Page 99
“He called me a resident,” she said softly.
Cal glanced down at her, the lock inside getting looser.
“He did.”
She didn’t say anything else. Just kept turning the knife in her fingers, a small, thoughtful smile playing at her lips, as they headed home.
The ice skating was entirely her idea, and Cal wanted that fact on the record.
It started when Sage found the skates — three dusty pairs tucked away in a box in the mudroom closet. One of them was his, from a few years back when his best friend Michael and his sharp-eyed assistant Isabelle had visited.
They’d decided ice skating on the pond would be “wholesome winter fun,” and that Cal should join them.
“Bear, come on! If Michael can do it, literally anyone can,” Isabelle had said, rolling her green eyes.
“Hey!” Michael had protested, his short, skinny frame wobbling as he clung to Isabelle like a life preserver.
Cal had taken one look at them and decided the skates would stay in the closet where they belonged.
Now Sage held up his old pair with pure, mischievous intent sparkling in her eyes.
“No,” he said flatly.
“Cal.”
“Absolutely not.”
“There’s a frozen pond,” she countered, undeterred. “I saw it on our walk Tuesday. It’s perfect.”
“I’m too heavy.”
“The ice is two feet thick. I checked.”
He paused. “You…checked?”
She nodded excitedly, already digging out extra socks and scarves. “Yup! I asked Earl at the hardware store. He said the pond freezes solid every year. It’s totally fine—”
“Nope. No way. Sorry, princess. Not happening.”
Sage stood up, thick hips swaying with deliberate, dangerous intent as she walked over to him. She stopped right in front of him, tilted her head back, and gave him that smile — the soft, slightly wicked one that always seemed to bypass every defense he had.
Cal stared down at her for three long seconds.
Then, muttering under his breath, he reached for his old coat.
This is a bad idea, he thought, shaking his head as he followed her out the door into the cold. That dangerous feeling in his chest grew a little larger with every step.
The pond was a ten-minute walk through the timber, down a gentle slope where the land opened into a small natural bowl. The ice was gray-white and thick, dusted with a fine layer of fresh snow that sparkled under the weak winter sun. Tall pines heavy with snow ringed the clearing like quiet sentinels, making the whole place look like it had been pulled straight from a Christmas card.
Sage stepped onto the ice and was immediately, infuriatingly competent.
She’d skated before — in some community rink back when Felicity could scrape together enough for two tickets, she’d told him. Her body still remembered. Her arms came out naturally for balance, her strokes smooth and confident as she glided forward with a bright, delighted laugh that echoed across the frozen surface.
Cal stood at the edge for a long moment, watching her.
The way her lavender-streaked hair whipped behind her, the joy shining on her face, the effortless grace in her movements… He knew two things with absolute certainty.
He was going to try this.
