Pursuing Sarah (Sarah Series Book 2)

by Julieann Dove

  “Then she says, ‘It’s someone else, isn’t it?’ Obviously, I think she’s off her rocker, because no one can just not want Paige—they have to be coerced not to want her, be fed a poisonous apple that deludes you from wanting Paige—but I sat there a second and thought about the crazy thought. And I was hit with the fact that she was right.”

  “Right? Carter, you’ve got me confused. Have you eaten of this said poisonous fruit?”

  He sat up and turned toward me. “I didn’t think that someone was keeping me from moving forward with Paige until she outright told me it was. But it is…she is.”

  “It what? She who?” I was so confused.

  He gently picked up my hand from my lap and stared in my eyes. “I guess my feelings for you changed during the camping trip, Sarah. I began seeing you in a different light. Then I ignored it because you’re like my best friend. Then there was me coming over to watch you after the car accident. I felt different then. Seeing your stitches, that bulging cut on your forehead.” He stroked my head and smiled.

  I pushed his hand and laughed. “Carter, stop it. You’re silly.”

  “Sarah, I’m serious. At least I’m trying to be, but I don’t know what to do anymore. Do I continue to ignore it? Do you even feel anything? Do you want to remain best friends, do you want—”

  I leaned over and kissed him before he could finish the multiple-choice question. I felt so wobbly inside doing it. But so gutsy at the same time. It wasn’t a big kiss. In fact, I was just realizing what it was like to be so close when the sound of gravel crushing came to my brain. I broke and looked forward. It was Liz. She did a near miss of my mailbox and jumped out of her car as though she were being chased by police.

  “Thank God you’re home. Why haven’t you been answering your phone?” She stormed on the porch, standing with hands on her hips. “Oh, hey, Carter.”

  “Hey, Liz.” His hands lay empty on his lap where I stole mine back the instant I heard the ruckus.

  She plopped down between us and threw back her head, resting it on the swing. I looked at Carter with sorry eyes.

  “My life is over,” she exclaimed. “Finite, the end, game over.”

  “What happened?”

  “It’s Rick. He wants me to move in.”

  “What? Wait, who? Rick? I’ve never heard you mention anyone named Rick. Where does he live? Does he have a visa to be in this country?”

  She turned toward me, her eyes desperate, her mouth pinched shut. “Rick Sinese.” She said it almost in a whisper.

  I jumped back. “Rick Sinese??? What?” I shook my head, unable to grasp what I was hearing. “Rick Sinese?”

  “Okay, okay, enough Rick Sinese!” Carter said, making fun of my tone when I said the guy’s name a million times. I couldn’t help it. Rick Sinese was voted most likely to die a computer geek, married to a gadget he’d invented to be his mate.

  “Yes, yes, Rick Sinese. And I didn’t tell you for precisely this reason. He told me his reputation in school. And I saw all the awards for perfect attendance. He still has them, you know? And he’s not exactly my type, I get it.”

  “Not your type? He’s not your type to bag your groceries. He’s not your type to…”

  “Okay, okay. I get it.” She shielded her eyes. “I’m a sick individual.”

  “How did you meet him?”

  “My computer crashed and Tonya McKenzie gave me his number. Sarah.” She looked at me. “You know I’ve got all my stuff on that thing. I can’t survive if that crashed. Years of my life are on that.”

  Liz thinks she’s going to write a book one day. A memoir about her life. She thinks someone will actually sit down and be interested in the guys she goes through like water.

  “So I took it to his house, and have you seen his house?” She pushed her finger on my leg.

  “No, I can’t say that I have.”

  “Well, it’s a great house. He has those heated floors, a sunroom to die for, a Jacuzzi—”

  “Hold on, a Jacuzzi? What would he need a Jacuzzi for?”

  “Sarah, he isn’t the guy I saw pictures of when he was younger. Okay, yes, so he has a bit of a nerd aura around him. His pen in the pocket, his running shoes with dress pants, but he can kiss like a stallion. And I can buy him a set of loafers.”

  “Okay, that’s my cue.” Carter stood.

