Finding Solace (34 page)

 
"I
think that could be arranged."

CHAPTER
33

 
Three
weeks later Colt was going home for the week. Maddie was turning five and he
wouldn’t have missed it for the world. I had just walked in to his house when I
heard him say, "No, I will take her. I'm going to be there for five days,
Jamie. Let me just do it. I miss enough." He looked over in my direction
and a huge smile lit up his face. "Listen, Jamie. Sadie just got here. I'm
on my way to the airport now. We will discuss this when I get there. Did you
remember to pick up the package I sent? Good. Okay, I will see you in a bit.
Alright, bye."
He hung up the phone and came over to
give me a kiss.

 
"What
happened?"

 
"Oh nothing.
Jamie is just being a bitch about me
taking Maddie to the doctor. She says because I haven't been the one to take
her, she might freak out or get scared. It's stupid. She's five now. She knows
the doctor. I just think Jamie doesn't want to let go of the control. I
normally wouldn't care, but Maddie asked me if I could be the one to take her
this time. See what I mean, it’s nothing to be arguing about."

 
I hated that
he had to fight with Jamie over something as small as taking his daughter to
the doctor. Unless there was something wrong with her.

 
"Is
there a problem? I mean, why does she need to see a doctor?"

 
"That's
the craziest part. This is her pediatrician. There is no problem. When you turn
five, you go for a checkup and maybe a few immunization shots. Whatever, it’s
my daughter’s birthday. I don't want to think about this crap."

 
"Understood.
Go celebrate! You can handle Jamie. Just
have a blast with Maddie. If Jamie won't budge, just have all three of you
go
."

 
"That's
a genius idea. What would I do without you? In fact, you want to come? It would
make it a lot easier dealing with Jamie, that's for sure."

 
I stood
there with my mouth open. Did he just ask me to go? Colt took in my expression
and immediately corrected his miss use of words.

 
"I
wouldn't ever put you in the middle like that. It was a joke. Don't freak out
on me, girl. You still have to get me to the airport." I was still a
little stunned but recovered quickly with, "Like I would want to be a part
of that mess. I have plans anyway."

 
"Let’s
walk and talk, I've got to get going."

 
"Yes, sir."
We walked out of the house with bags
in hand.

 
"I like
that. You can refer to me as sir whenever you feel the need." He pinched
my ass and then opened the trunk to put his bags in.

 
"Only if you’re lucky, old man."

 
"You
are the lucky one. If I didn't need to be at the airport right now, I would
have you spread eagle on my bed reminding you just what this old man can
do."

 
We got in
the car and closed the doors. As I turned the ignition I said, "Nice cop
out with the, I have to go speech."

 
He grabbed
me by the back of my head and slammed a kiss on me that made me see stars.

 
"Don't
tempt me, Sadie. Now get going. I have a little girl that wants her daddy."

 
When we got
to the airport and I dropped him off and kissed him goodbye. When I drove away
I thought, ‘He does make one great dad.’ Why am I thinking about having
children with him now? I am losing my mind when it comes to him.

 
That night I
swung by ‘51’ to check in with my friends. It made it easy to do considering
all of them including Tony were going to be there. I walked in and Dave was the
first face I got to see.

 
"Hey
there, good looking!" He hopped over the bar and picked me up in a hug.
"It’s good to see
ya
, girl. Glad you came out
tonight. You do know the management brought in karaoke. They said it would
bring in a new crowd. Diversify, was the term they used."

 
"It's
not a bad idea. But I'm not getting up there."

 
"We
will see. Did you see Heather yet? She was looking for you."

 
"Nope.
I just got here. "

 
"Well
in that case, I think they are in the back."

 
I gave Dave
a kiss on the cheek and went off to find my other friends. I watched all the
people out on the dance floor and
thought,
I've got
some catching up to do. They were tearing it up out there. I was not paying
much attention to where I was going and smacked right into Geoff.

 
"Walk
much?"

 
"Are we
back
to this again? What did I do to you? I thought we
moved on."

 
"We
did. You didn't. No, we're not, and it was a joke. Lighten up, pip
squeak."

 
"That
made no sense but I will take it."

 
"Let me
grab you a drink. What's calling to you?"

 
"That
would be great. Red bull and vodka sounds good."

 
"Done.
I will bring it over to the table for you."

 
"Thanks,
Geoff."

 
I continued
to walk back until I finally saw the crowd. What I didn’t see was Mike sneaking
up behind me. Soon enough I was in his arms.

 
"What's
your name, little one? Can I buy you a drink?"

 
"You’re
a dork. Put me down." He set me down so I could turn around and say,"
I drink for free, did you forget?"

 
"Oh,
the many perks of being Colt’s Sadie."

 
"You
got it." We laughed and played around until hands wrapped around my waist
from behind. I knew those hands. They had definitely gained back their strength
also. I spun around and threw myself in the arms of Tony.

 
"Glad
you came."

 
"Me too."

 
We walked
back together and found the rest of the gang. I ended up on Tony’s lap due to
the lack of chairs, but it was all good having the group together. Bryan was talking
about how weird it was that Marissa decided to come here after all. He was
going home and she would be coming here. I promised to watch out for her. So
did Heather and the brothers. Geoff came back with my drink which I thanked him
for. Shawn was telling us about how Angie asked him to move back with her,
which made me so happy. I knew he didn't have much to go home to and now he
would be taken care of. Dave brought over a round of shots and said he and
Ashlee were going to try for the long distance thing and see how that goes
before they decide on anything else. Heather talked about the wedding, which
was in a year and a half. Everyone had already said they were coming back for
it .I just do not think she could help talking about it sometimes. It seemed it
was always on her brain. Tony told us all that he still is in the clear. It
takes months, if not years, to declare remission, so he just takes it a day at
a time.

