Romance Me (Boxed Set) (41 page)

“I’ll get it!” Chessie leapt off the couch in one smooth move.

“No, I’ll get it.” Lia butted in front of Chessie, attempting to make it to the door first.

“You two are animals—leave the poor guy alone.” Sadie followed her two friends into the foyer.

The deliveryman, Jim, seemed unruffled when three girls burst from behind the closed door, each clamoring for the package, two smiling widely at him.

“Sign here, Sadie,” he said, giving a polite smile to her two best friends. Her two totally
lame
friends.

“Just give those two heathens the box, Jim, then ignore them. Like how you’d ignore a kid who has her finger stuck up her nose.” Sadie signed with a flourish and flashed a nasty grin at her friends. “Tell Lisa hello for me, and kiss those babies of yours.” She waved goodbye as he jumped down the stairs, three at a time.

Walking back into the living room, she beckoned her friends to follow her. “You two acted as if you were five years old and he was a pony. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

“He’s hunky, and in shorts,” Chessie said.

“Eye candy,” Lia added. “There’s no harm in looking, is there?”

Sadie shook her head. “You weren’t just looking, you were actually salivating.”

“Knock off the pompous act.” Chessie nudged her friend. “You think he’s hot just the way we do. Admit it.”

Instead of answering, Sadie collapsed on the couch, prying at the package with a fingernail. Jim had started his job right after Ethan had left Meadowview. She’d been signing packages from him for weeks now and hadn’t even noticed so much as the color of his hair. The only man in her mind had been Ethan.
Blast
.

“Who’s it from?” Lia asked.

Sadie shook her head, looking at the return label. “I don’t know. It’s a printed label, like from a computer.”

“What’s the zip code?” Chessie leaned forward from her ottoman perch, twisting her head to get a better look at the label.

“It’s a New York zip code,” Lia said. “I recognize it because it’s the same as Ethan’s work address. Did you order anything from New York?”

“No…” Sadie reached into the packaging materials and pulled out a cloth-covered box. On the fabric, ivy wound its way through a white trellis. She turned the box over in her hands. The lid came off in her hands. Inside the box, surrounded by crumpled tissue paper, sat a jar of anti-itch cream, decorated with promises to ease itching caused by poison oak or ivy. “Now
this
I definitely did not order.”

“Are you sure?” Chessie frowned, turning the box in various directions, trying to see if there was any identifying label. “People don’t just send people cream for their poison oak butts.”

Lia grabbed a piece of paper that fell out along with packaging peanuts. Her jaw dropped as she read the note. “But apparently my brother does.”

Sadie snatched the note from Lia’s hand and skimmed over Ethan’s light handwriting.

Sadie—been thinking about your rear end. Saw this cream and had to buy it for you. Can’t let that ahnk of yours suffer any. PS—bought you a new box for new memories.

“What does he mean by a new box?” Lia wore a perplexed expression.

Sadie shrugged, fingering the soft fabric on the box. How could she explain?

“More to the point,” Chessie said, “how does he know about your ahnk? Did you tell him about the tattoo?”

“No…”

“I thought we three girls were the only ones in the entire universe besides that tattoo artist in Corfu who knew you had an ankh on your rear. Sadie…” Chessie drew her voice out long and low. “I know that look on your face. You’re trying to hide something from us.”

Sadie’s hair, frizzed by the summer humidity, dangled in curls around her face and bounced as she shook her head. She felt the heat begin to build and knew that in seconds her face would be bright red. No, forget seconds, she was already blushing as bright as Santa’s suit.

“It’s private,” she began. “It’s just that—well, he and I—I mean…” Her voice tapered off.

“Did he see your tattoo, Sadie?” Chessie snapped her fingers. “Come on, tell us.”

Sadie’s chest clenched tight. “What is this, an inquisition?” she snapped. “He saw it, all right? He saw the stupid ankh.”

“How did he see your butt? And when? The only time you’ve seen him since you got your butt inked was the night of the auction.”

