by Peyton Banks
She turned back around, and the sudden movement caught his eye.
Tilting her head to the side, the soft light over the table cast a warm golden glow over her hair.
“Well, are you ready?”
He could barely manage to swallow the lump in his throat. He knew he was going to have to say something to her, sooner, rather than later. Or he might lose his chance, or his mind.
He wasn’t sure which one would be worse.
6
Sage looked up at the sign she’d hung up above her workstation. The large mustache on Teddy Roosevelt’s face looked like it could walk away on its own if it only had legs. The printed text beside his recognizable and bespectacled mug was:
* * *
Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, or difficulty.
* * *
Looking back down at the text she had just recorded a record six times, she wanted to give the twenty-sixth president a rather inelegant single-fingered salute. It wasn’t really his fault that she was having an off recording session. She’d been off all day.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true.
It started about an hour after Noah left for work. He called her to ask a favor. Would she go into his bedroom and pick up a file from his bedside table and give it to the messenger that came to the door?
Simple. Totally doable. And easy.
After saying her farewell she’d set her phone down on her desk and jogged barefoot through the open area of the duplex and into Noah’s room. She swept the room with a quick look and saw the familiar folder beside his bed. She’d seen more than her fair share of those folders during her time at EndRoad. With a shake of her head, she walked around the bed and picked up the folder. The problem was when she turned around to leave.
His room was small.
Small.
Like less-than-half-of-her-room small.
Like freshman dorm room small.
The doorbell buzzed from the bottom of the stairs and she had to rush to get there before the poor messenger had to stand outside in the chill. Autumn was already starting to turn the trees into the fiery colors that made fall her favorite season of the year, but it was only fun if you were looking out at them from a window or standing with a warm cup of coffee in your hands.
Rushing down the stairs, she almost skidded to a stop at the door.
Sage pulled it open and stopped short.
The messenger wasn’t just some intern that had drawn the short end of the stick, it was Jules. Jules Kennedy from her old team. And yes, Jules who had taken over her position after she’d left for New York.
It only took a quick look at Jules’ pristine charcoal grey pinstriped suitcoat and pencil skirt matched with a pearl-gray silk blouse to remember that she was still wearing her pajama bottoms and her navy blue ‘Boston Lobstah’ shirt.
“Must be nice.”
“I’m sorry,” Sage felt the skin between her eyebrows pinch, “I don’t understand.”
Jules smiled at her, but even though she was a couple inches shorter than Sage, Jules managed to make it look like she was looking down her nose at her. “Odds were that you’d found some kind of work by now, but I guess they were wrong.”
The edge to the other woman’s voice was unmistakable. Even the look in her eyes was clear and a perfect match to the snide tone that still rang in Sage’s ears. ‘They were wrong.’ Yeah, Sage didn’t expect that Jules would have bet on her for anything.
“Don’t get it in your head that Marcy will take you back at EndRoad. I’ve made myself pretty irreplaceable.”
Sage chose to ignore the statement all together, holding out the folder. “Then I guess you’ll want this so you can get back to work.”
Jules hesitated a moment before she reached out for the folder. Maybe she thought Sage would drop it just shy of her hand out of spite. Well, there was a little spiteful fairy twirling around in her head, sending sparks out from her magic wand, hoping that it might singe Jules’ ridiculously fake lashes, but that was just inside her head.
Outwardly, Sage had kept an even smile and what she hoped were bright eyes. She didn’t even wait for Jules to say something else. She just stepped back and waved. “Sorry, I’ve got to get back to work.”
And yes, she might just have closed the door a little harder than she should have, but just a teeny tiny bit.
The walk up the stairs was much longer than it had been since the day she’d come to stay at Noah’s. In the space of just those few minutes everything had been turned on its end.
Why was he in that room? Sure, it had its own bathroom, but the space that wasn’t covered by the bed wasn’t all that much. That thought, more than anything else had occupied her thoughts and made it difficult for her to concentrate.
She was still two days ahead of schedule for the book she was narrating. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out what kind of a schedule worked best for her.
Working on marketing projects had given her a solid basis and experience for scheduling creative ventures. Given that she was the one solely responsible for the projects she was working on, she didn’t need to touch base with others and make sure she knew where everyone was with their own duties.
That was one part of working with a team that she didn’t miss. People like Jules didn’t like being accountable for her work, so it was quite a miracle that she seemed to be doing so well.
But Sage had to put that out of her head.
* * *
Looking up at Teddy with his big walrus mustache made her wish she could be even more… childish and throw a pencil at him or something. Instead, she pushed her feet against the floor and sent her chair coasting back a few feet. The back wheels came to a jarring stop as she ended up against the bed.
There were so many questions.
Saving her place in the recording program and the script she’d set up, she changed into jeans and a sweater, grabbing a light jacket on the way out of her bedroom. This time her jog down the stairs felt vastly different from that morning when Jules darkened their doorstop.
Pausing at the door to touch her pocket and make sure she had her key to get back inside, she opened the door and started out.
