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Which one did you book?
“Uh…” Sage couldn’t remember, and she told him as much.
I’m sure it’ll be great,he said.Do you still walk on the beach in the morning?
Yep.
Great. He added a smiley face emoji.Maybe I’ll run into you again sometime.
He wasn’t pressing for a date or the beginning of a relationship either, and Sage smiled and sighed back into her seat as she said,Well, I hope not really run into me. But I haven’t fallen again since that day.
Good news, he said.You know what I can’t stand? When a restaurant puts tomatoes in the fridge. Don’t they know—they’re chefs!—that it makes them all mealy?
Sage grinned at her phone, that flirty warmth she craved blanketing her.
And I hate biting into one. Makes my teeth hurt.
Oh, someone has old teeth, Sage teased.Where are you eating?
Old teeth? Someone’s turning FIFTY next week.
Someone is ALREADY fifty.
I’m at RK. Have you eaten? Want to come join me? I just got a salad and sandwich, and I’m on the boardwalk. It’s not too birdy, even.
“RK,” Sage mused. She hadn’t been there, but her GPS could get her anywhere on the island. Anywhere in the world.
And an unplanned dinner with Ty? On a night where it was her turn to feed her sister and herself?
Sounded like the complete opposite of what Sage would ever do.
Sure, she typed out.I’m on the way.
He was a risk she wanted to take, and Sage set her phone aside, realizing she’d have questions to answer later. That was okay. Right now, she wanted to take a step into the unknown and see if Ty Parker could save her before she plummeted to her certain death.
4
Ty knew he was eating astronomically slow. He didn’t want Sage to show up and have him be done with his food and her just starting. She hadn’t said where she was, but he assumed she’d just finished at the salon. He’d texted her to get her order, and she’d texted back two terrible words.
Surprise me.
Ty had a pretty good memory, and he remembered her getting a turkey sandwich from the deli food truck at the concert, months ago. So he’d ordered her something similar to that here—with turkey, Swiss, bacon, and all the usual sandwich toppings—as well as a bowl of chili. He distinctly remembered her saying she liked that, and she’d always make a big pot when the thunderstorms rolled through Texas.
He feared it would be cold by the time she arrived, or that the sandwich would be too moist. Sitting at a tiny table with the ocean only a few feet away, the humidity had to be off the charts today.
“Hey,” Sage said as Ty leaned over and took another painfully slow bite of his sandwich. In the four seconds he’d stopped scanning for her, she’d shown up. Of course.
And now his mouth was full of food. “Hey,” he said anyway, but it sounded like a grunt or a belch. She smiled as she sat down, but embarrassment flowed into every nook and cranny of his soul.
He couldn’t chew fast enough, and by the time he got all his roast beef, provolone, and green peppers swallowed, she’d opened the chili. “It’s chili,” he practically yelled at her.
She looked up, surprise in those pretty brown eyes. “I see that.”
“Turkey sandwich,” he said. “It’s Swiss, and that’s kind of a strong cheese. Wasn’t sure how you’d feel about it.”
“It’s not my favorite,” she admitted. “But it’s okay.” Another smile, and she tucked her hair behind her ear. “Thanks, Ty.” She dug her plastic spoon into the chili first, and Ty simply watched her.
“You aren’t having a big fiftieth celebration with your friends?” he asked.
