“Did you see me, Mama?” Avery asked, though it was clear Sage had. I hadn’t missed Avery’s glances at her mother to make sure she was watching all the little milestones.

“I did, Aves. You looked so good.”

“Am I getting better?”

Sage looked up to me where I stood at the end of the bench with my arms crossed. “I think you should ask your instructor that. I don’t know a thing about horses,” Sage admitted.

“Maybe you can learn, too,” Avery said to her.

Sage’s eyes widened slightly. “I think all the learning should be for you right now. Maybe one day I will.” But she didn’t seem very convincing.

My attention caught on my mom striding over to us from the house. Sage followed my line of sight and stood, grabbing the ice pack off the bench.

“How’s the knee feeling?” my mom asked her.

“A lot better, thank you.” Sage held the now-melted ice pack out to my mom and she took it. 

“Alternate between heat and ice and it should heal just fine. But to make today easier on you, I’m going to insist you stay for dinner.”

Sage’s brows pulled together. “Dinner? I can’t do that, I don’t want to impose—”

My mom waved her off. “Nonsense. It takes the stress of feeding this growing girl off your hands for the night. Please.”

Sage glanced over her shoulder at me, then back at my mom. “Okay. Thank you.”

My mom put a hand on Avery’s shoulder. “Why don’t you come get cleaned up in the house?”

Avery angled her head back to look at her. “Can I have a snack?”

“Of course. I have something I think you’ll love.” My mom bent down, whispering something in Avery’s ear that made a smile light up her face.

They headed in the direction of the house and Sage turned to me, apology written all over her face. “Are you okay with us staying?”

I dropped my arms to my sides. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know. It’s your family and we’re just clients…” 

I shook my head, not really sure what to say. I’d never had a student and their mother stay for dinner at my parents’ house, but Sage didn’t feel like all my other clients.

“You’ll just have to excuse my siblings. They’re a bit…unhinged, sometimes.” Of all the nights for my mother to invite Sage and Avery to stay for dinner, it had to be the night that all my siblings would be here. Well, minus my younger brother, Beckham. He was competing in the circuit for bronc riding and didn’t make it home very often in the summer, opting to stay with friends or at hotels for most of the season.

“I’ve handled your siblings just fine at the cafe,” she pointed out. 

“Not slightly buzzed and around family. Some of their comments—”

“Callan, it’ll be okay.”

She was reassuring me about dinner with my family.

I almost had to take a step back from the awe that slammed into me. The tightening of my chest had to be my imagination. For the first time, though, the tightness wasn’t a bad thing.

Sage was making my heart swell.

My siblings weren’t really people to apologize about, but a bit of a forewarning about them was helpful sometimes. Especially when it came to a few of them in particular.

I just had to hope that everyone was on their best behavior tonight.

13

Sage

Iwas wearing leggings and an old t-shirt I got from a brewery in Portland—definitely not dinner apparel—but I got the feeling that the Bronsons didn’t care what you wore as long as you showed up and had a smile on your face. They were so laid back and welcoming. It was a contrast to how I’d grown up.

My father left before I was born and my mother wasn’t very present in the terms that she was always off with boyfriends and never home for me. I was an only child and took care of myself once I was able to. It was a miracle I survived with how careless she was, but I had my grandmother to thank for that. With her old age, there was only so much she could do with a young child, but she did her best with me, and I was thankful for every moment of it.

But you know the saying the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree? I guess you could say that about my relationship with men compared to my mother’s. 

I’d always dated nice boys, but something about the edge in Avery’s father made my heart rush, and that made me fall for him harder than the rest. But instead of falling into it, I should’ve run from it. From him.

I found out all too late.

He stuck around after Avery was born, but he was in no way loving after she came into our lives. Fatherhood was scary for any new dad, but Jason took it to the extreme. I’d expected him to help raise Avery, but he was rarely home, and if he was home, it was never pleasant. 

I hid as much of it as I could from Avery, but thankfully, he was finally arrested when she was two and a half, so she remembered very little. 

For a while after he was locked away, I still flinched at every sudden movement and triple checked the locks on the house every night. Because I was the reason he was put in prison, I could never be too sure that we were safe.

Safe was all I wanted for my little girl, and sometimes, I couldn’t help but feel like I put her in a situation that was anything but. 

We moved towns after he was arrested, landing in Bell Buckle and making a life here, but I feared that when he was released in two years, he’d somehow find us. No one in my past life knew where Avery and I were. It was for the best. But even so, those racing thoughts hit me all too often. 

What if he came looking?

What if he took her?

Or worse, what if he was still mad?

I frequently had nightmares, my head conjuring up scenarios of all the what ifs. It wasn’t enough that I lived my life in fear—he had to visit me in my sleep, too.

I snapped out of my thoughts, focusing on Callan chopping asparagus behind the counter. I was sitting at the kitchen island while Bailey and Lettie were outside with Avery. Charlotte was on the back porch, barbecuing the chicken breasts for dinner. 

“Avery’s loving the riding lessons,” I started, not sure what else to talk about.

Callan laid the asparagus on a baking sheet beside the cutting board. “I’m glad.”

I pursed my lips, poking at a crumb on the counter with my finger. 

It was never this hard to strike up a conversation. I did it every day at my job, so why was this so difficult?