Stroke of Love (29 page)

Luce gathered the children in a group and stood with them while Kate gathered the mingling parents; then she met Sage’s eyes and drank in his every step. She raked her eyes down his unshaven, incredibly sexy cheeks to the smile on his lips. A smile that she already missed even though it was ten feet in front of her. Muscles rippled across his shoulders and down his arms. His tank top clung to the muscled panes of his stomach, and by the time she drew her eyes back up, he was standing right in front of her.

“Someone’s been sneaky.” His voice was seductively smooth.

“How could we not celebrate for you and the kids?”

When he touched her hip, then kissed her cheek, she closed her eyes for a second, fighting the urge to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him again…and again. The cheering of the children pulled her back to reality and allowed her not to embarrass herself.

“Come on. They’re excited.” She took his hand and they joined the others. The parents spoke Creole among themselves, and Kate noticed that as they thanked Sage one by one, they spoke slowly and carefully.

Sage embraced each of them, and he made a point of telling each parent something complimentary about their child or children. In two weeks he’d come to recognize their strengths and weaknesses. It was just one of the things Kate loved about him.

“You doing any better?” Luce brushed Kate’s hair from her shoulder.

“Yeah. Sorry I was such a wimp earlier.” She watched Sage pick up Javier and hug him, and the sadness was slowly replaced by a feeling of gratitude. In two weeks, he’d given these kids so much. She couldn’t spend today wallowing in self-pity. This was a day to celebrate all he had done, and they both had a full agenda. This party was a gift, too. An hour to come together with the community and thank everyone for what they’d done.

“Come on. I have something I want to show you.” Luce took her hand and walked her toward the school.

Kate smiled at Sage as they passed. He and a group of children were digging into the fry jacks and laughing.

Luce stopped walking beside the mural. “I want you to take two seconds and look around you. I remember you telling me that when you first arrived there were about ten kids in the school on any given day.”

She remembered. The school had felt lonely and cold.

“You did this, Kate. You are the one who talked with the parents and stressed the importance of education. You’re the one who brought this community together on this level, something that may never have happened otherwise.”

Kate felt herself smile.

“Now look at the mural. Turn around.”

Kate did. The mural was gorgeous, and it made the building feel alive and happy.

“You might not have painted it, but you allowed it to happen and you facilitated it. Those kids jumping all over Sage? You helped them in so many ways. Please don’t ever think that what you do doesn’t matter. Your efforts have been vital to this community. And they’ll be vital to many more.”

“Oh, Luce.” The tears she’d been holding back sprang free as she wrapped her arms around Luce’s neck. “When I move to New York, you better not get sick of me.”

“Who are you kidding? It’ll be fun to watch a real-life romance right before my eyes.” Luce smiled as she turned Kate by the shoulders toward Sage.

“Hi,” Sage said.

“Hi.”

“I can’t believe you did this.” Sage glanced at the kids running around the schoolyard. “I’m so proud to have been part of this community, even if for only two weeks.”

“I didn’t do all of it. Caleb and Luce helped, and Sylvia cooked. Everyone helped.” She glanced at the kids. “I don’t think they’ll ever forget you, and with that beautiful mural, well, we might have to make a trip back in a year to touch up spots as the paint wears off from the rain and stuff.” She’d been thinking about coming back to see everyone, and that seemed like a perfect excuse.

Sage draped his arm over her shoulder. “Baby, we can come back anytime your little heart desires. Besides, how romantic would it be to come back in a year and revisit your hut?” He leaned in close and whispered, “It is the first place we ever made love.”

Kate felt heat creep up her cheeks. She shot a look at Luce, who, thankfully, was busy talking to Sylvia.

He used his index finger to draw her face back to his. “Hey, my job as your partner, your lover, and who knows what else one day, is to encourage your dreams and help you fulfill them, and I intend to do just that. We’re going to spend our lives making a difference.”

Kate was hung up on
who knows what else one day
.

