Page 41 of The Waterfront Way

“We could use your muscles,” Sage teased. “Right, Thelma?”

“I don’t know anything about his muscles,” her sister grumbled as she moved into the kitchen, her head down and somewhat of a flush creeping into her face.

Sage laughed lightly and faced Ty again. “Don’t mind her. She’s—” Her laughter died away a little. “She’d be very grateful for your help this weekend. Grant and Harry are coming. Oh, and Blake.” Sage reached up and ran her hands through her hair, which looked a little lighter this morning.

“Scott and Oliver are still trying to work out their job schedule, but Thelma doesn’t have much.”

“Let me check my schedule too,” he said. He didn’t have to say that Saturdays could be busy for him; Sage knew that. All at once, he wondered if she really got his workload.

“You know I work a lot, right, Sage?”

“Yes,” she said simply.

“It’s not even summer yet,” he said. “Sometimes I work all day at home and then do paperwork, more texting, put up listings, at night. It’s—a lot. I know I work a lot. I’m trying to scale back.”

“Are you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Wasn’t the answer obvious? “So I have time to spend with you.” He leaned one hip into the doorway and smiled at her.

She smiled right on back. “You’re not wearing a shirt,” she said again.

Ty laughed, his head tipping back. “All right, my thoughts of having a romantic breakfast on your day off isn’t going to happen, I can see that.”

“Sweetheart.” She cradled his face in one hand, and Ty loved that. It felt like Sage claiming him, wanting to draw him closer to her. “Not today, but I really like this idea. And next week, I’ll be home alone when you stop by.” She raised her eyebrows, and they had an entire conversation without saying a word.

So he’d stop by next week—and he’d make sure he brought an extra shirt with him, though part of him wanted to know what would happen if she said, “You’re not wearing a shirt,” for the third time.

18

Sage had decided not to lift a single thing for her sister’s move. Number one, she didn’t have to. She had four strong men coming in, and Thelma had a queen-sized bed, a nightstand, and a dresser as major furniture.

Since they’d been moving in together when they’d both left Texas and come to Hilton Head, they hadn’t brought everything they both owned. Sage had sold a lot of her excess belongings, as had Thelma.

Sage had owned better furniture, so the couch and love seat were both hers. She’d offered the smaller couch to Thelma, but her sister said she wanted to buy her own furniture for her new place.

Ty had found her a perfectly adorable two-bedroom house with pretty trees out front and down the side, a flowering bush with pink flowers, and a white front door and shutters. Sage had gone with her sister to see the house, and she’d known the moment they’d pulled up to the house that Thelma would love it.

The neighborhood didn’t have much crime, and Ty had said the demographics were older married couples—empty nesters. Thelma had never married, but she’d always gotten along really well with those older than her.

She’d meet new people—good people—who could provide support and comfort. She might even be able to find someone who’d been through what she had. Sage had done her best, but she knew her situation with Jerry wasn’t the same as Thelma’s abusive relationship.

Her phone rang only moments before she expected the doorbell to ring, announcing the arrival of her moving crew. Kayla’s name sat there, and Sage lit up. “Hey, baby,” she drawled, reverting right back to her Texas roots.

“Momma,” her daughter drawled on back. “How’s the movin’ goin’?”

“We haven’t started yet,” she said, “You must be up early.”

“Oh, Daphne’s had a cold for the past couple of days. She can’t breathe unless I’m holding her at exactly the right angle.” She sighed, and Sage had endured many of those nights herself. She’d never given much thought to how she’d always been the one to get up with the children—until she’d finally gotten the nerve to file for divorce.

It was all the little things over the many years they’d been married that had piled up, each of them—like Sage being the only one to ever do anything with the children, be that diapering them, teaching them to do chores, or helping them with their homework, class registrations, anything and everything—carrying a little bit of weight until it had all been too heavy for her to carry any longer.

“How’s Bruce?” Sage asked, hating how her voice pitched up slightly. She liked her son-in-law a lot, but Sage honestly didn’t know him well enough to make much more of a judgment than that. He and Kayla had only stayed in Texas for six months after their wedding, before his job had taken him to another state.

Sage had missed her daughter terribly in the beginning, but that had dulled over time.

---