by Jamie Berris
“I’d like to take you there.”
Marissa cocked her head to the side. “Hmm, where?”
“Lake Michigan, just the two of us. Maybe we could rent a cottage someplace for a weekend. I was thinking Saugatuck or Frankfort.”
Marissa put her glass down and looked Kurt in the eyes. “I’d like that.”
Their casual dating, though sporadic, had been going on nearly five months. Kurt was ready to take the plunge. A getaway was the perfect, and only, way they would be able to have any quality time together.
The waiter came and took their order of two chicken Cobb salads and a side order of fries for Kurt. He joked that it was the manly thing to do when you ordered a salad for an entrée.
“So, what’s the next step with the girls?” asked Marissa.
Kurt squeezed lemon in his iced tea and set the rind down on his bread plate. “Leave it alone, stay out of it, and let them figure it out,” he said, bluntly.
“You’re giving up?” Marissa looked at Kurt with doubt, as if it were that easy. “Did you forget we’re dealing with two teenage girls with emotions cranked on high?”
Kurt chuckled. “I knew you’d get it. That’s exactly why we stay out of it. You see, if it weren’t for the two of us dating, we wouldn’t even know about the quarrel over Travis. You can’t tell me that Paige would have run home and told you all the details about this girl named Sadie (pretending you didn’t know the other girl) who dumped her boyfriend and moved in on the guy she just started seeing . . . even though supposedly they didn’t really have feelings for each other anyway . . . blah, blah, blah . . .”
~*~
Marissa
Marissa considered this. She was very close with Paige and they talked about a lot. Okay, it took a bit of prying from Marissa, and she probably didn’t always get the full story, but she felt like she was pretty informed when it came to Paige’s social life.
“I disagree. I definitely would’ve heard about it. She would’ve been upset, I would have pried, and she would’ve caved, eventually told me what was upsetting her, and then asked me to buy her something she has been wanting. Out of guilt for any amount of anguish I’ve ever caused her, I would have taken her shopping and then regretted it because, before we would have gotten back home, she would have been snotty or disrespectful about something.” Marissa chuckled and rolled her eyes.
Kurt frowned. “Then we may have an issue.”
Marissa countered. “Not necessarily. I think you’re right. I think I’m going to leave it alone. I won’t even bring it up. So far, when I’ve talked to Paige, our conversations have basically been about all the fancy restaurants, hip beaches, and designer boutiques her dad and Felicia have taken her to. We’ve barely even talked about Nicholas being her half-brother. Paige was embarrassed over Travis, but she didn’t really like him. She just wanted more to be upset about. She’s angry and wants to blame Lydia and Sadie, even me.
“To be honest, I think Paige is in a state of denial. She has Marcus up on this pedestal, always has; he can do no harm. I’m always the bad person. If anything, she is more upset at me for keeping it a secret all these years. Or should I say, ‘making her father keep it a secret,’ as she puts it. Go figure, huh? I’m the innocent party, only trying to protect my daughter, but yet I take all the blame.”
“Have you talked with Marcus about how to handle it?”
They paused as the server brought their lunch and asked if there was anything else he could get them. All the answers, thought Marissa, as Kurt asked for ketchup.
“Typical Marcus—he says he will handle it, which is the scary part because that means he will give her the sugar-coated Marcus wonderful-father version, not the truth.”
“But I thought you and Paige pulled a near all-nighter talking about it before she left for California?”
“We did, but as I said, she has always placed her father on a pedestal.”
Kurt seemed to think about this for a moment. “So she’s going to hate me for being the reason her dad divorced you and fled to California.”
Marissa looked out to the water. She would never mention to Kurt the crazy accusations that Paige came up with, along with the name calling. Paige had laid the full blame for her parents’ divorce, and the fact that her dad took off to the other side of the country, on Lydia for sleeping with Marcus. Paige also had this crazy idea in her head that Kurt threatened to kill Marcus if he tried to take Nicholas.
