“I can’t believe you did this,” Sadie said, too quiet even to her own ears.
“They were meant to be together,” Roman replied. “Just like us.”
“Because you decided.”
“Because they decided, and we decided.”
“And because you drafted your grandmother to meddle in their lives.” He didn’t get it. “It’s going to be so much worse now. You have no idea what they’re going to go through.” The first few weeks would be fine—a short honeymoon period. Then things would start to unravel and the fallout wouldn’t be quick.
“You’ve seriously got to quit involving Babushka.” Eli shook his head. “What the hell are you thinking? Constantly looping her in on this shit?”
What did he mean? “Constantly?”
Eli had that expression he used to get when they were kids and he had said something he wasn’t supposed to say. Spilled the Kool-Aid instead of staying quiet.
“I talked to Jase,” Eli said as though that were an answer.
Sadie didn’t back down. “What did Jase say?”
“Jase says a lot of things. You shouldn’t listen to him,” Roman replied, his tone hard.
Eli shoved his hands in the pockets of his chef jacket. “He said that Roman enlisted Babushka’s help to convince you to give him a shot.”
Sadie knew Babushka was on this mission. She just hadn’t realized that Roman was the commanding officer distributing orders.
Something about that sat funny in Sadie’s chest.
What she and Roman had come to was only because he’d convinced the queen of manipulation to get involved?
The air in the room felt heavier, weighing down Sadie’s lungs.
“Are you kidding me right now?” Sadie asked, directing her question at nobody and everybody at once.
“It worked out,” Roman said, holding his hands up in front of him in an apparent attempt to call a truce. “It was a stupid idea. I shouldn’t have done it. But it did work out. I got you and you got me.”
“Because you know best, right?” Sadie’s heart pounded so far up in her throat that it freaking hurt. Her jaw went slack. Her lips lost feeling.
“It worked out, so…” Roman didn’t finish his thought.
“So what?” Sadie asked.
“Probably a good time to say you’re sorry and stop talking, dude,” Eli chimed in like he got a say in any of this.
Sadie grimaced. Made a sound she couldn’t quite recognize.
Eli inched back toward the kitchen. “I should let you two—”
“Eli? Your mom’s watching Luke, so I thought I’d stop in—” Marlee opened the door to the office, stopping abruptly when she caught the scene and the vibe in the room. “What’s going on?”
“Roman is the one who sicced his grandmother on me.” Sadie gestured toward him. “Did you know about this, too?”
“Um. No.” Marlee gave Roman a solid once-over. “Why would you be that stupid? I thought Dvornakovs were smarter than that.”
“Eli freaking knew, and he didn’t say anything to me,” Sadie continued.
Marlee gave Eli a look that clearly said he’d be explaining himself later.
“How did I end up the bad guy?” Eli asked. “I was making custard two minutes ago.”
“You know what? I’m done,” Sadie said, her heart in a freefall that didn’t seem to be ending anytime soon.
She was very done.
With Denver. With Roman. With everything.
Yes. Absolutely done. Sadie needed to get out of there. Move back to Chicago. Take the job. Forget about Roman.
A thick tear slipped out of her eyelid.
There was low murmuring that Sadie couldn’t make out because she was already through with this chapter of her life.
This was why she didn’t do second chances. This feeling of total despair mixed with a hearty dose of anger.
Turning to leave, she was nearly out the door when Marlee hustled after her.
Sadie left through the kitchen exit, the soles of her shoes padding against the concrete sidewalk serving as a reminder that she was the one walking away this time.
She wasn’t fine with that.
She wasn’t fine with any of it.
“Sadie, wait,” Marlee called.
Sadie didn’t want to, but she paused.
Marlee wrapped her in a hug. Tears trailed down Sadie’s cheeks, one after the other. Marlee squeezed tighter, making shushing noises like the experienced mother she was becoming.
“Why couldn’t he just let things be?” Sadie asked against Marlee’s shoulder before pulling away.
“I don’t know,” Marlee replied, releasing her.
“I don’t want this. I didn’t want him to force anything.” Sadie slumped against the brick exterior of her brother’s restaurant.
“I know, Sadie.” Marlee slumped next to Sadie in camaraderie.
“But I do want it,” Sadie continued. “I want it and I don’t and how does that even make sense?”
“It’s love, sweetie. Love doesn’t make sense.” Marlee’s own expression mirrored Sadie’s inner turmoil. “A little over a year ago, I thought I was going to spend my life with someone else. Now that I have Eli, Luke…I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”
“But nobody forced you to be together.”
“No, we did that all on our own with mutual bad decision-making.” Marlee turned her head toward Sadie.
“What do I do?” Sadie asked, feeling as though her entire being were breaking apart. She raised her palms to her cheeks, holding them there. “I don’t know what to do.”
“You love him,” Marlee said, sounding sure. So, so sure.
How was she so sure?
“In the words of Tina Turner, ‘What’s love got to do with it?’” Sadie swiped at the tears continuing to spill.
Marlee’s expression went totally stoic.
