“Get a room,” someone calls, and I turn to see a guy who must be Lucas emerging from the car. He has sandy hair, and when he grins, my breath catches. There’s something familiar about him. It’s on the tip of my tongue—I swear it is. I saw this guy before. Somewhere. Somehow. I saw him. And no, not at UMD, but somewhere else. I know I saw him.
He pivots and his gaze sends shivers running down my skin. “Will one of you two please introduce us?” he asks with mock annoyance. He laughs like he’s the funniest person in the world and another chill blows through me. I know this. I know him. His looks. His personality. His name.
“Sorry.” Matt pulls out of the kiss. “Lucas this is Sage and Sage this is Lucas.”
Lucas strides across the sidewalk and holds out his hand.
I can feel my palms growing sticky and I brush them on my jeans. I can’t shake his with a sweaty hand. What is this? Could he be the one? I’ve never felt like this—even the flutters I had when Hunter first asked me to homecoming can’t compare to this nauseating, twist of emotions exploding through me.
“Hi, I’m Lucas, Matt’s roommate and apparently your date tonight. Since Matt’s too busy sucking face to bother with a proper introduction.”
“Sage, and that’s probably more Kat’s fault.” I answer, slowly. My voice shakes slightly, and I take a small step back.
“We can blame them both. Sage, your name is beautiful. Like you.” I blush under his gaze. Maybe he really is the one? He’s cocky though. Super cocky. I think I knew before he even opened his mouth that he was cocky. And cocky guys really aren’t my thing…so how can he be the one?
“You’re smooth, aren’t you?” Confidence begins to creep into my voice.
“Guilty.” He throws an arm across his chest. “You got me.” It’s exaggerated and once again I feel that familiarity. Like I knew he would do that. Like I’ve seen him do that.
“Okay, you two.” Kat interrupts. “Let’s stop falling in love in front of us and get going. We’re hungry.”
“Now you want to go. Maybe I want to stay and flirt a little more…” Lucas raises his eyebrows at Kat and Matt.
“Get over yourself.,” Matt orders. “You better treat her good. She’s Kat’s roommate and Kat might dump me if you do anything to hurt her.”
“Who me?” He throws up his hands and shrugs. “I would never…” Matt pulls her into another kiss again. I avert my gaze. Sometimes their PDA is a little too much.
“Seriously,” Lucas yells at them. “I thought you were starving to death over there.” He taps a foot and then turns back to me. “Now, where were we? Since I’m assuming, we’ll be here for a little while.”
“Something tells me you’re a bit of a heartbreaker.”
“Why don’t you come with me and find out?” He winks and I laugh. It feels good to laugh, and although these emotions have me on overdrive, I’ve feeling a little apprehensive about the dating thing. Just have fun, Kat had told me. Yeah, I’m going to just have fun.
Kat rides up front with Matt and Lucas and I squish into the back seat, my arm brushing his. It sends the shiver across my skin again, and I hold my hands in my lap, fiddling with my fingers. Does he feel it too? Thankfully, he chatters most of the way downtown, which relieves some of my nerves. I relax, letting myself be drawn into his stories about his favorite professors and a college frat party he recently attended. “Have you been to one yet?”
I shake my head.
“Good, he says. It will forever ruin your opinion of college guys.”
“I think you’re already on the way to doing that,” Matt hollers at us from the front seat. Lucas side-eyes me and grins. For some ungodly reason, I reach out and smack him.
“Ow.” He brushes his cheek. I cover my mouth with my palm. Whatever had possessed me to do that? He turns to me and smirks. “Well, I guess I better mind my manners around you.”
“Darn straight,” Kat says as Matt pulls the car into a spot outside the restaurant.
Inside, Lucas and I slide into one side of a booth while Matt and Kat cuddle into the other. Lucas brushes my arm again and I keep my eyes on the menu, afraid to look up, afraid to know if he feels it too.
I’m not sure he does as I feel the tiny wisps of air as the pages on his menu change. He rattles off choices and suggests an appetizer with Matt. “What do you like?” he asks me. I look down at my menu. It’s still on the back page listing the senior specials, just as the waitress had left it. I blush and flip the menu over.
