Page 21 of Till The Cows Come Home
“So you’d be using me?”
“Yeah, basically.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” I questioned, my brain confused by thesuspicious lack of turmoil, but she didn’t offer any additional comments, just a quick chuckle, which caused word vomit to flow from my lips.
“This is going to be so great. They’re going to love seeing you. Sometimes they ask about you now and I just make shit up. Last week I told someone that you shaved off all your hair after a mental breakdown.”
“Miles!”
“What? You think they’ll support me if I tell them I broke you after buying your farm?”
“You did not break me.”
I stopped, my eyebrows raised to my hairline as I looked into Sage’s eyes.
“Alright, you broke me a little. But I don’t attribute it to you specifically. It was your actions that inadvertently shattered my hopes and dreams.”
“Ah, yes, much better.”
She just shrugged.
This was us now, candid and slightly unhinged, and it was honestly refreshing.
“So you’ll come sometime?"
“Sure,” she answered, her words oozing with sarcasm.
“I’m ignoring your mockery in order to bask in how awesome this is. Not only will people be happy to know those luscious locks grew back, but they’ll be even happier to know you’re involved again. It’s closely the greatest marketing scheme ever. A Baker running the Baker Farm stand!”
When I looked down at Sage, her eyes were following me closely, a tinge of blush creeping across her cheeks and I quickly sat back down next to her, assuming she was experiencing second hand embarrassment from my tangent.
“Sorry, usually when I get excited it’s just the cows around.”
“It’s not that. It's just the last time you got worked up you picked me up off my feet. I was bracing for impact.”
“That won’t happen again. I’m not offering you this in exchange for your affection. Consider my behavior from now on to be mostly professional.”
“Mostly professional,” she echoed, but the slight disappointment in her response didn’t go unnoticed.
I turned towards her, my knees resting against hers. The slight touch sent a wave of heat through me, and I could tell she mirrored the sentiment as pink spread further across her cheeks.
“Sage, if you’ve learned anything about our lives, it’s that nothing has been easy. You know you intrigue the hell out of me, it’s why I started asking you all these questions, so don’t take my professionalism for disinterest. The reason we’re in this mess is because I saw a beautiful woman and couldn’t stay away. But you’ve had so much taken from you, I refuse to take any more. Any moves past our friendship will be yours to make.”
“I didn’t question your professionalism because I wanted something more, I questioned it because I can’t imagine you acting even relatively normal, let alone professional.”
“Really? Because the thought of me picking you up again has you looking like a tomato.”
“You know, your lack of lifetime girlfriends makes more sense by the minute.”
“Whatever, it’s my turn for a question.”
“Wow, this is your nineteenth. Go forth.” She ushered, waving her hand in front of us.
“When’s the last time you let someone love you?”
I guess we were both full of surprises today, because Sage's eyes darted to mine, her barely recovering cheeks deepening again.
