“Um…thank you?” she said.
“Thank you,” Aiden said in a thick husk. “I’m buying Axle’s.” He briefly explained the details. “He loved the idea.”
“Loved?”
“Well, loved it like only Axle can love anything.” Aiden said.
She grinned up at him. “Congratulations.”
He could kiss her again. Would have if he didn’t suddenly become aware of the haphazardly stacked supplies over her head, the dust tickling his nostrils. “I’ll let you out of here now.” But he didn’t move, lowering his head for one more brief kiss after all. “Unless you don’t want out of here.”
Sadie flattened a palm on his chest. “I was coming to find you to say good-bye, so yeah, probably we should get out of here.”
“I’ll walk you out.” Aiden popped open the door and practically smacked into Axle, who slid them a strange glance as he lumbered by.
Aiden walked Sadie to the parking lot. She paused before settling into her car. “Um…so Axle’s is completely stocked with Midwest parts.”
“Great,” Aiden said. And soon he’d be running the place. He needed to hire someone else before Axle left. Or maybe two someone elses. Axle wouldn’t be easy to replace.
“And the window is done.”
“I saw.” There was something in Sadie’s face. Distance. Maybe a little sadness. Aiden digested what she was telling him, focusing on the words completely and done. “You aren’t saying good-bye for the day,” he said. “You meant…”
She shrugged. “I’m done.”
Aiden nodded. That sucked. “Okay. Great.” He’d sort of forgotten she was only around temporarily, had become accustomed to seeing her almost every day. He liked running into her in the hallway, talking to her in the store when they were slow. He liked finding her alone in the break room at the vending machine. And now she was “done.” He frowned.
Sadie shut her car door and rolled down the window. “I’ll be glad to get back to the office.” She slipped her sunglasses on and sent him a grin.
Was she telling him the truth? Was she glad to be done? Glad to go back to sitting in her cubicle for most of the day? Aiden had watched her in the store, interacting with customers, setting up displays, chatting with employees. She liked it, was good at it. Her ease with people was the driving force behind her success.
“I’ll miss you,” Aiden said. When that hurt too much, he corrected. “I mean, miss your help. With everything.” He gestured at the store. “In there.”
Sadie’s smile remained, which bothered him. “I’ll miss it, too. It’s a cool store, Aiden. You’ll do well with it.”
Why was this starting to sound like reunited high school friends promising to meet up for drinks before the next ten years passed them by? Had their attraction only been one of proximity? Convenience?
Sadie turned the key in the ignition and Aiden realized if he didn’t make plans with her before she left, he never would. Convincing her to go out with him, to do anything with him, always worked better when he was face-to-face with her.
He leaned into her car window. “Hey, before you go…” She tensed slightly, so he put his hand over hers on the steering wheel.
Aiden briefly explained his brother’s and Shane’s partnership, and the celebratory cocktail party scheduled for this weekend. “Landon will be there, and my sister, Angel. Shane invited Evan and me, I think so we wouldn’t feel left out.” He wished he could see Sadie’s eyes. With sunglasses hiding her eyes he wasn’t sure what was going on in that pretty little head of hers.
Stop stalling.
He squeezed her hand and shot her a smile. “Come with me, Sadie. Be my date.”
* * *
Sadie rested the statuette on her desk. A few coworkers poked their heads into her cube and congratulated her some more. The awards ceremony took up the entire afternoon and now most of Midwest’s employees were filing out to the destination of happy hour.
Sadie had worked so long, so hard to achieve number one in sales at Midwest. She studied the gold placard with her name engraved on it, and thought she should feel more of a…she didn’t know…an oomph or something. More powerful, or successful. Ready to tackle her job with renewed fervor.
Instead, she felt sort of meh.
Maybe the cloud overshadowing her achievement was the invitation from Aiden on her last day at Axle’s. Not only would tomorrow be her first real, official date with Aiden since last year, which, face it, she wasn’t a hundred percent certain was a good idea, but the party was also a very classy affair. Crickitt and her billionaire husband would be throwing the soiree at Diamond Crown Hall, and that place was fancy. Sadie should know. She’d booked her wedding reception at Diamond Crown.