Page 57 of Love is a Game

“Hey!” Sadie elbowed her.

“Back then,” Julie repeated, laughing. “You’re supercool now, don’t worry.”

Sadie rolled her eyes. “Oh good, what a relief.”

“So,” Julie said in an overly casual voice, “have you kissed anyone lately?”

Sadie shook her head. “Not Andrew, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Julie sat up on her elbow so she could see Sadie’s face. “Really?” she asked, sounding disappointed.

“Really.”

She flopped back onto the pillow with a sigh. “I totally thought there was something going on between you guys. The way you two were looking at each other during that poker game, I thought you were going to jump across the table and start making out right in front of everyone.”

Sadie snorted. “Yeah, because that sounds like something I would do.” She turned to face her sister, suddenly indignant. “Wait a minute—did you invite me over because he was going to be there?”

“You’re just figuring that out now?” Julie asked, smirking. “Geez, Sadie, you’re supposed to be the smart one.”

“Don’t say that.”

Julie ignored her. “Honestly, it worked out even better than I planned. I wasn’t expecting you to run to my house.” She narrowed her eyes at Sadie. “Are you really telling me that you two left my house that hot and bothered and nothing happened on the ride back to Mom and Dad’s?”

Sadie swallowed and looked back up at the ceiling. She had thought something happened. Not what Julie was implying, but she was sure things had changed between her and Andrew that night. Clearly, she’d been wrong. “Sorry to disappoint. Anyway, I thought you said you weren’t going to try to set me up anymore.”

“I said I wouldn’t try to set you up with anyone else,” Julie explained. “I didn’t say I wasn’t going to keep trying to set you up with Andrew.”

Sadie shook her head and felt Julie curl into her even more. She couldn’t be mad about her sister’s meddling. She knew it came from a good place.

“I did think something might happen between us,” she confessed, “but it turns out he was just trying to protect the Cypress. I don’t think he was ever really interested in me.”

The realization had hurt more than anything else. What was worse was that he had warned her. Weeks earlier, he’d told her he was only nice to her because he wanted her help. Maybe he’d thought if he got close to her he could talk her out of making her proposal to Maddox. When that wasn’t going to happen, he’d settled for getting her help with his landmark application. Meanwhile, she’d foolishly let herself think he actually liked her.

“Are you sure about that?” Julie asked. “It doesn’t really sound like him.”

“Well, when I told him I couldn’t help him with his landmark application he was pretty upset, which wasn’t totally unexpected,” Sadie told her, “but afterward, I texted him a few times asking if we could talk, and he never responded.”

“Oh,” Julie said softly, resting a hand on Sadie’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

Sadie could feel Julie’s eyes on her, but she stared straight ahead, afraid of what her face might reveal. Even though she had tried to convince herself otherwise, she knew that the distance between Seattle and Briar Cove would have made any kind of relationship with Andrew unlikely to last. Could they really have made things work if they only saw each other a couple of weekends a month?

Still, she’d grown to enjoy his company. He made her laugh. He’d offered a listening ear when she complained about her family and her job. Even in the quiet moments when they sat on either side of his desk, focused on their respective research, there was something about working alongside him that felt comfortable. She had hoped, at the very least, he would text her occasionally, call her Shady, and ask how she was doing. Their fight had put an end to any hope of that happening.

“Can I offer you a suggestion?” Julie asked tentatively.

“You can offer one,” Sadie said, “but I can’t promise I’ll take it.”

“You should talk to him before you leave.”

“How am I supposed to do that if he’s ignoring me?”

“You know where to find him,” Julie said, as if the answer were obvious. “Just show up at his house. What is he going to do? Not open the door?”

“Maybe.”

Julie rolled onto her stomach so they could see each other more clearly. “I’m sure now that he’s had some time to think about it, he’s not as angry as he was. I bet he feels bad but he’s too scared to reach out to you.”

“You think I’m scary?”