 
The shots
kept coming as we discussed the trip Jason, Heather, Shawn and Angie went on
over Valentine's Day. Mike would not stop bragging about how good he hooked
them up. The more they talked about how cool it
was,
the worse it got. You could actually see his head swell. We all laughed and
joked around. Everyone was having a great time until the karaoke dude started.
I was looking forward to laughing at the participants when he came on the
microphone and said, "We have a very special lady in the house tonight.
Her friend, Heather, has told me so much about this extraordinary talent that I
can’t wait to hear her myself. So let’s get the night started off with
Sadie!" No, she didn't?

 
I whipped my
head around but Heather was hiding behind Jason. Tony squeezed me and said,
"It will be alright. Just get up there and do what you do, girl. You got
this."

 
No, I did
not. Not a single song was in my head. Why people think that just because you
can you should, is beyond me. I didn’t want to do it. Tony whispered in my ear,
"Just sing from your heart."

 
I got up and
was walking over when a bunch of cheers started and I hadn’t even sung yet. I
hoped I didn’t disappoint anybody. My song selection hit me as I got up to the
karaoke guy. I grabbed the microphone and said, "This is a spur of the moment
song choice decision so bear with me."

 
Three Doors Down’s
song "Here without you" started to play. My eyes closed once again to
make it easier for the room to disappear and for it to feel like it was just
me, all alone. With Colt gone and all of us discussing what is going to happen
next, this song kind of jumped out at me. When it came to a close the room was
quiet. I waited a few seconds and then I started to panic. I said into to
microphone, "I warned you. Sorry I killed the mood. I can sing something
more upbeat if you want? How about, "We can't stop" by Miley
Cyrus." I looked over at the karaoke dude and told him to get a move on
it, while he just stared at me. He eventually leaned over to me and said,
"You don't have to sing again. It’s not that they didn't like it. You
broke their hearts is
all.
That was beautiful."

 
"Well,
guess what? I don't want anyone's heart to be broken so, can you play the next
song, please?" I was straight panicking. I didn't want to go back out
there and face the crowd, my friends especially. What was I thinking picking
that song? Stupid! Then music interrupted my thoughts and I had my out. "
It’s our party we can do what we
want
"
and then it was done. The panic, the worry, it was all gone. As I sang this
song, people came out on the dance floor to dance. Others stood on their
chairs. The place went from somber to having a blast. By the time the song
closed and the last words were sung, I finished proudly and walked back to my
friends.

 
Everyone was
clapping their hands and telling me good job, everyone except Tony. When I got
back to sitting on his lap, he just wrapped his arms around me and said,
"You have got to tell him soon, Sadie. Nice try with the song change but I
saw your heart break out there. I don't like it."

 
"I love
you Tony, but I have to do this my way."

 
"I will
always be here for you."

 
"Same
goes for me." I turned to everyone and said, "Now let’s get another
drink."

 
I had been
in contact with Kaleb and Lindsey ever since the dreadful night at Lindsey’s
house. We had all gone out again several times since and so I thought it would
be fun to have them over to my house for a change. Heather and I never did have
parties at our place because all of our friends have always worked at a bar. It
just made sense to go out instead of stay in. I asked her if she minded and she
said she and Jason were going to Chicago to visit his grandparents, so she didn’t
care. I cleaned all three levels being it was a town house. We never used the
basement unless we needed to do laundry, so I thought that would be a perfect
place for them to trash, versus the upstairs.

 
One last run
to the liquor store and I was set. It was kind of exciting to host something.
It reminded me of the barbeque Heather and I had at the park.

 
When
everything was ready, I threw a quick text to Colt to wish Maddie happy
birthday. Then I popped a beer.
Doesn't hurt to get an early
start.

 
An hour
later Jameson showed up first. He and I laughed at Duck Dynasty for a while
until Kaleb and Jeremy got there with Lindsey, Nicole and Steve right behind
them. A couple of other people from the party that night had been coming around
also, so I had gotten to know them as well. Cory, Jill, Dana, and Todd were a
blast to hang out with. When it seemed I had a packed house upstairs, I moved
everyone to the lower level to make it easier. My dad was awesome enough to
bring over the ping pong table once I told my parents about the get together I
was throwing. I immediately threw out a challenge for beer pong. The cups were
close so when everyone said they were up for a game, I set up the table. There
was also a card table and music, so the party didn’t take long to get going. I
had bought a couple of bottles of pucker and flavored vodka for shots and those
were going down pretty smooth for all of us. I was kicking Kaleb’s ass at beer
pong when he had to take a phone call and paused the game to go upstairs so he
could hear. Lindsey and I started to dance to "Radioactive" by
Imagine Dragons. I have to say this is a great song. Jill, Nicole and Dana
started to dance with us. We were being stupid, not seductive. This was a house
party not a club. Kaleb came back down and the game resumed. In the end he beat
me and boy, did he rub it in. Then Jameson wanted a turn. I let the guys have
at it and went upstairs to grab another beer. When I turned the corner to go
into the kitchen, I stopped dead in my tracks .What had shocked the shit out of
me was the man standing in my family room. The look on his face read the same
shock I was feeling.