More Than Cookies (The Maple Leaf Series) (6 page)

“Okay.” Orion folded his hands on his stomach and Sage made a mental note to ask about the missing part of his pinkie finger. She should have been revolted by that—the guy was missing the whole tip for crying out loud—but somehow it made him look a little rougher, a little more mountain man-ish.

What is wrong with me?

She scurried into the hallway and walked about three doors down from Orion’s. “What do you want?” she said into her phone.

“Hello to you too, Sage. Why are we whispering?” Hope asked.

“Whispering?” Sage rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know.” Was it because she didn’t want her sister to know she was visiting a stranger in the hospital?
Yeah, probably.
“I repeat, what do you want?”

“A simply ridiculous bouquet of red roses was delivered for you at Mom’s. Card says, ‘To Sage. I can’t stop thinking about you. Scott.’ Who’s Scott?”

Damn.

She hadn’t told her family about her date with the detective. It had basically been a non-event, and she didn’t need the inquisition that always accompanied the arrival of a new man. Rick could be particularly prickly to a new man. Scott hadn’t even made it to the dessert round, never mind the this-is-my-family round. He definitely should
not
be sending her roses.

“Scott was a guy I met for dinner last night. No spark. Moving on.” Sage played with the frayed threads on her jean shorts.

“This bouquet would tend to indicate you are the only one moving on,” Hope said.

“Hey, not my fault. I made it clear there wouldn’t be a date number two, Hope.”

“That’s it? No details?” A pleading edge worked its way into Hope’s voice.

“Nope. Not worth the details. Honestly.” Besides, she didn’t want to waste time explaining it now. She wanted to get back to Orion. “Listen, I’ll talk to you later. I’m in the middle of something.” The middle of what, she had no idea, but that wasn’t going to stop her.

“Where are you anyway?” Hope asked.

“Out. I’ll see you in a little bit.”

She ended her call while Hope was still talking. She’d get some grief over that later, but for now, she jammed the phone into her back pocket and made her way back to Orion’s room. Voices reached her ears before she entered.

“This is why she can’t live with you, Orion,” a shrill woman’s voice said. “Bullets? You can’t have a child around guns and bullets.”

“It was an accident, Adriana, and
I
wasn’t the one with the gun or the bullets. Victim here. I wasn’t doing any shooting. I got shot.” Orion’s voice wasn’t the quiet calm it had been when they were chatting. Now it was angry and frustrated, but still sexy as hell.

“My daddy got shot,” a higher and almost crying voice said.

“It’s okay, baby,” Orion said gently. “The hospital fixed me up, and I’ll be as good as new in a few days.”

“I miss you, Daddy.” Definitely crying now.

Sage’s throat tightened as she listened in the hallway. True, she didn’t have any kids of her own, but she could easily imagine how hard it would be to not see one’s child every day. It sounded as if Myah was as miserable as Orion was about them not being together.

“I miss you too, angel, but Daddy needs to stay here and rest. Then I’ll come for you,” Orion said.

“You can try,” the woman said.

“I will try. Try and succeed.” Sage loved the tone of Orion’s voice now. Determined. Strong. Protective.

The woman scoffed and Sage pictured a hideous witch of an ex-wife in there.

“With your father roaming and rambling like a moron, your high-risk line of work with chainsaws—yeah, that’s good for little girls to be around—and no money for a lawyer to match mine, you don’t have a chance at getting Myah, Orion. Not even the hint of a chance.”

“I want to be with Daddy.”

“Doesn’t matter, Myah. You’re not going to be. Get your fill now. I only brought you so you’d shut up about seeing him.”

Wow. Bitchtastic.

It got quiet in the room, except for the sounds of Myah crying, and Sage couldn’t take it anymore. She stepped into the doorway as Orion’s ex-wife was saying, “Who the fuck does this purse belong to?”

“That would be mine,” Sage said as she walked into the room.

A dainty little girl with tons of black curls was draped over Orion, her pale white arms looped around his neck as she clung to him. She blinked tears out of blue eyes exactly like Orion’s, and Sage nearly stumbled over the child’s beauty and resemblance to him.

“And who are you?” Witchy Ex-wife asked.

“A friend.” Sage took in the woman’s short, sleek red hair, cut to frame an angular face. Her blue eyes shot lasers at Sage, but there was no denying the woman was beautiful. She wore a fitted, black pencil skirt and a white ruffly blouse that screamed style and power. Clearly a chick of high breeding, she should have intimidated Sage.