  I looked at him with desperation. All those stallion feelings I was having seconds prior to Liz had manifested into her story and crisis. Maybe someone would want to read about her life. It was entertaining. But then, so was the moment before she arrived.

  I stood. “Don’t go. I have…” I looked in the window of my house, wondering what I had. And why it would keep him from going. I wanted to continue that talk we were having before Liz’s stampede. That sensation. Carter Williams kissing me. Me? Well, I sort of leaned over, but whatever.

  “No, I see Liz needs to…to…” He waved his hand in front of her. “She needs to do something, and I’d rather not hear about any achy loins and tickling butterflies. I’ll go home. It’s okay.”

  “Well, let me go inside and give you the pizza to take home.”

  I moved forward to go inside with him, hoping to read his eyes a little longer. Feel this moment a few seconds more. It did happen, didn’t it? Or had I finally flipped my lid and I was living in my psychotic daydreams?

  “Did someone say pizza?” She whizzed by between us. “I’m starved. Dating a reformed nerd really takes it out of me.”

  I rolled my eyes and looked at Carter. “Help yourself. I’ll be right back.”

  I walked with him to his car. My stomach was tightly woven into a ball of nerves. We got to the driver’s side door and he stood with his hands in his pockets—a semi-freak-out look on his face.

  “Um, about all that…” I began to say.

  “Yeah, about that. Liz has finally cracked up. I guess that’s what happens when she chooses to date locally.”

  I poked his arm. “No, not about Liz.”

  “I know.” He grinned.

  “I’m sorry I—”

  He bent over before I could finish and kissed me. It was quick, but it was good. His lips hovered over mine for a good five seconds. They were warm, and made my mind go mmm, mmm, mmm. He wasn’t a best friend’s husband or an ex-husband. Life was looking up.

  “Okay, then.” I rocked back on my heels and pulled at my hands, smiling like a goober who’d just gotten her first kiss and was about to run inside to call my closest twenty friends and scream in the telephone about it.

  “You’ll be at the meeting tomorrow? The one at the county office? There was an email sent out last week about it.”

  “Yeah, I’ll be there. You?”

  “With bells on. You know how much I love that Mr. Jones. He’s the rock behind Colorado.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Isn’t it cheesy when he says that? I mean, pick a new line, Mr. Superintendent.”

  “Seriously.” He shuffled his feet and grabbed for the door handle. “Maybe we can eat lunch together afterward?”

  “Sounds like a plan.” My cheeks ached from smiling.

  “When do you pick up Rose?”

  “Four.” I pulled at my fingers. “Say, would you like to go?”

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  I think my smile could be detected in Wyoming. “Great. I’ll see you at the meeting then.”

  “Great.”

  He got into his car and drove off. Sensations snapped inside me. I’d almost forgotten Liz was pillaging my house. It didn’t matter. Carter Williams kissed me, and there wasn’t anything wrong with me liking it.

  The next day, Liz was still eating her nerves away. She kept plucking jelly beans from her bag and stuffing them in her mouth as if she were storing nuts for the winter. The boardroom was filling up. I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for Carter. I wanted so badly to text him last night, but girl power won out and I refrained. It’s just a shame sissy girl showed up to the meeting. If I had
a ponytail, I’d be swishing it. I mean, this whole scenario was viable. Completely doable. Sam, as much as I had a reserved parking spot for him in my field of feelings, was no longer a possibility. Yes, I could still see his light-green eyes when I closed mine, at times. And yes, I could see his smile when I thought about it, but I needed to seal those thoughts away. Pack them up and label them “Past.” Regrets could not meander in my mind. Especially when I had Carter rolling into the room right now, and wearing a sign he’d never see that read, “Complete Possibility.” There was hope for Sarah Keller.

  He smiled, tucking in his tie before he took a seat across me. Intoxicating blood cells flurried through my nervous system. Funny, you could go months sitting across from a guy, thinking nothing more than he had nice hair, to “Wow, I’d like to get locked in a storage room with him.”

  “I’m going to need medical assistance to roll me out of here if you don’t make me stop eating, Sarah.” Liz hit me on the shoulder, taking me from my daydreams of Carter and me strolling hand-in-hand down some cheesy park with birds landing on our hands and shoulders, whistling a song from Cinderella. He in a—

  “Sarah!” She smacked me again.

