Almost Real by Claire Cain

Author:Claire Cain [Cain, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: RomCont
ISBN: 9781954005259
Amazon: B09QZ32GDH
Goodreads: 60243762
Published: 2022-04-05T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Warrick

Sadie’s intensity practically rippled off her in waves. She’d been hunched over one of the metal prep tables in her kitchen since before my last session of the day. She also hadn’t done more than say hey and chat in passing since I’d left her house last week—five days since we’d had a real conversation. And she might not even remember much of that, considering how out of it she’d been.

I’d texted her the next day. She’d said thank you, I’d said no need, and then we sort of fizzled out. I’d wanted to press her for more—how was she feeling? Could I bring her anything? But she’d said Sarah had checked on her, and then she’d gotten a huge bouquet of flowers from Dahlia. More than a little happy that she had friends caring for her, I’d said, “Your friends have your back.”

She’d sent a little smiley, and that was it.

How could I say thank you to her for that night? For letting me help her? It’d come out too weird, so I hadn’t. But I’d been insanely busy thanks to some issues with the house I was contracting, plus what felt like a million other little things that sucked the life out of me. These little problems cropping up—delay in parts for the main bathroom redo at the house, missing delivery for the gym, and so on—would’ve been challenges to solve. Not anymore, though. They drained my energy and reminded me, like so many things had lately, that there was more to life and I was missing it.

By the end of the week, I’d promised to show up at a dinner with Mom, Wyatt, and Calla, and then I was supposed to see Pete tomorrow for a workout slash catch up.

But all I wanted to do tonight was talk to Sadie. Just like I’d wanted every day this past week. And we hadn’t had our Wednesday lunch thanks to scheduling conflicts, so I’d decided to check in and see if I could talk her into leaving with me.

By the time I stood right next to her, literally inches away, she still hadn’t looked up. The apron strings were tied up tight around her waist, a little loop at the back just calling to me.

“Sadie,” I said, and despite the point-blank range, she didn’t stir. I could see the earbuds in the ear facing me, but dang, she was in the zone.

“Sadie,” I said again, a little louder. No dice.

And then that desire to mess with her, to get her attention and touch her all at once, took over. I pulled on her apron string slowly, and when the knot unraveled, she jolted. Her wild eyes met mine, and after about a second, she relaxed.

“I thought you were a creeper!” She practically boomed this before removing her earbuds. “Sorry, I thought you were—”

“A creeper. Yeah, I got that. Sorry. You’ve been so focused in here, I had to make sure you were still alive since saying your name didn’t do the trick.

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