Page 14 of Searching for Sadie (Mystic Falls #5)

As a voicemail dinged in her purse, she closed her eyes trying to push away all the demons who had caught up with her this morning.

She'd had this dream that she would move here and start a magical new life.

And it had been so promising with her too good to be true next-door neighbor.

She could almost see it. She could almost see what it would be like to have just ended up here.

She would be working on her new house and not keeping it as a floral museum to her great aunt.

She would have kissed Lucas that night on her porch and maybe gone on another date with him.

But it would seem even though she was somewhere new, that new start was still out of reach.

She turned the corner as main street came into view. And as she made her way a familiar face was walking into the bookstore. That face turned and cocked her head and held her hand over her eyes blocking out the sun to see her.

"Sadie?" asked the voice.

Sadie waved and tried to remember her name. What was it… Penny? Polly?

"I'm Poppy. We met at the carnival a few weeks ago."

"I remember you, Poppy. How are you doing?"

"Well, I'm just stopping into the bookstore. We have a book club on Thursday if you’re interested."

"I haven't read the book."

"There's plenty of time to read it. It's a quick read.

Plus, it was written by my best friend Hannah, who will be there.

And really, we are just going to drink wine and talk about a book before we make our way down to the karaoke bar.

Well, I won't be drinking," she said as she patted her belly, "But it's going to be a good time. Come! Please."

Sadie would swear Poppy said that all in one breath which made her laugh. This was one of those moments where she could lead into the life that she was hoping to have here. One with friends who cared about her. Even if Lucas was still out of her reach, she could have some friends.

"What the hell?” she shrugged. “I'll be there."

"That's wonderful! Come on in! I think Kate has extra copies of the book."

Poppy held the door open as they both entered.

"Hey Poppy," called a woman from behind the counter with a mess of red curls. "I got the invoice from Sam. I love baked goods in the morning and for meetings. I think I added..." The woman stopped talking as soon as she saw Sadie.

"Hi," she said with a genuine smile. "I'm Kate."

"Sadie," she said as she reached out and took her hand.

"Sadie is going to join the book club!" Poppy said as she picked up the folder from the counter.

"Great! I have copies of the book over there if you want. Are you new to the area?"

"Yeah, I just moved into my great aunt's house."

“Oh, are you Ms. Maple’s niece?” Kate asked.

Sadie nodded.

“I took piano lessons from her when I was a kid,” Kate added with a warm smile.

“I’ve heard that a time for two since moving here. She must have taught all the kids,” Sadie said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, she probably did. She was the best. Did she teach you how to play?”

“Yeah, she taught me a lot while I would visit. She bought me my first guitar when I turned thirteen and taught me the chords to I Will Always Love You.”

“That woman loved Dolly,” Poppy added from across the store.

“She really did.”

Sadie bought the book headed home. As she made her way down the road to her house, new book in her hand, the awful morning meeting slightly less of a cloud over her head.

By the time she got home, she had a text from Zara, a voicemail and a text message from her sister.

Tricia - I just wanted to tell you that the show has been reaching out and showing up at the office. I told them where you are.

And just like that the gloom was back. The way she said that like the show harassing her was her fault.

Her job had encouraged her to do it for publicity, but when her story didn't end the way they wanted it, they fired her.

And her sister took her job. She'd gotten her sister a job at the record label and then when they fired her, they gave her sister her job.

That thought made her so angry. And through all of it her sister had acted like it was all her fault. Like of course, they fired you. I can't help it that I was there to bail them out of your bad situation.

As she opened the door George came trotting down the stairs and wound through her legs.

"Hey big guy!" She said as she bent down and picked up the giant orange fur ball.

"Let's go take a nap."

Later that afternoon Sadie woke up to a loud yowl coming from out of her window. She sat up and looked, what kind of animal could that be, then she spotted it. The orange fur ball that had just been cuddling with her had managed to get outside and was now in a tree.

"Not again!" She said to the cat before heading down the stairs.

This time the cat had climbed a tree out back.

At least she knew this time he could get down, but how on earth did he get outside.

Flinging open the back door, she stormed out on the back patio to go see if she could entice the orange monster back inside.

Only to come face to face with another orange monster standing by the bottom of the stairs in her patio with its giant horned head buried in her hydrangeas.

A loud scream ripped from her lips as the massive creature raised its head with green leaves hanging out of its mouth before giving a loud 'mooo'.