Sadie's Surrender Read Online Free PDF

everything up later, Mama,” she insisted. “You look tired. Why don’t you go on to bed?”
    “Bed?” the older woman exclaimed. “Why, the sun has barely set.”
    She drummed her fingers on the table. “Mr. Rockfield is a busy man. We have to go over these books now.”
    Mama flung the dish towel over the nearest cabinet knob. “All right. I know when I ain’t wanted.”
    “Thank you for dinner,” Henry said. “It was delicious.”
    But Sadie had hardly tasted her favorite meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Sitting next to him at Sunday dinner, she couldn’t help pretending he courted her. She loved his quiet but deep voice and the manly way his strong hands—dusted with chestnut hairs—gripped the fork.
    She didn’t even mind the fact his shirt looked rumpled, as if he’d slept in it, or that his shirttail hung out in the back. The only thing bothering her was the tension in his jaw. He obviously regretted their kiss. Hadn’t she predicted his loss of interest? Here at sunrise, gone at sunset, like the tide. So why did the realization still punch her in the ribs?
    And if she was so damn smart, why was she so stupid about men?
    Get it through your head, Sadie Johnson. No man, black or white, will ever want you. Hadn’t her mother always said so?
    Mama finally left the room and closed her bedroom door. When Sadie lit an oil lamp, its glow reflected on the low ceiling. She wished for brighter light and a bigger space so their meeting wouldn’t be so cozy. Then she pulled the books from a nearby shelf and dumped them on the cleared kitchen table.
    The sooner the man and his books were out of her house, the better.
    Henry raised his eyebrows. “I take it you couldn’t make much sense of them, either.”
    For the past week, she’d read them all day and practically all night until her eyes turned red and raw. She’d scribbled so many notes, she’d run out of paper and had to write the rest on her bedroom wall. Hopefully, the memory of the kiss would fade from her mind eventually, but the knowledge would last forever.
    “They made sense.” She stacked them and shoved them toward him. “I’m sure they did to you, too. Thanks for letting me borrow them.”
    “If you want me to pay you for the week, you must explain them to me. Didn’t we agree on that?” He picked up the accounting text on top. “Let’s start with this one.”
    “Please don’t patronize me, Mr. Rockfield. I’ll take the money because I need it.” She drummed her fingers on the book cover. “But there’s no point in wasting your time while I pretend to teach you things you already know.”
    “I don’t already know.” Pain and confusion stole the peace from his blue eyes while they stared at each other for endless seconds.
    She lifted her hand and let it hover in midair. “Are you saying you don’t know how to read?”
    How in the world did he run a company? White children attended better schools.
    “I can read, but it’s tedious.” He opened the cover and read the first paragraph, slower than she would, but he got the words right. “I’m not sure what I just read.”
    She flipped some pages and pointed to one showing an accounting ledger sample of inventory. “What about the figures?”
    When he bent his head to study the page, a forelock of unkempt hair tumbled over his brow. Sadie stopped herself from brushing it back.
    He traced a finger down the columns. “It’s easier for simpler things like oyster counts. Especially if I write them myself.”
    His brow puckered with confusion, and he even rubbed his eyes.
    “You’d rather be on a boat, wouldn’t you?” She couldn’t resist laying her fingers on his thick forearm.
    The heat from his skin penetrated the blue fabric of his shirt. He glanced at her hand as if unsure whether he wanted it there or not. Couldn’t he feel the sparks arcing between them?
    “Yes. I can read the sea a lot better.”
    “Do you need glasses?” she asked,