“Paige has no idea that you gave Marcus an ultimatum, and she never will. Paige has several different versions twisted up in her head. She has accused Lydia of seducing him. She’s accused me of divorcing him even though it wasn’t his fault. She accuses you of stealing his fatherhood and forcing him to flee to California because he couldn’t bear to watch his son grow up not knowing his real dad. Our conversation wasn’t pretty. I know Paige, though, and I know that she just needs to spew it out of her system and then she’ll move on.”
Chapter 46
Sadie
Sadie woke up, thinking about Travis. She wished she were back in Pentwater with him. It was almost ten, which meant he was already at football practice. Myla and Kyla were both still sleeping: Myla in the bed next to Sadie, and Kyla curled up on the window seat/bed.
Lydia had made a super thick pillow bed, covered in a peace sign fabric for the large window seat, since it seemed Myla and Kyla always slept over in a pair. At one time, the three of them fit into Sadie’s bed. Once they got older and started fighting over who had to sleep on the floor, Sadie bagged up the mound of stuffed animals displayed on the window seat and converted the space to a bed.
She grabbed her phone and snuck out of the room. Chances were Myla and Kyla would be sleeping awhile since they didn’t turn out the lights until nearly three in the morning. They had spent way too much time on Snapchat and Instagram and way too much wasted time reading Dylan’s ridiculous posts.
On her way downstairs, she texted Travis three simple words, “I miss you,” for him to see after his first practice.
Nicholas was playing on the kitchen floor, smashing two monster trucks together and eating his second package of Pop Tarts. The open box, wrappers, and crumbs lay next to him as evidence. Last night Nicholas had gone to the grocery store with Kurt, and they had come home with a boatload of junk food—the telltale sign that their dad was feeling really guilty about stuff.
Sadie scanned the countertops, and sure enough, there they were. Donuts! An entire box of glazed, chocolate sprinkled, powdered sugar, and even a couple of bear claws. Mom has got to be rolling in her grave. All this, especially after the loads of junk they consumed while in Pentwater. Nicholas was always begging for donuts at the store, and from the looks of it, he hit the mother lode.
It wasn’t long before Sadie found herself back in Mommy mode: collecting piles of laundry, sweeping up Nicholas’s mess, and helping him get dressed and brush his teeth. Would it ever end? He was already begging her to go swimming or ride bikes or bring his trucks out to the swing set.
She felt herself getting frustrated, especially since Jayna was still sleeping, or pretending to be, and here she was doing it all, as usual. She had had freedom in Pentwater, a taste of what it was like to be a normal teenager, without so much responsibility. But then she caught a glimpse of Nicholas out of the corner of her eye. He was staring at himself in the bathroom mirror and flexing his muscles, blowing at his “guns” and grunting.
Sadie couldn’t help herself—she melted, watching the little guy. He was so incredibly cute and sweet, and the last thing she was about to do was snub him and let him feel lonely. The poor kid doesn’t have a mom to love and cuddle him, but he has me. She refused to let him down. He didn’t even have a sibling close to his age to play with as she always had.
So a few minutes later, Sadie found herself drawing a race course on the driveway with cement chalk for her and Nicholas to ride their bikes on. It wasn’t long before Myla, Kyla, and even Jayna were outside, donuts in
hand, playing race-car drivers with them. It was fun being a kid now and then when she got her mind off herself, and she knew her mom would be proud.
Dear Sadie,
Since I’m not there to keep you on the straight and narrow, and be a nag, (Hehe!) I’m going to give you some advice. You need to choose your thoughts, and you need to choose them carefully. You also need to make good choices. Doing what is right instead of doing what you feel like doing will always pay off in the long run.
Every day, in every situation, stop and take a breath and think before you speak, before you act. Replace the wrong thought with the right thought and follow through by doing the right thing. Love always believes the best of every person. That’s all I’ll preach about today.
I love you,
Mom
Chapter 47
Sadie
In the days that followed, Sadie hung out with Myla and Kyla by day and Travis at night. She drove to his football practice, once, with her friends in tow.
