Page 11 of Searching for Sadie (Mystic Falls #5)

SAIE

I t had been three weeks since Sadie had moved to Mystic Falls. She had managed to fall in love with her neighbor and run out of money.

Neither of those things were good.

And yes, maybe she wasn't in love with Lucas, but she couldn’t get her mind off him, no matter how she tried.

Again, last night she was sitting in her window seat as he came home with the ridiculously big bag.

She had no idea what it could be, but she told herself all kinds of stories, about her murdering neighbor to try and make him unappealing, but it was just not happening.

So here she sat in a house that was so far from her style that she couldn’t bring herself to change. The show was going to start airing soon and she was almost out of money. No matter what she did her life would be turned upside down... again.

But those were all problems for another day, right now she was getting ready for her first shift at Mae's diner, and it wasn't a moment too soon because while her aunt had given this house to her with all expenses covered for the first year, there were still other expenses that were coming up.

She checked herself in the mirror by the door making sure her ponytail was straight and tight before making her way to her car. When she tried to turn the key... nothing.

No. This wasn’t happening now. She tried to turn the key again, and once again... nothing.

Great. Another expense. And another thing to add to the list of things that had fallen apart around her she would eventually have to deal with.

Tears gathered in her eyes at that thought. She was running away from so much. And the unanswered texts on her phone were starting to add up... and getting progressively more irritated with her.

As she got out of her car slinging her purse over her shoulder a friendly voice called out to her, "Is everything okay?"

She looked up to see Lucas on the other side of the bushes looking at her with his brows pinched in concern. It's been about two weeks since he took her to the carnival, and well, she may have been avoiding him ever since.

"Yeah," she answered, plastering her ‘see everything is fine’ smile on her face. "I just thought I would walk to work today."

"Work?" he asked as he crossed his arms over his broad chest. "Where are you working?"

"At the diner," she said as she nervously tucked her hair behind her ear only to remember her hair was in a ponytail and did not need to be tucked behind her ear. She must have looked like a goofus.

He cocked an eyebrow as he watched her, it was like he could see straight into her soul, and that was not good. Nope, everything was a big ol’ mess inside of her.

"When did you start working there?"

"Well, today is my first day."

"And you just decided you wanted to walk… after your car wouldn't start?"

Her eyebrows shot up. Damn. "Yep. That's what I decided."

"I can drive you. I'll be going right by it."

"Nope, I can walk."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. It's only like a ten-minute walk." She looked at her phone, she still had ten minutes... but she would like to be a little early. But she had already said no... but when she looked at him, he was grinning at her, and damn if it didn't do something to her.

"Actually... would you mind? I don't want to be late on my first day."

"Not at all, climb on in," he said as he walked over to the other side of his truck and held the door open for her.

As she walked around the bushes and into his driveway, she smoothed down her hair and reminded herself not to be weird.

He was just being nice. Because he was nice.

And he did not deserve to be dragged into the mess that was about to become her life as soon as she stopped ignoring the dinging of her phone.

When she rounded the truck, Lucas was already there waiting for her with a smile on his face and a welcoming hand waiting to help her up into his work truck.

Her heart stammered in her chest just at the sight of him.

She hadn't really talked to him since the porch incident, sure they'd had a neighborly wave here and there, but nothing like this, being this close to him.

As she took his outstretched hand and there was the little zip of a spark that happened every time they touched.

She climbed up into his truck and he shut the door behind her as she reached for his buckle.

When he walked around the hood of the truck, he stopped slightly to look at her and the way his mouth turned up slightly at the side when he caught sight of her wasn’t lost on her.

It was almost like he was just happy to have her in his work truck.

Which when she stopped to look at, was surprisingly clean.

Growing up, her uncle was a plumber, so blue collar jobs and work vehicles weren’t new to her, but this was nice.

And didn't have a particular odor, thinking of the smell of a couple of her uncle's old work vans was enough to have her nose scrunching at the mere memory.

The door next to her opened and as Lucas took in her face, he cocked his head to the side and sniffed. "Is there a problem?"

A chuckle bubbled up in her, breaking some of the tension. "No. Not at all! I was just thinking about riding around in my uncle's work van and they always had a weird smell, but your truck is so clean and smells normal."

"Well, phew," he said as wiped pretend sweat from his brow. "Glad my truck passed the smell test," he said as he started his truck. "It's a good thing I toss my hockey bag in the back. It might not smell so good if I had to transport that thing in the cab."

"Hockey bag?"

"Yeah," he said as she glanced at her, putting the truck into reverse. "I play a couple nights a week in a rec league here."

"Ohhh," she said as if a light just came on. "So, it's not a murder bag!"

"Excuse me?" He shot her a curious look as he started to back out of the driveway.

"I've seen you come in a couple times with a huge bag, and I couldn't figure out what it was."

"So, you went with murder bag?"

"I didn't think you were actually murdering people."

"Well, that's good I guess, because I'm not murdering people... unless I'm murdering on the ice," he said, laughing a little at his own joke.

The familiar sounds of Dolly Parton filled the air. He immediately moved to turn it down.

"Are you a Dolly fan?" she asked.

"Who's not a Dolly fan? And living next to your aunt for all these years rubbed off a little.”

This man was bad news, because the more time Sadie spent around him, the more she wanted to spend more time with him. He was easy when nothing else in her life was.

"What's going on with your car?"

"I'm not sure. It just decided this morning it didn't want to start."

"Hmm," Lucas hummed as a little scrunch appeared between his brows. "I can take a look at it when I'm done with this job if you want."

"I couldn't ask you to do that."

"You're not asking. I'm offering."

She bit her lip as her phone buzzed in her purse.

"I'm not promising I can fix it, but I can give it a jump and see what I can figure out."

She couldn’t let him do that. She needed to fix it herself. "I can figure it out and I mean, I can walk just about everywhere I need in Mystic Falls," she said as her phone buzzed again in her purse.

"Do you need to get that?" he motioned to her purse.

"No... It's fine."

A silence settled between them as he drove her to the town square. And her phone dinged once again in her purse.

"Wow. You're a popular person," he said.

"No. I just know really annoying people," she said deadpan.

And to her pleasant surprise a good hearty laugh came from the handsome man next to her.

"I know a couple of those myself," he said as he pulled up to the diner.

"If you're not busy this weekend, I have a Saturday game.

There are usually lots of people there. Poppy comes sometimes because her brother plays. And sometimes Wes Darling even comes."

Wes Darling... Why did that name sound familiar? "Wes Darling..."

"Yeah, he plays for the Glendale Magic."

"I think one of my friends hooked up with one of the players when they were in Nashville last year. I don’t remember his name, but he had a beard and tons of tattoos.”

“Cash Hawthorne?” he asked glancing at her.

“I think that might have been it.”

Lucas gave another chuckle. His laughs and smiles were like a drug. He was so easy to make happy, that wasn't something she was used to.

"That tracks... I've met a couple of the guys since I'm friends with Conner McPhee. He's from Mystic Falls, that's why Wes is here from time to time. He's dating the bookstore owner in town, who just happens to be the goalie for my team."

"What even is this town? NHL players and Liam James."

"It's a magical little town."

"Clearly," she said, as she realized her hand had been on the door handle for a few minutes. She needed to get out of this truck, but she just couldn't seem to part herself from this wonderful man.

But as her phone dinged again, it reminded her just why she needed to part herself from him.

"Thanks for the ride," she said as she opened the door and hopped out.

Just as she was shutting the door he said, "I'll take a look at your car when I get home."

She turned to say that wasn't necessary as the door shut and he just grinned at her and drove off.

Nothing to do now except go start her new job.