“You’re in a hurry.”
Sage put the closed sign on the door. “Shows, huh?”
Luisa nodded. “Nick coming home tonight?”
Finally! “He should be in at about eight this evening,” Sage reported. Which gave her roughly four hours...
“Cooking dinner for him?”
Shutting down the coffee machines, Sage feigned nonchalance. “I told him I’d throw something together.”
“Which means...?”
“Man food. Steak. Baked potatoes. Salad. And of course the quintessential apple pie.”
“Just make sure you don’t get too tired to give your man a proper welcome home.” Luisa winked.
Sage rolled her eyes, although she was expecting their reconnection to light up the sky with fireworks.
“Seriously, I’ll finish up here. You go get ready for your man.”
Sage hugged Luisa. “Thanks.” She whipped off the barista apron, let herself into the hallway adjacent to the back alley and headed up the staircase. Inside, her apartment sparkled from a recent cleaning. Her fridge was filled with fresh ingredients. And she was brimming with excitement.
Nick had been gone ten days, most of which had been spent on the road with MR and Everett, meeting with potential suppliers. She hadn’t heard from him yet today, but he had called or texted or emailed every other day. Just to see how she and their baby were doing. It had felt good, being connected to him that way, even if their communications had sometimes been rushed. So she was eager to catch up completely.
And that excitement stayed with her as 8:00 p.m. came and went. Still with no word from Nick. No call or email or text. Which really began to worry her. It wasn’t like him not to let her know he was going to be late. Never mind this late.
Finally, around eleven, she texted his sister Bridgett. Her phone rang a few seconds later. “What’s going on?” Bridgett asked.
Sage explained. “But, now that I’m saying all this out loud, I feel like I’m being silly, contemplating worst-case scenarios.”
“I’m sure Nick’s on his way,” Bridgett soothed. “Otherwise, he would have let you know. Maybe he’s out of cell phone range. You know there are a lot of dead spots between here and Dallas. But listen, if you want me to call all the other sibs...”
“No. You’re right.” Sage shook off her increasing sense of dread. “I’m letting my imagination get away from me. He’ll be home before I know it.”
* * *
AT MIDNIGHT, SAGE went to sleep. Sometime after that, her cell phone rang.
It was MR Rhodes, requesting a FaceTime chat with her.
Heart jumping with anxiety, Sage switched on the bedside lamp, drew the covers over her chest and accepted. MR appeared on screen, dressed in her usual elegant business attire. “Sage. Sorry to wake you.”
Sage shoved the hair out of her eyes, glad she had worn a demure sleep shirt to bed. “Is everything all right?”
“We’re just behind schedule. Which is why Nick asked us to get in touch with you.”
That was weird. Embarrassing or not, she had to ask. “Is there some reason he couldn’t contact me himself?”
“He’s still meeting with the Santa Fe artisans who are trying to get their goods in our new venue. They’ve been coming to the hotel all day to show us what they can provide exclusively for us, and since Nick is the expert on Western wear, he’s riding point on the discussions.”
Made sense. Sort of.
MR smiled. “Anyway, he wanted you to have his flight information for tomorrow morning. Everett, can you please give it to Sage?”
The phone changed hands.
Everett appeared on screen. There was a second’s pause, as he took Sage in, with what might have been a flash of remorse or indecision in his expression. Then he glanced down at the tablet in his other hand and read out the airline and flight number. “Departs at 6:07 in the morning, and arrives in Dallas at 9:20.”
“Thank you, Everett. Text that information to Sage.”
Everett disappeared from view.
MR came back into the picture. “So even if there is traffic Nick should easily be able to make your ultrasound appointment tomorrow afternoon. He wants you to know that. So...you’re good?” MR said crisply.
Sage forced a smile. “I am. Thanks for calling.”
They ended the call.
As much as Sage wanted to, she couldn’t go back to sleep for several hours after that. Her mind kept replaying the warning Everett had given her the morning after she married Nick, the way he hadn’t quite wanted to look her in the eye during the FaceTime chat.