  I wiped the drowsy look from my face and turned to look at her angrily. “What? I heard you.”

  “Well then, acknowledge me, please. I’m on life support here. Tell me what to do about Rick. You barely had any sage advice last night. I left feeling just as empty as when I’d got there. What’s your deal? Aren’t you trained to talk someone off a ledge, or something?”

  “Nothing’s my deal. I’m just thinking about Rose. She’s flying in today. I can’t wait to see her. She called last night and said she has something for all of us.”

  “Really? Like a crystal ball for me?”

  “Liz. Is it always about you? What about Rick? Last thing I remember about him, he was death-defying shy. I’m sure it took a lot for him to ask you to move in. I’m just shocked you hid him for so long.”

  “Yeah, well.”

  “How long exactly?”

  “I’ve been dating him on and off for about six months.”

  Roger Staples came in, huffing and puffing, before he took a seat next to Liz. She turned and gave him a look. He set down his coffee and portfolio before taking a load off.

  She turned back to me and continued. “He says he’s tired of me disappearing all the time. He wants me to himself.”

  “So you’ve been dating while seeing him? Of course you have—I’ve met some of them!” And this was why I hated dating. You always wonder what’s going on when the other person disappears for days.

  “Well, yes. And he knows it. Sort of. I don’t keep my intentions to myself. He knows I like to have fun.”

  “Geez, Liz. Throw the guy a bone. Don’t say you’re going out.”

  I spied Carter talking to Mitzy Campbell. She was the middle school principal. Cute little thing. Brown hair, short legs, and skirt showing exactly how short. She figures pinstripes makes it dignitary, but length is what counts, Mitzy. She was falling over Carter, showing him something on her phone. Probably pictures of her out of the skirt. Carter laughed a few times, pointing to the screen. I tried to focus on Liz. It was hard with Roger breathing as if he wasn’t receiving oxygen.

  “I’m so conflicted.” She threw in three more jelly beans and rubbed her stomach.

  Finally the superintendent arrived. I sighed and hunkered down for a droning speech about how this year would be the year for all things great. Last year didn’t seem to have heard the speech; student scores were at an all-time low. Not failing, but low.

  I felt my phone buzz in my lap. I looked down casually. It was Carter. I looked over at him. He was staring straight ahead.

  Meet me by the back door. Getaway car engine is running.

  I giggled, covering my mouth. Mr. Jones glanced at me.

  I’ll race you.

  I looked up and got a bug-eye from Liz. She scrunched her nose. I looked back at my phone.

  Do you like me? Circle yes or no.

  I smiled. He was so freaking cute. Mitzy, eat your heart out.

  My hand wavered over the buttons.

  Yes.

  He smiled after he read it.

  Go out with me?

  A warm rush of emotions came over me. Never did I ever feel like something this wonderful would ever happen to me. After my life-sized lie to Sam, I thought I’d live a life of retribution and be single forever. I took a deep breath and typed the word.

  Definitely.

  He laid down his phone and stared at Mr. Jones. I placed mine down on my lap and tried not to have my eyes wander to him anymore. It was futile. I kept glancing his way, imagining all sorts of things. Us at the movies, holding hands. Him, walking across the room to me, kissing me. Rose, running up to him after her first day of school, wrapping her hands around his neck. Heck, she does that now. But it will mean so much more.

  “Okay, so with that, let’s try to infuse what works with some of these things I discussed. Have a great day, and anyone who beats me to Mac’s for lunch will be sharing a table.” He hit the table and roared.

  Everyone scrambled to get the heck out of there. The man had spoken for thirty minutes and in essence had said nothing. Or exactly what he said every year before the next school year begins. Yada, yada, and get up those scores. No matter how much you have to bribe the child with pizza parties and ice cream bars. Not sure what would work for high school. Maybe more dances with less chaperones. For those who score average.

  It was difficult having a friend at the same time you were trying to get a boyfriend. Especially if the friend had no idea of the pending boy. Okay, a man. He was a man. Why was it that when you started dating again, you reverted to your teenage years of everything awkward and hilarious?

