Page 43 of Save a Wish

Sadie gave me a playful push as we walked toward my SUV. “As a matter of fact, it does.”

I opened the passenger side door for her and she climbed in. Before I shut the door, I said, “My aura feels good around you.”

In truth, my everything felt good around Sadie.

Chapter Fifteen

Sadie

My mind kept wandering back to kissing Beckett at the corn maze. As far as kisses went, like dating, I didn’t have much experience. My first kiss ever had been with Fionn on my thirteenth birthday, but that had happened only because Orla had dared him to give me a kiss as a present. He’d accepted the challenge and for a fraction of a second, our lips had touched. Then we’d both blinked at each other before wiping our mouths and vowing never to do that again. Despite our differences in station, Fionn and Orla were like siblings to me and that kiss with Fionn had felt all wrong to both of us.

My second kiss had been with Cian. It had been aggressive. He’d planted his lips on mine at a holiday gathering of dignitaries my father was entertaining. The move had been more about a show of possession than an act of affection as had the kisses that followed. Usually, I pictured a kissing scene from one of Orla’s borrowed romance novels when Cian kissed me. I imagined I was the heroine and Cian was the hero—the kind-hearted hero who wanted nothing more than to make me happy. My imagination was only so powerful though, and every kiss with him left me wanting something else.

Something like what I’d experienced with Beckett today.

His kiss had been tender. He wasn’t trying to brand me with brute force. The way he’d cupped my face as we’d instinctually deepened the kiss had been so gentle. It made me feel precious to him. When the kiss had heated up—quickly—it still hadn’t been a dominance display. Instead, it had been a mutual desire for each other and something I definitely wanted to explore more before this date ended.

“I should have driven over to Hartley’s Nest instead of you picking me up,” I said as we passed the entrance gates.

Beckett shrugged in the driver’s seat. “No big deal. It’s not as if Hank’s cabin is hours away.” He sent me a little smile. “Besides, I rather like chauffeuring you around Greenridge, Miss Sadie.”

“I rather like passengering around Greenridge with you,” I said, thinking back to fumbling around with remembering how to drive. Luckily, Hank’s daughter’s old car hadn’t ended up wrecked from my inexperience.

“Well, you’ll be navigating around town more now that your business is officially open.” Beckett headed for the farmhouse where a few other vehicles were parked. “How do you feel about going into strangers’ homes?”

“I feel okay about that,” I said. “And they’re not strangers. They’re clients.”

“True, but if anyone acts sketchy, you let me know.” Beckett’s hand tightened on the steering wheel and his jaw tensed. “The Hartley brothers can be intimidating if we need to be.”

A vision of the five of them lined up and ready to defend me sent a flash of heat through me. “That’s a great deal of muscle.”

“And we’re not afraid to use it if need be,” Beckett said.

“I’m sure all the clients will be nice,” I assured him. “People interested in mindfulness tend to be gentle souls looking for a way to live in harmony.” Not that I’d encountered many people interested in mindfulness before coming to Vermont. Back in Verdalach, the word mindfulness didn’t exist. If the people who had attended today’s event were an indication, however, I had nothing to worry about.

Beckett parked between Jimmy’s old pickup truck and a car that looked as if it belonged in a metal scrapyard instead of on the roads.

“That’s my dad’s old car,” Beckett said as his SUV quietly powered down. “Old Benny needs to be euthanized, but Vanessa won’t let us put it out of its misery. She drives it, we maintain it, and all of us hold our breaths waiting for it to finally disintegrate into a pile of rusted ash.”

We got out of Beckett’s SUV and Old Benny didn’t look any better up close.

“Is it safe to drive?” How was Vanessa not scared to death to have her baby ride in this dilapidated vehicle?

“For now.” Beckett shook his head. “I keep saying we need to steal it one night, drive it into the woods somewhere, and let the forest absorb it, but I get out-voted every time.” He guided me toward an area where curls of heavenly-scented smoke rose from a huge grill. “You’d think for a family that is concerned with the environment, we could all convince Vanessa to get something more Earth-friendly. She likes to point out, however, that simply throwing Old Benny away before his time is done would be adding to the garbage pile unnecessarily. She’s not wrong, but at this point, I honestly don’t think it will take the car that long to decompose. It’s like seventy-five percent there already.”

I gave Old Benny one last look, laughing at how out of place it looked next to Beckett’s shiny hybrid SUV.

“Uncle Beckett!”

His niece, Amelia, ran up to him and locked onto his legs. I’d met the child on one of my planning visits to Hartley’s Nest, and she was a real cherub with wild black curls and brown eyes like her daddy Isaac’s. She adored Beckett, which he had explained was because he had all the fun tech gadgets that kids loved.

I was certain it was more than that.

Beckett crouched in front of her and poked her in the belly. “Is there still food left or did you eat it all already?”

“The food’s not done cooking yet, silly!” Amelia pushed her hair out of her face then pointed at Jimmy tending slabs of meat on the grill. “See? Mr. Jimmy is just cooking now, Uncle Beckett.”

“That’s a relief.” Beckett stood and rubbed his belly. “Because I’m so hungry I could eat a black bear.”