By the time he drove out to the Price Ranch, the sun was up and glaring on the new snow, but he was . . . in a good mood. He couldn’t wait for Sage to text him. He was curious what she’d have to say about how she slept, or if she’d noticed that he’d taken care of her cows . . . or heck, he just wanted to talk to her.
When he parked his truck, he headed inside the house. He could hear the dishes clanking in the kitchen, and the place smelled of bacon. Christmas music played in the living area, and the dogs were gone from their beds by the fireplace, which meant that Eli and Dustin were already out and hard at work.
He should probably poke his head in and let Cass know that he was back so he didn’t startle her. When he got into the kitchen, though, he was surprised to see Eli was there, waiting for him. He was talking to Cass in a low voice while she stirred something on the stove, and both of them looked up when he came in.
“Sorry I’m late,” Jason said. “Sage insisted I stay overnight at her house.”
“No problem!” Cass said, her voice utterly cheery. “You need breakfast?”
“I’m good. I’ll just change clothes and then head out to the barn and get started.”
By the time he got out to the barn, though, Eli was there, waiting for him once more. The big cowboy offered him a hat, a deep-brown cowboy hat with a pale band. “This’ll be better for keeping the sun out of your eyes than that baseball cap,” Eli said and held it out to him.
“Thanks.” He wasn’t entirely sure if it was a gift or if Eli was giving it to him because he thought Jason was lacking some sort of vital gear. Either way, it’d be a better hat than the one he had on, and he switched them out.
As he took it, he went to step past Eli, but he put a hand on Jason’s chest, stopping him. “We need to talk.”
Jason immediately tensed. “About what?”
Eli frowned in his direction, and his entire stance was that of disapproval. “What are your intentions toward Sage?”
Intentions? “We’re friends.”
Eli gave him a suspicious look. “You stayed over at her place last night. I know she’s an adult, but she’s also alone and needs someone to look out for her. She’s a good girl, and you don’t go breaking her heart.”
He . . . couldn’t even be offended at that. Instead, he was touched that Sage was thought of so highly that Eli would take him aside to lecture him. “I know she is,” he said. “And I’ll be careful.”
Eli nodded, then picked up a pitchfork that was leaning against the wall. “There’s some cow shit calling your name.”
There always was.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
SAGE: I must have overslept. Thank you for feeding Lucy and Ethel!
JASON: My pleasure. Thanks for letting me stay overnight.
SAGE: Of course! What are friends for?
JASON: Speaking of friends, Eli had a chat with me this morning. Told me not to break your heart.
SAGE: Oh boy, this is embarrassing.
JASON: I told him we were just friends but not sure he believed me.
SAGE: I’m sorry. That has to be awkward for you.
JASON: Nah, it’s all good.
All good? What the heck did that mean? Sage touched her mouth, thinking of that brief kiss from last night, and leaned against the counter at the office. She couldn’t figure out what he meant. Was he annoyed with Eli for trying to protect her? Gosh, she was embarrassed that his favor to her was going to end up with further-reaching ramifications than she’d thought. She’d foolishly assumed that they’d “date” for the one night and the wedding, and then it would just quietly go away. She’d forgotten that this was a small town and everyone gossiped and got into everyone else’s business.
This was going to follow her until she moved.
It was going to follow him for as long as he was here.
That was . . . a problem. She made a mental note to talk to him about it. Maybe when they “broke up” they could do so in a way that would make him look awesome and her like the fool. That wouldn’t be too hard to do, really, given that everyone in town already couldn’t figure out why he was supposedly dating her. Should she text him back? Offer an apology? Should they meet up to discuss a game plan?
Or was she just using that as an excuse to see him again?
The door to the office opened, and she immediately hid her phone, her cheeks flushing. It was Greg, wearing a bright red sweater that made his color look washed-out and his blond hair a little too pale. Of course, he didn’t compare to Jason in the looks department, but who did? Man, she had it bad. “Hey, stranger,” she said cheerfully, turning to the mail tub and flipping through for his mail. “Just catalogs today, I’m afraid—”
When she turned around, Greg was at the counter, his hands planted, a somber look on his face. “We need to talk, Sage.”
Uh-oh. She blinked at him. “Is everything okay?”
He took a deep, dramatic breath and then fixed his gaze on her again. “I need to know if you have feelings for me.”
Oh dear.
This was awkward.
She tried not to show her shock, but she suspected she failed on that front. “Greg . . . you’re getting married next weekend. Why does that even matter?”
He clenched his jaw and drummed his fingers on the countertop. “Maybe I shouldn’t.”
Oh no. This was a nightmare. “What do you mean?” If he broke up with Becca because he thought Sage still had feelings for him . . . this was worse than a nightmare. “We’re just friends, Greg. You know anything that I ever felt for you was just a girlish high school crush. I’m sincerely and truly happy for you and Becca both.”
He gave her a woebegone look. “You don’t love me?”
“Ah . . . we’re friends, Greg. What do you want me to say?” She reached out and patted his hand awkwardly. “I think you’re just getting cold feet. That’s normal before a wedding.” And she tried to smile. “It’s going to be okay, really it is.”
