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Wouldn’t she?
She thought she would, but she still wasn’t sure she wanted to get married again, merge her life with someone else’s again, and open herself up to be…unloved. Again.
Dusk fell, and Sage finally picked up her bowl and said, “Come on, Gypsy. Time to go inside.”
She’d just stepped inside when the doorbell rang. Ty called, “Sage, are you in there? It’s Ty.”
She hurried to put her bowl in the sink so she could go open the door, but she didn’t make it that far before he called, “Sage? I’m coming in. Are you okay?”
She moved around the corner to find him striding inside, on high alert. “Hey.”
He came to a complete stop. “You’re okay.”
“Yeah,” she said slowly. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
He frowned and continued toward her. He looked left and right, like perhaps she really wasn’t okay. “I couldn’t get in touch with you. None of your friends could. Thelma. No one.”
“I was out on the deck.”
“I called Barb, and she said you left the salon hours ago, but you didn’t show up at the beach. I finally leftall of our friendsthere to come do a welfare check.” His eyes blazed, and not in a good way. “And you’re just—out on the deck?”
Sage gaped at him. “The beach?”
“You forgot about the beach. We were meeting there tonight for Shelby’s graduation party. You never showed up. Everyone is scared and worried.” He shook his head and pulled out his phone. “I’ll text Grant.”
Sage didn’t know what to say or do. “It’s not like me to forget,” she said, swallowing. “I even listened to Bea detail graduation on the way home.” Her chest felt brittle, like her next breath would shatter it.
Ty’s thumbs stopped flying as he sent his text, and he looked up at her. “I don’t know how to feel right now.”
Sage felt like crying, and she looked up at him, her eyes filling with tears. They spilled over just as he swooped her into his arms and growled, “You scared me, Sage.”
She held onto him, because she needed someone strong to hold her up when she felt so weak.
23
Ty didn’t like listening to Sage cry. His chest stormed with emotions, and he kept tamping them back. His adrenaline wouldn’t subside so quickly, and he wanted to lecture her for not showing up, for forgetting, for not having her phone with her.
“I’m mad at you,” he said even as he held her right against his chest. “But I’m so, so glad you’re okay.”
She moved back a couple of inches, enough for him to gaze down at her. “What happened tonight?”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head, and sniffling, moved out of his arms. “I just forgot. I can’t believe I forgot.”
Ty looked out the windows to the deck Sage loved so much. The view. The yard for Gypsy. She hadn’t gotten any chickens yet, but she’d been decorating the house to her liking. Sage had been living here for about a month now, and truth be told, Ty had seen a change in her.
She still went to work every day. She still communicated with her friends and cared about them. He’d never seen anyone sexier than Sage in that gold dress at Bessie’s wedding.
But she’d changed too.
“You’re different,” he said as he faced the windows.
She didn’t come to stand beside him, and his phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out to find several texts from Harry, Grant, and Blake.
She’s really there?
She’s okay?
Lauren is beside herself. Can you have Sage call her?
