Page 22 of Broken Hearts

The way he says please finds its way into my bones, rooting itself in me, making me feel a need to follow him, to get to know my dad through him.

“Okay, give me a few minutes,” I say, smiling at him, and when he returns the smile, my knees go weak, sending a flutter through my stomach. “Um,” I squeak out, making it far too obvious that he’s caught me off guard with his kindness. “Um, so yeah, I will be…”

“I’ll meet you downstairs,” Nate cuts in, saving me from the embarrassment of trying to gather my thoughts now that I can see Nate as more than just a dick who hates me.

As soon as he walks out the door, I cover my face with my hands, my cheeks growing hot, and I begin to laugh. My mom’s words playing out in my head.

Don’t fall for him and end up pregnant.

She’s way too good at this shit, but there’s not a chance I’m going to end up pregnant or fall for Nate. It’s hard not to be attracted to him, but it’s just that. He’s good-looking, serious eye candy, but he’s also a native, and I’m not leaving New York.

Again, I’m laughing, my thoughts a ridiculous mess. Only minutes ago, I was wondering how the hell I could get out of here and forget this ever happened, and now I’m telling myself not to fall for Nate.

I blame my mom.

I’ve beenin the shop maybe twenty minutes when Sage finally comes down. I was half expecting her not to show, having changed her mind about spending the day with me, but when she walks in, she smiles at me and asks, “Okay, so what should I do?”

I return the smile, unable to stop myself. She’s fucking beautiful and she so rarely smiles at me, that it almost disarms me when she does. I mean she’s beautiful even when she’s not smiling, but when she does smile, holy shit.

Not that I can blame her though, because I’ve basically been a dick to her pretty much since the second she showed up here. I don’t want to be like this, but it felt like an automatic and uncontrollable reaction when I found out the guy I’d always looked up to had a daughter I knew nothing about.

And truth be told, now I’m just fucking scared. Scared about what she’s going to do. Scared she’s going to sell this place and take away the only sense of comfort and safety I’ve ever known. The only real home I’ve ever had.

“Well,” I say, blowing out a breath, “this morning, we have some orders coming in, so you can help with that. And this afternoon…well, this afternoon we kind of have a lesson thing happening.”

“Lesson?” she asks. “Like a surf lesson?”

“Uh huh,” I reply, chuckling a little.

Sage lets out a small laugh. “Well, clearly, I can’t help with that, but I can?—”

“Oh, you can,” I tell her, smiling at the confused look she gives me. “You’ll see,” I add with a wink, just as the door to the shop opens and Tanner walks in.

“Hey,” he says, grinning as he steps up to the counter and claps his hand with mine.

“Hey, man,” I reply, before turning to Sage and doing something I should’ve done last night instead of acting like a dick. “Tanner, this is Mitch’s daughter, Sage. Sage, this is your dad’s best friend, Tanner.”

Neither of them says anything at first, and I’m not sure if that’s because they didn’t expect me to introduce them like that, especially after last night, or because they aren’t sure what to say to each other. Tanner knew about Sage, but as far as I know, he’s never met her.

“Sage, hey, nice to see you again,” he suddenly says, a huge grin on his face as he holds out a hand to her.

Okay, apparently, he has met her before.

She glances at it, before shooting a quick look at me. “We’ve met before?” she asks.

Tanner laughs. “We have, yeah,” he says. “You were smaller,” he adds, holding his hand at about waist-high, as though to indicate how small. “I think it was probably the last time you were here.”

“Oh,” she says, swallowing hard. “Sorry, I don’t um…I don’t remember you.”

“Why would you?” he says with a laugh. “I was just some crusty old friend of your dad’s. But it’s nice to see you again, and of course, it goes without saying that I’m really sorry for your loss.”

Sage nods at that, glancing at me again before she says, “Thank you, and I’m sorry too. I know he meant a lot to you too.”

Tanner tips his head in acknowledgment. “Thanks, he did.”

The shop falls silent for a moment or two as the three of us acknowledge once again that Mitch is gone. I know for Sage it’s probably a really different feeling, but for me and Tanner, it’s like a huge empty void in both of our lives and this place that I’m not sure can ever be filled.

“Well, you wanna see how those boards turned out,” Tanner eventually asks, clapping his hands together as he grins at us. “And I’m also ready to see your ideas for Alana’s board, too. If you’re ready?”

---