Did he know something she should?
Or was it just the way the venture capital/start-up business worked that had MR’s assistant so sure trouble was brewing for her and Nick?
One thing was for certain. You couldn’t build any kind of successful relationship if you rarely interacted with the other person. And, Sage thought miserably as she wrapped her arms tightly around her pillow and sought comfort where she could, that was certainly becoming true for her and Nick.
* * *
“HOW MANY TEXTS have you had this morning?” Luisa asked, sliding another tray of apple Danish into the oven to bake.
Sage spread a thin layer of jalapeño cream cheese on some tortillas. “Thirty-two.” In five hours.
Luisa cast a look toward the front of the shop. Just after eleven, the lunch crowd had yet to come in. Satisfied the part-time counter help could handle things for the moment, she turned back to give Sage a concerned look, “All from Nick?”
Sage layered thin slices of mesquite-smoked chicken overtop, then added slices of avocado, heirloom tomato and red onion. “Every last one.”
Luisa added cooled brownies to a display case tray. “Bad news?”
“He’s still fogged in, in Santa Fe.” Which meant he would miss the ultrasound.
“Can you reschedule?”
Sage rolled the sandwiches, sliced them in half, then covered them with plastic wrap. “Not without twenty-four hours advance notice,” she admitted glumly. “Besides, I really want to take a look myself and see the baby is okay.”
“Still not kicking?”
“Not that I can tell.” Sage fell silent. And though she knew from her readings that it could be as long as the twenty-fifth week before a first-time mother felt her baby kick, she still worried. The anatomy scan would show them definitively that everything was okay.
So Sage went to her obstetrician’s office alone, at the appointed time. Signed in, turned off her phone and drank the water they gave her. Twenty minutes later, Sage’s bladder was uncomfortably full, and she was reclining on the exam table, a pillow beneath her head.
Dr. Johnson walked in. “Ready?”
Feeling unbearably excited and incredibly sad to be experiencing this moment without Nick at her side, Sage nodded. She turned her head toward the black-and-white monitor while the gel was smeared over her midriff.
“Here we go,” the obstetrician said, picking up the transducer wand and moving it over her belly. And suddenly, there, on screen, were lots of wavy, fluid lines. And through the shifting movement, the poignantly beautiful image of their baby’s head.
She stared at the screen in wonder and relief. It was all just so incredible...
“Here’s the baby’s heart.”
She could actually see it beating, steady and strong.
“And legs and arms...” Which were indeed, Sage noted, moving, even if she couldn’t yet feel the motion inside her.
“Everything is looking good,” Dr. Johnson said with satisfaction as the last of the measurements were taken and recorded. He turned to her, kind as ever. “Do you want to know the sex?”
Bad enough Nick was missing this. To miss that, too...? Sage felt a burst of generosity that far surpassed her anger and disappointment with her baby’s daddy. “No,” she said firmly. “We’ll wait until the baby is born to find that out.”
* * *
AFTER A DAY of travel hell, and many unanswered phone calls to Sage, Nick got in close to 9:00 p.m. Friday evening. He found Sage right where he expected she would be. In her bistro kitchen, working on the next day’s offerings.
In white capris and a loose-fitting dark blue shirt that covered her baby bump, her wheat-gold hair upswept in a clip, she looked gorgeous, and ticked off as all get-out.
Though she had to have heard him use his key and come in through the service entrance off the back hall, she ignored him steadily.
He couldn’t blame her. He was wracked with guilt at not being able to keep his promise, forcing her to go to their baby’s ultrasound alone. He felt even sadder about missing such an important milestone in their relationship and their child’s life. This was more than just a missed opportunity, it was a moment in time he could not get back. And he would make up for that.
But first, he had to make amends.
He set his bag down. “Sorry can’t begin to cover it, I know.”
She stared him down, growing even more flushed. “Do tell.”
Damn, she was ticked off. “I’m as frustrated as you are.”
