Page 63 of Love is a Game

“Thank you for letting me know about the Cypress. Everyone back home will be thrilled when they find out.” Almost everyone, anyway.

“I’m sure we’ll be in touch soon.” Genevieve gave her arm a squeeze before leaving the office.

Sadie stood in her doorway until the woman was out of sight. From there, she could see how out of place the colorful portrait looked in her drab office. The fluorescent lighting and harsh walls seemed to take away its brilliance somehow.

Her shoulders drooped as she made her way back to her desk, trying to process what had just happened. She was finally being promoted. The paperwork had already begun. No more out-of-state travel. No more tedious tasks for Archer, that backstabbing blowhard. On top of that, she was going to be working with one of the most powerful people in the company. It was everything she wanted.

Everything she thought she wanted.

Give me all you have.

Her stomach churned. She thought she’d reached the crest of the hill, but she now saw she was merely standing at the bottom of a new one. She’d already been giving all she had. For years she had sacrificed everything, including her relationships, in order to move up in the company. What had Maddox offered her in return? A new boss with new demands, offering the same old promise that if she worked hard enough, things would get better. How much longer could she go on that way?

She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders, then walked resolutely to Archer’s office.

He was typing something and didn’t stop when she knocked on his open door. “Sadie, hey. Mitchell said he’d like to sit in on our two o’clock. Are you good with that?”

“Sure. Do you have a minute?”

He let out a brisk sigh. “Not really. I’m knee-deep in this Astoria stuff. It’s a real mess. You’re going to have your work cut out for you down there.”

“That will have to wait,” she said firmly. “This is important.”

He paused and looked up at her, surprised by her tone. She felt anger coursing through her, but there was something else too. Resolve. It felt good.

She looked down at him and crossed her arms. “You and I need to talk.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Andrew tapped his steering wheel anxiously. All day he’d been dreading poker night, even considered not going, but he knew he couldn’t cancel the one social event he had scheduled for the month. He’d forced himself to get back in the car after he finished his dinner and to drive all the way over to Tyson’s house, but going inside was proving to be more than he was ready for.

The problem was Julie. Her hair was a bit more strawberry than blonde, and it was usually pulled into a messy bun rather than a ponytail, but she still bore such a striking resemblance to her sister. If she came in to join them, he worried it would feel too much like staring Sadie in the face.

It was a silly thing to be concerned about, really, because Sadie was always on his mind anyway. He couldn’t figure out how she had left such a big footprint in such a short time. Every time it rained, he pictured her standing on his stoop soaking wet. He’d given up his morning walks at the beach because it reminded him of the night they skipped rocks together. He even found a long, blonde hair in his car the week after she left. Everything seemed to be a reminder of her.

Work was agony. He couldn’t avoid the one place they’d spent the most time together. Ten times a day he caught himself looking toward the office, thinking he might see her there. The room felt especially empty without all of the boxes, and he did his best to avoid going inside. He couldn’t even bring himself to sing when the library was empty, and a few days earlier, he broke down and moved the beanbag from the young adult section to the storage room. Every time he went back there to tidy up, he could feel its presence looming over him, a monument commemorating his failure to act.

He looked at the Monroes’ house and shook his head. He couldn’t do it. It was too soon. He would go the next month, or the month after that.

He jumped at the sound of tapping on his window.

“Hey, man, you okay?” It was Rivera. Too late to back out now.

“Yeah.” He mustered up a grin and stepped out of the car.

Rivera greeted him with a pat on the back. “I get it. You’re trying to prepare yourself for how badly I’m going to beat you tonight. It’s understandable.”

Andrew laughed in spite of himself. “Yup, you caught me.” He followed Rivera up the walkway to the house, grateful he didn’t have to go inside alone.

“As long as one of us beats Kimura, I’ll be happy. Drives me crazy when the firefighters win.”

“Looks like he won’t be the only one here tonight,” Andrew said when they walked through the door.

Half a dozen men stood around Tyson’s front room talking and laughing. There were two other firefighters that he recognized. One of them, Johnson, wore his fire station T-shirt and looked like he’d come straight from work. He couldn’t remember the other one’s name. Another guy, he was pretty sure worked at the movie theater, was talking to Webb, and the rest of them were cops.

“Whoa, Price, what happened? Lose your razor?” Kimura asked, raising an eyebrow at Andrew’s overgrown stubble. More than stubble at that point.

“He got jealous of Monroe’s sexy beard, wanted one for himself,” Rivera teased.