13. Sage

13

Sage

I was wearing leggings and an old t-shirt I got from a brewery in Portland—definitely not dinner apparel—but I got the feeling that the Bronsons didn’t care what you wore as long as you showed up and had a smile on your face. They were so laid back and welcoming. It was a contrast to how I’d grown up.

My father left before I was born and my mother wasn’t very present in the terms that she was always off with boyfriends and never home for me. I was an only child and took care of myself once I was able to. It was a miracle I survived with how careless she was, but I had my grandmother to thank for that. With her old age, there was only so much she could do with a young child, but she did her best with me, and I was thankful for every moment of it .

But you know the saying the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree ? I guess you could say that about my relationship with men compared to my mother’s.

I’d always dated nice boys, but something about the edge in Avery’s father made my heart rush, and that made me fall for him harder than the rest. But instead of falling into it, I should’ve run from it. From him.

I found out all too late.

He stuck around after Avery was born, but he was in no way loving after she came into our lives. Fatherhood was scary for any new dad, but Jason took it to the extreme. I’d expected him to help raise Avery, but he was rarely home, and if he was home, it was never pleasant.

I hid as much of it as I could from Avery, but thankfully, he was finally arrested when she was two and a half, so she remembered very little.

For a while after he was locked away, I still flinched at every sudden movement and triple checked the locks on the house every night. Because I was the reason he was put in prison, I could never be too sure that we were safe.

Safe was all I wanted for my little girl, and sometimes, I couldn’t help but feel like I put her in a situation that was anything but.

We moved towns after he was arrested, landing in Bell Buckle and making a life here, but I feared that when he was released in two years, he’d somehow find us. No one in my past life knew where Avery and I were. It was for the best. But even so, those racing thoughts hit me all too often.

What if he came looking?

What if he took her?

Or worse, what if he was still mad?

I frequently had nightmares, my head conjuring up scenarios of all the what ifs. It wasn’t enough that I lived my life in fear—he had to visit me in my sleep, too.

I snapped out of my thoughts, focusing on Callan chopping asparagus behind the counter. I was sitting at the kitchen island while Bailey and Lettie were outside with Avery. Charlotte was on the back porch, barbecuing the chicken breasts for dinner.

“Avery’s loving the riding lessons,” I started, not sure what else to talk about.

Callan laid the asparagus on a baking sheet beside the cutting board. “I’m glad.”

I pursed my lips, poking at a crumb on the counter with my finger.

It was never this hard to strike up a conversation. I did it every day at my job, so why was this so difficult?

“Why have you never come to the cafe before?” I asked.

He set the knife down, rinsing his hands under the faucet. “I prefer to make coffee at home.”

“We don’t just sell coffee,” I stated.

He dried his hands on a rag, eyeing me. “You don’t say?”

I frowned. “If you don’t like pastries, why’d you use that as part of our agreement? ”

“I never said I don’t like pastries.” He draped the hand towel over the handle on the oven, then grabbed the olive oil from the pantry.

“So it’s something against the cafe,” I surmised.

“Didn’t say that either.” He drizzled the oil over the asparagus and shook the sheet to toss them lightly.

“You’re not saying much of anything.” I hated being the only one making conversation right now. It felt like the spotlight was on me, and I could feel my hands getting clammy.

He set the oil down and placed his palms against the counter, looking at me where I sat. When my eyes met his, I noticed his cheeks were slightly red. Was he blushing?

“When’d you start working at the cafe?”

“Three years ago,” I answered.

“Your first job after you moved here?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Why not somewhere else?”

“I like baking,” I reminded him.

“Where’d you grow up?”

“Oregon.”

“Where in Oregon?”

“Portland.”

“Ah.” He finally dropped his eyes from mine, moving his attention to seasoning the asparagus.

“What?” I asked. Did he have something against Portland?

“Is that where you got your love for baking? ”

My brow furrowed. “What?” I repeated. How did those two things go hand in hand?

He set the salt down, gesturing a hand at me. “Portland is known for their…coffee culture.” He said the two words like they were foreign on his tongue. “So I assume there’s a lot of cafes there.”

