Page 62 of Wood You Knot

“He looks like he’s not done causing trouble,” Parker remarked, crossing his arms and leveling a look at Sage. “Has he ever hurt you before?”

“No.” She shook her head, frazzled. “He’s never done anything like this before, either. I don’t know what his deal is. I think maybe…” she trailed off, sparing me another apologetic look. “I think maybe my mother told him where to find me. She called me last week and said he had come looking for me at her house.”

I was liking this situation less and less. My brothers exchanged a look with me. Before any of us could say anything further on the matter, Sage’s aunt and uncle walked over with Daphne.

Spotting her daughter, Sage tried to hide her uneasiness with a smile.

“How did it go?” Emelia Alcott asked, seemingly unaware of the tension in the air.

“Looks like you had a lot of people wanting their photos taken,” Ed added with a proud smile.

“Yeah, it went really well, I think. I’ll know more when I start editing the photos later,” Sage replied, tucking her hair behind her ear. “What about you, Squirt? Did you have fun?”

“Yeah! I played lots of games and got this book and this dragon,” Daphne exclaimed, holding up a Pippi Longstocking book and a crocheted dragon for Sage to inspect.

“That’s great!” Sage smiled at her.

“We were thinking we’d take Daphne home now. I know you guys still need to pack up, but your uncle’s getting a little tired,” Emelia explained.

“I told you, Em, I’m perfectly fine,” Ed cut in, but he did look a little tired, and I knew Emelia worried about his heart.

“That sounds good. I can pick her up on my way home,” Sage replied.

“Can’t I sleep over at Auntie Em and Uncle Ed’s again?” Daphne pleaded.

“I didn’t pack you an overnight bag,” Sage replied.

“That’s all right, she can sleep in one of Uncle Ed’s shirts.” Emelia smiled. “Or if you’re okay with it, we do have a spare key to the apartment. We could stop by and grab pajamas and pack some clothes for tomorrow.”

Sage thought about it for a minute, considering her options. “All right, if that’s what you want…”

“It is!” Daphne jumped up and down with excitement. “I love sleeping over at Auntie Em and Uncle Ed’s.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sage

I hadn’t really wanted to send my daughter off again, especially not after Warren’s bombardment, but I could tell she really wanted to have a sleepover. My aunt and uncle seemed perfectly fine with it, and it gave me the opportunity to stay late and help with the cleanup.

After all the vendors had packed up and left, it took another hour and a half for the remaining volunteers to clean up after the fundraiser. By the time we were finished, it was nearly ten at night.

“Who wants to go to The Quarter Lounge for some drinks? I think we all deserve it,” Preston said in the parking lot as we were finally heading out. Preston, Paxton, Parker, Tabitha, Donavon, Nix, and I had all stayed to help Mr. Robertson and the other teachers clean up.

“Yes! Let’s do that. Parker and I have a very rare kid-free night,” Tabitha exclaimed. She’d gotten her parents to watch the baby, and Keith and Laurel had taken the twins home with them hours before.

“I’m probably going to call it a night,” Mr. Robertson said, yawning. “I feel like I could sleep for the whole weekend and still wake up exhausted. But you guys have fun.”

Nix had been watching me closely since the encounter with Warren. I could tell he wanted to talk about what happened, but I didn’t know what more to say about the matter.

“What about you two?” Tabitha asked, looking at Nix and me.

“I don’t know…” I trailed off, glancing at Nix. He lifted his shoulder in a shrug, leaving it up to me.

“Please, Sage?” Tabitha begged, her blue eyes wide. I don’t think she’d been made aware of the situation with my ex showing up yet.

“I guess I could go for a couple of drinks,” I replied. “I’m just going to drive home and ditch my car.”

“I’ll follow you,” Nix said.

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