“I don’t know if it is, Sage.” Greg shook his head and snagged her hand, clasping it in his. “Becca doesn’t look at me the way you look at that guy.”
“Jason?” She blushed. “Uh, how was I looking at him?”
“Like he was the entire world. You used to look at me like that, Sage. I remember that now. And I think I want it back.”
With a yelp, she pulled her hand from his. “No, you don’t,” she told him quickly, and did her best not to wipe her hand on her jeans. There was something weird about Greg’s touch. She’d never held his hand before, but it was . . . soft. His nails were manicured, too, likely because of Becca. After touching Jason’s calloused hands, it didn’t feel the same.
She didn’t like it.
“You’re just worrying,” she told him again. “You know as well as I do that there’s never been anything between us.”
“But there could have been,” he said desperately. “And I’m wondering if I was too stubborn to see what’s been under my nose this whole time.”
Was he serious? Sage stared at him. She’d crushed on him for years. She’d made it obvious—because she couldn’t hide her feelings—that she’d adored him, and he knew it. How many times had she made cookies for him? Cooked for him? Done special little favors for him because he’d asked? He could have had her any of those times, and she would have jumped for joy to get even a sliver of his attention.
But now? Now it irritated her.
“You have cold feet,” she repeated again, her voice firm. “I won’t tell Becca about this.”
“I thought you left the party last night because you still had feelings for me,” he told her. “That you couldn’t stand to see me marry someone else.” His gaze searched her face, looking for confirmation.
“That is not it. There was a ranch emergency and Jason had to go.”
“Jason, huh? He
’s too tall for you. A skinny beanpole with mean eyes.”
Mean eyes? Skinny beanpole? Were they talking about the same person? “I think he’s wonderful,” she said dreamily, picturing Jason and the way his eyes crinkled at the edges when he grinned. His eyes weren’t mean at all. They were . . . delicious.
Just like the rest of Jason.
“I heard you were spending every moment with that guy. I just don’t want someone taking advantage of you, Sage.”
Greg was the second person this morning to act like she was a pea-brained idiot that didn’t know a good guy when she saw one. First Eli, and now Greg. “That’s sweet of you to think of me, but I’m an adult, Greg. I can make my own decisions, and Jason is great. We’re just having fun together.”
“We have fun together—”
“Cold feet,” she repeated. “It’s just cold feet.”
He sighed heavily and put his head in his hands. “I just don’t want to make a mistake, Sage. I love Becca, I do . . . but she’s so controlling.”
Sage didn’t know if that was a bad thing. Greg always seemed really happy with Becca’s pushiness until now. He wasn’t the most motivated of men, and now that she had some distance, she could see that. She kept her voice polite, though. “Oh?”
“She told me that after the wedding, I needed to step up my real estate game. That I wasn’t selling enough houses to make a living and I needed to think long term. I needed to think of her and the children we were going to have. Children, Sage. She’s already planning children!”
“You guys haven’t talked about children before now?”
“Well, we have. It just always seemed like it was in the distant future. But now I’m starting to realize that I’m about to marry her, and then the future is now.”
He was babbling, she decided. All of this was definitely nerves. Poor Greg. “I’m sure you guys will figure it out. Just think how stressed she is right now, too. She’s got a lot on her plate, and I’m sure some of it is spilling over to you.”
Greg propped up his chin on his hand and looked up at her. “Speaking of real estate, you’re going to let me list your ranch, right? In the spring? Since we’re friends?”
Sage couldn’t help but feel a little manipulated. Is that why he’d come over and been so dramatic? She never knew what to think with Greg. “We’ll figure something out,” she said and hoped it was vague enough to pacify him. Other than the whole nebulous “spring” date, she hadn’t given much thought to selling her home. It would be hard to leave everything behind, but harder still to stay and grow old alone.
She had to leave this town.
Greg forced a smile to his face, thumped the counter, and then headed for the exit. “Thanks for the pep talk, Sage. I can always count on you.”
He could, couldn’t he? She was starting to feel like a babysitter for a man-size baby. “Bye.”
The moment he was out the door, she sat down on her stool and texted Jason.
SAGE: I just had the weirdest visit from Greg.
JASON: Let me guess, he’s jealous.
SAGE: I . . . suppose? He came here to talk, and it started out with him saying he wanted to cancel the wedding and ended with him trying to strong-arm me into using him as a Realtor.
JASON: I saw the way he looked at you last night.
JASON: He’s flattered by your attention. He likes having you do stuff for him. And now that he thinks you’re moving on, his ego doesn’t know how to handle it. It bothers him that you’re no longer pining with love for him.
SAGE: Yeah, well, it bothers me that he thinks of me like that. Like I’m going to sit in the wings and wait for him to notice me. I’m not a doll.
JASON: We’ll keep shoving our relationship under his nose, then. : )
JASON: When’s your next outing that he’s sure to be at?
Jason wanted to go out with her again? Other than the wedding? Was this just to rub Greg’s nose in it? Jason didn’t seem like the petty type, but he was rather protective of her, and she could tell he didn’t like Greg.
