Page 128 of Heartbreak & Cupcakes
“It needs some work.” I didn’t want her to think that she was walking into a completed project.
I pressed the fob and the black iron gate swung open.
My heart was pounding wildly as I parked and went around to open her door. As she stepped out of my Tesla, she shivered and I took off my coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. We walked up the porch steps and I tried not to think about what it meant that she was the first one toknowabout such a significant purchase in my life. Not only was she the first that was seeing it, Mia, Nick, Maddox, Mrs. G, none of them had any idea I’d even made the purchase.
My jacket hung down below her backside as she walked in front of me up the steps, but I knew that there were curves more dangerous than Lombard Street beneath it. I didn’t even have to close my eyes to picture the slope of her lower back to the swell of her hips and ass. The image was imprinted on my mind’s eye and I could recall it whether my lids were open or shut.
I could feel my pants growing tighter as I allowed myself to indulge in wondering what underwear she might have on beneath that skintight dress. None were visible and I hadn’t felt any seams when we’d been on the dance floor, but women were like magicians when it came to that stuff.
“Oh my gosh!” She stilled as we reached the top of the wooden stairs and she saw the view that the front porch afforded of the skyline of downtown.
“I was thinking of putting a swing out here.”
Her head shook back and forth slowly. “I don’t think I’d ever go inside.”
“You haven’t seen the view from the roof.”
Her eyes danced with excitement as I unlocked the door and we walked inside.
“Holy shit!” she exclaimed as her hand flew over her mouth.
“I moved into the penthouse the day that I brought Lexi home from the hospital.” I wasn’t sure why I was telling Sadie this. I never spoke about that time in my life. But I wanted her to know. It had been so difficult to talk about Ash or AJ with anyone, but for some reason, I could with Sadie.
“Oh, I didn’t know that,” she said quietly.
“I’d bought it as a surprise for Ash. I was going to drive her home from the hospital and surprise her. AJ and I had been fixing it up for weeks.”
Her hand rested on my forearm in silent support.
“I never felt at home there. I don’t know if it was because AJ and Ash weren’t there. Or if it was because I never would have chosen to live there. I only bought it because I promised Ash when we were twelve that I would buy her that penthouse.”
“You did?” Her voice was quiet. Almost so quiet I couldn’t hear it.
I nodded expecting the pain, the sharp, excruciating, paralyzing pain that I was all too familiar with to rip through me. But instead, there was just a warmth. The same warmth that I always felt when I was with Sadie.
“When we were twelve, she told me she wanted to live there and that we were going to have two kids. A boy named Ashley and a daughter named Alexis. I remember I told her that boys weren’t named Ashley.” I smiled remembering our talk on the stoop of the group home.
“Yes there are.” Sadie lifted her hand and lifted her fore and middle fingers making a peace sign as she said, “Ashley Parker Angel and Ashley Hamilton.”
Goosebumps rose on my arms as I looked at her. Who was this woman standing in front of me? She felt like she was my angel. “That was what Ash said.”
Sadie smiled up at me, clearly not realizing the significance of her responding the same as Ash. Her head tilted to the side. “That’s so crazy that she knew all of that.”
“Ash just sort of…knew things. I wouldn’t say she was psychic but she just…knew things. I know that sounds crazy, but she did. When we were twelve, like I said she told me that we were going to get married and have two kids named AJ and Lexi. A year before I left Callum Construction, she said that I was going to start my own business. Then a month before my thirtieth birthday she told me that my business was going to go global and that I would be a billionaire before I reached thirty-five.”
Sadie’s eyes widened. “Wow.”
It felt strange sharing these parts of my past with Sadie, but also completely natural. It wasn’t like when I’d been to the therapist and he’d asked me to talk about Ash and AJ. I didn’t feel any pressure to, I just wanted to. But it still felt a little odd.
Clearing my throat, I fanned out my arm. “Do you want to see the rest of the house?”
Her face lit with excitement as she clapped her hands together. “Yes, please.”
I placed my hand on her lower back and guided her through the kitchen and explained all the improvements that I wanted to make. Then I showed her the two rooms downstairs off the main living space, one of which would be my office and the other would be a gym. We walked upstairs to the room that I wanted to convert into an art/playroom for Lexi, Lexi’s room and then we entered the master.
“Oh…wow…” She exhaled as she walked over to the accordion doors that opened up onto a deck. “This view is incredible.”
“It is.” I knew that she was talking about the skyline, but I was talking about her.