The area was quiet for the most part with long blocks of row houses, a few apartment buildings at the end of the two main streets. Small restaurants with a more Mom & Pop flare mixed in with a couple of fast food places near what would pass for a strip mall if it didn’t have the charm of its mid-1900s architecture. Noah had taken her to almost all of the restaurants in the area and it was just like him that everyone knew his name when they walked in the door. They weren’t in the main area of Boston, more of a suburb on the outskirts, and it didn’t escape her notice that everyone’s reaction to him was that of genuine affection.
He was just ‘that’ guy. The guy that everyone depended on. The guy that everyone trusted. Noah was the guy that would help people because that’s just who he was.
Sage found a bench in the park and sat herself down. There weren’t many people around at that hour. Schools were due to let out in about a half an hour and the only people in the playground were a couple of adults and their kids. An older man looked like he was out for a walk, picking his way along a path with his cane and slouch hat pulled down low over his brow.
A stiff wind drew Sage’s shoulders up and even though she had her gloves in her pocket, she just shoved her hands in the pockets of her coat and hunkered down on the bench.
This neighborhood was perfect as far as she could see. She just didn’t know if she fit in.
Since the moment she’d called Noah to tell him she was coming back everything seemed to fall in place, but she just wasn’t sure if she belonged. Her little moment with Jules earlier in the day had only made her worries seem worse. She let out a heavy sigh and watched a delivery truck roll on by.
“Goodness, that seems like a weary sigh, young lady.”
Sitting up straighter, Sage looked up towar
d the voice. An older woman stood at the end of the bench, her shoulders huddled in her own coat and a woolen hat pushed down over her ears making the hair near her cheeks curl up over the edge of the hat. “Sorry. I didn’t see you walk up.” Moving over to the far edge of the bench, Sage used her bare hand to brush at the wooden slats to make sure it was clear of dirt. “Please, have a seat.”
With a soft laugh, the older woman edged around to the front of the bench and gathered her coat tight against her body before she sat down. “Makes me glad to see that you offered on your own.”
Gesturing to the far end of the park where another bench was easily visible near the bus stop, the older woman waved her hand in its direction. “I got to my stop late the other day and there were a bunch of girls sitting there. Not a single one said hello and none of them offered me a seat.”
Tucking her hand back into her coat, Sage couldn’t help but sigh at the thought. “My grandmother would have smacked me upside the head if I’d done that. She was the one that took me on my first bus ride when I was little. Even back then people weren’t always kind to each other.”
The older woman beside her sat back against the bench and laughed. “Here and there you see the good and here and there you see the bad. The ones I worry about the most are the ones who just don’t seem to care one way or the other.” She reached out and tapped Sage on her knee. “Those folks are just plain lost. You can change someone’s heart, but they have to have one.”
Nodding in satisfaction, the older woman looked off down the road in the direction of on-coming traffic. Well, not that there was any at the moment, but still she looked in that direction as if she was wondering about the bus.
Sage felt a little silly since she wasn’t even there to catch the bus. She just needed a place to rest her legs for a minute. Spending hours on her butt recording wasn’t good for the circulation.
“You’re smiling,” her companion noted. “That’s good. A pretty young thing like you should smile.”
“I’m not… I’m not really young.” Sage felt downright ancient that day. “I’m Sage, by the way.” She pulled her hand out of her pocket and held it out in introduction. “It’s nice to share a bench with you.”
The older woman laughed and her feet kicked up as her voice rang out. “Sage, eh? You got a couple of siblings with names like Parsley and Thyme at home?” She grasped onto Sage’s hand with both of hers and Sage almost sighed at the warmth that surrounded her bare hand.
“I’m Rosemary.” The older woman shook her head. “Go on and figure out how that happened! The odds that we’d sit down together.” Still holding Sage’s hand, Rosemary chortled a little. “That song’s going to be in my head the rest of today.”
Sage giggled too. “I know what you mean. I’m going to have a great story for Noah tonight when he gets home.”
“Noah?” Rosemary leaned closer and lowered her voice to an excited whisper. “Is that your husband?”
It was a simple enough question, but the way it hit Sage square in the chest, stunned her for a moment.
“Oh,” Rosemary leaned close enough that she could bump shoulders with Sage, “don’t worry, sweetie. I’m not going to cast stones if you’re living together. I’ve gotten carried away a time or two when I was young like you.”
Sage realized that there was no way she was going to stop Rosemary from calling her young, so she was just going to have to bask in the idea and let her keep saying it. “We’re just friends. He’s letting me stay until I find a place of my own.”
She didn’t know what she expected to hear from Rosemary, but it wasn’t silence.
“And I’m all out of sorts today because I just found out that he gave me the bigger bedroom. I thought, and really it seemed logical when he told me both bedrooms were the same size. It was a conversion from an old store or something, so while the walls were kept, the inside was gutted and rebuilt. So, it would make sense that they’d mirror one side of the floorplan on the other, right?”
Rosemary’s lips pursed a little and she shrugged. “Sure. I can see that.”
