Blush by Jamie Brenner

Author:Jamie Brenner [Brenner, Jamie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2021-06-22T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Walking over to Field House at that hour of the night was a crazy thing to do. Sadie knew this, but still she went.

There was no guarantee that if she knocked on the door of the Arguetas’ home, Mateo would be the one to answer. Even if he did, what was she going to say? But if she didn’t do something, she would be up all night. She couldn’t stop thinking about the jolt when they’d looked at each other in the field. Mateo had felt it, too. That was why he’d said, This can’t happen.

That was it, that was what she would say: “Why can’t this happen?”

Did he have a girlfriend? Was it the age difference? She needed to know. She had to understand the stumbling block before she could get it out of their way.

The winery was linked to Field House by a slate path framed by a white wooden pergola filled with winding greenery and purple wisteria. She’d walked by it her whole life, but she’d never walked through; she didn’t have reason to visit Field House. So what she didn’t know was that at the end of the path, just before the house, was a locked gate.

“So annoying,” she said, reaching over the door to see if she could unlatch it. No luck. She could backtrack and go all the way around, but it was so dark out.

Really, the gate was mostly ornamental. She could scale it. Sadie grabbed hold of a pergola beam and climbed onto one of the gateposts. She balanced atop the post, holding on to the beam, gauging the jump onto the other side of the gate. It was so dark, she couldn’t see what was on the ground. She reached into her pocket for her phone, trying to turn on the flashlight with one hand.

The phone fell onto the other side of the fence.

“Damn it!”

Now she had no choice but to jump. She let go of the beam and landed on something hard, then bounced onto the grass. Whatever she’d fallen into kept moving until it made a shattering sound on nearby concrete.

An external house light turned on. Now she’d done it. She scrambled to her feet. The back door opened, and a flashlight shined on her—a strong beam, not a little phone light.

“Sadie?” Mateo said, incredulous.

“Um, yeah.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I got lost.”

“Lost? Oh, man. Did you knock over this potted plant?”

“I might have, um, bumped into it.”

He walked around the small patio adjacent to the lawn, surveying the damage. “This thing shattered.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, mortified. She wanted to just slink off into the night. But her phone. “Um, can you help me find my phone? I dropped it.”

“Where?”

“I’m not sure. Somewhere around here.”

He moved closer, shining the flashlight on the grass. They walked in circles, but the phone was nowhere to be seen.

“Wait, try over here,” she said, reaching for the light to point it closer to the gate. Their hands touched, and her phone was instantly forgotten.

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