“Orion only has two friends. Adam and his mousy sister,” she said. “He doesn’t have friends like you.”

Hiss and scratch.

“And what exactly does ‘friends like you’ mean?” Sage shot back. This lady had no idea who she was messing with.

Orion and Myah watched the volley of words in silence, but Sage caught the grin Orion tried to hide behind Myah’s hair as he hugged her.

“Slutty friends.” Witchy Ex-wife crossed her arms and straightened so she stood at her full height. She was about six inches taller than Sage. Regardless, no one called Sage Stannard a slut.

Sage took a few steps closer to Witchy and heard Orion take in a breath. “Look here, I am not, nor have I ever been, a slut.”

“Daddy, what’s a slut?” Myah asked.

“He’ll explain it when you’re older,” Sage said. “Right now, you need to leave.” She pointed at Witchy. “Orion’s been through enough yesterday and today and you’re going to let him have some time with
his
daughter. Go get yourself some coffee or whatever it is beasts like you drink, and give him at least an hour with her. You can spare him that much courtesy at least.”

Witchy opened her mouth to protest, but Sage gave her the Joy Stannard Stare-Down Special. Her mother had been using the power of her stare to keep Rick, Hope, and her in line for as long as Sage could remember. The skill had been passed on to Sage alone. Rick’s blue eyes were too kind and Hope’s brown ones were too puppy dog, but Sage’s green eyes could cut like a lawnmower blade. She enjoyed using them on Witchy right now.

“Fine.” Orion’s ex-wife hiked her purse up onto her shoulder. “One hour. Then she’s mine again.” She stomped out of the hospital room and Orion and Myah looked at Sage with identical expressions of shock on their faces.

“How did you do that?” Orion finally asked.

“That was awesome!” Myah giggled, her tears now dry. “Are you magical?”

Orion laughed, and Sage absolutely loved the deep, husky sound of it. His entirely too gorgeous face transformed into something even more breathtaking when he laughed.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “I’m just a caterer.”

“So you can make more than cookies?” Orion’s pupils grew as if the mere thought of food being prepared was a turn-on to him.

Men and their stomachs.

“Yes, I’m multi-talented.”

Again, his pupils grew, but Sage was pretty sure cooking wasn’t the cause anymore.

“Mommy can’t cook at all.” Myah scrunched up her nose as if she were remembering a meal gone horribly wrong because of Witchy Ex-wife. “Can’t she help us, Daddy?”

“Help us with what, baby?” Orion asked.

Myah slid off the bed and stood in front of Sage. She was so petite she reached just under Sage’s waist. Her delicate, doll-like frame looked as if it could barely support all that hair spilling black curls everywhere. She took Sage’s hand.

“Can’t she help us win against Mommy?” A fat tear rolled down one perfect cheek as she looked up at Sage. “I just want to be with Daddy and Gramps.”

Sage kneeled and brushed the tear away. “I’m not a lawyer, sweetie, but I’ll see what I can do.”

Myah shot forward and wrapped her arms around Sage’s neck as she had done to Orion. Without thinking, Sage’s arms came around Myah, and she squeezed the child against her chest.

In that moment, Sage discovered two important things. One, she truly was going to see what she could do for Orion and Myah. She had no idea how she could help. She just knew she had to.

The second thing she learned was that once you got hugged by a little girl like Myah, you’ll never be the same.  

****

“Where’s Lily?” Sage marched into Rick’s cabin and dropped her purse on the kitchen table.

Rick came out from his living room. “Why, hello, Rick. So nice to see you.”

Sage stuck her tongue out at her cousin then said, “Sorry. Hello. You’re the best cousin in the whole wide world, Ricky.”

“Don’t call me Ricky.”

“Don’t bark at me for not saying hello then.” Sage wandered deeper into the cabin. “Seriously, where is Lily?”

“She’s at her grandmother’s place.” Rick pointed out his kitchen window, not that Lily’s grandmother’s place could be seen through all the woods that separated Rick’s property from hers. “She’s making plans for turning Gail’s estate into a bed and breakfast inn.”

