Eight
After kissing Beth on the cheek, Sadie slid into her seat at the cozy bistro just doors down from Murphy International. Pulling her gloves off with her teeth, she shoved them into the pocket of the coat she’d draped over the back of her chair and picked up the laminated menu.
“What are we eating? I’m starving.”
Making love with Carrick had, yet again, made her late and she’d skipped breakfast. She’d answered Beth’s text to meet her for lunch with five happy faces, a dancing woman and a few thumbs-up.
Soup, Sadie decided. Chicken soup sounded perfect on a cold winter’s day.
Sadie gave her order to the waitress, asked for some tea and looked at her friend’s face. At some point she’d have to tell Beth that she was pregnant and it was a conversation she wasn’t looking forward to. Beth was still concerned about Sadie’s relationship with Carrick, and hearing that she was having his baby might make Beth’s head explode.
Sadie loved Beth, she did, but her friend’s protective streak was overblown and a trifle annoying.
But Sadie wouldn’t spoil today’s lunch by having another argument with Beth. If they stuck to discussing business, they’d be fine.
“Did you manage to set up that appointment for me at the Bethel Institute?” Sadie asked, smiling her thanks when the waitress placed her tea on the table in front of her.
“Yep,” Beth said, casting an anxious look toward the door.
Sadie frowned, wondering why the usually efficient Beth was distracted.
“Anything else I should know about?” Sadie asked, her unease growing.
“I emailed you,” Beth told her as she stood up and waved. Sadie, feeling eyes on her back and the hair rising on her arms, slowly turned around and saw Tamlyn, dressed in a black wool mini dress, black tights and knee-high boots walking across the coffee shop. A cashmere coat lay over her arm and her copper-colored hair glistened with raindrops.
Sadie turned her head and narrowed her eyes at Beth, looking defiant. “Why is Tamlyn joining us for lunch, Beth?” Sadie asked.
“We’ve all had lunch together on numerous occasions,” Beth airily replied, but Sadie wasn’t fooled. She recognized an intervention; she’d experienced one before.
“I’m not happy about this, Beth.”
Beth didn’t have time to answer as a wall of strong perfume hit them. Then slim arms clutched Sadie to Tamlyn’s too-skinny frame and Sadie felt Tamlyn’s lips on her right cheek, then her left.
Tamlyn eventually released Sadie and slid into the chair next to her sister, folded her hands on the table and looked at Sadie as if she were a fifteen-year-old who’d just been caught skipping school. If a single “tut” left her mouth, Sadie might lose it.
“Well, well, well.”
Okay, it wasn’t a tut but it was just as bad. Sadie shot Beth an annoyed glance before raising her eyebrows at Tamlyn. “Do you have a problem, Tamlyn?”
Tamlyn rotated the big diamond ring on her left finger and Sadie wondered if it was her engagement ring from Carrick and, if it was, why the hell was she still wearing it?
“Beth tells me that you and Carrick are seeing each other,” Tamlyn stated, and Sadie leaned back, not liking the hellfire in the woman’s eyes.
“Since we are both single and consenting adults, that has nothing to do with you,” Sadie replied, keeping her voice even.
“And may I point out how deeply unprofessional you are both being?” Tamlyn asked, her voice sugary sweet.
Sadie’s work hadn’t been compromised; if anything, she was working harder than she normally did because of her relationship with Carrick.
Not that she’d explain that to Carrick’s ex.
“You may not.”
Tamlyn didn’t even look remotely chastised. “I’m not sticking my nose into your business because it’s fun, Sadie. I just don’t want you to get hurt. Carrick is not a nice guy. You know this.”
Actually, she didn’t. Sadie now believed the exact opposite was true. “I don’t feel comfortable discussing Carrick with you, Tamlyn.”
“You were happy to discuss him before,” Tamlyn pointed out.