Stirred: A Love Story (26 page)

It turned out hot air balloon rides were a little touch and go. Garrett understood the hot air part, but the steering felt a bit unreliable. As he peeked over the edge, Sage laughed.

“What?”

“Nothing.” She stepped in front of him and wrapped herself in his arms. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you this uncomfortable.”

“I’m not uncomfortable.”

She leaned forward, taking his arms along with her, and Garrett jerked back. Smiling over her shoulder, she said, “You were saying?”

“Fine. Maybe it’s a height thing.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s a control thing.”

“That too.” He laughed and was rewarded when she kissed him, her cold nose touching his cheek.

“Look at all the boxes,” she said.

“Vineyards.”

“Kind of like farms.”

Garrett shrugged and held her tighter. “Eh, not exactly. We like to call vineyards ‘pampered farms.’”

“Why is that?”

“Because they’re temperamental, not as forgiving. The families down there working those vineyards know what they’re doing. It’s a crazy amount of TLC.”

The basket shifted and the flame, which seemed like it should set the whole damn thing on fire, blazed on a whoosh, and they climbed higher. Garrett kissed the top of her head, finding comfort in the way their bodies fit together.

“So why a hot air balloon ride?”

Sage pondered for a minute and then said, “I think it’s important to feel small.”

“Okay.”

“No, I do. I like going up and looking down. It reminds me that I am tiny by comparison.”

Garrett didn’t know how to respond to that. He’d never thought of it that way, but being with Sage had led him to see many things differently.

“What made you decide to take a hot air balloon ride?” she asked.

“You.”

“Me? That’s your answer?” She glanced back at him. “Okay, well, what do you think?”

“I. . . think I prefer feeling big. I like being on the ground. I guess you’re right—I can’t control things up here and honestly, it all looks a little overwhelming from this angle. I’m happy on my own square.”

“Okay,” she said, turning in his arms to face him instead of the view. “So what’s on your list?”

“I don’t have a list.”

“You don’t have things you want to do?”

“I didn’t say that. I have things to do, but I don’t have a list like yours. I’m not sure what’s in my bottom drawer, but I haven’t thought about filling it. . . I guess ever. . .”

“As Paige would say, ‘If you had to pick,’ what would you put in your drawer, on your list?”

Garrett thought for a moment and was happy as the basket began lowering closer to the ground.

“Maybe. . . the running of the bulls in Spain. I’d like to see that.”

“Run in it, or watch?”

“Running. It seems very Hemingway.”

“It is. I noticed Hemingway on your shelves at home. You’re a fan?”

“I am. He drives Kenna nuts, but I get him. I understand the. . .”

“Pain?” Sage asked.

Garrett looked out at the rising sun. He’d never thought about it, but maybe he did connect to a certain sadness. “Yeah, I guess.”

The basket began to skim the ground and as they prepared for the “bumpy landing” they were told to expect, Garrett had one more question.

“Do you like Hemingway?”

Sage shook her head. “He wallows too much in the past.”

Before he could respond, they hit with a thud and Garrett held tight to her as they tumbled back to being big.

Well into the afternoon, they took pictures and drank wine. Garrett was amazed how normal it all felt—as if having a life with her would be the easiest thing. They talked about their childhoods and on the drive home, Sage showed him her high school and shared a couple of stories about her family. Garrett learned more about her every day and he never tired of the layers. He still hadn’t turned on his phone, which must have been some kind of record.

That night, they sat down to dinner at the Jeffries’ house.

“So, hot mystery guy, what do you do?” Hollis asked.

“I’m a farmer.”

“Seriously?” Hollis took another sizable sip of her wine.

“Seriously. I manage Ryeland Farms down in Ventura.”

“Shit, that’s like saying you’re a writer or a dancer or like you’re Bob the Builder. A farmer, huh.”

“Hollis,” her mother said, bringing in the coffee.

“What?”

“You’re rude.”

“No, Mother, I’m miserable, so anyone remotely happy or alive is fucking fascinating.”

“Hollis! That’s enough. I know you’re. . . going through something, but I will not have that language in my house. You were raised better.”

She nodded. “You’re right, I was, Mom. I apologize,” she said in earnest as she set her empty wineglass down and put two sugar cubes into a small white coffee cup.

“What do you do?” Garrett asked.

The room went silent and as his father loved to say, Garrett felt like he’d “stepped in it.” He thought he even heard Sage’s mother gasp as she went back into the kitchen for the cake.

Hollis contemplated her wineglass for a moment but then sipped her coffee. “I’m in the circus.” She smiled.

“Seriously? Which one? I remember seeing this awesome Russian circus on tour when I was a kid. They had a bear, which I remember pissed me off because bears shouldn’t wear clothes. They also had this woman who could fold herself into a tiny box. Was that you?”

Silence again. This time, their mother was standing holding an enormous chocolate cake and forks. Hollis burst out laughing.

“Oh, Sage, if you’re not in love with this one yet, I am. Yes, I was definitely the fold-me-up woman.”

Garrett had a feeling Hollis had a pretty substantial story and recognized raw pain when he saw it. He would forever remember it in his sister’s eyes when she’d lost her husband, but this registered like a different kind of ache. Whatever Sage’s big sister was going through was something else altogether different than an unfair twist of fate. Hers almost seemed self-inflicted.

The questions continued as they were cleaning up before heading out to a late movie. It wasn’t lost on Sage that Garrett would be the first man to take her on a date while she was under her parents’ roof.

