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“The fairy tale romance sounds nice,” he said as she took a bite of his sandwich. “I’ve never had that either.”
Sage’s eyes widened, whether from what he’d just admitted or from the phenomenal Thanksgiving-dinner-in-a-sandwich, Ty didn’t know. She set down his sandwich as she chewed, nodding along with each movement.
“That’s fantastic,” she said, and again, she could’ve been talking about the sandwich or his comment. She wiped her lips and added, “What are you doing tomorrow?”
His mind flipped for a moment. “Uh, Saturday? I don’t know. You seem like you have a glint in your eye, so I think I’m free all day long.”
“No open houses? House showings?”
“Nope,” he said, though he hadn’t checked his calendar. He’d started putting everything in a calendar about a decade ago, when he’d first noticed that he couldn’t keep every little detail in his head anymore.
“Do you want to go to that new shipwreck movie with me?”
“Mm, I don’t know,” Ty said, really making his voice sound dubious. “That sounds like something two people would do if they were dating, so…”
“Yeah,” she said as she picked up her French dip sandwich again. “It does.”
Ty grinned at her, but she took another bite of her sandwich. Her eyes, though… Those dazzling, almost amber-colored eyes said almost as much as her mouth ever could.
“Is that a yes to the movie?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said. “It’s a yes to the movie—but I can ask you out sometimes, you know.”
“Oh? Is that something you want to do?”
“Yes,” he growled at her. “And it’s what the fairy tales are made of, so if you want that, maybe just…give me a second to breathe.” He wasn’t sure how she’d react, and Sage sat there, holding her sandwich and gazing at him.
Then she said, “You’re right. The princess doesn’t ask out the prince. Forget about the movie.” She took another bite of her sandwich and put it down.
He laughed, because she didn’t seem upset by his mild chastisement. As he quieted, he reached across the table and took her hand in both of his. “So, Sage. Do you want to go to that new shipwreck movie with me tomorrow?”
For a moment, he thought she’d say no. Then she squeezed his hand and said, “I’ve been wanting to see that.”
8
Sage unclipped Gypsy’s leash, and he bounded away like he might actually go play with another dog. After five or six leaps, he turned back to her, his shaggy face so cute when he smiled.
He trotted back to her, ignoring all the other dogs in the fenced-off part of the park. “No,” she said. “You go on. I’m right here. I won’t lose you.”
One, there weren’t a ton of black dogs here. Sure, Ty had one, but most people had tan, beige, brown, or red designer dogs now—doodles. Sage suspected Gypsy was a doodle too, but she’d never bothered to figure out his breed.
Two, he was enormous. As a teeny-tiny dog sniffed his ankle, Sage appreciated how big Gypsy actually was. He stood to her waist, and she kept his fur long and bushy. He hadn’t seemed to mind the summers too much, but she had been considering shaving it shorter this year.
“He’s not having it,” Ty said, and she sighed as she watched his golden and his black lab frolic with several other dogs their own size.
“No, he doesn’t seem to be.”
Ty held his dogs’ leashes in one hand, and Sage rolled up Gypsy’s too. “Maybe if we walk a little, he’ll just come along.” He took the first step, and she fell in beside him. On the second step, he caught her hand in his.
Sage smiled to the evening sky, the beachy breeze, and the beautiful day that nearly sat behind her. She didn’t dare look over to Ty, and he said nothing. His skin against hers felt warm and smooth, that of someone who worked in an office and not on a construction site.
He did make her feel something, and Sage decided she couldn’t dismiss that just because they didn’t have everything in common. “Tell me what you do in your spare time,” she said. “Besides running and eating at every hotspot on the island.” She did toss him a flirty glance then, and she found him smiling to himself too.
“Well, let’s see.” He sighed, and it sounded like he needed more time to come up with an answer.
When he didn’t speak right away, Sage asked, “You don’t have hobbies?”
“I mean, I’m not out in my back shed rebuilding furniture every weekend, no. You? What do you do in your spare time?”
