Page 106 of A Soldier's Return

The dog rushed out but Sage had to pause for a moment to prop the gate open so they could return that way instead of having to take a more circuitous route to the front of the house.

She straightened from the task and nearly collided with a solid wall of muscle.

“Oh,” she exclaimed. She would have fallen if strong arms hadn’t reached to keep her upright.

“Sorry,” Eben murmured, heat flaring in his green eyes. “I thought you saw me.”

“No. I wasn’t paying attention.”

After a moment’s hesitation, he released her arm and she managed to find her footing as she caught sight of Conan a few yards away, racing around a giggling Chloe.

“Chloe! You’re up early.”

“Don’t I know it.” Eben looked at his daughter with disgruntled affection. “She woke me an hour ago, begging me to take her jogging with Conan this morning. We couldn’t quite figure out the logistics, though. We didn’t want to bang on your door at 6:00 a.m. just to pick up your dog, but then we saw your lights go on and headed over, hoping to catch you.”

“Conan didn’t give me a lot of choice this morning. He seemed particularly insistent on running today. Sometimes I think he’s psychic. Maybe he knew you and Chloe were going to be here and wanted to make sure we didn’t miss you.”

“We came to take him running, so you can go back to bed,” Chloe said with her guileless smile.

Tempting offer, Sage thought. That would certainly be the prudent course, to climb back into her bed, yank the covers over her head and pretend this was all a weird dream.

She couldn’t do it, though. The morning was too lovely and she discovered she wasn’t willing to relinquish the chance to be with them again, even though she knew it couldn’t possibly be healthy for her.

“I’ve got a better idea,” she said suddenly. “Come on inside to the garage for a moment.”

Eben looked puzzled but he followed her and Chloe and Conan did the same. Sage quickly programmed the code to open the garage door. Inside she found one of Abigail’s favorite toys propped against one wall and wheeled it out to where they waited for her.

Chloe’s eyes widened when she saw Sage pushing the tandem bike out of the garage.

“Cool!” she exclaimed. “Is that yours?”

“It belonged to a friend of mine. We used to love to take bike rides together.”

What a wealth of information that revealed about Abigail, she thought, that an independent woman in her eighties who lived with only an upstairs tenant for family would invest in a tandem bike. With her skill of gathering people around her, she never had a dearth of people to take rides with, from Will Garrett to Mr. Delarosa to the high school kids who delivered the newspaper.

“Can we ride it? You and me?” Chloe asked.

“I think that’s a great idea. Your dad and that beastly dog can run if they want and get all sweaty and gross. We girls will enjoy a leisurely morning ride.”

Chloe’s glee nearly matched Conan’s excitement. Sage glanced over at Eben and found him watching her with a murky look in his eyes that made her suddenly as breathless as if she’d just biked up the hill to Indian Beach.

It took Chloe a few moments to get the hang of the tandem bicycle, but by the time they made it a block, she was riding like a pro, giggling for the sheer joy of it.

Sage knew just how she felt. She wanted to laugh, as well. How could she ever have thought staying back in her apartment in bed would be preferable to this?

They stuck to pavement since she knew the soft sand of the beach would prove a challenge for Chloe. On impulse, she guided them south, away from town, with a specific destination in mind.

They encountered little traffic here this early in the morning. Conan and Eben ran ahead of them, Conan resigned to the leash. She had to admit, she enjoyed watching the play of Eben’s muscles as he ran. Not a bad way to start the day, she decided.

She lifted her face to the pale streaks of sunlight shining toward the ocean. A strange emotion fluttered through her and it took her a while to recognize it.

She was happy, she realized.

For the first time since Abigail’s death, she remembered what it was to savor life.

It was a gift, she decided, one she wasn’t about to waste.

Chapter Nine

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