“Our weather is pretty mild, so we grow all year long, but we slow it down in winter. December and January are all about fixing equipment and getting ready, so I’ve had some time. I can’t believe it’s March already. Things will get crazy before long,” Garrett told her father while they cleared up the cake plates.

“Oh, well, I’m sure Sage can help you with most of that equipment.”

“Dad.”

“Really?” Garrett said in a mocking tone that quickly grew inquisitive as her father appeared serious.

“Dad, why not tell Garrett about your latest remodel? He loves retro stuff. I think he’d get a kick out of what you’re doing.”

“Sure. Yeah, we’re turning an old gas station into one of those drive-through coffee shops. I’ll break out the plans later if you want to see, but our Sage is a wonder.”

“She is.” Garrett put the coffee cups on the counter.

“I always liked to say that Sage had a degree in fixing things. Mechanical engineering, UC Berkeley. Graduated in three years. Brilliant, as I’m sure you already know.”

“I. . . I’m not sure I knew that.” He looked at Sage and she registered the change in his eyes right away.

No one ever tells a girl when she’s staying up all night cramming for impossible exams that once she graduates people will treat her differently. That if a man knows she can build a robot he might find that intimidating. Garrett’s gaze was more one of discovery and admiration, but it still held the weight of a past where Sage no longer dwelled.

“Oh well, she has always been modest. I guess being a. . .”

“Mixologist,” Garrett added, smiling at her in a way that said he could read her mind.

Her father laughed. “Yes, that. She’s making things work together.”

“Dad, let’s not get into this, okay?”

“I’m always proud, you know that.”

“I do.”

Garrett still had questions. She could almost see his thoughts as he ran through the time they’d known each other. When she’d had knowledge most bartenders didn’t possess, times she’d fixed things. The ice machine, she was certain the ice machine now made more sense in his logical mind. Sage put some effort into hiding her nerd, but she knew that little overachiever surfaced more often than she realized.

Later, sitting in the movie theater, they were still discussing the past and Sage desperately wanted to enjoy her present.

“I don’t get it. All of your accomplishments are things that people brag about. Mechanical engineering? Come on, why would naughty or a bottom drawer matter? Look at you.”

“It’s hard to explain.”

“I’ve got all night. Let’s give it a try because from where I’m sitting, you’re more than the fantasy, Sage.”

“I never went to my prom,” she said, taking a handful of popcorn from the bucket in his lap.

“So.”

“Did you?”

“Yeah, well, the first one, no, but my senior year, I went. A damn nightmare.”

“You see, everyone who has a bottom drawer always says that. Ever cut class?”

Garrett nodded.

“Go to Mardi Gras or a bar for St. Patrick’s Day and pass out drunk?”

Garrett nodded slowly this time.

“Been on a bull?”

“Sage, everyone’s life is different. I’ve never graduated from UC Berkeley, or had an article published in an international journal. Do you want to ride a bull?”

“I don’t know, maybe. I want more than being nice and neat. I want to break something, mess things up. I want stories to tell my children. I’m thirty-two. My twenties are over and I have straight As and framed certificates.”

“Ever made out in a movie theater?” He looked over his shoulder as the lights dimmed. “A pretty packed movie theater?”

She shook her head. Garrett put his hand on her leg and leaned in.

“Stop. I grew up around here. Plus the movie is starting and I always hate when people suck face during the movie.”

He laughed. “Suck face. I like that one.” He took her hand, kissed it, and then kissed her.

“You know why no one ever made out with you in a movie theater?” he whispered.

“Shhh.”

“Because the poor bastard wouldn’t have been able to stop at only kissing you. You’re an all-or-nothing sort of woman,” he whispered, grabbing his own handful of popcorn.

And just like that, she loved him more.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

W
hen they returned from the movie, Garrett thought about having a beer but decided it was time to check his phone, sift through any e-mails. Grabbing it off the nightstand of the bedroom Sage grew up in, he stopped cold when he noticed there were at least half a dozen text messages and two voice mails. Some from Logan, most from Kenna. Their dad had fallen off a ladder while he was changing a light bulb in the barn. There was more about the emergency room and a cast.

“He’s resting at home. He’s fine, but I wanted you to know,” Kenna said when he finally got a hold of her. “Are you having a good time? How was the balloon ride?”

Garrett barely heard the rest of what she said as he stood in the Jeffries’ kitchen. His heart was thundering in his chest and in the back of his mind, he knew this had happened because he’d left. Like the balloon, what went up always came down. He was part of a unit, an integral spoke in the wheel. While it had been surreal spending time with Sage, this was not his world, never would be. What had happened to his father made that crystal clear. He wouldn’t have been on that ladder if Garrett had been there.
What if something worse had happened?

The rational part of his brain knew his father would be fine, as Kenna had said, but the other part that pictured him alone and hurt was more than Garrett could bear. He knew it made no sense to a normal person from a normal childhood if there was such a thing, but it was the way he had always felt about his family. They needed him, and as much as everyone joked that he should “lighten up” or “go have fun,” Garrett knew he had no business having a life away from his responsibilities. Logan and Kenna were the ones with separate lives, but he was the rock, the piece left behind so everything stayed together. He didn’t mind being that guy until Sage changed everything. She kept rolling down the window, pointing out the scenery in a world where he needed to focus on straight ahead. His family’s history, the jobs of hundreds of people. . . All counted on him to stay focused. Floating around in the clouds with a beautiful woman, there simply wasn’t time for it.

He told Sage what happened, thanked her family, and then went back to where he belonged.