ALEX
The sun was shining brightlyas I drove out from the underground parking garage of my building. Never in my life would I have thought I’d be so excited to go to a kid’s birthday party, but as I headed to Pacific Heights to celebrate Maddox’s daughter Hannah’s fifth birthday, I couldn’t be happier.
“Can we listen toFrozen?” Lexi requested from the back seat.
“Absolutely, Nugget.” Not even listening to “Let it Go” for the thousandth time could dampen my mood.
The past week had been challenging, to say the least. It had given me an entirely new appreciation for single parents. Technically, I was one, but the truth was I’d had Mrs. G’s help from the beginning. This week, it had been just me.
I hadn’t gone into work opting to stay home with Lexi, instead. I had that luxury. Most single parents didn’t. I’d put out one fire after another and doing it all from home. Lexi was a great kid, but she did not understand the concept of not interrupting me while I was on a call or Zoom meeting.
I needed to hire someone. Yesterday, I’d tried to tell Mrs. G that she was officially retired, but I’d chickened out. I knew that it was a conversation that needed to happen, sooner rather than later. I just couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to her. I was having a hard enough time dealing with the guilt I had already.
The doctors had all assured me that Mrs. G’s heart was a ticking time bomb, and so was the clot in her leg. They said that her activity level may have saved her life because she got so much cardio running after Lexi. If she’d been less active, she may not have survived.
I wasn’t sure I believed what they said about that, but I did know that one person had made all the difference in the world.
Sadie. Her quick actions saved Mrs. G’s life, there was no doubt about that. Calling emergency help and then performing CPR had made all the difference. Not only that, but she’d stayed in the hospital with Lexi until Maddox came to get her.
After she came to visit Mrs. G, I’d sent flowers thanking her for all she’d done, but that didn’t seem like enough. I wanted to do more but was having a difficult time coming up with what that more should be.
I told myselfthatwas the reason I’d been so preoccupied with her. All week, she’d been the last thing I thought about before I fell asleep and the first thing I thought about when I woke up. And she’d monopolized the vast majority of my waking hours, too.
I’d rationalized my obsession with her by contributing it to needing to thank her properly and not knowing how. It had nothing to do with the fact that I hadn’t seen her since she stopped by the hospital.
The treadmill in my home gym had replaced the city streets for my morning runs so I hadn’t been able to witness her frazzled morning walk down the steps to the bakery. Since I hadn’t been going into work I hadn’t been stopping by on my way to the office.
I’d thought about stopping by with Lexi, who had been talking about Sadie nonstop. But I didn’t want her to get attached to the woman that wasn’t going to be in our lives. I figured one of us being attached was enough.
If I was being honest with myself, I’d have to admit that I missed her. I missed her smile. I missed the way she scrunched her nose when she was concentrating. I missed the way tiny tendrils of hair would escape her bun or ponytail and fall around her face. I missed the way her eyelashes fluttered and a blush rose on her cheeks when I spoke.
Thankfully, I’d gotten really good at not addressing my feelings. And I had no problem lying to myself so I didn’t have to face any of those things. I just pushed them down and ignored them. But she was still there. She was always in the back, and hell front and sides, of my mind.
Today would be a nice distraction.
For the next three hours, I wasn’t going to think about work, about Mrs. G, about the media attention around the fucking Most Eligible Bachelor, which hadn’t died down nearly as much as I’d hoped, and I wasn’t going to think about Sadie Burke.
The last one was going to be the most difficult, but I was determined to enjoy spending time with my friends, being outdoors on a bright sunny day, and celebrating Hannah Banana’s birthday.
“Can we listen to it again?” Lexi asked from the back seat when the song finished for the third time.
“We’re here,” I announced, relieved that I didn’t have to listen to it repeat.
As we approached the side gate, I heard music playing, voices, kids giggling and splashes from the pool. Lexi ran out in front of me giggling with excitement.
This was exactly what I needed. No work. No stress. No hospitals. No Sadie.
I’d no sooner thought her name when I heard Lexi shout it out. “Sadie!”
I looked up and sure enough, Sadie was standing across the backyard beside a cupcake tower. Today, she was wearing a white shirt with the Sweet Temptations logo on the chest and jeans that molded to her generous curves. Those curves had haunted my dreams, both day and night, from the first time I’d seen them.
I watched as Lexi ran across the yard and threw her arms around Sadie’s waist. Sadie smiled widely down at my daughter and the sight chipped away at the cement block that had been housing my heart. She was so nurturing, so sweet with her. The two of them seemed to have formed quite a bond.
Lexi hadn’t stopped talking about her new friend. I’d actually gotten some new info on her. Sadie had a three-legged cat named Achoo, who had originally been named Poppi but who only answered to Achoo because when Sadie’s best friend Charli rescued her, she found out she was allergic to cats and sneezed anytime she was near her. Sadie also had a bulldog named Eeyore who was named after the popular Winnie the Pooh character for his melancholy demeanor. Sadie’s favorite food was pizza and she loved coloring and playing tic tac toe.
Those last two facts I took with a grain of salt. I was pretty sure she’d probably just said those things to keep Lexi occupied during their long wait in the hospital.
As I watched her wide smile, her long hair blowing in the breeze, heard her sweet voice talking to my daughter, something cracked in my chest. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Like there was some sort of weight sitting on it.
This was why I’d made an excuse not to go to the bakery this week every time Lexi had asked. This feeling I was getting in my chest was the reason why.
I felt a slap on my shoulder and turned to see Maddox offering me a Heineken. “Hope you don’t mind I asked my new friend to cater the party.”
Nick stepped on the other side of me and flung his arm around my shoulders. The two men were flanking me. “Soooo…” He tilted the neck of his beer toward Sadie. “This is the famous Cupcake Girl.”
It looked like this afternoon was not going to go as I’d planned.
