Her Christmas Wish (The Cottages on Ocean Breeze #1)

Chapter Fifteen

H e fixed the toy. The wiring attaching the battery compartment to the parts that needed energy had frayed and come loose. A tiny cut with his teeth, to remove some colored coating, a few twists, and Baby was once again barking and flipping and wagging her tail.

“Yay!” Grabbing up the dog off the porch floor, Leigh hugged it. “I knew you could do it!” With the dog under her arm, she grabbed hold of the porch rail, as if to head down the steps.

“Hold it!” Sage’s voice stopped all movement.

With one glance at her mother, Leigh said, “Oh yeah. Thank you, Mr. Buzzing Bee.”

He grinned. “You’re welcome,” he said, figuring he should have been more solemn. Manners were a serious business.

He should be getting down those steps, too. Heading back the way he’d come. To the place he’d been invited to stay.

“I guess it’s pretty obvious that my earlier stipulations...regarding our...interactions...aren’t realistic.” Sage’s tone of voice came easy. Her words hit him hard.

He started to stand. “It’s okay,” he told her, figuring she was, in her way, apologizing again. Was getting kind of pissed that she thought she had to do so. For whatever reason.

“You want a wine cooler?” she asked before he’d fully left his chair. Throwing him for another loop.

Dropping his butt back in place, he figured it would be churlish, bad neighborly get-along vibes to refuse, and accepted the offer.

With a silent caveat that if she started in on him as her text the day before had implied, wanting to rehash the past, he’d leave the wine cooler, and her porch, behind.

She wasn’t the only one, it turned out, who needed stipulations.

To move the conversation in a direction he figured she’d willingly follow—and keep her away from the areas he’d decided he would not go—he asked more about Leigh as soon as she handed him the bottle of lime-flavored beverage.

And as Leigh played in the sand with her newly fixed toy, chattering some scenario she’d concocted, Gray heard about the little girl’s day care, in the building where Leigh worked. About the girl’s penchant for correcting others when she thought they were wrong. Her cheerfulness. Her stubbornness. Her sweetness. Each characteristic coming out through stories Sage told.

And through questions he asked. Half an hour passed like minutes, and he began to wonder what she’d put in his drink, he was so relaxed.

Knowing full well that Sage Martin wouldn’t spike a drink for any purpose. Except maybe, if a gun were put to the head of someone she loved.

She’d loved him once.

Silence had fallen between them. He figured he should go. Wasn’t getting up yet. Still had a quarter of a bottle of wine cooler sitting with him.

“You think it’s possible for us, me and you, to grow into something new?” Sage’s words were like a slash in the early-evening glow. Back to the day before. He never should have given her that snippet of his childhood. Not when he hadn’t done so when he’d been engaged to marry her. She’d picked up on the discrepancy. Wanted things he didn’t choose to give...

He looked at her daughter yards away, playing happily in the sand. Leigh could jump up and join them at any time.

Sage wasn’t pushing. Her question hung there, but she wasn’t forcing anything.

Nor would she get into it with him or start something that could potentially blow up on them with the child right there.

As his mind worked its way back to reality, he entertained her question again.

You think it’s possible for us, me and you, to grow into something new?

“I think the way life works, it’s impossible not to grow into something new. Things happen. We experience them. They change us. Every single day,” he told her.

“Yeah, but I mean us, Gray. I’m finding that, as we’ve let go of the past and put it behind us, I’d like to not miss you as I have over the years. These past two weeks have been nice.”

All senses on alert, Gray warned himself about allowing wants to create a no-win situation. And felt Sage calling out to him in a way he wasn’t sure he could deny.

They couldn’t be a couple. They both knew that.

“What are you envisioning?” he asked. Their past, the way he’d walked away, the way he’d missed her, the things he still felt, forced the question.

“Friends.” She gave the answer with no hesitation at all. Leading him to figure that while he was still grappling with her conversation, she’d already been through it in her head. Knowing Sage, probably multiple times.

He waited for her to continue. To give him what she’d come up with. While he tried to stay afloat. He’d had no such preparation time.

But being honest with himself, had to admit that he’d given Sage in his life again way more thought than he should have done.

She was there.

And she mattered.

Two facts he couldn’t deny.

He glanced over to see her watching Leigh. Not him. And turned his visual attention outward once again as well.

“Like Iris and Scott.” Her words came with confidence. “My brother and Iris and I have been friends since I moved in here,” she continued. “You know Scott...after his disastrous marriage...”

“For which he takes the appropriate amount of blame,” Gray interceded. When it came to her brother, he was a whole lot more in the know.

“I know. And you obviously know that since then his relationships with women are all casual. He’s married to his career and wants it that way.”

“I do know that, yes.” He was way more curious to see where she was going with the conversation than he was to be discussing his friend at that moment.

“But with Iris...he’s just like he is with you. Or more accurately probably, with me. They’re close friends. Period.”

Without sex. Gray heard the unwritten small print implied in her words.

She set her bottle down and touched Gray’s arm. Drawing his gaze to hers before he thought better of it. “Because they both know that any more than that would come between them and they don’t want to lose each other,” she said, as though issuing a final, rehearsed line.

But one that rang with a strong core of truth.

Except for one thing.

That touch on his arm. Her fingers holding any part of him.

And Gray wanted more than just friends .

Gray’s eyes, holding steady on hers, felt like coming home. Feeling like she was treading water without a life vest, could be saved or sink at any moment, Sage didn’t look away.

