“That Bryce guy there again?”
Sabrina snorted a laugh. “Yep. It’s pretty clear Mom doesn’t think I can handle this on my own.” What she didn’t say was that Bryce had been encroaching on her duties, taking care of little things that she normally would before she even realized they were done. He was honestly the biggest sycophant she’d ever met in her life. And the surprising part? She didn’t care. She let him slowly creep in, knowing full well he wanted her job. She was this close to simply handing it to him.
“Oh, I don’t think that’s it,” her father said, coming to her mother’s defense, no surprise there.
“No, it is, but you know what? That’s okay.”
The tinkling sound stopped abruptly. “It is?”
“Yup.” She didn’t elaborate, and he didn’t ask her to, which was unlike him. She was pretty sure he would have a talk with her mother soon. Maybe later today. But that was okay. She was figuring out her path in life, and for the first time in a decade, she let herself think outside of Sweet Heaven. It was a little scary, but not so scary that it felt wrong. In fact, it felt very, very right. “Dad?”
“Mm-hmm?”
“How did you know Mom was the one?” She felt like a kid in a sitcom—it was such a clichéd question. Also, she was a grown-ass woman asking a childlike inquiry. “I mean, you guys are so different, but you make it work. How did you know?”
He didn’t seem surprised by her curiosity, and she figured that was because she’d been asking him similar questions lately. Things about life and love and matters of the heart. She’d never been able to talk to her mom about such things, but her father was a softie, a romantic at heart. He still sent flowers to her mother every month. He still sent sweet texts and left her love notes in her laptop bag. Sabrina could admit to having a hard time seeing the softer side of her mother much of the time, but her father had no such issue. He was head over heels, just as he’d been the day they’d gotten married.
“That’s a complicated question, Peaches,” he said. His soft exhale told her he’d sat down in his recliner to watchTodaylike he did every morning. “I’m not sure there’s a foolproof sign. You just kind of…know.”
“Super helpful, Dad,” she said with a soft laugh.
He laughed back. “I know. Sorry about that. Why are you asking? Is this still about the girl in New York?” Man, he was astute. She had told him all about Adley but hadn’t mentioned her to him again in months. She was shocked he still remembered her.
She shrugged even though he couldn’t see it. “Nah. I was just wondering.” She didn’t think he bought her deflection, but he let it go anyway, and she was grateful. She had really hoped, after all this time, Adley would’ve left her head, her heart.
She had not.
The call with her father over, she sat at the small table in her current rental in New Mexico and watched out the window as the sun began to peek over the horizon, as if checking to see if the coast wasclear. It really was a beautiful sight, and she found herself wishing she could share it with someone.
No.
Not just someone.
A very specific someone.
She let go of a little groan of frustration, and Sprinkles lifted his head from where he was sleeping at her feet. She reached down and gave him a scratch on his little head. “I’m fine, buddy. Just trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with me.”
She didn’t fly anymore. She refused to put Sprinkles in the cargo hold of an airplane. No way. She’d read way too many horror stories. Plus, she couldn’t imagine how scared he’d be, piled in with suitcases in a section of the plane that was bound to be loud. And his poor ears. No. Nope. When she returned to Atlanta from Northwood, she’d purchased a new car, one with plenty of room for her luggage and her dog, and she now drove to whatever city she needed to be in for her job.
It wasn’t even that she minded that. She didn’t mind the driving. She played music or listened to audiobooks. It was good thinking time. Good bonding time with Sprinks, as she’d taken to calling him. He’d become a terrific traveling companion. No, it wasn’t the traveling that was making her feel restless in her job. It was other things. It was one other person.
How had this happened? Seriously, how? She was a grown woman with all her faculties. Why couldn’t she get Adley Purcell out of her head? It had been seven months. Two full seasons had gone by. She’d texted Adley, and at first, there had been a couple lukewarm responses, but they’d stopped.
That was a pretty big hint, wasn’t it?
And she was a reasonably intelligent woman, so what was the problem exactly?
This line of thinking had been hers for more than half a year now. Every waking moment, Adley was hanging out somewhere in the back of her mind. And when she wasn’t awake? She dreamed. About Adley. And her and Adley. About Adley walking Sprinks, talking about new ice cream ideas, looking down at her with a glimmer in her eye and love on her face.
It was brutal. It was brutal, and Sabrina didn’t understand it. But she couldn’t let it go, either. It was, quite simply, driving her mad.
With a loud sigh, she opened her laptop, as she did every morning, and did a search. Zillow. Realtor.com. She looked at single family homes. She scanned the condos. She looked at commercial property. She wasn’t sure why, but she did it daily. Something compelled her to. It was silly. It was stupid. She had no idea what she was looking for.
But she looked.
Chapter Nineteen
Mid-April had mellowed from the confused and indecisive March, and the day was almost warm. High fifties, sunny, gorgeous blue sky. Spring was on its way. Adley had even seen a few pops of yellow here and there where the daffodils were starting to poke their heads through the soil, the first colorful sign that winter was definitely gone.