“You’re definitely going to let me put my catering skills to use on that, right?” Sage’s mind was jumping from one possible menu item to another. Though things were less than exciting around these parts most of the time, she did love baking confections for the storefront portion of Rick’s maple syrup company. During the non-sugaring seasons, she filled in the gaps with catering jobs here and there. A steady job providing breakfast to an inn would be awesome.

“It’s up to Lily, but I’ll put in a good word for you.”

“You’d better.” Sage punched him in the shoulder. “Lily will hire me in a minute. She’s smart.”

“Smart, gorgeous, amazing… all mine,” Rick said, putting a big hand on his heart.

“Okay, don’t get mushy and annoying with all your happiness.” Sage pretended to barf.

“Sorry, but I never thought I’d be this happy, Sage.”

“I never thought you’d be this happy either. Hermit grouches are usually hermit grouches for life, but look at you, all smiles and romance.” After looking at him for a moment, she stepped closer and caught him in a hug. “Happiness looks good on you.” She released him then stared at her sneakers. “Okay, on to why I’m here.”

“It’s not to irritate me?” Rick dodged the slap she tossed at him.

“Not today, wise ass,” she said. “What do you know about Orion Finley?”

“The chainsaw guy?” Rick furrowed his brows.

“Yes. You built him a barn workshop.”

“I remember. It was one of my favorites.” He motioned for Sage to follow him into the living room where he extracted an album from one of his floor-to-ceiling bookcases. He flipped through the album. “Here it is.”

Sage took the album from Rick and sat on a rocking chair to study the picture. A traditional A-frame barn with dark red siding and white trim, the building screamed New England. It was a long rectangular structure with a ton of windows and two huge sliding doors on the front.

“He wanted the opening to be big so he could get large tree trunks in there for carving,” Rick said from over Sage’s shoulder. “And lots of natural light, hence all the windows.”

Sage flipped the page and loved the post and beam look inside the barn. The rafters were all exposed and the planks lining the ceiling were full of gorgeous knots.

“This is beautiful, Rick.” She ran her fingers over the photos as she admired them.

“Hey, I just build what the customer wants, and this guy had an incredibly artistic eye. He knew exactly what he wanted.”

What he wants now is his daughter.

“Why do you want to know about this guy?”

Sage gave Rick a short summary of Orion’s situation, her heart simply breaking for the way Myah had clung to him at the hospital.

“Maybe there’s a good reason Myah shouldn’t be with him,” Rick said when Sage was done.

“No. I witnessed Witchy Ex-wife with my own two eyes. She’s pure evil. From what I’ve seen of Orion so far, Myah belongs with him.”

“A man who broke into a house for sale and bled all over it.”

“That was an extreme situation. He was trying to get help. He wouldn’t have broken into that house for any other reason.” She was sure of this.

“Be careful, Sage. Your track record is—”

“Pathetic.” She puffed out a breath. “I know, but this is… different. I just want to help him get his daughter back. For him. For the little girl. Because I hated the way Witchy Ex-wife spoke to both of them—and to me.”

“How did she speak to you?”

“She called me a slut.”

Rick backed up as if he’d been slapped. “Nobody calls you names, except me.” He grinned and dug in his pocket. He pulled out his cell phone and tapped the screen a few times. “Babe, can you come home? Sage is looking for you.” He listened for a moment, his cheeks getting a little red in the process. “Okay, see you in few.” He shoved the phone back into his pocket. “She’ll be right over.”

“And after I leave, she’s going to get naughty with you, isn’t she?”

Rick sputtered and snatched the album from Sage’s hands. With his back to her as he put the album back on the shelf, he asked, “What makes you say that?”

“Oh, Ricky, Ricky, Ricky.” She wagged a finger at him. “Your cheeks say it all, Cuz.” She cupped his face. His skin was even hot. “Newlyweds.” She slapped him lightly then tossed herself on the couch.

“I’ll get us some drinks,” Rick said.

“Get yourself some ice, Hot Stuff.”

“Shut up.”

While Rick banged around in his kitchen, Sage wondered if he was right. What if there was some dark and creepy reason Myah shouldn’t be with Orion? What if Witchy Ex-wife wasn’t always such a witch? What if Orion caused her to become that monster of a woman Sage had met today?

“Fuck.” She hated having doubts. Especially about such a sexy guy. She wanted him to be the innocent victim in what she had witnessed. She wanted him to be the loving, gentle father he appeared to be, the kind of guy who would raise his daughter with all the kindness and wisdom he had. She wanted him to be the hero.