Page 37 of Promise Me

Linc needs to come to terms with his sister's accident on his own.

He nods. “Yeah. I know.” He stands up quickly. “I need to get some work done. I keep pushing things off for Sadie, and I should get caught up before morning.”

He moves toward the door but pauses to turn.

“You two seemed different this morning.”

“Because we weren’t fighting?” I laugh.

“Yeah. You almost looked at each other like …” His words trail off as he shakes his head. “I would love nothing more for you and Sadie to finally be friends.”

“Oddly enough, I wouldn’t be upset about that either.”

He keeps his eyes on me a moment longer. I get the sense he wants to say more, but he doesn’t.

He leaves, and I lean back in my seat.

Being friends with Sadie Collins sounds insane. Completely unbelievable. This town is going to lose their minds.

“Just don’t get too friendly, okay?” Linc pokes his head back into my office.

“Too friendly,” I repeat and stand as well because I, too, need to get back to work.

“Yeah. Too. Friendly.”

“We literally just started getting along today, Linc.”

He clears his throat. “Yeah, I know, I’m just worried, and the idea of you two dating and then you break up, or she gets hurt, or you get?—”

“Hey, man, calm down.” I slap a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe you need more sleep than your sister.”

He huffs. “You might be right.”

We walk side by side out of the back office. As I walk him to the front door, no one is paying attention now.

“Take care of her,” Linc says, holding a hand up and walking away. He spins. “But not too much.”

“Fucking get some sleep,” I say with another laugh.

“I know, I know.”

He unlocks his car and gets in.

I don’t know which Collins to worry about more: the one who can’t remember how much she hates me and decided to crash at my place or the one I’ve been best friends with for decades and is suddenly worried I might make a move on his sister.

I step back into the bar and spot Sadie walking in from the back. She’s in different clothes now, so I assume she went back to her house to get a few things.

A few things.

So she can stay at my place.

With me.

Fuck.

She smiles and waves at me.

Betty notices, along with a couple of other regulars, and now, my worry is how the hell I’m going to pick all these jaws up off the floor.

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