“And when I moved in, it wasn’t like I was going to call him a liar and go look at his room. I just moved in. And it’s his place, you know? So, I didn’t understand when I went in and saw how small the room was. It just made me feel all,” Rosemary let go of her hand and Sage tumbled her hands around each other in front of her stomach like her belly was churning around like a washing machine, “twisted up inside.”
Almost on cue, a bus appeared at the end of the street headed in their direction.
Turning her head toward Rosemary, Sage tried to muster up a bright smile. “I’m sorry for dropping all of this into your lap. You didn’t sign up to bear my problems.”
Rosemary started to stand, and Sage helped her up, earning herself a warm hug. Before Sage could step back completely, Rosemary took hold of her shoulders and gave them a squeeze.
“You don’t have to apologize, sweetie. I feel honored that you trust this old lady with your worries. If you’d like my advice,” Rosemary didn’t even turn away to look at the bus as it slowly came to a stop at the curb beside them, “you’re making things too difficult by far. You’ve got the problems you just told me, but I can see in your eyes and the heavy bend of your shoulders, you feel like you’ve got a whole bunch of worries weighing you down, but there’re really only two you should pay any mind to. First, if he’s just your good friend are you all twisted up inside about staying with him?”
Sage didn’t really know what to say to that.
“And second, you said earlier that you’re going to tell Noah when he gets home.”
Nodding, Sage waited for Rosemary to continue.
“You have to ask yourself why it feels like home. Or is it that man that does? That’s what’s really got you all stirred up, Sage. Think about that.”
Rosemary stunned her with a coquettish little wink and then she was up and inside the bus.
The bus driver left the door open for a moment and then leaned toward the doorway. “Miss? Are you getting on?”
She shook her head even though she was still mostly lost in her own thoughts. “No. No thank you. I’ve got to get home.”
7
A knock on his door at the end of a workday wasn’t usually a good thing, but that really didn’t matter. He was still on the clock so he’d better just deal with whatever it was so he could go home. “Come in.”
Paula stepped inside.
Noah stood up to greet her. “What’s going on?”
When she looked up and met his eyes with her own, he knew it wasn’t good. “I’ve been hearing some comments all day, but nothing solid, so I didn’t come to you until now.”
He narrowed his eyes at Paula. He wasn’t worried that she was at all involved in whatever was making her upset. Yes, Paula liked to joke around, but if something was bothering her then it had gone beyond good natured ribbing. “Okay.”
She opened her mouth to speak and stopped. He could almost see her putting her thoughts together and rearranging them in her head. She had to do that same thing twice before she finally blurted out the question that she’d been struggling to find. “Did you leave a file at home today?”
“Yes. I sent a messenger over to get it.” He started to move back around his desk, reaching for his phone. “Did something happen? I can call Sage and ask.”
Paula held up her hands and shook her head. “No. Don’t.”
Noah didn’t set the phone back down, but he didn’t call. He waited for Paula to explain.
“The messenger never got the message. Jules took it upon herself to go and get it.”
Noah felt his chest start to burn. “Jules?” He tried but couldn’t wrap his head around the idea of it. “She’s not even involved in that project, why-”
He didn’t finish the question. The look in Paula’s eyes told him she had the same thought in her head.
“You know she just wanted to scope out the competition.” Paula bit
into her lip. “As if you haven’t made it absolutely clear that Jules wouldn’t have an ice cube’s chance in hell with you even after Sage was in New York. I don’t know what she thought she’d get out of a surprise visit.”
He didn’t know either, but knowing Jules, she had a reason for what she’d done. The problem was he had no idea what affect her visit had on Sage.
His empty hand tightened into a fist. “Like there weren’t enough problems for Sage already.”
Paula tilted her head a little, and he could see the genuine worry in her eyes. “Anything I can help with?”
Noah let his phone clatter to the top of his desk. “I’ll ask her, but I’m pretty sure she’s going to say she’s fine.”
“Independent to a fault, that one.”
Noah felt a smile touch his lips. “I think she’s really got a handle on her work right now. I don’t want to say too much since I didn’t ask her about sharing the information at the office.”
Paula rolled her eyes. “And really, if Jules is determined to act this stupid, it’s best for you to keep it quiet for now. When she’s ready to toot her own horn…”
They shared a laugh together. Sage really wasn’t the kind of person who was a self-promoter. She let her work speak for itself.
“I just wish she could see herself through my eyes.”
Stepping closer, Paula set her hand on his shoulder. “Noah, if she could see herself through your eyes, the two of you would be married with a heap of babies to spoil by now.”
Noah lifted his hand and touched his cheek.
Paula’s curious gaze zeroed in on the movement. “What’s that?”
When he didn’t say anything, she narrowed her eyes, squinting at him. “Noah Franklin, are you blushing?”
He scoffed at the idea but couldn’t meet her eyes. “Look, unless there’s something else going on in the office that I should know about, I’m going to head home and see what Jules stirred up. And,” he sighed when he picked the phone up off his desk, “if she’s really caused a problem, then I don’t know what I’m going to do. It’s hard enough to figure out how to get Sage to realize that there’s no time clock on my offer to stay.”