Chessie started to speak again but was silenced by Lia’s hand on her arm.

“Oh, God, Sadie.” Lia’s voice was almost a whisper. “Did you sleep with my brother?”

Chapter Ten

“What?” Chessie shrieked, the sound slicing through the loud buzzing in Sadie’s ears. “Tell us you did
not
sleep with Ethan.”

Sadie swallowed, hard, fighting back the building nausea. How could Lia have known? Could she lie to her friends? Fake it, maybe? One look at both Chessie and Lia made it clear no lie could ever work. They knew. Her friends knew what she’d done.

“Oh, God,” Chessie said. “You did it. You had sex with Ethan! But why on earth would you sleep with him? Were you desperate? Have you gone insane?”

“No! I wasn’t insane, and I wasn’t desperate. I was—” Sadie froze when she saw Chessie’s disapproving look.
Oh, God.
She’d disappointed them. Had let down her friends. She slept with one of the brothers.

Broken the code.

The wave of reproach sent her reeling. She couldn’t even look at Lia, couldn’t bear to see the disappointment in her eyes. She jumped off the couch, heading to her room, taking the stairs three at a time until she reached the second floor. After slamming the door hard enough to shake the upstairs, she threw herself down on her bed.

And sobbed.

Moments later, two contrite and sheepish best friends tiptoed into her room and sat on her bed. Snuggling next to her, Lia rubbed her back and Chessie pulled off her sandals to give her a foot massage.

“I’m really sorry I gave you a hard time,” Chessie said quietly. “I was just surprised, that’s all.” Her words were as warm as her hands on Sadie’s feet, and just as comforting.

“I let you both down.” Sadie choked out the words.

Chessie let out a laugh. “Is that why you’re crying? Because you think you betrayed us?”

“I slept with one of the brothers—I broke the code. I’ve been a bad friend.”

Lia joined Chessie in laughter, and soon both girls were laying side-by-side next to Sadie. Although, unlike Sadie, they weren’t crying and feeling miserable. Instead, they couldn’t seem to stop laughing.

As Sadie’s sobs slowly subsided, so did the two girls’ laughter. After a few moments, she sat up. A renewed sense of calm came over her.

“Neither of you are mad?” she asked.

Lia wrapped her in a warm embrace. “No, just astonished. We never thought you had a thing for Ethan.”

At her friend’s touch, Sadie’s heart melted. “I need to show you something,” she whispered. “There’s a shoebox, under the bed.”

Surprised, Lia bent over, found the battered fabric-covered box, and put it on Sadie’s lap. Sadie flicked a finger at the lid and opened it.

“Wow,” Chessie whispered, pulling out bits and pieces of Ethan’s life. “This playbill is from the first play he ever did, in eighth grade.”

“And this?” Lia added. “What’s this?” She held up a braided bracelet.

“Oh.” Sadie smiled. “He’d made that at camp and gave it to me the day I got braces. I kept it. Obviously.”

Chessie shook her head, eyes smiling. “You’re nuts, you know.”

Sadie nodded, fingering a playbill with Ethan’s face splashed across the front. “Yeah, nuts about Ethan.”

Lia’s jaw tightened. “Why didn’t you ever tell us you had a crush on him?”

“I knew he never felt the same way about me,” she responded. “I didn’t ever want to jeopardize our friendship, so I kept my mouth shut.”

Lia ran a hand lightly over hers while continuing to pick through items in the box. “We would have supported you, honey, no matter how Ethan felt.”

“Maybe I should have said something years ago. I guess I don’t really know why I didn’t. After a while, the secret was so locked in that there never seemed to be a right time to say anything. Until now, that is.”

“Are you two an item?” Chessie asked. “I’m assuming you slept together the night of the auction, since that’s the only time you’ve seen him in twelve years.”

“Yeah,” Sadie sniffled, fingering the flyer advertising the auction. “We hooked up that night. But we’re not an item—he’s not my boyfriend.”

“Why not?” Chessie asked.