SAGE: The town Christmas festival is tomorrow night. I’m sure he’ll be there. Everyone shows up for it. It’s a very sweet event for the kids, and everyone else socializes. I usually run the thing.
JASON: Can I be your date?
SAGE: You absolutely don’t have to. I’m going to be dressed as an elf and handing out presents. That’s not exactly date material.
JASON: Nonsense. You’re there. I’ll be there. Greg will be there. We can look lovey-dovey and make him crazy. It’ll be fun.
JASON: I’m not dressing like an elf, though. Bad enough I have to wear this cowboy hat Eli gave me.
He sent her a picture, and her heart thumped. Even if he had to wear the cowboy hat, he looked utterly gorgeous in it.
SAGE: If you’re sure . . . You really don’t have to, Jason, I promise. I can tell everyone my boyfriend is busy.
JASON: Nonsense. Just tell your boyfriend what time to be there.
SAGE: I’m going to start putting up decorations at five.
JASON: I’ll tell Eli I need to come help you, then. He won’t mind. He likes you. It’s me he hates. : )
SAGE: He doesn’t hate you!
JASON: Ask me how many stalls I’ve mucked out since I started here.
SAGE: What did you think ranching was? Riding a horse and yelling yee-haw? There’s a lot of poo involved, my friend, a lot of poo.
JASON: No one ever tells you about the poo.
SAGE: Just you wait until spring and you have your hands in a cow’s uterus all day long.
JASON: I’m trying really hard not to think about that, thanks.
And she couldn’t stop giggling.
Once her laughter died down, she stared at her phone thoughtfully. She knew that Jason put on a brave face in their texts, but it was clear after last night he was still struggling, and would continue to struggle no matter what. She thought about what he’d said about his service dog, how he’d tried to get another and been wait-listed for over a year, and even then it would be tens of thousands out of pocket. She wanted to help him, but how?
After searching on her phone for a good hour, she had an idea. She texted Cass, asked for Annie’s number, and then called her.
“Hi, Sage,” Annie said, her voice a whisper. “I’m talking soft because the baby’s finally asleep. What’s up?”
“I was wondering if you could tell me the difference between a service dog and an emotional support dog.”
“Oh. Gosh, let me think. I’ve trained dogs with basic commands to be emotional support dogs, but a service dog has specific training and tasks it can do. You can take a service dog everywhere with you, no questions asked.”
“And an emotional support animal?”
“It’s a slightly different beast—no pun intended. Basically, they can accompany you in order to provide emotional stability and a calming presence. They can be trained to do certain things, of course, but there’s not specific criteria, and because of that you can’t take them a lot of places.” She paused. “Why do you ask? I think I can guess, but I’m curious.”
Sage hesitated, but she was already this far in, so she might as well go the full distance. “I’m sure Cass told you about Jason?”
“I’m not sure if I’m supposed to know, but yeah. I had concerns, so she told me. We won’t let him know that we know, though.”
“It turns out that he used to have a service dog and he did a lot better with handling his PTSD, but it died last year and he’s been struggling. I wanted to see about replacing it for him. I don’t know anything about service dogs, but then I started reading about emotional support animals and . . .”
“And you wanted to know if I could train one for him?” Annie guessed.
“Well, you are a dog trainer.” Sage coul
d feel herself blushing. “I know it’s an imposition—”
“Not at all, and we’re both on the same track. I actually talked to Dustin about this a day and a half ago, when I first heard he had PTSD. Of course, I’m not supposed to know about that, so we’ve been figuring out the best way to introduce a dog to him without him getting suspicious.”
“Any ideas?”
“Yes, actually. I’ve got a few things in motion and I need another day to implement it . . .”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The next day, Sage lined up the rows of felt stockings she’d spread out on the table at the office. Most of them were stuffed, and she’d do the rest tonight before getting ready for the celebration. She’d managed to move most of the furniture to one of the back rooms while Bill, the current mayor, had taken on the street decorations. The sidewalks were lined with hay bales and festooned with garlands, wreaths hung from every window, and a big banner in front of the municipal office read SANTA’S WORKSHOP. Here, a big chair was set up for Santa, the raffle presents were carefully stored, and there were souvenir stockings for every child who came to the celebration. Across the street, a cotton candy machine was going, and Sage could see more food service tables being prepared. There were all kinds of treats for the young (and young at heart) and hot sandwiches and cups of soup for everyone else. The scent of hot cocoa filled the air, and she knew that if she went down the street, there was a “snowman building area,” a reindeer petting zoo, face painting, and other fun games. There was even a donation area for winter clothing and extra food, and anyone that donated got free tickets for the raffles and games, and they always had a good showing. It was one of Sage’s favorite things, just seeing the community come together to help one another out.
Now she just needed Old Clyde and Hannah to show up in their Santa and Mrs. Claus costumes. Sage was already wearing her elf outfit, her dress a short green baby doll with bright red dags at the collar and hem, and she wore red fishnets and big, fuzzy, green boots. She wore a bright red Santa hat, her hair was pulled into pigtails, and two cheery, glittery spots were painted on her cheeks. She knew she looked ridiculous, but did it matter? This was about fun, not fashion.
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