Page 124 of Promise Me

“That about sums it up.”

“Does she love you?”

I shrug. “I’d like to think so, but it’s been two days and all I've got is radio silence.”

“She won’t answer your calls?” Archer asks as Betty brings us another round. His eyes linger on her a moment longer than normal.

I kick his shin under the table.

“Stop ogling my employee.”

He holds his hands up. “She held eye contact with me. I can’t leave her hanging.”

“Sure,” I say, and he chuckles, which in turn causes me to do the same because he’s not wrong. I’ve caught her looking too.

I hate to admit this after having so much animosity toward them, but I missed these guys. It’s been a whole hour, and even though so much has changed between us, the ease of being around them hasn’t.

“I actually haven’t tried to call her.”

“What?” Carver says a little too loudly.

“Oh my god, have you learned nothing since we last saw you?”

“Yes, I have.”

“Okay. Enlighten us.”

I glance between them. “Well, I …”

“You need to call her,” Archer says quickly. “You didn’t call us, and we didn’t call you soon enough. Don’t make that mistake again.”

“I don’t think she wants me to call her.”

Carver leans forward. “We thought the same thing, and now look. This is the first time in three years we’ve all had a beer together. Don’t be us. Be better.”

I nod, letting their words process.

“If you’re not going to call her?—”

“I’m going to call her,” I cut Archer off. “I just don’t know what I’m going to say that she hasn’t heard yet. And not to mention, I feel like she deserves more than a phone call. She’s been through so much that I just want … I just want to ease the stress of everything she has going on right now. If that means I give her the space she asked for even if I don’t want to, so be it.”

Both of my friends shake their heads.

“What else can I do?” I ask. “Remodel the bar and build the bookstore and hope that when she does want to talk to me again, I can win her over by showing her how badly I want her to get her dream?”

Their faces light up, and Archer snaps his fingers. “That’s exactly what you do.”

“That’s a great start!”

I study them for a moment as I process everything I’ll need to get started and get this in motion. Of course, it’ll take months to go from start to finish. I sure as hell don’t intend to wait thatlong to talk to Sadie again, but until she’s ready to see me, I’m going to do everything I can to prove that I’ve meant every single word I’ve said to her since the moment she knocked on my door.

Me and her, there is no going back.

“Remodeling the space is great, but I have a better idea.”

One that hopefully lets me win the girl back sooner rather than later.

“How long are you here?”

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