“There is. But no. I got my love for baking from my grandmother.” A swell of emotion hit me in the chest, but I pushed it away. It’d been years since she passed and I still missed her every day.

Callan moved to slide the baking sheet in the oven, then faced me after setting the timer. “Is she still…”

“Around?” I filled in.

His gaze met mine. His cheeks were still flushed, but his expression was soft, like he knew this might be a touchy subject. “Yeah.”

“No.” I cleared the rock in my throat that had suddenly risen with the subject of my grandmother. “No, uh, she passed before Avery was born.” I wished she could have met her. She would’ve loved Avery.

“I’m sorry.” His voice was so soft—so filled with sentiment that you would’ve thought he lost her, too. He moved around the island to take the seat next to me. “So tell me about yourself. Anything.”

“You want to know more about your student's mother?” Shit . I was thankful for the subject change, but that didn’t come out how I wanted it to. Obviously I wanted to talk to him, but how far was too far in the get-to-know-you department?

He shrugged, debating it in his head before facing me on the stool. “I guess I do.”

“What do you want to know?” I asked.

I wish I knew how long it was until dinner. I didn’t know how much longer I could sit here with all his attention on me like this.

His eyes were fixed at a spot on the counter for a moment before he asked, “Who was calling you earlier?”

My eyes widened. That was not the question I was expecting.

“You don’t want to know my favorite color or something?” Avoiding the question altogether was my best option right now.

He glanced at the back door, his shaggy hair mussed up from pulling his hands through it after taking his cowboy hat off at the door. He opened his mouth to respond, but Avery came bursting through the door and I swiveled to face her. Rouge, Lettie and Bailey's Australian Shepherd, was on her heels, his tongue dangling as he panted.

“Mama!”

“Yes, Aves?”

“Bailey said Mrs. Bronson always keeps ice cream in the freezer,” she said, trying to catch her breath from running.

“You can have some after dinner.”

Her eyes lit up. “Do you promise?”

I nodded. “As long as it’s okay with Mrs. Bronson. ”

As if on cue, Charlotte walked through the door with a plate of chicken in her hand. “Dessert is always okay with me.”

Avery jumped up and down where she stood. “Yay! Okay, I’ll be back in, like, five minutes.” She turned and darted back out the door, leaving it open behind her.

I went to stand to close it, but Callan was already on his feet, heading in that direction. Rouge slipped out as he closed the back door and I averted my gaze before he could turn and catch me watching him.

It was unfair for him to be so attentive. Any other guy would have expected the mother to take care of their child’s chaos, but he just stepped up and did it himself.

Ugh .

***

Callan’s entire family was here—aside from Beckham. Oakley, Brandy, and Bailey were here as well, but I guessed they were considered a part of the Bronsons with how close everyone was. I longed for a family like that for Avery to grow up around. I always felt guilty for her not having cousins or aunts and uncles to shower her with love. She didn’t even have her father to do that either.

So I made up for it. I made sure she always felt loved and never felt that hole like I did growing up.

The guys' plates were almost cleared as they devoured the food in front of them. Lettie and Oakley had been lost in conversation, barely touching their dinner, as Avery told Charlotte all about her lessons.

My attention was tuned in to the two of them, the rest of the table fading away. I watched with glassy eyes as Charlotte treated Avery like one of her own. I wished so badly in this moment that my grandmother was here to meet her.

“Is it good?” Callan’s voice interrupted my trance.

I dropped my fork to the plate, the metal clattering on the porcelain. “What?”

Eyes glanced our way, but everyone continued their side conversations. I was seated next to Callan with Avery across from me. She’d wanted to sit in between Charlotte and Lettie, and I wasn’t going to complain. Travis, Callan’s father, was seated on the other side of Charlotte, and the others were at the opposite end of the table.

“The food. Do you like it?” he clarified.

I looked down at my plate, realizing I’d barely touched any of it as well. It was delicious, from what little I’d tasted, but my stomach was in knots over being here at a table full of people. I hadn’t had a dinner like this in…well, ever. Not just the meal, but the people.