She arched an elegant brow. “Somehow I doubt that.”
“Okay.” He girded himself for the worst. “Let me have it.”
Even icier. “I’d rather not.”
Nick tried again but could not quite keep the exasperation from his voice. “I sent you a message.”
Sage set her rolling pin down with a clatter. “Yeah, that was great. Having MR and Everett call me at midnight. Four hours after you were supposed to be here for dinner. Really nice, Nick. Really nice.”
She thought he had stood her up without a word? “What are you talking about?” Nick moved closer. “We knew we weren’t getting out of there last night at noon yesterday.”
Sage wiped her hands with a towel. “Well, that’s news to me.”
With a weariness that went soul deep, he said, “I thought you had been called.”
She tilted her head to one side and kept her eyes on his. “You really couldn’t have done it yourself?”
Hell, yes, he wished he could have. But this was what happened, he was beginning to realize, when you gave up control of a business venture.
He shoved a hand through his hair. “If you had any idea how crazy it was the last ten days. How many vendors I’ve met, and spaces I’ve toured. Meetings I’ve been in.”
All for you, Sage. And our baby...
Because if it hadn’t been for the two of them, he would have said to hell with it all and pulled out of this mal-fated venture long ago.
But he couldn’t.
Not if he wanted to give Sage the kind of ultraluxurious life she had grown up with.
She wanted to believe in him, in them. He could see that. She just wasn’t sure she should.
Shoulders stiff, she finally looked right at him and allowed in a low, strangled voice, “I know you’ve been busy, Nick.” Her chest heaved with each breath. “I’ve been busy, too.” Amber eyes glistening with tears, she swallowed and pushed on. “I don’t fault you for working hard,” she murmured, clearly distraught. “But I still would have made it to our baby’s ultrasound.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a black-and-white photo. Their fingers brushed as she thrust it at him. “I still would have moved heaven and earth not to have missed this.”
He stared down at the ghostly image of a baby. Their baby. The miracle of it nearly slammed him to his knees. For a moment, he could barely breathe, let alone speak. “Is that the head...the legs...?” he asked, his heart bursting with love.
Affirming proudly, Sage pointed. “Arms...”
Of their kid! Their kid! “Sucking a thumb?”
Sage allowed in a low, proud voice, “The nurse said that happens in utero all the time. And if they pacify themselves that way while they are inside their mommy’s tummy, they usually do it as soon as they get out of their mommy’s body, too.”
How cute was that going to be? Amazing.
They stared at the image some more in wonderment. Moving nearer, he wrapped one arm around Sage. Finally, he pulled himself together enough to ask, “Do we know if it’s a girl or boy?”
Still holding herself stiffly, Sage shook her head. “I told Dr. Johnson I didn’t want to know yet. I thought you should at least be there for that.”
He turned her so she had no choice but to face him. He felt like a kid who was telling a teacher the dog ate his homework, but she needed to understand just the same. “I tried like hell to be here.”
“I know,” Sage said wearily, recalling the gist of the many text messages he had sent her that morning. “But the Santa Fe airport was fogged in this morning, and all the flights were delayed until almost noon, and the one you were supposed to be on eventually got canceled due to mechanical problems.”
It had been the Murphy’s Law of Travel day for him. He held her by the shoulders, needing, wanting to understand her. “So why did you stop responding to me? Why didn’t you pick up when I called?”
She slipped out of his light grasp.
Her lower lip slid out in the delicious pout he knew so well and could never stop wanting to kiss. “Because I was too angry, and I shouldn’t have been. And I knew that,” she confessed in a thick voice. “And I didn’t want to say something I would regret.”
He studied her sullen expression, figuring she’d earned the right to have her say. And truth to tell, he wanted to hear it all. So they wouldn’t find themselves in this place again.
