A Day in a Life

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Elijah

“ K NOCK, KNOCK. IT’S me. Rise and shine.”

“Come in.” Saige’s voice is groggy.

I open the bedroom door to find her slowly sitting up in bed, her hair tousled, her eyes sleepy. She’s wearing pink pajamas, the cutest pink pajamas I’ve ever seen. The attraction I feel for her just went bursting through the roof. She’s adorable when she’s just waking up.

“Sit up and get ready to enjoy the best breakfast in bed you’ve ever had in your life.”

Saige stacks a few pillows behind her back. “You made me breakfast in bed?”

I set the tray down on her lap and kiss her forehead, my lips lingering on her skin. It’s the only way I can physically express my emotions. “Sure did.”

Saige stares at the cheese omelet on the plate, a few strawberries and blueberries on the side. Her eyes wander up to mine, tears welling in the large brown pools.

“This is a first. Thank you. It’s just so sweet. I don’t know what to say.”

“Thank you is good enough. I don’t cook, but I can make a mean omelet. My mom wouldn’t let me leave for college without knowing how to at least make an omelet.” I can’t believe no one has ever served her breakfast in bed. She hasn’t been valued by the people who should love her the most.

“Are you going to join me?”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” I rush into the kitchen, grab my tray of food, then settle on the bed next to her. She’s under the covers, I’m on top of the covers. Her virtue is safe.

“Thanks for staying with me last night. I was sure another one of those monsters was going to show up. Where there’s one, there’s more.”

I stretch my arms above my head. “No prob. I survived the night on your couch. My back did not. And I had nightmares about huge spiders coming out of the woodwork. I was happy to stay, though. Even though I screamed like a little girl when that monster moved. I’m not sure why you feel safe with me.”

“I always feel safe with you.”

My response is a smile. “Careful, Saige. We might just fall in love.” I’m already there . I think she’s on her way.

“Would that be bad?”

“I think it could darn near be the best thing that ever happens to either of us.” I hope I’m not scaring her away.

I’m rewarded with another one of her bright smiles.

I’d better change the subject. “By the way, I braved the bathroom this morning for a quick shower. No sign of more mutant spiders. I’d rather face a crazy armed criminal than that dang spider. I wasn’t trained in spider warfare.”

Saige laughs at my lame joke. I’m going to add the sound of her laugh to my cheesy unwritten love song. It’s beautiful. No, lovely. No, how about adorable? I don’t know. It’s perfect.

Saige interrupts my wandering thoughts. “This breakfast is delicious. Thank you.”

Getting to know her has been one surprise after another. She’s nothing like I thought she’d be. I thought she’d be damaged, a sad and lost runaway, forever unable to trust another human. I thought I would find a dejected and despondent woman who kept to herself, never speaking to anyone.

In many ways, she’s on that spectrum. Our beginning was rough. She still doesn’t smile enough either. To me, that’s the one thing that says “I’ve had a hard past.”

To my surprise, I’ve found a woman who loves easily once her defenses are down. A pair of shoes nearly brought her to tears. Breakfast in bed did bring her to tears. She’s a woman who’s thankful for every little thing I do for her. She soaks up kindness like a sponge. She’s pleasant, easy to please, and quite frankly a pleasure to be around.

Her mother and sister accused her of loving to play the victim, of being an attention seeker. I don’t see those things in her. Quite the opposite. A pit of anger forms in my stomach at the thought. Near as I can tell, she’s been treated unfairly all of her life. Not evil stepmother stuff. Just unfairly.

In response, she’s become a quiet, loving person, simply seeking the love everyone deserves. And perhaps showing sadness that she didn’t receive the love and attention she sought.

That doesn’t make her a victim, though. It makes her human, someone with a great deal of self-control because she never lashed out at her family. Maybe she should have.

But that’s not who she is.

“Elijah?”

“Hmm?”

“Did you hear me?”

“Sorry. I was lost in thought for a minute there.”

“What are you doing today?”

“I’m going to work out at the hotel gym, then spend some time at this fabulous place called the Bayside Eatery.” I wink.

“You know, you don’t have to spend all your time there. You can go and do other things while I’m at work.”

See there? Victim or kindness? I say kindness. Kindness that could be mistaken for a victim mentality. “I love hanging around at the Eatery. The scenery is amazing. And I’m not talking about the sandy beach.”

“Do you mean me?” Saige says with her radiant smile.

As much as I love that smile, I’d love to kiss it off her face. “There’s this one waitress, I can’t keep my eyes off of her. I could watch her all day and never get bored.”

“Your staring made me so nervous the first time I met you.”

She’d made me. Of course, I hadn’t been trying to hide it. “Sorry. My eyes love you.”

“I love your eyes on me.”

“Look at us gettin’ all lovey-dovey.” I love it.

“We’d better be careful. I have a divorce to finalize.” Her brow knits.

No, I don’t want her to contact Cole just yet. “No worries. I told you, I’m happy with the friend zone for now. It’s nice getting to be friends first.” I glance at my cell. “What time do you need to be at work?”

“One hour. But I get off early tonight, so we can start with our sightseeing.”

“Sounds good. I’d better leave you to it, then. I’ll do the dishes while you shower. I’ll stay, just to make sure you come out of your bathroom alive.”

“Thank you. You’re the best, Elijah Garrett.”

She grants me one more smile before she leaves the room, leaving me to worry about the outcome of this relationship.

One of us is not being completely truthful.

I hate that it’s me.