“It’s amazing. The asparagus is lovely,” I told him.

His brow furrowed as he set his own fork down. “Is something wrong?”

Nothing was wrong. Everything was just right. And that scared me. What if Avery wanted to do this more often? This wasn’t our family to impose on. It was most likely just a one-time thing, and I didn’t want to get her hopes up.

“My knee just kind of hurts,” I lied. It was sore, but when I took my weight off of it, it didn’t bother me as much. The bruise was an ugly shade of purple, covering my entire knee cap, but I didn’t think anything was damaged.

“Here, I’ll be right back,” he said as he set his napkin on the table and got up.

No one at the table noticed, and when he returned, he held his palm out to me, two small pills sitting in the center as he refilled my water glass with the pitcher.

I gently grabbed them from his hand, my fingers brushing his rough calluses. “Thank you.”

He sat as I swallowed each pill separately, followed by some water.

“Do you need me to drive you home later?” he asked.

I choked on the liquid, coughing to clear my throat. “No,” I croaked.

His lips pursed as his cheeks stained a light shade of pink. He was definitely blushing. I took another sip of water to clear my throat, but it did little to ease the nerves coursing through me right now.

“And I told you, you’re not fucking touching that horse,” Reed bit out at the end of the table, pulling my attention away from Callan.

“Reed, language. There’s small ears listening,” Charlotte lectured .

Brandy scoffed. “You can’t just tell me what to do.”

Reed muttered something under his breath, shooting daggers at Brandy. “How many times do you want to go over this?”

Brandy lifted her glass of wine, a catty grin pulling at her lips as she said, “As many times as I want, because I’m breaking that horse.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up,” Lettie piped in softly as Brandy sipped her wine.

“No shit, Lettie,” Reed grumbled. “If she gets hurt, it’s on you.”

Bailey sat forward. “Hey, now. Don’t come at my girl.”

Beside me, Callan let out a sigh.

Lettie rolled her eyes as if Reed wasn’t her brother and she could handle him. “He’s always got a stick up his ass, Bailey. This is nothing new with him.”

“That’s for damn sure,” Brandy mumbled.

“What was that, Brandy Rose?” Reed asked calmly. It was almost more scary when he spoke in that tone. I’d seen a lot of sides to Reed when he occasionally stopped by Bell Buckle Brews, but never this.

“I don’t know. Maybe if you pulled that stick out, you could hear me,” she said sweetly.

Okay, the two of them speaking that way was much more scary.

Charlotte looked like she was about to pipe in again about the language when Avery blurted, “Does anyone know anything about cats? ”

My lips parted slightly. I wasn’t sure where she was going with this—though I was thankful for the attention shift—but I definitely didn’t want her crying at this table over Pudding.

“I know Callan hates them,” Lennon supplied with a smirk.

“You do?” I asked Callan.

His eyes narrowed on Lennon slightly before answering me. “I don’t hate them.”

Lennon let out a small chuckle. “The last barn cat we had, you wouldn’t go anywhere near whatever barn it decided to stay in.”

“That thing was mean, and you know it,” Callan defended.

“It hissed at you one time,” Lettie pointed out.

“Never thought a man could be scared of a ten-pound animal when he works with beasts a hundred times their size,” Travis muttered, his gray mustache wiggling as he spoke.

Callan grimaced. “Listen, when you have giant fangs eye-level with you because you woke up a sleeping cat behind a bale of hay, you’d be scared, too.”

“Oh, please.” Lennon scoffed. “It was one time.”

“Anyway,” Avery interrupted, the sass clear in her tone, “my cat is missing.”

Oh, fuck. Please help me.

“Avery—” I started.

“Missing?” Callan asked at the same time.

She nodded. “I need a team to help find her.”

A team? This child was crazy.

“Avery—” I started again.

“I can help,” Callan offered.

My jaw dropped and I turned to face him. “What?”

He seemed confused by my reaction. “I can help find her cat.”

“This’ll be good,” Lennon remarked under his breath from across the table.