“Everything,” Marlee said. “Absolutely everything.”
“What do I do?” Sadie asked again.
“What does your heart say?” Marlee’s expression gentled.
“It says it doesn’t know,” Sadie whispered.
Two hands on Sadie’s shoulders, Marlee stared her straight in the eyes and said, “Then wait until it does.”
“I have to make a decision about Chicago.” The sooner the better.
“Don’t you think you already made that decision once?” Marlee asked.
“They offered me a shit ton of money.”
“But you can make a shit ton of money here.” Marlee pointed toward the Rockies. “There will always be offers. You decided months ago what you wanted. Whether you stay with Roman or not, you already made the decision on where to land once. What’s changed?”
Honestly? Everything. It felt like everything had changed.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Roman’s heart seemed to be going through an atrophy. He couldn’t really comprehend how the ventricles still forced blood through his veins after he saw the expression of betrayal etched across Sadie’s face. Because of him.
He’d read once that there was only one way to die—the heart stops pushing blood to the brain. There were a million ways for that to happen, but only one way to truly die.
He didn’t believe that.
The heart could still beat while the existence one had hoped for, planned for, lived for…that existence dies.
He realized right then, for the first time since they’d reconnected, that his future might not include Sadie. He knew now what it felt like to have her walk away.
The weight that crashed down on him when she left the room was unbearable.
It’d been easier when he was the one doing the walking.
Now, the future felt empty.
“You love my sister?” Eli asked, crossing his arms.
Roman nodded.
“Maybe don’t be an idiot about it.”
“Man, I don’t know what to do to fix this.”
“You should go after her.�
� Eli ticked his head in the direction Sadie had exited.
Roman sifted his hands through his hair. “I didn’t know the guy was the husband of her client.”
“I don’t think that’s the part that matters.” Eli nodded with his own assessment.
“What part matters then?” Roman asked.
“You love her.”
Roman nodded. Yes, he did.
“She loves you,” Eli added.
“I don’t know about that.”
“Sadie’s a tough one. She wants to be strong and she wants to do it all herself and she has really strong opinions about everything—but you bring out the smile in her,” Eli said. “That’s the part that matters.”
Roman clenched his jaw so hard his molars seemed to revolt.
“You should probably plan on groveling a little.” Eli continued nodding. “Because it’s what we do best.”
Roman followed the path that Sadie had forged through the kitchen and out the door until he found her talking to Marlee just down the sidewalk from the kitchen door.
“Sadie,” Roman said, clearing his throat because she looked as broken as he’d felt when she’d walked away. Her expression was totally shattered.
Sadie glanced at him, but she didn’t lock her gaze with his like usual.
Marlee made a quick exit after a brief exchange with Sadie. She patted Roman’s arm on her way past as though they were at a funeral and he was a relative of the deceased.
That feeling didn’t bode well for his hope of what this conversation would bring.
“I’m sorry,” Roman said. “I didn’t know the connection.”
She turned toward him. “I have to ask you something and I need you to be honest.”
“Anything you want to know, it’s yours.”
“Are you going to sic your grandmother on me every time you want your way?”
“No.” He absolutely would not do that.
“How can I believe you?” she asked.
Well, he’d have to figure out how to show her, wouldn’t he?
“Because I love you,” he said, meaning every single word.
Her expression changed, softened, then hardened. She blew air out between her lips.
He ran his hand up and over her back, tracing the hairline along her neck as she stared up at him.
She shivered against his touch. His own heart seemed to beat faster as he made contact with the flesh above her collar.
He couldn’t lose her. There was no way he’d be able to walk away if she told him to. Even the thought of her asking for that throttled his hold on a hope for the future.
“Say you love me, too,” he continued. “Let’s move on from this together.”
Please, Sadie. Say yes.
“I can’t,” she said, practically choking on the word. “I just…I can’t.”
She could. Whether she was willing to or not, that was the question.
“I walked away from you,” he said quickly. “Years ago. You offered me everything and I walked away. Trust me when I say you don’t want to live with that kind of mistake. It eats away the years.”
She said nothing.
“It was the biggest mistake of my life,” he said, choked with emotion. “Don’t make my mistake, milaya.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “It’s not a mistake. There’s no second chance. There never has been. No happily ever after for me.”
His heart stopped beating. She believed that. He’d done everything he could to prove to her that wasn’t true. Yet, she still believed it.
“No,” he said, refusing to come to the same conclusion.
“You’ll find your happy,” she assured. “I believe that. You’re a good guy.”
Not without her, he wouldn’t.
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe Tonya just won her own case? This loss is not a loss at all as long as she’s happy.”
Sadie briefly pinched her eyes closed. It could never be that simple. “That’s not how it works.”
He opened his mouth to fight this fight. Make this point. Show her in a way she’d understand—with words and logic and determination.
But instead, she turned to walk away. Strode with a purpose.
He understood what it felt like to make that trek.
Understood the cost.
The only tell that she wasn’t 100 percent confident in her decision was the way she lightly brushed her hand along the edge of the building on her way around the corner. As though that light touch was what kept her standing. Kept her vertical.