“She likes cheeseburgers and sweet potato fries, right? We practically lived on those our freshman year.” Kat interjects. I blush again. Thanks Kat. Make me sound like some fried food fanatic.
“Salad,” I whisper. “Yeah, salad. The chicken salad.” Kat looks at me quizzically, and I shrug at her. “I like salad.” I repeat, mostly to her. She shakes her head at me, but I know I’m going to grilled about it later.
And I am. Immediately after I finish salad, Kat drags me to the bathroom. “Salad, Sage? Really? What is your deal?” She asks as she checked herself in the mirror.
“I don’t know. I guess I’m just nervous. First date after Hunter and all,” I say slowly. “Anything beyond salad will probably have me puking.”
Kat turns to me and squeals. “Nervous? That’s a good sign. That must mean you like him. You do, don’t you?” Her light brown eyes dance with excitement and I bite my lip. I don’t want her to get too excited.
“He’s funny,” I say. And I leave it at that. Telling Kat I feel some unexplainable connection to the guy will be way more than I can handle. She’ll be planning our wedding.
“Funny? We can work with that.” She’s facing the mirror again, applying lip gloss. She puckers her lips at the glass. My mind flashes to Stella. What is it with makeup?
“I don’t know, Kat. He’s nice. He’s funny. But I really don’t want anything more than friendship at this moment. I’m still getting over Hunter and all.” Funny enough, despite the earlier butterflies dancing along my skin, saying this out loud makes sense feels like hitting a jackpot. Lucas feels like a friend—a friend I’ve known for a long time, but I’ve just found again. Like we were besties in kindergarten until one of us moved away and we’ve been reunited thanks to social media or something.
“A friendship could be the start of something” Kat fiddles with her hair in the mirror. “Give him a chance. Go out alone. Do friend stuff and who knows. I think you both would be great together. And can you imagine it? The four of us getting married, having kids.”
Obviously, Kat’s not buying the friend thing. So, I press a hand to my head and tilt my head, my eyes teasing, and say, “The four of us marrying each other? And having kids together? Uh, I don’t know about that. I think one spouse is enough for me.” I do my best to keep a straight face, but a grin threatens to break out.
“Ohmigosh.” Kat clutches my shoulder. “See he’s already having an impact on you. Give him a chance. Please. For me.”
“Fine,” I say. “But don’t get your hopes up. I’m still—”
“Yeah, yeah. I know you’re still hung up on Hunter. But that doesn’t mean you suddenly have to be all sappy and dreamy eyed with Lucas. Have some fun. It sounds like you’re looking for some romance novel hero or something. Matt and I were friends first, you know.” Am I expecting a romance novel? Is that why I didn’t say yes to Hunter? Sure, there was that shivery feeling Lucas gives me, but it didn’t feel right. Not falling in love right.
I rub my eyes as I follow Kat through the restaurant. I really do need to get to bed earlier. Lucas beams when we return to the table in a way that makes me wonder if he felt the connection too. “Hey,” he grins as I slide into the booth. “Do you want dessert or anything?”
I shake my head and glance across at Matt and Kat who are on the verge of some serious PDA. “I was about to send in a search party for you.” Matt whispers and gently taps her nose.
“Oh, you’re silly.” Kat leans into him. “You know we have to gossip about you t
wo boys.” She leans in even further, until she’s pretty much sitting on his lap. I glance at Lucas.
“So, that’s what goes on in there?” Lucas says in mock wonderment. “What was Kat saying about me?”
“She thinks you’re hotter than Matt.”
“Hey, I heard that,” Matt hollers, without taking his eyes off of Kat. They look like they’re on the verge of making out. I glance again at Lucas, once again feeling awkward. Where is funny, chatty Lucas when I need him? He clears his throat, as if he’s going to say something but he’s not entirely sure what. He opens his mouth and closes it. I rack my brain thinking of things I can say. Thankfully we’re saved by the waitress who drops off our check. I reach for my purse, when Lucas holds up a hand. “I got this,” he says.
“No, I can’t let you do that.”
“Let him,” Kat says finally coming out of her Matt-haze. “Always let the guy pay.” She glares at me across the table and I snap my mouth closed. It feels funny, him paying for me. This isn’t a date, is it?
