Page 59 of Love is a Game
Chapter Twenty
The doorbell chimed as Andrew pulled his plate of leftovers out of the microwave. He stood still for a moment, tempted to ignore the sound. The only visitors he ever received were kids trying to collect money for school fundraisers, and he wasn’t in a particularly giving mood. He turned toward the table and it rang again, twice in quick succession. Probably not a fundraiser, then. He set down his food and went to answer it.
He pulled the door open and froze. For three weeks he’d barely left his house except to go to work so he could avoid seeing Sadie, and yet there she stood on his stoop, squinting as the pouring rain dripped down her face and soaked her shirt.
“Can I come in?” she asked frantically.
He leaned against the doorframe, in no rush to end her suffering. “I don’t know.”
“Andrew, please!” she whined, wrapping her arms around herself. The large bag that hung from her wrist smacked against her side. She really did look miserable.
“Fine.” He stepped back and she pushed inside, wiping the rain out of her eyes. “Why didn’t you wear a coat?”
“It wasn’t raining when I left the house,” she said, irritated. She growled softly as she assessed her damp sleeves. A puddle was beginning to form on the floor beneath her.
“Hang on,” he told her. He disappeared into the hallway and returned with a towel.
She dried her face and hair and then wrapped it around her shoulders before looking up at him. “Thanks.”
He shrugged. He hated how beautiful she still looked, even in her disheveled state. Why couldn’t she resemble a drowned rat? He hadn’t gotten caught in the rain, but he knew his hair was a mess, and it had been over a week since he’d shaved. Maybe he shouldn’t have worn his fifteen-year-old hoodie to work that day. He rubbed at his scruffy chin self-consciously.
She sighed and looked down at her shoes. “I’m not off to a great start here. Sorry for . . .” Her voice trailed off as she gestured toward the door. “Anyway, thanks for letting me come inside.”
“I’m assuming there’s a reason you came all this way in the rain,” he said, crossing his arms. He was still angry with her. He couldn’t get distracted by the way his green towel brought out the color in her eyes.
She lifted the bag toward him. “I wanted to return your quilt.”
He didn’t reach for it. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know.” Her hand fell back to her side, and she dropped the heavy blanket on the floor beside her. “I’m heading back to Seattle tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
She let out a breath and looked him in the eye. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I really enjoyed the time we got to spend together while I was here. I understand why you’re upset with me, but I don’t want to leave on bad terms. Is there any way we can talk about this?”
“Is there any way you’re going to put a stop to the Maddox deal?” he asked. She bit her lip and looked away. “Then I don’t see what there is to talk about.”
“Did you manage to get the application turned in?” she asked, picking at a spot on his couch.
Andrew shook his head. “No.”
She looked taken aback. “Why not?”
“Didn’t seem like there was much point.”
“So you just gave up?” she asked, incredulous.
Andrew worked his jaw. “I thought you would be happy,” he said carefully. “Now Maddox can make their offer to Robby without any trouble. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“It’s what my superiors wanted, not me. More importantly, it’s not what you wanted. You put so much work into it.”
“And apparently I was just wasting my time.”
After their disaster of a picnic, he’d driven to the library, thinking he could pull an all-nighter and get the application turned in the next day. When he got there and saw all of the boxes, though, the idea of continuing was too overwhelming and hopeless, so he’d packed them all up and brought them back to the Cypress basement.
“For what it’s worth,” Sadie said, “they told me to stop you. I’m sorry I backed out of helping, but I wasn’t going to get in your way.”
“Wow, how generous of you,” he said sarcastically. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”