Page 3 of Searching for Sadie (Mystic Falls #5)

SADIE

A fter Lucas left, Sadie finished organizing her boxes before making her way upstairs. As she climbed the stairs, she remembered sliding down them in a sleeping bag when she was little. While she may not have had cousins to play with, Aunt Rosie always made up for it. It was always fun here.

When she was at the top of the stairs she stood in the small hallway with three doors. The one right in front of her was the bathroom, on the right was her aunt's room and to her left was the guest room.

It made sense to choose her aunt's room.

It was almost double the size, but she couldn't seem to make herself go in it.

So, she opened the room to the guest room instead.

There was barely room for the small twin bed, dresser and bookshelf that was in here, but there was a window seat.

She loved it. Reading in this spot when she was little and the rain would come was a cherished memory.

Walking over, she ran her fingers along the books on the shelf. There was one shelf of books. The shelves underneath were full of sheet music and old music books. But the very bottom shelf was full of hundreds of old vinyl records. She looked through them until she found the one she wanted.

She pulled out the old loved yellow album.

Jolene by Dolly Parton. One thing she shared with her aunt was their love for Dolly.

Carefully, she slid the album out and put it on the record player on the dresser.

The sound that filled the air almost brought tears to her eyes.

She set it on I will always love you , but it had that old crackly quality that only comes from well-loved vinyl.

She sat on the bed and hugged an old pillow to her chest as she let the tears fall. What had happened? How had she gotten here?

Only a year ago she was living in Nashville working for a record label.

It might not have been the job of her dreams, but she was moving up the ladder.

She started as an administrative assistant, but by the time she left, she was an assistant producer.

Making music had always been her dream. It probably started here with her aunt and their love of Dolly.

Her father had talked her into going to school for music business, but her heart was always in songwriting.

Her mom, on the other hand, never understood her like her aunt did. She wanted to see her happily settled down and living in a house full of children, but all Sadie wanted to do was make music.

But her mom... it had been her mom who convinced her to make what had probably been the worst decision of her life.

Almost a year ago to the day she had started filming for a reality TV dating show 'Before First Sight'. The whole premise of the show was glorified speed dating, but the catch was you didn’t ever see them.

The couples were able to talk to each other and get to know each other on a deeper level before they saw each other.

Only then would they be revealed to one another a whisked away for a romantic trip before returning to see if they could make it work in the real world, all while being filmed.

Sadie liked the premise of the show. Deeper connections were always something she sought after and were often hard to find. This seemed perfect.

Her job had been more than happy to give her the time off for filming, thinking that it would be good publicity. Everything seemed to be lining up.

She was excited because she'd always been someone who loves love, but always had problems letting down her walls. When she worked in an industry with so many outstandingly attractive people, with teams of people to make sure they were perfect every second of the day, it was easy to feel like she didn’t measure up.

This show seemed like a wonderful idea, not the nightmare it turned into. She went in thinking it could be fun. She probably wouldn't meet anyone, but she would be her honest self and give it her all.

And then she did meet someone.

She met someone who she thought was wonderful. She fell in love only talking to him without ever seeing him. She thought she knew him... But in the end, she was wrong.

Now she was sitting here in her aunt's house, mourning the loss of her aunt, trying to fix a broken heart in a doily flower filled house that was so far from who she was.

When she was done filming the show, word of how her story line had gone got back to the label.

They decided her appearance on a reality tv show was bad for business and fired her, after encouraging her to do it in the first place.

The guys she had fallen in love with had turned out to be a complete fake.

And she had lost everything... not only that but she was about to have to watch all of it happen on TV for millions of people to watch.

As the song changed on the record she got up and moved over to the window. Pulling the pink handmade Afghan around her shoulders she cuddled up in the window seat. As she sat down the door opened and in strolled George.

"Hey Georgie," she called, putting her hand down with a little snap luring him over.

He didn't need much luring. He walked right over and hopped up into her lap and laid down with an instant purr.

He butted her hand until she started petting him.

As she sat there looking out the window and the stars blinked into life, she let the weight of everything take her.

There was no way to get through this except to feel it and go through it.

It was almost like she could hear her aunt saying, "You just gotta cry those tears and get back out there. There's a song for just about anything you're feeling. Feel it. Move through it. and move on."

While that was solid advice, she didn't think there was a song for what she was going through.

She raised her hand just long enough to wipe away a tear, but it was already too long for George who was already butting her hand again insisting on more scratches.

As she sat there, headlights came down the road and pulled into the driveway that was mere feet from her own.

It looked like her neighbor was home. Maybe spying on him from the window was a bit creepy, but she couldn't seem to help herself.

He drove a big white work truck with Fipp Electric on the side.

He got out of the truck and stretched. With his hands over his head a little sliver of his belly showed.

She wasn't sure why her eyes were pulled there, but she couldn't seem to take her eyes off him.

He ran his hand through his blonde hair.

He looked like he would be a good hugger.

He definitely had strong arms. She could imagine being held firmly surrounded by all that softness.

A smile found her face as she watched him, which was a novel thing for her lately.

As she continued to watch him, he walked around to the back of his truck and pulled out a big bag.

What on earth was that? It looked big enough to hold a body, but this was not an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

She didn't think it was, especially with the ease in which he slung in over his shoulder and headed into his garage.

After he disappeared into the garage she was once again alone with nothing but the sounds of Dolly and a purring cat to keep her company. The lonely void that lived inside of her pulled her down.

She got up and put a disgruntled George on the ground and got ready for bed. About twenty minutes later she was crawling into this child sized bed with a space-hogging cat. Hopefully when she woke up in the morning, she would know what she needed to do, because right now she was lost.