She stomped closer, arms akimbo. “We made a deal, Nick, when this all started. That you could be around as much or as little as you chose, and I would never ever put any kind of pressure or expectation on you, or leave you feeling trapped in any way. Yet I was doing just that.” She shook her head in silent remonstration, then aimed a thumb at the center of her chest. “And that made me angry at myself. And then add in a few pregnancy hormones...” Her voice broke. She waved a dismissing hand. “I needed to calm down.”
He studied her upturned face. “And have you?”
For a moment he thought she was going to lie, then she sighed. “I’m working on it.”
“Then you’re ahead of me,” he returned with grim honesty, moving closer. “Because I’m probably going to be upset with myself for a while.”
Her eyes widened in surprise.
Obviously, she hadn’t expected a mea culpa from him.
“I should have left yesterday as planned. MR and Everett could have stayed and handled the remaining business meetings. But I didn’t. And I missed something I never should have missed.” He put his hands on her shoulders and waited for her gaze to meet his. “I’m really sorry, darlin’,” he said in a low, tortured tone. “More sorry than you’ll ever know.”
She could see that.
Her anger evaporated.
“I’m sorry, too.” Sage ran her hands through her hair. “I didn’t think things through. I should have explained the situation and rescheduled. Since there was no medical emergency precipitating the ultrasound, we could have just waited until you were available. So—” she drew in a ragged breath “—I’m at fault here, too.”
Nick helped Sage put the baked goods into the walk-in for the next day. “So, truce...?” he said as they walked out, shutting the door behind them.
Sage nodded, taking off her apron. “Truce.”
“Only one problem with that,” Nick said.
Sage’s delicate brow furrowed in confusion. “What?”
“This is no way to make up after our first fight as a married couple.”
“Actually,” Sage corrected, flashing an impish smile, “it’s our first real fight.”
“You’re right. It is.” And he never wanted to have one like this again. So...
He stepped forward, tucked one hand beneath her knees and swung her up into his arms. She let out a low squeal and held on to his shoulders.
“Well, this is getting interesting.”
He returned her grin. “You think so?” He bent to kiss her cheek. “Just wait.”
He headed out the service door of the bakery and carried her easily up the back stairs to her apartment. Set her down long enough for her to unlock the door, then picked her right back up again.
She gave him a mock-stern look. “You know I may be pregnant, but I can still walk.”
Sensing they were at a turning point in their relationship, he cradled her in his arms. “But should you have to?”
She chuckled, clearly as turned on as she was exasperated.
“Seriously.” He looked down at her adoringly. “During those long, long hours when I was waiting to get home to you, it occurred to me I never carried you over the threshold.”
She hitched in a breath.
“And now seems like the perfect time.” He walked through the front door, through the living area and into the bedroom, before setting her gently down next to her bed...
Sage wanted to continue to keep things simple with Nick.
But the moment his hands lifted her shirt and moved higher, his thumbs running over the tender crests, she felt herself begin to lose herself in him all over again.
She hadn’t allowed herself to want anything as much as she wanted him in a long time. Hadn’t allowed herself to hope that they could have anything close to a fairy tale.
Wise or not, she wanted to lose herself in the bliss, the intimacy only he could bring. She wanted the explosion of heat and hunger his kiss wrought. Overwhelmed by the pleasurable sensations, she returned his kiss with everything she had.
His need and yearning mirrored hers.
She surrendered against him one moment.
He took total control the next.
Until they dropped down on the bed, and she arched against him, the need in her an incessant ache. And still it wasn’t enough for either of them, as she ran her hands over hard muscle and smooth skin. He was absolutely beautiful. So beautiful, she couldn’t take her eyes from his sculpted pecs and abs, and lower still...
Yes, he wanted her.
Oh my, he wanted her.
He rolled her onto her side, so they were facing each other. And still they kissed, until her heart filled and her entire body throbbed with searing heat.
Flush with victory, he slid a hand between her legs, making her blossom, sending her quickly to the brink. Knowing this was no time to be selfish, she guided him inside her. Together, they soared. Found. Conquered. And came slowly, inevitably, back down.
And Sage knew all was right between them once again.