We follow Kat and Matt out onto the walkway running along Canal Park and Lake Superior. They take off toward the water, and rocks, leaving Lucas and I alone. I snuggle deep into my coat, dreading the idea of coming up with things to say. It was so easy with Hunter. Being together so long, the conversation just naturally flowed—comfortable, safe. But Lucas is brand new, and this strange feeling I’m having around him. Maybe it is because he’s new?
“It sure is cold,” he says. “But this is the best time of the year.”
“Why is that?” I shiver.
“No tourists. It’s quiet. You get Canal Park pretty much all to yourself.” He looks down at me and smiles. He has a cute smile—very cute smile, a smile that feels familiar.
“So.” We drift slowly down the sidewalk. “Kat says you’re from Arizona.”
“Yeah, Phoenix actually.”
“Phoenix. That’s a long way from northern Minnesota.” He rubs his hands together. “Must’ve been quite the climate shock.”
“You could say that.” I wrap my coat tighter around me and gaze at the bridge lights in the distance. “It’s beautiful, although I thought I was going to die my first winter here.”
“Well, I’m glad you didn’t” Lucas says, his eyes growing soft. I shiver, not sure if it’s the cold or that feeling again. We stop on the edge of the sidewalk, glancing across the piles of snow to see Kat and Matt curled into each other.
“Are they dancing?” Lucas asks.
Their bodies slowly sway together, her arms wrapped around his neck. “Maybe,” I say. “I really hope so.”
Lucas falls over in laughter. “I think you may be my soulmate, Miss Sage,” he says.
“Maybe.” I raise an eyebrow.
“Well, since they’re going to be a while.” Lucas points to one of the wooden benches lining the sidewalk. I sit down, stuffing my hands deep into my pockets. We’re close, but not too close. Just enough to keep from touching. “I hope they’re not too long,” Lucas says as a cold wind whips off the lake. “Not that I don’t like spending time with you. It’s just freaking cold.”
“No, I understand.” I shiver. “I’m freezing too.” I bite down on my lip to keep my teeth from chattering. “So, where are you from?”
“A little town on the other side of the lake.” He points out into the distance. “It’s called Star Harbor. It’s on the Michigan side of Lake Superior. I swear it’s the most boring place on earth.”
“Oh, I doubt that. The desert can get pretty boring. At least you have seasons up here. In Arizona it’s either cool, hot, or super-hot.”
“Well, up here it’s either snow or summer.” He rubs his hands together. “And when I say boring—I mean boring. I think during the off-season we barely have 100 people in town.”
“You have fall where the leaves change and spring where the flowers grow. And 100 people? That sounds wonderful. There are far too many people in Phoenix. Imagine a place with no rush hour.”
“Imagine a place with nowhere to go or nothing to do once the tourist season is over. Unless you like staying in and reading all the time or watching TV. I was so happy to graduate and get out of there.”
“I like reading and watching TV. Especially when it’s too cold to go out.” I say. “Although I’m starting to enjoy visiting home for a brief weekend in the winter. After being up here, 50 degrees in Phoenix no longer seems cold.”
“50 degrees—that’s shorts weather.” Lucas grins.
He’s right. Whenever the thermometer rises above 50, it seems half the city is in shorts. “Well not quite for me, yet. 50 degrees may feel warmer than it did before, but it’s still not what I would call warm.”
“You’re cute,” his smile deepens. I flush and look down, trying to hide my discomfort. What is it about him that’s sending off all these crazy signals and shivers? Do I like him—do I want this to be a date? No, no, no. It feels wrong to be a date, but it still feels like something. “So, why are you single Miss Sage?”
I look up, plaster a confident smile across my face, and raise an eyebrow. “You sure get right to the point, Mr. Lucas” His eyes tease me—but there’s that familiar feeling again. I look down, running my mitten hand along the edge of the bench. “Well, up until last week, I haven’t been single in five years.”
“Ouch, poor guy.”
“Why are you assuming I broke up with him?” I glance up at him again.
“Because a guy would be stupid to dump you.” Lucas looks down at me, his eyes sparkling. God, he looks so familiar. He feels so familiar.
