In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes: Chapter 51

I STOOD outside my front door, bouquet clutched in my hand, pulse pounding in my ears.

Here we go. This was the night I had been putting together for weeks. I hated keeping things from her, especially when she broke down in the car last weekend and I could see how stressed she was that I was keeping something from her.

The look on her face would be worth it, though.

Tonight, I’d tell Sadie how I felt. I wouldn’t ask her to stay, but I’d tell her the truth.

I knocked on the door and waited. Footsteps approached and the door swung open. Sadie blinked at me with confusion.

“Hi.” She glanced at the flowers. “What are you doing?”

“Picking you up for our date.” I handed her the bouquet and she blinked at it. A smile grew on her pretty face but her mouth dropped open. “I thought we were going to watch a movie.”

I didn’t answer, just smiled and stepped inside the foyer to grab her coat before holding it out. She slipped her arms into the sleeves and I leaned over her shoulder to kiss her cheek.

“Is this the mysterious surprise you’ve been planning?”

“Maybe.”

Her eyes sparkled and she clapped. “Yes. Finally.”

I laughed. “Come on.”

She grabbed her bag and paused before pulling on her boots. “Should I wear something nice?”

“Nope. Casual.”

“Good. I like wearing these boots.”

It made my chest squeeze, hearing her say that. Watching her love the presents I bought her and taking care of her settled something in me that had been restless for a long fucking time.

My dream girl.

She closed the front door behind her before she followed me to the driveway. When she saw the emerald green Porsche, she stopped short.

She whistled. “Nice ride.”

When I had asked my dad to borrow the car tonight, he handed the keys over without hesitation. Last year, as Wyatt borrowed the car to pick Hannah up, I had wished so fucking hard to have someone in my life who I wanted to take on dates and shower with love and attention.

Now, I had her. It was Sadie, all along.

I held the door open for her and she got in.

“We’re still on the whole trusting me thing, right?” I asked her.

She raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“You don’t sound sure.” The corner of my mouth ticked and she laughed.

“You confirming it like that makes me a little unsure.”

I winced and pulled the scarf out from under my seat. “I need you to wear a blindfold.”

Her eyebrows rose way up and she offered me a bemused smile. “Is this a sex thing?” She wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

“No,” I choked out, laughing. “I don’t want you to see until the right moment.”

She studied the scarf. “Fine,” she said with a sigh. “This better not awaken anything in me.”

I grinned as I tied the scarf around her eyes, careful not to snag her hair.

Nervous anticipation flowed through me as I drove through the forest and into Queen’s Cove.

What all of this was in my head? Panic twisted my gut. What if Sadie had this sparkling, warm connection with everyone she met and I was so fucking lonely I clung to it like a life raft, and created an entire life with her in my head like some psycho?

I glanced over at her in the passenger seat, sitting patiently with the blindfold on, humming along to the music.

I didn’t think that was the case, but if it was, I’d regret not telling her over letting her leave without knowing.

At the inn, I parked and got out of the car before opening her door to help her out.

“Hold on to my arm,” I told her, wrapping her hand around my bicep.

“Don’t let me fall.”

“I won’t, I promise. You want me to carry you?”

She laughed. “I can walk.”

I led her into the forest, along the path towards the twinkle lights. Over the past three days, my family and a dozen others from town scrambled to put this thing together while Hannah occupied Sadie with decorating the baby’s room.

“Where are we?” Her head whipped around, still blindfolded. “Are we in the forest?”

“You’ll see.” I squeezed her arm.

We came around the bend in the path and stopped in front of it.

“Alright, Sadie.” My hands came up to her blindfold and I tugged it off. “You can look.”

Her eyes opened. The twinkle lights shone in her eyes as she craned her neck to see.

“Oh, Holden,” she breathed.

“Do you like it?”

She turned her face to me and nodded, and the look in her eyes was everything I ever wanted.