Wyatt
Sadie hadn’t called or texted me in days.
I knew we’d crossed a line, but I hadn’t thought she would take it this seriously. I mean, it had just been a kiss. Granted, it had been one of my finest kisses, and granted, Sadie had probably never been with a man like me before, but I hadn’t expected her to blank me. A part of me even wondered if I wasn’t as good of a kisser as I thought, but that couldn’t be the reason why she was avoiding me.
I finally grabbed my phone and called her. It rang three times before she answered.
“Hello?” She sounded breathless, as if she’d been running.
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Hey, Wyatt. Can I call you back? I—”
“No, you can’t,” I interrupted her. “What’s going on, Sadie?”
“What do you mean what’s going on?”
“I mean, what’s going on? I haven’t seen you in days, we haven’t spoken, you’re not texting me, you haven’t even called me.”
“I’ve been busy. I’ve been thinking about a lot of stuff and—”
“Oh my gosh, have you been thinking about the kiss? Look, I—”
“No, Wyatt, I haven’t been thinking about that. I’ve been thinking about stuff related to my life and my career.”
“What career?”
“Exactly. I don’t have a career, and I’m thinking now is the time for me to really get my ass off of my couch and do something about it.”
“What are you talking about? Where has all this come from?”
“Nothing. Look, can I talk to you in a little bit? I have a phone call.”
“What do you mean you have a phone call?”
“Do you remember Nancy Donovan?”
“Nancy Donovan,” I mumbled under my breath, thinking hard. “Do you mean Patrick Donovan’s mom, the old lady that lives on the ranch in Billings?”
“Yeah, exactly. Well, she saw my mom recently—”
“Don’t tell me she wants to hook you up with Patrick.”
“Of course she doesn’t want to hook me up with Patrick. He’s fifty years old!”
“Well, I don’t know. It seems like you’re interested in anyone these days.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, Wyatt Hamilton?”
“It just means that you—”
“Anyway,” she cut me off, “I’m talking to her because she might have some information that could be very helpful for me.”
“What information?”
“Look, I can’t tell you, but I’ll speak to you later and fill you in then?”
“Sadie, what is really going on?”
“Nothing’s going on, Wyatt.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not lying to you. Why would I lie to you?”
“Because we kissed and it was amazing, and you most probably haven’t been able to think about anything else since the kiss.”
She burst out laughing. “You’re so obnoxious. I can’t believe that you actually think that the reason I haven’t been blowing up your phone is because we kissed and I thought it was amazing.”
“Well, tell me that’s not the reason.”
“That’s not the reason, Wyatt. Is that the reason why you haven’t been blowing up my phone?”
“I have been blowing up your phone. You’ve just not been picking up.”
“So, have you been blowing up my phone because the kiss was so amazing?”
“It was pretty breathtaking,” I admitted. “And that wasn’t the only thing that was breathtaking.” I thought about the way she’d melted against me, the way her skin had felt under my fingers.
“Wyatt, this doesn’t seem like it’s going to be an appropriate conversation.”
“Since when did you care about appropriate conversations, Sadie Johnson?”
“Wyatt Hamilton, this is not the time nor the place for this. I will call you later.”
“You promise?”
“I promise, okay?”
“Okay, because I’ve been tracking your location—”
“What do you mean you’ve been tracking my location? Are you stalking me?”
“No, of course I’m not stalking you. You’re the one that wanted us to share our locations with each other.”
“Should I stop that?”
“Don’t you dare! That’s the only way we can ensure that we’re both safe. I need to know where you are, and you need to know where I am.”
“I don’t know if that was such a good idea. And it’s not like I go anywhere anyway.”
“Don’t you dare stop it, Sadie.”
“Fine, but only because if anything happens, I want you to know where I am.”
“Exactly. And if anything happens to me, I want you to know where I am.”
“I know.”
“I miss you, Sade. I want to talk to you. I want to hang out.”
“I miss you too, Wyatt. And we can hang out.”
“And we can talk?” I asked softly.
“Yeah, we can talk.”
“Okay. Well, go and call Nancy, and I’ll speak to you later.”
“Okay. Bye, Wyatt.” She hung up quickly.
I frowned at the phone in my hand. Why was she calling Nancy Donovan? Nancy was the biggest gossip in Montana, and that was saying a lot because there were a lot of gossips here.
I walked past the kitchen where Mom was chatting with Eloise and Arya. They always seemed to be puttering around doing something. I was hungry, but I didn’t need my mom interrogating me right now, especially if she wanted to ask why Sadie hadn’t been over in a couple of days. I knew she’d be able to tell from the look on my face that something was up.
I sighed and opened my phone again to check Sadie’s location. She was at home. Well, I guess that was something. She hadn’t been lying to me about that.
I needed to talk to her. I needed to figure out what was going on and if we could get past this. And I kind of wanted to kiss her again, though I knew that might be one of the worst moves I could make. If one of my kisses had already driven her crazy, I couldn’t imagine what a second one would do to her.