“So fucking good,” Bailey agreed.

Charlotte let out a small gasp. “Bailey! Language.”

Bailey bit back a smile, pressing his lips together.

“Do you know how?” I asked him. I didn’t need him getting her hopes up just for Pudding to never come home.

I was so worried she’d never show up, but I had hope. I’d been out looking for her every evening after work, assuming that’d be when she was out and about. She was a night owl. Despite my search, luck was not on my side.

Pudding loved Avery. She had to come back home at some point for her little girl.

“I can do some research,” Callan said.

Lennon barked out a laugh. “This’ll really be good.”

“Callan the Cat Wrangler,” Bailey said through a laugh.

Lettie smacked him on the arm, but she had a smile on her face as well.

“Are you sure?” I asked him, doing my best to ignore the table so Avery didn’t think that I thought this was a joke.

Callan shrugged. “How hard could it be? ”

I wanted to slap a palm to my face. Finding a lost cat was not easy, yet Callan sat there like it would be as simple as spotting a horse in a freshly mowed one-acre pasture.

Avery piped in, considering Callan officially on her cat-catching team. “Okay, here’s some things you need to know: Her name is Pudding, she’s gray, she’s a girl, and she likes when you rub your fingers together at her.”

“Rub your fingers together?” Callan questioned.

Lennon and Bailey’s fit of giggles only got worse as they watched Callan taking this seriously. I had to give it to him, he was acting like this was a job for hire and he was studying to pass the interview.

“Like this.” Avery held her hand up, showing him what she meant as she rubbed her thumb across the tips of her other fingers. “Oh, and if you do this.” She made a kissing noise with her lips.

I swear Lennon and Bailey were going to pee their pants as their faces grew red with laughter.

“Someone record this,” Reed mumbled, having a hard time holding back his smile where he sat.

Travis’s frown he wore all night was lifting at the edges, but Charlotte stayed silent next to Avery, most likely to make it known she didn’t think her explanation was funny and what she was saying mattered.

Oakley had a hand over her mouth next to Lennon, but her eyes were watering, along with Lettie’s and Brandy’s. Apparently seeing Callan go into cat-loving mode was comical to everyone here.

“Alright, I’ve got this. You think of anything else, you tell your mom to call me,” Callan said to Avery.

“How will I—” I started, but before I could finish my sentence, he set his phone on the table.

“Add your number,” he said.

I tried to hide my shock as I picked up his phone and added myself as a contact, then texted myself on his phone so I had his number.

Lettie’s mouth dropped open as she eyed the phone. “Did she just add her number?” she not-so-silently whispered to Brandy.

“I think she did,” Brandy loudly whispered back.

Reed rolled his eyes as Bailey and Lennon’s laughter ebbed.

“Text me your address and I’ll come by tomorrow,” Callan said quietly to me, most likely to keep his siblings' ears out of it to prevent them teasing him further.

Come by my house? The place was a mess, and it was already late in the evening, which meant I’d be up all night cleaning on my hurt knee.

“Can we do another day?” I asked hesitantly. I knew it meant we were less likely to find Pudding if we waited longer, but I didn’t want him to see my disaster of a house. “Don’t you have to research? ”

“I can do it all tonight,” he started, realizing the look on my face. “You don’t have to clean the house top to bottom, Sage. Rest your knee tonight. I’m not going to judge you.”

He could say that now, but one look at the current state of my home and he might be taking that back.

“I don’t know, Callan…”

He set a hand on my thigh, most likely to reassure me, but all it did was center every ounce of my focus to where his warm palm rested over my leggings. A thin layer of clothing was all that separated me from feeling his rough skin on my bare leg.

“Don’t worry about the house, Sage. It’s okay. I promise.”

I let out a sigh. He just wanted to help.

“Okay.” I turned back to Avery across the table. “He’ll come by tomorrow to help us find Pudding.”

Avery smiled wider than I’d ever seen.

And Callan was the reason for it.

Well, and her cat possibly coming home.

But he wanted to help us find her, and that meant the world to Avery.

And to me.