Page 52 of Love is a Game
Andrew: Unless you think you’ll be too tired.
Sadie: No, that sounds nice. I should be getting in around six.
Andrew: I can come get you after I close up the library.
Sadie: No
Sadie: I mean, I think it would be better if I meet you somewhere.
Sadie: In case I get in late.
The last thing she needed was for her parents to watch through the curtains as she got into Andrew’s car for a dinner date. It was possible they were right about her and Andrew, but they didn’t need to know that yet.
Andrew: What’s the matter, afraid to be seen with me?
Sadie: A bit.
Andrew: In that case, we’d better go somewhere private. Meet me at Ridgeview Park at 6:30?
Private. That was her own fault.
It would probably be better that way, if she were being honest. She knew how the rumor mill could get going. And hadn’t their relationship been private all along? The two of them working alongside one another in the mostly empty library? She told him she would be there and then set her phone aside, keeping her eyes on it in case he messaged her again.
Her stomach fluttered with anxious energy. At first, she passed it off as nerves, but that wasn’t quite right. Despite her efforts to stifle her smile, the corners of her mouth pulled upward of their own accord. It wasn’t nerves. It was excitement. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this way before a date.
The next few hours dragged along. There were no more messages, but that didn’t stop her from checking every ten minutes.
When a knock sounded on Sadie’s office door, she looked up and froze. Genevieve Miller stood in the doorway with one hand on her hip.
“Ms. Miller, come in,” Sadie said, standing. “Can I help you with something?”
“Please, it’s Genevieve,” she said, dismissing her with a hand. She looked around the room, appraising it. “This seems like a small office for someone in your position.”
Sadie took a step back toward the wall as if she could make the space appear bigger. “I’m gone a lot,” she explained.
Genevieve raised an eyebrow at the chair that sat across from the desk. Sadie had brought it up from a conference room one floor below when her request for an extra chair went ignored.
“Maybe I should have had you come to me. No matter.” She sat down and crossed her legs delicately at the ankles.
Sadie didn’t move, unsure what she was supposed to do. She didn’t know if this surprise visit was good news or bad.
“Have a seat, Sadie. You’re not in trouble,” Genevieve assured her.
“Right, of course.” Sadie sat.
“The opposite, in fact. I’ve spent some time this afternoon looking over your record here. It’s very impressive. You’ve saved this company quite a lot of money, you know. Probably why Archer speaks so highly of you.”
Sadie’s cheeks colored. “I do my best.”
“I can see that. I just wonder if this is where your talents are best utilized.”
She let the sentence hang. Sadie twisted her hands in her lap, trying to think of the right response to that. If Genevieve wanted to recommend her for another position, she didn’t want to say anything to change the woman’s mind.
Genevieve leaned forward, resting her hands on her knees. “You showed a lot of initiative bringing that property to our attention. I told my team it’s worth pursuing. They’re running the numbers upstairs; you know how long these things can take, but I have a good feeling about this.”
“Really?” She tried to rein in her excitement. “I’m so glad you’re even willing to consider it.”
Genevieve sat back and smiled broadly so her perfectly white teeth showed. “If a deal goes through, that’s the kind of thing you can leverage for a new position. I’m sure there are several other departments who would be happy to have you, but I hope you’ll keep mine in mind. I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”