Page 112 of Sunrise & Serenity

She rolls her lips together, the hesitation giving her away.

“Tell me, Sage.”

“My car.” She taps a nail on the plastic rim of her cup. “It’s fixed.”

A pit forms in my gut. There was a time when I would’ve been glad to hear that. Now it feels like this might be ending too soon.

I run my hand through my hair. “I can take you to pick it up tomorrow if you’d like.”

She smiles, though it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “That would be great, thank you.”

“You know.” I angle closer. “Since you’re still working out here, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense changing things up now.”

She blinks, her expression lightening. “You mean staying at the cabin?”

“Yeah. And since we’re both working on the ranch, we might as well continue driving in together.”

A smile touches the corners of her mouth. “It would be a shame to waste fuel.”

I let out a quiet laugh. “Exactly.”

“Okay.”

Relief hits me harder than it should. Knowing she’s not packing up tomorrow makes it easier to breathe anyway.

I tip my chin toward the table. “Better get back to Mia before River starts flirting again.”

She glances over her shoulder, laughing as she spots my brother leaning against the table next to her friend.

“I think he might have met his match with Mia,” she says. “She won’t be easily charmed, even by a cowboy with dimples.” As she turns back to me, her smile grows even wider. “Are you coming too?”

“Sure. Let me bring some more wood for the fire pit first.”

With a nod, she makes her way back to the others.

When I get to the equipment shed, Sterling’s already there, leaning against one of the utility vehicles, focus fixed on his phone.

At the sound of my footsteps, he looks up, his expression tense.

“Everything all right?” I ask.

He straightens, shoving his phone into his pocket. “Construction’s been pushed back again.”

“Okay,” I say slowly. “After the storm, we expected a delay, right?”

“I factored in the first delay, sure, but not the second, and we’ve had a few extra costs. Labor overtime, wasted materials, repeated repairs. The last batch of lumber we ordered has warped in the rain, so we’ll need to order more.”

I narrow my eyes. After the last storm, I asked him how tight things were. He told me they were fine. I didn’t quite believe him then. I sure as hell don’t now. “How bad is it?”

He glances up, distracted. “What?”

“The money situation.”

He exhales through his nose. “It’s manageable.”

“That’s not an answer. It wasn’t last time, either.”

He doesn’t respond.