“Ha. Ha,” I say sarcastically. “I bet you use that line on all the girls.”
“Just the ones I hope to see again.” He winks and push away my conflicting emotions. I’m not sure he’s the one, but I’m not sure he isn’t. And until I can figure out if there’s really some kind of connection or if this is just me getting over Hunter, I’m going to take Kat’s advice.
So, when he asks me to dinner, I say yes.
Chapter Thirteen
Adam
I remember the summer I first saw Sage. In the early mornings, just as the sun began to peek out from the horizon, before the guests came spilling out of the cabins, a young girl would walk the beach. She kept her eyes on the water, stopping every so often to pick up a stone or a rock or whatever seemed to intrigue her. Otherwise she walked, occasionally pulling a blonde strand of hair out of her face, drifting down the shoreline like a ghost. She seemed so sad and lost, like a bird with a broken wing. “She’s from somewhere down south,” my mom told me one day over breakfast. “She moved here with her mom last winter and lives in Billy Larson’s old place. The mom was dating his son for a while, but he took off about a month ago, I think. You should go talk to her,” she nudged me. “I think she could use a friend.” I looked for her later that day, while hanging out with Lucas on the beach. He shrugged when I asked him if he knew her, “I think she’s in our grade. But she’s super quiet.” I watched her for several weeks that summer. Always in the morning, always alone. Until that day late in the summer, when she showed up on the beach with a crowd of girls circling her. There was a red flag warning out due to the high winds, so the water was not fit for swimming. The beach was empty except the cluster of girls, who giggled and pointed repeatedly at the water. I watched from my window, when suddenly the group broke apart and the girl tentatively walked toward the water. No, no, no, I screamed in my head as she moved further and further until her legs disappeared, and her waist, and her torso, and—
Her head bobbed sweeping deeper into the water, disappearing and reappearing. Slipping from our house, down the steps, I ran, as fast as I could. Splashing, rambling through the waves, diving into the current. I had to save her.
More than anything, I had to save her.
The images of that day rock back and forth in my brain as I sit in the window seat, watching for Zane to reappear. My pounding heart, my racing pulse, my overwhelming need to get to her. Those fee
lings envelop me as the sun rises and descends again with no sign of Zane. Will he come back? What do I do if he doesn’t? And is she really in danger again?
I’ve been so lost in my guilt and pain over the past two years, I’ve forgotten that boy I once was. The one who had to save Sage at all costs. The one who would’ve died for her. Who would still die for her, right?
I sigh and lean back against the wall. It’s because of him. Because he saved her, and I couldn’t and now this stupid guilt sits like a massive clump of coal in my gut.
“Adam, are you okay?” I glance at my door where Mom is standing wrapped in her favorite pink bathrobe.
“Yeah, just tired.”
“You work too much.” She tilts her head, studying me. I glance away, focusing on the streaks of melting ice sliding down the window. I yawn and stretch my arms. It’s partly show for her, but it’s partly real. I am tired.
“I’ve got to work early tomorrow, so I probably should get some sleep.” It’s a lie, but I’m not sure what the night will bring, so having an excuse is better than sending her into a panic when she wakes up and finds me gone.
She smiles softly, that comforting mother-bear smile where her eyes crinkle in a way that tells me she’s seeing me as a little boy who still needs her hand to cross the street. It pulls at my guilt. She’s always been a great mother. I stink at being a son these days. The feeling fades when the door shuts behind her. I glance back out the window, long shadows looking on the driveway now. Where is he?
My eyes grow heavy sinking like the sun, when a crash pulls me from the brink of sleep. It’s outside the window where through the darkness a shadow of a man pulls himself up from the ground. He looks up to my window as if he knows I’m there, his eyes catching mine and urging me to come.
Zane is back.
I slip from my room slowly, thankful that my mom’s door is closed at the end of the hall. With my fingers crossed behind my back that she won’t hear, I pull open the sliding door as gently as possible, shuddering as the cold air engulfs me. The wooden steps are icy—I will have to fix that with some salt in the morning, so I take cautious steps to the beach and around the building to the parking lot.
Remember the Knight Page 9