Read Online Fall to Pieces by Jami Alden - Free Book Online Page B

hope that proximity might push him
over the edge.
    But so far if it had occurred to him that she
was mere yards away every single night, he hadn't given any
indication.
    She tore her thoughts away from Dylan and JT
and the women they were no doubt charming the pants off right this
very minute and forced herself to focus on the hours of work that
lay ahead of her before she could go to bed tonight.
    She heard Dylan's truck pull up sometime
after eleven. She continued working until after one. When she
turned out the light in the office, she noticed the lights in the
cabin were blazing and wondered what he was still doing up.
    None of her business, she told herself firmly
and trudged upstairs.
    She didn't see much of Dylan for the next
several days. He'd leave a little after eight, and return after
five. Some days he stayed out until well past dinner time, other
days his truck pulled in at the end of the workday and he closed
himself in his cabin for the night.
    June continued to invite him to supper—which
he wisely refused, and finally Sadie told her to let up, it was
obvious he wanted his space.
    Fortunately between working to get Mary's app
ready to go live (she'd loved the prototype so much, she wanted to
move up the release by two weeks), and all of the slack she had to
pick up around the ranch, Sadie didn't have time to concern herself
with Dylan's comings and goings.
    Not much anyway. Though she couldn't decide
which bothered her more; the nights he stayed out, leaving her to
speculate on what he was doing and who he was doing it with?
    Or the nights he spent holed up in his tiny
cabin, so close by, so clearly wanting nothing to do with her.
     
    ###
    "You look like shit!" Molly said and slid a
vodka and tonic in front of her.
    "Why, thank you, dear friend," Sadie said,
sighing in pleasure at the first sip. Molly had been trying to get
her out all week, and now that she'd sent her app out to be QA'd
she figured she deserved to take Molly up on her invitation to join
her at the Last Chance.
    "Seriously, have you been sleeping, like, at
all?" Despite Molly’s bluntness, Sadie could see the sincere
concern in her friend’s eyes. And it wasn't like it wasn't true.
After several days in a row hitting the pillow well after midnight
and getting up when her alarm went off at six, she was pale and
bleary eyed.
    Not for the first time she wondered if she
should have stayed home and just gone to bed.
    "Obviously my efforts with the concealer
didn't pay off," she said wryly.
    Molly waved a hand. "Of course, you look
beautiful. You always look beautiful. But I can tell you've been
working too hard." She paused took and took a sip of her drink,
cocking an eyebrow. "Or maybe it's your new tenant who's keeping
you up nights," she said with an exaggerated waggle of her
eyebrows.
    Sadie laughed softly and shook her head. "No
such luck."
    Molly gave a little pout. "Too bad. I was
hoping at least one of us was getting laid. Josh has been working
so much lately I've practically forgotten what it feels like. But
he promised he'd meet me here later tonight, so hopefully..."
    Sadie bit back her own theory about what was
keeping Molly's fiancé from her bedroom, and it wasn't work. But
she knew better than to voice her suspicions about Josh and why he
was still dragging his feet after all these years. The last time
she'd questioned their engagement it had been like a brick wall had
dropped between her and Molly, the only time in the course of their
friendship that she hadn't felt like she could be completely honest
with her best friend.
    She sighed took another sip of her drink,
savoring the cold, bitter bite of the vodka and the warmth it
spread through her belly. She loved Molly like a sister, but Molly
had her issues that made her cling to Josh like a barnacle. And no
one was going to be able to solve them for her.
    "I know you've been busy, but I'm glad you
came out tonight," Molly said and clinked her glass with Sadie's.
"I missed you