The Day I Kissed An Older Man

"You're much more of a gentleman compared to that night," Rita remarked with a smile.

In response, Sherman cocked an eyebrow and quipped, "And you're much more amiable now than you were then."

Their shared laughter drew Sadie's gaze and fueled her resentment.

She wanted to know when Rita started to have eyes on Sherman and felt that Rita was utterly shameless for trying to charm the man that Sadie had been eyeing first.

That being said, a public display of frustration was hardly appropriate, so Sadie forced a smile and approached Sherman.

"Where have you been, Mister Sherman? I looked everywhere for you earlier but couldn't find you," she said, disregarding Rita's presence.

over to him, he instinctively took a step back and maintained a polite distance. "And

smile stiffened in

quite like him in the entire banquet. However, Sadie seemed to think too highly of herself rather than looking at herself in the mirror to see if she was fit to even approach him. Plenty of young women in the banquet were dying to get close to him but did not

strained smile. "I'm Sadie, the second daughter of the Russells. We crossed

Rita's lips seemed to mock her.

a second daughter Sherman replied matter-of-factly, which came as a huge surprise to Rita. After all, they had only met each other once, and he had no reason to incur Karen's wrath for her sake-not that he had anything to be afraid of,

soured and teetered on the brink of tears.

to feel a little sorry for her. She knew that it could not have been easy for

after remarrying my father. Sadie later changed her surname to our family's," Rita explained to Sherman,

She gripped her wine glass so tightly that she nearly crushed it in