15. Sage

15

Sage

“ N o Avery today?” Penny asked as I walked in the door to Bell Buckle Brews, the cowbell above me letting out a clang.

“She’s at home with…” Calling Callan a babysitter felt weird. He felt like more than that, like a friend doing a friend a favor. But was he my friend? “Callan.”

Penny’s eyes shot wide as I approached the counter. “Callan Bronson ?”

“Why’d you say his name like that? Is he secretly a serial killer or something?” My luck, that’d end up being the truth.

The cafe was empty behind me, it's usual pace during this time of the day.

“No. I’m just surprised he’d be watching Avery. Are you guys friends or something? ”

Or something sounded like the right answer.

“He’s been giving her horseback riding lessons, and as of late, he’s trying to help find Pudding.”

Her eyes somehow widened further. “He definitely likes you.”

I let out a nervous chuckle as I twisted my wallet in my hand. “No. Definitely not . He’s just helping Avery.”

She cocked a brow. “Helping Avery or trying to get close to you?”

I scoffed, shaking my head. I rounded the counter, heading into the back, but Penny just followed.

“He’s not trying to get close to me.”

“What would be the harm if he was?” she asked.

“Nothing.” But everything.

I set my wallet in my tiny locker and grabbed my apron to tie around my waist.

“Come on, Sage. You haven’t dated anyone since I’ve known you.”

“Three years is not an abnormal amount of time to be single.”

“Yes, it is.”

I turned to her, my fingers finishing off the knot on the apron. “How long have you been single?”

She frowned as she shoved her own apron in her locker. “This isn’t about me. ”

Pulling the strings taut, I brought my hands to the front pocket to be sure my pen and notepad were in there. “I’d much prefer it wasn’t about me either.”

“Come on, Sage, give a girl something .”

“He’s cute,” I blurted.

I could’ve said anything but that. Literally anything .

A satisfied smile stretched Penny’s lips. “Okay.”

“Now get out of here so I can start my shift in peace. You’re almost as bad as Gemma.”

Penny gasped, slapping a hand over her heart. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

I rolled my eyes at the sarcasm lacing her tone.

“Let me know how Callan’s night goes,” she said as she turned to leave.

“Not my night?”

She looked over her shoulder at me, one hand on the swinging door. “Or your night with him. Whichever.”

The corners of my lips turned down in a frown as she disappeared through the door.

Penny was such an instigator.

***

Three hours flew by and I surprisingly wasn’t as anxious as I thought I’d be leaving Avery home with Callan, thanks to his promise of text updates every thirty minutes. A text came through every half hour on the dot and not a second later. Of course, I’d thanked him for each update, but it meant the world to me that he was doing this.

The problem with trusting any babysitter was that I’d want to know what was happening every second while I was away, and that was probably the last thing any of them would want to do—update the mother constantly. But Callan did it willingly. I hadn’t even asked for them, he just did it. Everything he’d done today, between watching Avery for me and bringing me a get-well basket, showed just how thoughtful he was.

What guy did that? Because I was convinced men like that didn’t exist.

But here Callan was, right in front of me, teaching my daughter how to ride horses and voluntarily stepping up to watch her for me so I didn’t have to bring her to work.

Not to mention that he’d suggested I take a bath instead of sticking around to help out with the cat situation. And the fact that I got to nap? I hadn’t had time for a nap since before Avery was born, but even then, they were few and far between because my ex didn’t think they were productive.

I didn’t want to confuse myself by getting caught up in the small things Callan did for me. He was just helping out for the time being, and then he’d be gone. I couldn’t have him teach Avery for free forever, and I wouldn’t be able to afford lessons once I had to start paying for them, so this kindness from Callan had to stop at some point.

I just feared I’d miss it too much when it did .

Callan was everything a woman could want: handsome, overly caring, thoughtful, and he worked on a ranch teaching children to ride horses . If your ovaries didn’t explode over that, there was something wrong with you.

Sure, we got off on the wrong foot when I spilled coffee on him, but he hadn’t held it against me. We’d both had a bad morning, and we started fresh after Avery’s first lesson, but now I was starting to enjoy the little things he did, and that was dangerous.

I couldn’t let myself get used to this. He was only temporary.

I stayed on top of the dishes and wiped the counters after each customer. I was not in the mood to stay late today, given I wanted to get home and make sure Callan and Avery hadn’t burned the house down.

