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It’s his turn to snort. “I’ve definitely had worse assignments.”
The fire engine red Jeep turns onto the paved driveway. “Sage is here. I gotta run.”
“Is today the day?”
Jimmy gives me a two-finger salute from behind the wheel, a smile plastered on his face. He’s all in on this. I hope he hasn’t given anything away, but judging from the confusion playing across Sage’s face, I’m guessing he’s pulled off the surprise.
“We’ll see,” I say to Max and slip the phone into my back pocket as the passenger door opens.
I catch the handle and pull it wide. “How was school?”
“This place is a rental,” Sage says, peering around me. Jimmy grins and gives me a thumbs-up signal. Sage looks from the Craftsman style house to me and then to Jimmy. “Why are we here?”
“I’m outta here,” Jimmy announces. “I’m meeting Alex for beers. You two are on your own.”
He grins, and I shake my head. Subtle, man. Subtle.
“Thanks, Jimmy,” I say as I lift Sage’s leather satchel and close the door.
This house is four houses down from Sage’s property, but on the opposite side of the street. Tarps hang over holes in the roof where the fire burned through and from here, her place is an eyesore.
“Why’re we here?” she asks as the door opens on a house two doors down and a scrawny kid runs outside, lifts his bike, and jumps on it, pedaling away, barely sparing us a glance.
Here goes.
“If you like this place, we can rent it until your house is rebuilt. The owner will rent it to me for as long as we need. Open-ended rental agreement.” Of course, those specifics aren’t the important ones. “Want to come inside? Check it out? See if it works for you?” For us?
The glints of gold in her brown eyes shimmer in the waning sun. She’s taking in the house’s front. The eight-foot-deep wooden porch is painted a rich, deep navy. The roofline extends over the porch, supported by thick, square white columns.
“Do you want to look inside? It’s furnished. The front porch isn’t, but inside is, and he said we can keep any of it we want to use. He has a farm not too far away and said we can store any furniture we don’t want in a shed he has?—”
“You keep saying we?”
“Well, I’m hoping for we.”
“You want to live here with me?” She’s back to taking in the house. I wonder what she sees, what it looks like in her eyes. I can paint it if she doesn’t like the colors. The bright white trim could stand to be toned down, but what do I know about color? “What about your job?”
“I told you. I have my own company. I can run that from anywhere. Arrow will work with me. I can take on contract work with them.”
“For how long?”
“What do you mean?”
“Knox.” She’s flustered. Her answer may be no. “Sam didn’t expect you to give up everything for me. I’m safe now. I mean, don’t get me wrong…I love having you here. Every night I go to bed hoping I get one more day with you, but you can’t…this isn’t…you don’t have to move here to keep me safe. After this school year, I can move for you. If you want.”
She links her fingers with mine and tugs me to the steps on the front porch. She pats the painted wood, and I take my place beside her. The box in my pocket digs into the side of my thigh. There’s a look of steely determination on her face, and I brace myself.
“There’s something we haven’t talked about. I didn’t want to bring it up because I didn’t know if we were there yet. But if you’re considering moving here…and I guess that would be for me?—”
“You’d be guessing correctly.” I can’t stop the grin that breaks out. My heart pounds in my chest from a mix of nerves, excitement, and anticipation.
Her cheeks flush, and I take her hands. “Go on.”
“Well, I want children. Or, at least, a child. And we haven’t talked about it, but?—”
I squeeze her chilled hands to halt her uneasy words. “You think I don’t want kids one day?”
“Well, no, I imagine you do. But, well, I might not be able to give them to you. I mean, I need to see a doctor, and obviously we’d want to avoid having a child with the same issue I had, but they can test for certain issues now, and there are options with invitro fertilization that didn’t exist before, but it’s a lot. I hadn’t said anything yet because that’s a big talk, and it’s very presumptuous, and we’re in the early stages, but if you’re serious about moving here, then it probably needs to be said, right?” Her nose crinkles and her eyes squint in uncertain question.