The girls enjoyed scoping out new boys, and it seemed the entire football team was overly flattered as well. From the sounds of it, many of them got reamed by the coaches for being distracted by the threesome and were threatened with extra practice time at sun-up the next morning if they didn’t focus.
After practice, the girls went back to Travis’s house with a couple of his friends, Cody included, and hung out for a Mexican dinner prepared by Andrea. Liz had not returned any of Cody’s phone calls or texts since Pentwater, and he was still in the dumps over it. Sadie felt obligated to give him a pep talk and include the lowdown about Liz—that it was her typical behavior and not him. Jayna had talked to Liz and gotten the scoop—she had simply moved on. Poor Cody.
Sadie wondered if Myla or Kyla might be a good fit for him. How fun would it be if one of her best friends dated her boyfriend’s best friend?
Without Dylan in her life and Travis living in another town, Sadie was thankful that Myla and Kyla were willing to give up days at the beach with the school crowd and spend days babysitting Nicholas with her by the pool. She had missed her friends while dating Dylan. It felt good to catch up.
When the weekend came, Kurt agreed to let Sadie have a small pool party with Travis, Cody, and two other friends, Bo and Caleb, along with Myla and Kyla. Kurt asked if he could invite Benton and Andrea along with Marissa, and Sadie reluctantly agreed.
She half expected Marissa to show up at their house since coming home from Pentwater, but in the week they had been home, Kurt never even mentioned her name. Weird, thought Sadie, but she wasn’t complaining. She wasn’t stupid—she was smart enough to figure out that her dad had spent some time with Marissa.
Sadie had been with Travis one evening, Jayna was at a sleepover, and the next morning, Nicholas had mentioned that he and Dad picked up Marissa at her house and went out for dinner and then to the park. Sadie probed Nicholas and got a few details out of him.
Nicholas really liked Marissa. She gave him a lot of attention. Also, with Marissa around, so was Kurt, and they were doing fun things: first Pentwater, now dinner out, and the park. Sadie was baffled that Marissa would even want to be around Nicholas. Sadie couldn’t figure out why Marissa didn’t harbor resentment towards the kid.
Sadie thought about Paige, and it made her skin crawl. What if Paige came back from California, mad as ever at Sadie? What if Marcus decided he wanted custody of his biological son, Nicholas? What if Paige blabbed all over town that Sadie’s mom slept with her dad? Sadie was dreading Paige’s return.
The small pool party was super fun. Travis had cool friends, highly approved of by Myla and Kyla. The day turned out better than Sadie imagined it would. The way her friends and Travis’s friends hit it off was perfect. Sadie was nervous that it would be an awkward day, but it was one of the best pool groups she’d ever had.
Her dad, Marissa, Andrea, and Benton pretty much kept to themselves, so Sadie never had to directly deal with Marissa. She did find herself acting extra sweet in general. She felt like she needed to prove to Marissa that she wasn’t a horrible person and boyfriend stealer.
That night Sadie had an unexpected visitor. Her cell chimed as his text message came through at 2:15 a.m. It simply said to meet him outside. Sadie changed from her bedtime tank into a short-sleeved shirt, brushed her teeth, and snuck out the sliding glass door.
Dylan was out on the swing set, gently swinging side to side. Sadie could tell immediately that he had been drinking. “Hey,” said Sadie as she sat in the swing next to him.
Dylan ignored her and dug his foot in the pea stone and then kicked a wad of stones, spraying the slide. “How was your pool party?”
Sadie swallowed hard. She was certain she had heard a car’s engine rev in front of her house this afternoon and the car peel away. She thought it was Dylan, but then she thought she was just being paranoid.
“Good. It was really only a few people.”
“You mean your boyfriend and his friends.”
Sadie cringed. She knew her ties with Dylan wouldn’t be broken easily. She feared that they would end up fighting and hating each other. She knew being great friends was out of the question, but she really was hoping somehow, in time, they could be cordial. Dylan would always be linked to the hardest time in her life. He would always hold a special spot in her heart for being there for her. He was her high-school boyfriend who had been there for her when her mother died.
“Is that what you came over to hear? Do you want me to tell you he’s my boyfriend?”