Yeah, he remembered how that felt.
And now it was his turn to have his heart dropped on the sidewalk behind her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Sadie?” Babushka asked.
Sadie glanced up from her desk. “Hm?”
It’d only been a day since she’d walked out of Roman’s life. Each second felt like an eternity. Her head ached. She hadn’t slept.
Roman was correct. If this is how each moment felt, the pain would quickly eat away the years.
“Ve need to talk.” Babushka sat in the chair across from Sadie’s desk.
“What do you want to talk about?” Sadie asked, adjusting the jacket of her skirt suit.
“My Roman, he did ask for my help to get you two together,” Babushka admitted. “I did things I do not regret to ensure this happened.”
“I know I keep firing you and you keep coming back. But I really think it’s time for the Dvornakovs to move along so I can, too.” Sadie said it and she meant it. Oh, how she meant it.
“Roman may have asked me to meddle, but I make my own choices when I help someone vith love,” Babushka said with a smack on the desktop. “You are blind to this. Vhat is right for your heart.”
“Babushka—”
“I only help those who are hashtag M-F-E-O.” Babushka raised her eyebrows and made her eyes comically wide.
Sade couldn’t help but smile. “Made for each other?”
“Yes,” Babushka said. “You two are whole apart, but together, you are more. Two halves that equal more than a whole. That is a special gift that you don’t turn away from vhen it is offered. I had that vith my husband.”
Sadie shifted in her seat. “What happened between Rome and me is nothing that anyone else needs to be concerned about.”
“You are family. Roman is family. You are my vorry. It’s vhat I do.” Babushka reached across the desk and squeezed Sadie’s hands where she had folded them on the desk.
“You are a smart girl. Roman is smart boy. My great-granddaughter named after me vill be as intelligent as she is beautiful. Don’t take that hope away from an old woman.”
Sadie’s heart actually hurt at the idea of a little Dvornakov girl named Nadzieja who wouldn’t be hers.
“Your ten o’clock is here.” Babushka gave one final squeeze to Sadie’s hands.
Sadie shook her head. “I don’t have a ten o’clock.”
“You do,” Babushka replied with a very heavy wink. “His name is Harry.”
Sadie followed Babushka back to the reception area where Etta was chatting up an elderly man holding a tweed flatcap in his hands.
“Hello,” she said, the greeting sounding a little more like a question.
“You’re Sadie?” he asked.
“I am,” she replied. “What can I do for you today?”
“Well, I’m in a pickle.” He stretched his expression into a grimace. “It’s my understanding that you offer legal assistance to the building owners as part of your lease agreement?”
Sadie nodded.
“What kind of pickle are we talking about?” Sadie asked.
“It seems I got arrested,” Harry said.
Oh. Well, that would be a pickle.
“Shall we go in my office and discuss what happened?” she asked.
He nodded, following her through the small reception area. Babushka smiled knowingly.
“Can I get you something to drink, Harry?” Sadie asked.
> “No, thank you.” Harry took a seat and patted his hip. He removed a small coil-bound notebook and a metal ballpoint pen. He placed them in front of him in what appeared to be a precise layout.
“Tell me what happened?” Sadie asked kindly, like she did in her initial divorce proceedings.
“I had a banana in my pocket.” Harry seemed to think this was a completely normal thing. Which it could‘ve been if it hadn’t been the beginning of the story of how one got arrested.
“Okay, and then what happened?” Sadie asked.
“The ski mask covered too much of my eyes, so I had to follow along the wall with my gloves. I didn’t see the cameras until it was too late.”
Sadie cleared her throat. “Okay, and after you saw the cameras…?”
“It was too late,” Harry replied.
“For?”
“They caught me sneaking in to Nadzeija’s room.”
“Babushka’s room?” Well, wasn’t this interesting.
“Yes.” He nodded. Curt. “They don’t allow us to fraternize, if you get my drift.” He waggled his eyebrows. “But we do it anyway.”
“So you wear ski masks and keep bananas in your pockets?”
“Yes, ma’am. We get creative.”
Sadie nearly asked what the banana was for. Nearly. But she swallowed the slew of questions that had nothing to do with the legal case being presented to her. “So the police showed up.”
“Because I was on camera,” Harry added. “You should write that down.”
Sadie did as she was told. “Then what happened?”
Harry leaned forward, right into Sadie’s personal space. “I pointed the banana at them.”
Oh dear. That was a horrible idea. “You shouldn’t point anything at a police officer, you know that. Fruit or otherwise.”
“I understand that now.” Harry flipped open his notebook. “Now, let’s talk about my defense.”
“Harry, I have to be honest here.” Sadie set her pen down. “I don’t generally practice this kind of law.”
“Well, my dear, I’m going to teach you a thing or two about criminal defense.”
“Harry—”
“Harold Whittimaker the Third,” he said, eyes bright.
Do Me a Favor: A second chance, hilarious rom com! (Mile High Matched Book 4) Page 24
