I could watch them all day.

Getting out, I approached the two of them. “How was your night, Aves?” I asked.

Avery let go of her mom, the biggest grin on her face. “It was so much fun. And Mama, look!” Avery fished around in the pocket of her jeans, then pulled out something white and tiny in a clear plastic bag. “I lost a tooth!”

Sage kneeled to get a better look at it. “Wow, that’s very cool. Was it wiggly?”

Avery nodded. “All night. I kept playing with it, and then it just fell out. It didn’t hurt at all.”

I wondered if Sage felt bad for missing a moment like that, but from the looks of it, she was more happy for her than anything. Regardless, she shouldn’t feel guilty for it. She needed a night out to herself, and this was good for her.

"Did Pudding come home last night?" Avery asked, looking up at her mother with hope shining bright in her eyes.

Guilt visibly slammed into Sage like a train, so I stepped in, ruffling Avery's hair. "She will soon. Don't worry."

Avery nodded, quickly moving onto explaining the other activities she did with my mother last night.

Leaving the two of them to talk about the tooth, I headed up the porch steps to my mom. “Good morning.”

“Have a good night?” she asked, a mischievous hint to her tone. 

“It was fine, Mom,” I replied. “Where’s her booster seat?”

“Right inside the door,” she said, moving to grab it. 

“I’ll get it,” I told her, motioning for her to sit back down on the swing. 

Opening the front door, I found the seat propped right next to it. I grabbed it, coming back out. 

“She’s a sweet girl,” my mom said, pausing me in my tracks.

“She is,” I agreed, watching them talk in the driveway.

“I was talking about Avery.”

“So was I.”

She made a humming noise and I rolled my eyes, continuing down the porch steps to the truck.

I looked up a quick video on my phone on how to install the booster and got to work. After I finished securing the seat, I walked back over to Sage and Avery. Avery was still talking her ear off, going on about the painting she made last night.

“Ready when you two are,” I said. 

“Ready!” Avery exclaimed, then skipped over to the truck. I helped her in, then watched as she buckled herself to be sure she was set. Closing her door, I waved goodbye to my mom before hopping in the driver's seat. Sage was already buckled in on the passenger side with a small smile on her lips.

“What?” I asked as I started the truck.

“Nothing,” she said with a shake of her head.

I shifted into reverse, putting a hand on the back of Sage’s headrest to look behind me. These newer trucks had reverse cameras, but I liked it better this way. After making it down the drive, I looked both ways, then continued onto the road. I shot Avery a wink, and she returned it with a smile and a small kick of her feet.

Facing forward, I put the truck in drive and headed down the main road, but I didn’t miss the way Sage watched me.

“Okay, really, what?”

“You’re really cute, Callan,” she said. 

I glanced over at her to find a slight blush staining her cheeks. Reaching over, I set a hand on her thigh, keeping my other gripped firmly on the wheel. “Right back at you.”

We drove like that the rest of the way, with Avery in the back humming to the country song on the radio and my hand on Sage’s leg.

And after years of feeling like my mind was stuck in an isolated black hole, life was good.

26

Sage

After Callan dropped me and Avery at home, I drove Avery to school just in time for the first bell to ring. Since it was my day off, I didn’t have to rush to work afterwards, so I went home and deep cleaned the entire house.

It took all I had in me not to go back to the ranch to see Callan while Avery was at school, but she had a lesson today, so I’d see him then anyway. I feared I was getting too attached to the idea of us too soon, like this was too good to be true. But nothing about Callan gave me the impression that he’d be anything like Jason, so I had to stop comparing. 

As I sat in the school pickup line with my car idling, all I could think about were those two texts. I hadn’t received any more since, but that made me even more nervous than if he’d kept trying. If he wasn’t texting, that meant he was finding another way. 

Though the car wasn’t moving, my hands were still gripped tight to the wheel, like my hold on the leather could keep everything from falling apart.

The back door popped open and I jumped, the fog in my head clearing with Avery’s voice. “Hi, Mama.”

“How was school?” I asked, turning around in my seat to make sure she buckled herself in.

“Good. Lucy and I wanna have a playdate,” she said as she situated her backpack on the middle seat, then worked on her seatbelt.

“Today?”

Her little fingers clicked the buckle in. “She had to go to the dentist, but probably soon.”

Turning back around, I shifted into drive and pulled out of the pickup line, going around the other cars. “Just let me know what day and we’ll figure something out.”

“Okay. Are we going to the horses?”

Flicking on my blinker, I headed onto the main road. “Yep. Why don’t you put your boots on while we’re on the way?”

She was silent for a moment, then said, “Did you bring them?”

“They’re not in here? I thought we left them in here from the last lesson.”

I glanced at her in the rearview mirror as she shook her head. “No. I put them inside, remember?”

I didn’t. “It’s okay. We’ll stop by the house on the way, then.”