SADIE
Mia had leftto take a call less than a minute ago, but I was already feeling the awkwardness of not having someone to speak to. Now that I had the cupcake tower setup, I was at a loss of what to do. Alex hadn’t said boo to me since I’d arrived, and I wished that I wasn’t so aware of him.
I was like the Police song, every breath he took, every move he made, I was watching him. Not overtly. But my eyes just kept glancing in his direction. My body was tuned to his and I could feel his presence even if I wasn’t staring at him directly.
It had been a week since he’d come over with his present and we’d hooked up. Since then, he hadn’t reached out to me and I hadn’t either. I felt like I blew it when I had the chance to speak to him because I’d just been so overwhelmed by my other senses my brain hadn’t had a chance to actually have a decent conversation with him. I’d been too distracted by how good he looked, smelled, and sounded to actually have any sort of intelligent dialogue.
I’d tried to find out why he’d done what he’d done, but his answer “to protect you” didn’t really explain the breadth of the renovation. Still, I felt like I’d missed my chance. Tonight, I’d hoped to revisit the conversation, but it seemed he was keeping his distance. And I couldn’t say that didn’t hurt. A lot.
“You were at Hannah’s birthday, too, weren’t you?”
I looked up and saw Daria St. Royce was approaching me with two women I didn’t recognize. Apparently, she didn’t remember that we’d already been introduced. It didn’t surprise me. She’d been laser focused on Alex that day, and I couldn’t say that I blamed her.
My lips curled in a polite grin as I nodded. “I was.”
The vibe at Lexi’s birthday compared to Hannah’s was completely different. At the pool party, I was barely noticed. Not a single person, except Mia, Maddox, and Hannah’s mom Lizzy had actually had a real conversation with me. Here I was on every single woman’s radar. I was being stared at as if I was Meghan Markle or Beyoncé or something. I knew the difference was because of that charity event I’d gone to with Alex.
I was as allergic to attention as I was to lying. I could feel hives breaking out and wanted to leave so badly. But Lexi had asked me to come here as a guest and there was no way that I was going to let the Desperate Housewives of San Francisco drive me to bounce early and disappoint the sweetest girl in the world. I’d stay. For at least an hour.
Sixty minutes. If I could survive an hour-long Tae Bo class, surely, I could stand in the corner of this room and not fold like a house of cards in a windstorm.
I wasn’t sure what the genetic code was for people like Charli who barely noticed when the attention was on her, but whatever it was, I didn’t have it. I’d never been comfortable being the center of attention, not that it happened that often. But even for my birthdays growing up, I insisted that no one sing Happy Birthday because I hated everyone’s eyes being on me. So instead, everyone would just yell out Happy Birthday as I blew out the candles on my cake.
My dad always told me that I’d inherited my shyness from my mom. Apparently, she’d been very introverted. My dad had a commanding presence. When he walked into a room, people noticed. Not just because of his impressive stature and movie star good looks, he just had an air of authority about him.
I was of the wallflower variety and more than happy to be in that category.
“You’re Lexi’s nanny, right?” A blonde with the body of a lingerie model and lashes so long I wasn’t sure how she was holding her eyelids open asked.
“Um, I was. Sort of.”
The brunette bombshell next to her leaned in as if I was going to tell her a secret and asked, “How did you meet Alex?”
I opened my mouth to respond as three more model-esque ladies joined the group.
Was it just me or were the walls closing in?
“Excuse me, ladies. Can I borrow Sadie for a sec?” Maddox appeared between the throng of women surrounding me like my guardian angel on roller skates.
He held out his hand and I enthusiastically grabbed it like the lifeline it was.
I walked away from the group while Maddox skated. He led us to the counter where the skates were handed out.
“Thank you,” I exhaled, happy for a moment away from the crowds.
“Let’s get you some skates.”
“Um, I don’t think…” I shook my head. I’d seen the moves that Maddox had and there was no way that I could keep up with that. He could do spins and had even thrown the girls up in the air. Not that he’d try that with me. I weighed a lot more than a five-year-old.
“It’s either skate or get thrown back to the wolves.” He tilted his head toward the area we’d just come from.
“Size six,” I quickly informed him.
He grabbed a pair of skates for me. I walked to a bench and sat down to put them on. I felt totally comfortable with Maddox. From the first night I met him, when Mrs. G was in the hospital and we went out to pizza with Hannah and Sadie there’d been an ease about him that I appreciated.
On paper, he was exactly the sort of guy that I wanted to be with. He was gorgeous, sexy, successful, age-appropriate, responsible, caring, funny, brilliant, and most importantly—from what I’d seen and heard from his ex Lizzy and Mia—available. But did I fall for him? Nope. Not this gal.
I was totally madly in love with the completely unavailable one. Good job, Sadie.