  “Come on. I suddenly want a cheeseburger with chili sauce and onions.”

  “Are you pregnant?” I offhandedly replied to Liz’s suggestion of lunch.

  “Crap, I hope not.”

  I stared at her. “Okay. I think.”

  Carter milled around, talking to a few people, shaking Mr. Jones’s hand and grinning at Mitzy. She wasn’t giving up easily. Probably smelled the availability of him, the whole way across the room. She certainly didn’t receive his text, now did she?

  “Liz, I sort of told Carter I’d eat with him.”

  “Fine, he can come, too.”

  “Um, well…”

  “Just why is he suddenly up your butt all of a sudden? Where’s Paige? Gone to the islands with Mother?” She tilted her nose and spoke in a British accent.

  “No, she’s gone. For good.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  Why did she have to be my audible conscience? Yeah, I thought it, but I was trying to drown out all images of Paige with a poker and horns.

  “He broke it off this time.”

  “Okay, whatever you say.” She shooed me with her hand and walked ahead. Probably smelled Mac’s burgers from down the street.

  Carter moseyed over to me. “Say, want to grab something to eat and take it to the park? It’s nice outside today. We can taunt the squirrels and birds.”

  “Liz sort of invited herself.”

  “Liz? Seriously?” He slouched and said it in a whiny three-year-old voice. “Didn’t she poop on our parade last night? Move in with the victim already! Rick, or whatever his name is, can deal with her.”

  I gently hit his shoulder. “Carter. She’s eating her nerves. She’s crying out for help.”

  “Yeah, well, go cry out somewhere else. I really wanted to spend time with you today. Before Rose comes back. Just me and you.” His head tilted. “Then we can all spend time together. If that’s cool with you.”

  “Freezer cool.”

  He shyly grinned.

  “Now, let’s make a run for it.”

  “Carter! It won’t take long. And she’ll follow us, anyway. It’s not like she knows anything is going on.”

  “Anything goin
g on?”

  “You and me? Whatever.”

  Was I imagining the you and me bit? I skulked down in a where-did-my-spine-go sort of way—it having been ripped out with the implication of “anything?”

  He grabbed and pulled me in for a hug. My cheek landed next to his. It was clean shaven, and smelled like a fresh burst of swoon. My arms were trapped to my sides, having not realized I was getting pulled into a hug. I freed myself a bit and awkwardly returned his embrace, very aware we were standing alone in the conference room of the Harris Building, downtown.

  “I’m just messing with you,” he whispered in my ear.

  “It’s not like there’s anything to know. I don’t know why I said it like that.”

  I was enjoying his weird embrace. A lot.

  Then Liz busted through the door. “Guys? You—”

  I broke away and looked at her. With a smidge of whodunit on my face.

  “What exactly is going on? Sarah, are you all right?” She walked toward me, reaching out to touch my arm. “Did something happen with Sam? I’m such an idiot. You said you bawled your eyes out that night you left him. Hon, I’m sure he would get over the fact of you keeping Rose a secret. Just tell him.”

  I straightened myself, piercing daggers into Liz. “I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong. Let’s go.”

  “It’s just that when I saw Carter—are you sure you’re all right? You seemed so aloof last night.”

  “I’m fine, Liz. Let’s go.” I looked anywhere that wasn’t at Carter. I didn’t want to know what he was thinking.

  We walked the four blocks to Mac’s. I barely said anything. Who could talk with all the shouting going on inside my temporal lobes? A lot of name-calling, a lot of shaming, a lot of images of Cupid being shot between the eyes, Liz holding the smoking gun. I walked in the middle of her and Carter on our way. When someone passed, Carter would drop back. I turned to look at him a few times. Sorrow on my expression. And yes, for the record, I did bawl my eyes out. But it was because I’d lied to Sam, and there was nothing I could do now to change that fact. My history with him was just that—history. No matter how I got the tingles being around him, it was over. Tingles were natural. It meant you cared. I’m sure Carter got tingles with that hose bag, Paige. Blek.