Page 37 of Love is a Game

“Ah, preemptive tears. Smart, just get them out of the way now.”

That got another chuckle out of her and she nodded, wiping at her nose. “You know me, always the overachiever.”

“It’s true,” he agreed.

She swallowed and her eyes dropped to the handkerchief in her hand. Was she supposed to give it back to him? His initials were embroidered in the corner in swirling letters that looked professionally sewn. It was too nice of a thing to keep, but it was too gross to hand it back.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked tentatively.

She looked up and blinked. “What? Oh. It’s just a work thing. Nothing to cry about really.”

He looked like he wanted to press her for more, but instead he slapped his hands on his knees and stood. “Okay, I think you need to take a break. Grab your stuff. I was just about to close up anyway.”

“Wait, what? I’m not done here,” she began, grabbing desperately at the papers in front of her.

“Come on, Sadie. You’ve been working a lot and spending way too much time bugging me here. Time for a break.” He stood in the doorway and gestured for her to stand up but she didn’t move. “You can come back to it tomorrow,” he promised in a voice that was teasing but gentle.

He wasn’t wrong. She’d been giving the hotel project most of her free time. Clearly, it was getting to her if she was having breakdowns in public. She didn’t have much more to do there anyway; she could finish in another day or two. Begrudgingly, she got up and followed him.

“Are you wearing comfortable shoes?” he asked as he turned off the lights.

“Comfortable enough for what?” she asked skeptically.

“We’re going to walk to the beach.”

She looked down at her expensive loafers and grimaced. “I can walk there,” she said, “but I can’t wear these in the sand.”

He locked the library door from the inside and then held it open for her. “That’s fine,” he said with a cheeky grin. “When we get to the beach, we’ll just go barefoot.”

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d walked along the beach in her bare feet, but it felt like just the thing she needed.

The sidewalk was wide enough for both of them, but barely. She walked with one foot on the grass to widen the distance between them, and he seemed to be hugging the curb. As they turned the corner, their fingers brushed lightly against each other, and Sadie pulled her hands up to her chest, clasping them together in front of herself to avoid it happening again.

“So,” she said, a little too loudly, “you just happened to have a monogrammed hankie in your pocket?”

“Always,” he told her, his tone serious.

“Really?”

He nodded. “A carryover from the law firm. A lot of what I did was pretty run-of-the-mill stuff, but sometimes meetings could get emotional. My mentor suggested I carry handkerchiefs to ease the tension and make it seem like I cared. It looked really good in court when I would pull one out and offer it to my distressed client.”

“Hm, maybe I should bring one with me tomorrow,” she said, her voice grim.

“Are you expecting more tears?”

She hesitated, unsure of how much she wanted to tell him. “No,” she said, smiling weakly. “I was just joking.”

Across the road, the water sparkled in the evening sun. She could hear the sounds of the waves and the call of the seagulls circling overhead. Her toes suddenly felt smothered inside of her shoes and she couldn’t wait to take them off and feel the warm sand beneath her feet.

“How about some ice cream?” Andrew asked, pointing at the building beside them.

They stood in front of the old sweet shop that had been around since her parents were young. As kids, she and Julie had walked there together all the time for candy and milkshakes. It had been years since she’d gone inside. She nodded and he held the door open for her. As she entered she couldn’t help but smile at the familiar smell of sugar and soft-serve.

They both ordered chocolate cones, served up by a sullen teenage boy in the same striped-pink-and-green uniform Sadie remembered.

“Is this together or separate?” he asked as he moved to the register.

“Together,” Andrew said quickly, pulling out his wallet.