With one part of her, she heard her daughter’s voice, still in storytelling mode, talking to Baby as Leigh dug in the sand. Building some imaginary world. She knew Leigh was close and safe.

And the other part, or another part...something inside her that had once been so strong...couldn’t tear her gaze from the eyes boring into hers.

“I’m not going to lie to you.” His voice, his words, started out so ominous, she sucked in her bottom lip. But stayed on board. She had to hear him.

Not just listen, but hear what he didn’t say. Something she’d thought she’d done so well in the past, but clearly had not.

“I don’t want to lose contact with you a second time...”

Thank God. She had to blink to keep from tearing up.

“But...”

No! Sage’s brain went blank for a second. Not wanting the but . In the next second, she realized that the but was exactly what she needed if there was going to be any world for her and Gray after closure, and she prompted, “But?”

“If you keep touching me, I can’t promise to be like a brother to you...”

Oh.

Well, then.

There was that.

“Then I won’t touch you.” Sage said the words with complete conviction. And was certain she saw a cloud of disappointment pass over Gray’s expression.

Unless...she’d just imagined it because she’d wanted it to be there.

Scott had a date Sunday night. A woman he’d been seeing casually, on and off, for over a year. An FBI agent he’d met on a case who was part of a team that traveled all over the country. She was a little older than him. Widowed. With no interest in anything but companionship with occasional benefits.

The woman fit Scott to a T, Gray had told his friend the first time he’d heard about the agent. Gray had been a little jealous, had asked if Sheila had any friends, but had only been querying in jest. He preferred to find his own dates.

Had been thinking about doing so as he walked the beach at ten o’clock that night. Scott was staying at Sheila’s, and Morgan needed her nightly “go” time. While Scott generally let the dog out the back door, and Morgan was trained to make and get right back inside, Gray had opted to go for some fresh air. To commune with the ocean. The air. The waves.

With the moon bright enough to show him the way—and any harm that could potentially come to Morgan—he’d walked from Scott’s away from Sage’s place to the end of the beach. On the return trip, still thinking about dates and such, he’d passed Scott’s and continued the other way, passing Sage’s and Iris’s without pause, and made it clear to the other end of the two-mile-long stretch.

Thinking about Iris and Scott. The way they were able to make friendship work. Now that he’d met the woman, he didn’t get it at all. Iris was gorgeous. A little tall for Gray, but perfect for Scott. And yet, seeing them together...it was obvious they were just friends.

The corgi never faltered in her trot beside him. Asked no questions. Or passed any judgment, either. She was just there. Keeping him company.

Her companionship was nice. As was the quiet solitude of the beach. Right there. For him to enjoy at a moment’s notice.

And he got to thinking. Then to looking.

The cottage at the far end of the beach, several past Sage’s and Iris’s, stood dark. Dilapidated. What had once been luxurious, admired, sought after, revered, was standing alone in the dark. Deserted.

Much like Gray. Like his business. His life.

The cottage, along with several others, was available. For a price. And subject to the owner being willing to abide by a pretty stiff set of covenants, conditions and restrictions that bound the entire Ocean Breeze neighborhood.

He could renovate the thing himself. Hiring contractors where necessary, but he knew how to do a lot of the work. Had put himself through college by working construction. Him and the cottage—lives renovating together.

With his house sold, and if Sage really was able to free up his income account, he’d be able to afford the cottage. Didn’t give a whit about needing to follow restrictions. Would welcome the protection and privacy they provided, actually, as he told Morgan aloud.

The dog, standing next to him, circled around, staring up at him.

As though looking for answers.

Most likely to “Can we go home?” Followed by “I want a treat.”

But it could also be, “What are we doing next?” Followed by, “This is fun.”

That was the thing with dogs and cats. While they relied on humans to make sure they had food and water, they could be left alone for hours and be fine to fend for themselves.

On average, dogs slept eighteen hours a day, so really, not much responsibility in caring for one.

So why didn’t he have one of his own?

He’d always told himself it was because he worked so many hours in a day. But Scott did, too. Of course, Scott lived in a unique mecca where others were there to walk or feed the dog, others whom the dog knew and loved, in his absence.

In his semi secluded showplace on the cliff...not so much.

If he bought the cottage, though...

A huge if .

First and foremost, even before financial considerations, he’d have to run the idea by Sage. No way would he even consider the idea if it in any way made her uncomfortable. Ocean Breeze was her home. Her happiness.

He’d snatched the life she’d planned from her once.

He would die before doing so again.

And yet...she was the one who’d brought up the idea of a new friendship between the two of them. Like Scott and Iris. She’d specifically pointed to them as an example.

And they both lived on Ocean Breeze.

Maybe that was the trick. Living in the same neighborhood. Seeing each other every day. Having ready access when and if both parties desired, but with no pressure, expectation or obligation.

No strings. Just neighbors sharing a beach.

And no mystery, either. It was all right there. Taken for granted. Plebeian.

Morgan circled his legs. Letting him know she was ready to quit standing around doing nothing. And Gray returned to real life. Pulling himself back half a dozen notches.

Living on Ocean Breeze? Renovating the cottage himself?

He was getting way ahead of himself.

Maybe he should just concentrate on putting out feelers among the neighbors for a service dog water rescue program before he started moving in on them.

And give Sage time to adjust to his return to her life before jumping into any idea of a long-term friendship between the two of them.

Any idea of permanently sharing her beach would just have to wait.