It was always slow in the afternoons, which was why Erica changed our closing time to five p.m. instead of seven about a year ago. It was costing us too much to stay open that late with not much foot traffic to justify it. I wasn’t complaining though; it just meant the second shift was shorter if we split up the day. Most of the week, we’d work through from opening to close, but a few days a week, they were split, so one of us would have mornings and the other the afternoon. It was well balanced between Gemma, Penny, and myself, but the days that Gemma flaked, I’d have to cover if Penny couldn’t come in, which sucked, but I appreciated the extra money. The schedule helped during the school year, but wasn’t the most ideal in the summer when I’d have to drag Avery to the cafe midday .

My phone dinged with a text on the counter beside me and I picked it up, seeing Callan’s name across the screen.

Callan: Avery is telling me all the names of her My Little Pony’s. Peanilla was an interesting one

I smiled down at the phone, typing out a reply.

Me: Just wait till she gets to Chicken

Three little dots appeared and I stared at them, waiting for his response.

Callan: I guess that goes hand in hand with the cat’s name being Pudding

My cheeks ached as my smile widened, but before I could begin typing back, the cowbell above the door clanged. I locked my phone, slipping it into my apron.

“Good evening,” I said to the man. He was wearing a black zip-up and blue jeans, and his dark hair was cropped close to his scalp.

“Hello, there,” he greeted as he approached the counter. His eyes searched the small pink dining area before landing on me, glancing at my name tag.

“Midday coffee?” I asked.

“Black, please,” he replied.

I typed it into the register and turned, pouring some beans into the machine and starting it up .

“You have a lovely cafe, Ms…” He trailed off, and I assumed he wanted me to fill in the blank.

“You can call me Sage,” I said, leaning a hip against the counter as I waited for the coffee to brew. “But thank you.”

He pursed his lips, giving a small nod.

“Would you like any food with your coffee?”

He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket, keeping his attention on me. “No, ma’am.”

I turned back to the pot, my fingers finding the charm on my necklace. Unease crept through me with his presence. He filled the room, but given he was the only one here aside from me, there wasn’t anyone else to focus on.

Once it was done brewing, I wiped my hands on my apron before pouring the coffee into a paper cup, then popped the lid on. Turning to place it on the counter in front of him, I read off his total. He handed me some cash, and I held his change out to him after counting it out.

“You live in town long?” he asked, pocketing the change.

“A couple years.” It wasn’t an odd question to ask around here, given people passing through always stopped for coffee and were looking for sights to see or things to do.

He tapped the counter twice with a finger, then grabbed his coffee. “Stay safe out there.” The man turned, heading out of the store.

I watched his retreating back disappear through the floor to ceiling windows. It wasn’t an odd farewell, but the way he said it sent chills down my spine.

I was probably just feeling off because I wasn’t with Avery.

That was it.

***

I pulled into the driveway and turned off the car, quickly unbuckling my seat belt. I inhaled deeply, telling myself that I had to calm down to not make it seem like I was so eager to get home that I broke the speed limit on the way here.

To be fair, it was only by five miles per hour.

I sat back in the seat, resting my head against the cloth headrest as I watched the house. The lights were on, giving my home a warm pull that made it feel somehow better to come home to. Callan was in there with Avery, most likely playing or eating a snack, and it made my heart swell with emotion.

It almost felt like what it would be if we had a little family, like I finally had that extra set of hands to help me when I needed it instead of taking the world’s load onto my shoulders by myself.

But this wasn’t a family. Callan watched her one time to do me a favor, and that was it.

Here I went looking too far into things again.

Maybe Penny was right to assume there was more going on.

After being alone for so long, I got used to not having someone to pass things off to, but my heart wanted this so bad that it was playing tricks on my brain. I had to approach this logically, not emotionally. Otherwise I’d get my heart broken and let Avery down.

Squeezing my eyes shut for a few seconds, I finally opened the driver's side door and got out. I beeped the locks on my car and headed for the house. The litter box and food brought a slight smile to my face. I just hoped it worked.

I tried the handle on the door, but it was locked.

Good.

Slipping the key into the knob, I unlocked it and stepped inside, relocking it behind me. Voices drifted down the hall, along with a giggle. I set my keys and wallet on the front entry table, then followed the sound to Avery’s room.

