. How Rio was doing. And, of course, if she missed him as much as he missed her.
Thoughts of her were eating a hole in his gut. The end of their relationship seemed unresolved somehow. After Amanda’s betrayal he’d been left feeling shock and anger. Those feelings eventually faded as hurt and confusion took their place.
But the end of his relationship with Sadie had left him unsettled. And yes, heartbroken. The latter was self-explanatory. The former, not so much.
The garage door opened and a moment later his mom spotted him. “Hi, honey.”
“Hey, Mom. How was your day?”
“It was good. I was at the store paying bills. Your dad’s stopping for takeout from Franks on his way home. Want me to add your order to ours?”
“That’s okay. I have leftovers at the apartment.”
She leaned against a doorframe as he marked the wall. “I know I asked you to hang my mirror, but I didn’t mean for you to give up your Friday night. You’re young and free. You should be out with your friends or something.”
“Nah, I’d rather score brownie points with my mom.”
She gave him an affectionate smile. “As if you need any.”
She kept him company while he worked to hang the mirror. They talked about the business and family, Hayley’s choice of colleges. Mom had eaten lunch with Aunt Betty earlier in the day, so she caught him up on news from that side of the family.
At one point he caught sight of her sparkling ring, and of course that made him think of Sadie again. Maybe he was feeling unsettled about their breakup because he’d responded so hastily to her lie by omission. The realization came out of left field and left him feeling even more troubled.
He had overreacted. He hadn’t given Sadie the chance to explain. He refused to even consider that she could’ve had feelings for himandalso could’ve been hoping for novel inspiration. Why couldn’t both of those things be true?
“Did I lose you somewhere?”
“What? Sorry. I was distracted.” And not by the drywall anchor. He placed it and screwed it into the drywall.
“It wasn’t really important. But, honey... do you want to talk about it?”
“Talk about what?”
She pierced him with a droll look mothers everywhere seemed to have down pat.
Fine, so he was still hung up on Sadie. He hadn’t told his parents any more about their breakup than he’d told Hayley.
Not for the first time he wondered how his parents had maintained a solid relationship for so many years. For starters, his mother was a patient woman, as confirmed by her response to his dad’s awkward proposal all those years ago. She wasn’t perfect either, of course.
“How do you and Dad do it? You must fail each other from time to time. How do you keep that from sinking your relationship?”
“Oh, sweetie, of course we fail each other. Whenever that happens, we each have a responsibility to the other. The one at fault should own up to it. And the one who was wronged should give the other grace.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
She laughed. “Oh, it’s not easy at all. Sometimes I get frustrated when your dad doesn’t understand what he did wrong. And sometimes I struggle to give grace when my feelings are hurt. We don’t always get it right. But we keep trying.” Her gaze sharpened on his face. “What’s bothering you? Are you wondering what went wrong with you and Sadie?”
