Page 127 of Heartbreak & Cupcakes
ALEX
My palms weredamp as I gripped the steering wheel. Tonight could not be going any better and I’d made a decision I wasn’t sure if I was going to regret tomorrow. I’d arranged to have my car brought to the pier instead of having Frank pick us up.
“Where are we going?” Sadie’s brow wrinkled in the adorable way it always did when she was confused as I drove past the turn I would take to go to her apartment or to go to the condo.
“Home,” I answered as I continued down the Embarcadero.
“But…” she pointed back.
“I bought a house and I wanted you to be the first person to see it.”
Her head spun toward me wearing a shocked expression. Her hand rested on her chest drawing my eyes to the mouthwatering cleavage that I’d been doing my best to ignore all night, so I didn’t walk around with a massive boner. “Me?!”
“Yes. You.”
“What about Lexi?”
I couldn’t help but smile. I loved that she was always thinking about my nugget. “She hasn’t seen it yet.”
“Maddox? Nick?”
I shook my head.
“Mia?”
“Nope.”
I had to keep my eyes on the road, but I could feel her stare boring into the side of my face. I knew that my actions were saying one thing and my words had said another. I’d told her that I wasn’t available. Not physically or emotionally.
Then, I slept with her, asked her to be my date to a very public event, was bringing her to my house before anyone else.
I could lie to myself that it was just because I was excited to show someone, but the truth was, I wantedherto see it first. The truth was, when I’d walked through it, it was Sadie that I’d pictured in the kitchen. It was Achoo and Eeyore that I’d envisioned running around the backyard with Lexi.
Those were the images that had sealed the deal for me. Sure, it had a big backyard and space for Lexi to have a library and arts and craft room, and there was a guest house on the back of the property that was perfect for Mrs. G with its own entrance and plenty of privacy. But those weren’t the things that I’d been considering when I’d put pen to paper and signed.
I’d pictured Sadie, her hair up in a bun, singing off-key, as she danced around the kitchen baking. I’d pictured waking up to her beside me as we watched the sunrise behind the Golden Gate from our bed. I’d pictured Sadie and I up on the rooftop terrace after a long day, having a glass of wine as we looked out over the cityscape.
Nerves that only Sadie could engender, rioted through me as I pulled up the drive to the house that sat on the upper side of one of the many hills in San Francisco.
“When did you buy it?” Sadie asked as she looked out the window.
“A couple of weeks ago.”
I had actually bought it the day after coming home from my trip to Disneyland to my Sadie-less apartment. But I wasn’t ready to reveal that.
“I didn’t know that you were planning on moving.”
Neither did I.
I’d thought about it for years, but the thing that had finally made me pull the trigger was walking into the empty condo, no Sadie, no Achoo, no Eeyore, no Mrs. G. Just me and Lexi. It had never felt like home, and now it felt even less like it. I’d contacted a realtor that night.
As my headlights hit the Victorian, Sadie shifted in her seat.
“Is that it?” She pointed.
“Yes.”
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed out.