“He says he can’t give me a commitment—that he won’t do relationships.”

Lia nodded. “He’s always said he won’t ever settle down. I don’t know why—he’d be a great husband and a terrific father. I always figured he wouldn’t do relationships because our parent’s marriage stunk so badly.”

Chessie curved her arm around Sadie’s waist. “Did you know all this before you two played Package the Pickle?”

She chuckled. “He wouldn’t have touched me if we hadn’t agreed there’d be no relationship coming out of that night.”

“That seems so raw,” Chessie said.

“Not really. I knew what I was getting into. Or at least, I thought I knew. I wanted to let go of the fantasy. I figured the reality of it couldn’t possibly be as amazing as my mind had made me think it would be.” She paused. “I was wrong.”

“Are you going to be able to deal with working next to him?” Chessie asked.

Sadie let out a quick hiccupped laugh. “I’d better. He’s the one person who can save my sinking ship.” And the only person who could save the festival, her reputation, the town’s economy, she continued in her mind. Her fingers flew nimbly over the papers and items, arranging them back in the box. How sweet of Ethan to have remembered she’d crushed this one, and to have sent her a replacement box.

“Are you sure?” Lia asked.

“It will work out just fine. You’ll see.” She flung herself back on the bed. But as she did, she caught the concerned look that passed between her best friends—the look that didn’t need words to convey their shared thought:
yeah, right
.

***

Ethan bent down and stuck his head in his near-empty refrigerator, ignoring the wail of a siren in the New York street below. Theo had shown up earlier, having flown out to the east coast for a business meeting, and all Ethan had to offer was a martini.

At least he had olives.

After shaking vodka and vermouth until ice formed on the shaker, Ethan poured two martinis, dumped in several olives, and brought them into the living room. Handing one of the drinks to Theo, he walked around the brushed nickel coffee table to the open window at the street three stories below. The scent of freshly baked naan came from the East Indian restaurant on the first floor, sending his stomach rumbling. He pulled out the olives and ate them in one bite, turning to look at Theo as he chewed.

Theo downed the entire martini.

Huh.
“You seem a little edgy tonight,” Ethan observed. “Is everything all right? Any problems at work?”

Theo poured more martini mix into his glass, then toyed with the olive speared onto a toothpick. “Work’s going fine.”

Ethan waited. He knew Theo’s words hid something else, but he also knew better than to ask directly. “How are your parents?” he asked.

“Good.”

“And Sadie?” Ethan felt a tightening in his chest, a quick thrust of electrical current running from his stomach to his throat.

Theo cleared his throat. “Yeah, well, I wanted to talk to you about her, actually.”

Ethan’s stomach clenched. He nodded anyway, an indication for Theo to continue.

“I love my sister,” Theo began. “And I want her happy. I also know she’s very capable of running her own life, and I don’t want to control her. I don’t even want to know about her love life. Unless…” Theo paused and looked straight at Ethan. “Unless her love life involves my best friend. Then I have a right to know.”

Oh, shit.
Ethan looked down at his feet. He took a big gulp of his martini, fire burning down his throat, and waited for Theo to continue.

“Ever since the auction, Sadie hasn’t been the same. Suddenly, instead of this driven career woman, every time I see her she’s got this dopey, dreamy expression on her face. And now, with you moving back into town, she’s as giddy as a schoolgirl. A brainless and giddy Sadie isn’t exactly the Sadie I know. Ethan, I want to know happened between you and Sadie the night of the bachelor auction.”

The increased pressure in his chest almost hurt. Sleeping with Sadie had been between him and her. But he
had
slept with his best friend’s sister. He kept his expression frozen, and managed to raise his focus from his feet to his friend’s face. His friend’s rather angry face.

Theo put down his drink and leaned forward, elbows on his knees, eyes boring down on Ethan. “What I want to know is this: did you sleep with my sister?”

Carefully, Ethan set down the crystal martini glass on the windowsill. Theo wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear. But lying to his friends had never been his way. “Yeah, I slept with Sadie.”