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Sage pulled back just far enough to study his face properly.
“You came all the way here,” she said slowly, “to ask me if I liked stuffed animals.”
Cal nodded. Serious. Earnest.
She held his gaze for a long moment. Then, in a small, soft voice: “This is important, isn’t it.”
He nodded again, holding her a little tighter.
And then she smiled — the kind of smile that felt like the sun breaking through clouds on a freezing day, warm and sudden and bright enough to blind him.
“Yes, Cal,” she said tenderly. “I like stuffed animals.”
Cal nodded once, as if a critical mission had just been successfully completed. “Good. I’m glad.”
They stood there for a moment, just looking at each other.
“Well,” he said finally, reluctant, “I’d better get going.”
Sage kept smiling up at him, eyes crinkling at the corners. For some reason she blushed.
“Lots to do,” he added.
"You know. For something I'm working on."
Inside the diner Isabelle was whispering something into Mary Sue's ear. Mary Sue shook her head, smiling. One of the patrons looked around impatiently for his check. Mary Sue gave him a look and he sat back down and watched the show.
Sage looked up at him and said, "Cal?"
He waited.
"How much longer until I can come home?"
His heart did the thing it had been doing for some time now.
Home. She wanted to come home.
He picked her up — gently, one arm under her, careful where he placed his big hands. Sage took immediate and obvious delight in shifting her weight until his palm was decidedly cupping her backside. Then she melted into him, arms sliding up his forearms, over his biceps, until her hands locked behind his neck. He could feel the warm press of tears at the corners of her eyes against his skin.
Cal needed a moment before he could speak. The entire diner had gone very, very quiet behind the glass.
“Christmas Eve, sweetheart,” he said softly. “Just two more days.”
Sage nodded, holding on tighter, face buried against his neck. Then she whispered, “I miss— God, I miss Brutus so much. I wish I could kiss him.”
His body had a reaction that was going to become a problem very quickly. He set her down carefully, voice a little rough. “I think he’d like that, princess. I don’t think there’s anything in this world he’d like more.”
They looked at each other for another long moment.
Several women in the diner were quietly weeping. They both ignored them.
“Two more days,” Sage repeated softly, closing her eyes. Then she smiled, wiped her face, and slipped back through the door past Mary Sue, Isabelle, and Annie into the kitchen.
Cal watched her go. His jaw tightened once.
Mary Sue pushed the door open. Cal walked over and kissed her cheek. “Mama. You’re taking good care of her?”
Mary Sue, exercising what he recognized as a Titanic effort of self-control, answered in her normal voice, “Of course I am. Now go finish whatever it is you need to finish.”