I peeked around the doorway to where they wouldn’t notice me watching with their backs to me as they sat on the ground next to each other. I raised up on my tiptoes to get a better view of what they were doing.

They were painting .

Callan, this big, teddy bear of a man, was on the floor with my daughter, painting .

And from the looks of it, he was painting a pink castle.

Avery moved to grab a different brush and must’ve seen me from the corner of her eye because her gaze shot to me, and I dropped from my toes. “Mama!” she shouted as she scurried to stand, racing my way.

“Hey, Aves. Did you have fun?” I asked her as she threw her arms around my waist.

Callan twisted where he sat, looking up at me.

“Thank you,” I mouthed, and he dipped his chin in response with a smile.

“We had so much fun. We made pink slime, and then Callan helped me with my handstand, and then we played with my ponies and he met every one of them, and now we’re painting. Do you want to see what I painted?” Avery’s words tripped over each other as she couldn’t speak fast enough to tell me all about their few hours together.

“Of course, I do,” I replied.

She released me, hurrying over to her painting to pick it up and bring it to me. “It’s not done yet, but Callan is helping me with the castle.”

I stared at the piece of paper, the paint still wet, and swallowed back the lump in my throat. She’d painted herself standing on the grass next to a horse, with Callan and his cowboy hat to the left of her. Next to them was a field of flowers, and a big castle that was half filled in with pink.

“That’s Boots,” she told me, pointing to the horse, “and that’s Callan and me.”

Callan stood up with the wet paint brushes in hand. “I’m going to go rinse these.”

I stepped to the side to allow him room to leave, his arm brushing against mine as he passed. His skin was so warm, like a walking heater, and I could imagine curling up next to him in the winter while snow fell outside, our Christmas tree twinkling in the living room as Pudding swatted at the ornaments .

I shook my head at myself. Stop fantasizing, Sage. It’s one time. This doesn’t mean anything.

“It’s beautiful,” I told Avery.

“He helped with a bunch of it, but the flowers are all mine.”

I set the paper on her dresser, then bent to press a kiss to her forehead. “Why don’t you clean up your paint while I make you some dinner?”

“Okay!” She bounced away, getting to work on tidying the paint supplies.

I headed out to the kitchen where Callan had his back to me at the sink as he ran the brushes under the faucet.

“I can clean those. You probably want to get going,” I said to him as I opened the fridge.

“I don’t mind. I had fun.”

Grabbing some chicken breasts out of the fridge, I set them on the island behind me and closed the door. “I really appreciate you watching her for a few hours, and all that you’re doing to get Pudding to come home.”

He turned off the water, setting the brushes on a paper towel to dry. He dried his hands on the rag hanging from the oven door. “Anytime. I’ll get out of your hair for dinner. I’ll still be seeing you two in a few days for her next lesson, right?”

Anytime? Did he mean that? Surely he was just being nice.

“Avery wouldn’t let me forget if I tried. We’ll be there.” I pulled a cutting board out of one of the cabinets, setting it on the counter. “And thank you for the texts. It helped ease my mind…a lot. ”

His brow furrowed. “Of course. I figured if she was my kid, I’d want updates, too.”

God, why did we have to have that in common?

Shut up, Sage, every parent would.

“Is that why you don’t have a babysitter for her?” he asked.

I opened the package of chicken, placing them on the cutting board to slice. “That, and the fact that not many people are up for watching a five-year-old, especially with my constantly changing schedule if I have to stay overtime.”

“Your coworkers not very reliable?”

“Just one of them.” I didn’t want to get into it about Gemma right now.

He seemed deep in thought as he watched my knife slice through the raw meat, then said, “My mom or I can always help watch Avery.”

My slices faltered, and I set the knife down on the board. The last thing I needed was to accidentally cut myself in front of him, again . “You don’t have to—”

“Sage, it’s okay to accept help if people are offering it. But I understand if you truly don’t want us to.”

My teeth gnawed on the inside of my cheek. I hated that he was right. I just felt bad asking people to help watch my daughter. Her father should be around doing that, but instead he was sitting in a prison cell because he was never taught how to respect women.

“Thank you.” I had to be more open to people offering to make my life even a fraction easier .

As much as I wished I could, I couldn’t carry the weight of the world on my shoulders and keep myself afloat, too.