Dylan shrugged. “Well, is he?”
Even in the darkness, Sadie could make out Dylan’s face well enough in the moonlight to see it looked like he had been crying. His eyes were swollen and his face blotchy. She wasn’t going to lie, but she didn’t want to hurt him either, even though he had already said some pretty nasty things about her on social media and to their other friends.
“Yes, we’re seeing each other.”
“So just like that, we’re over? What the hell, Sadie? I was there for you. Travis is a little punk. You’re screwing up!” Dylan turned to look at Sadie for the first time. His face was filled with anger.
“Have you slept with him?” Dylan snarled.
Sadie hadn’t, and hadn’t planned to, and wished she hadn’t with Dylan, but his question pissed her off. “It’s none of your business, Dylan—we’re no longer a couple, remember?”
“So you have?”
“No . . . I, Dylan, what’s the point?”
Dylan jumped up from the swing and got in Sadie’s face. “The point is that I don’t think it’s over between us, and you don’t either. You’re making a huge mistake. I’m giving you this chance to change your mind.”
“Dylan, we both know we needed a break. You’re going off to school. I have two years left here.”
“So you’re dumping me because I’m going off to college a half hour away, but your new boyfriend lives a half hour away and that’s okay?”
“I’ve changed, Dylan. I’m not the girl I was my freshman year. You’ve changed too. We’re different people and that’s okay. I will always have feelings for you, but I need to move on, and so do you.”
Dylan stared directly in Sadie’s eyes, and she had to look away. She folded her arms in front of her and got a chill. Never did she expect any of this from Dylan. Maybe she had always underestimated his feelings for her. Or was it that he just couldn’t stand the fact that he was dumped?
“That’s a bunch of bullshit, Sadie, and you know it. You got caught up in some fantasy of having a summer fling in a beach town. I’m here to give you a second chance, but this is it. Don’t think you’re going to come crawling back to me in another month after you figure out what a boring loser Travis is.”
Okay, that struck a nerve with Sadie. “Really, Dylan, who’s the loser? Who is the one showing up at my house in the middle of the night? In secrecy, no less, and let me guess: if word got out that you showed up here, you would deny it!”
“Y
ou really are an immature bitch, Sadie. You deserve everything that happened to you.”
The tears came instantly, and it only seemed to fuel Dylan’s fire. He grabbed her by the jaw and held her face two inches from his. She could definitely smell the beer on his breath.
“Ya know I got a phone call from Paige the other day, and I defended you. She accused you of being a selfish bitch. Now I see she’s right. She also spilled her guts about what kind of person your mom really was, a home wrecker. You’re just like her. You don’t care who you hurt as long as you’re happy. Have a nice life, Sadie. Hope Travis can handle all your crying fits over dead Mommy dearest.”
Dylan jerked his hand away from Sadie’s face, and she howled. What? Paige had told Dylan the truth about Nicholas? He turned and started walking away, but Sadie couldn’t let him go, not like this, not without him promising to keep silent. She ran after him and grabbed his arm. “Please, Dylan, don’t tell anyone. You’ll only hurt Nicholas if you do.”
He flung Sadie’s hand off his arm. “Why should I do you anymore favors?”
“I never meant to hurt you, Dylan. I still have feelings for you, okay? Are you happy I said it? It’s just not that simple though. Just because we’re no longer a couple doesn’t mean that I don’t still care about you, but it’s not enough anymore. Besides, getting back at me is one thing; screwing with Nicholas and my entire family is another.”
His face softened and Sadie waited, waited for him to promise to keep their family secret quiet. Instead, he shook his head and cut across the lawn. Sadie could picture where his car was parked two streets over, where it always was when he snuck over to get her. Half of her wanted to run after him, but she held back. She knew she missed the familiarity of him, but there was so much more that she needed to let go.
When he was almost out of sight, he stopped and turned around. He stood for a second and they stared at each other’s silhouettes. “You’re right about one thing, Sadie. You aren’t the same girl you used to be. Once upon a time, I really loved that girl.”