“You’ve done that for me, Kate. I never knew how to fill the empty places in my life, and you took me by surprise and led the way.” He ran his finger down her cheek. “I know how sad you were this morning. I felt it, too. I can’t change the time we’ll be apart, but I can promise you that once we’re back in each other’s arms, it’ll take a crowbar to pry me away from you again.”

Sage took a step toward her, and she caught sight of Sylvia and Luce behind him. She laughed as Sage embraced her.

“Are my hugs funny?” he asked.

“No, but that is.” She pointed behind him at Luce and Sylvia puckering and making kissing noises.

Sage blew them each a kiss as a little girl came and grabbed Sage’s hand, then dragged him toward a group of older kids by the mural.

He called over his shoulder to Kate, “Stop wondering what else we’ll be one day. You’ll know when it happens.”

“You think you know me,” she called with a hint of sarcasm.
You couldn’t be more right.
She watched him with the kids and knew she was the luckiest girl on the planet.

AFTER THE PARTY, while Kate and Luce went into the village to take a few photographs, Sage and Caleb went into town to Skype Kurt. Caleb pushed his hands into the pockets of his shorts, then pulled them out for the fourth time in as many minutes.

“Nervous?” Sage had to remind himself that Kurt was Caleb’s idol. He should be used to seeing people’s reactions to his siblings. Men ogled Siena everywhere she went and women fawned over Rush. Apparently, Olympic skiers were like winter gods, no matter how snarky they were. But Kurt was a writer, not a public figure, and he certainly wasn’t the kind of guy who sought out publicity. Like Sage, he tended to keep to himself. While Sage spent his free time in his studio, Kurt spent his in his writing room. Granted, his writing room was one to be envied. It had a view of the mountains on three sides and warm, inviting furniture that would make the most edgy person want to hunker down with a good book. In contrast, Sage’s studio probably felt cold and empty to anyone but him. The large open loft had concrete walls and a concrete floor riddled with random splats of paint, various piles of metal, and lumps of clay. The last thing Sage wanted to worry about was ruining the floors when he was sculpting or painting.

Caleb shoved his hands in his pockets again. “Yeah. I’m nervous. Wouldn’t you be? What if you met Vincent van Gogh?”

“Sure, considering he’s dead.” Sage didn’t want to embarrass Caleb, but he did want to thank him. “Hey, thanks for all you did for the party. That was really nice of you. I appreciate your efforts.”

Caleb looked down at the road. “It was nothing.”

“No, it was something, and it meant a lot to me. And to Kate.” He draped an arm over Caleb’s shoulder and felt his body stiffen. “Listen, if you ever need anything, when you’re here or after your assignment, you can come to me. Anytime.” He had become fond of Caleb, and he wanted Caleb to know that his friendship was real and that he could count on him.

“Thanks.”

Sage dropped his arm as they neared the café. “Really, man. Let’s be sure to exchange contact information. I’ll never be more than an email or a text away. And I mean that. I want to read that book of yours when it’s done.”

Sage waved to Makei when they entered the café. “Hi, Makei. How are you today?”

A smile spread slowly across Makei’s face. He pushed himself from the stool where he sat at the counter. He wore a colorful cotton shirt that fit him better than the ones Sage had seen him in previously, giving him a more youthful look. Sage realized that he probably wasn’t much older than Jack, though he moved like an old man.

“Good, thank you,” Makei said. “Internet?”

“Yes, please, and two of your incredible papaya smoothies, please.” Sage and Caleb sat at the bar while Makei plodded to the other side of the counter.

“Where is Kate today?” Makei asked. He set the computer monitor on the counter, then set the keyboard before Sage. His long, thin fingers trailed the edge of the counter as he moved around it to make the smoothies.

“She went into the village.” Sage logged onto the computer and tried three times before finally securing a connection. He hoped that the connection would hold, for Caleb’s sake. “Caleb, how much longer are you staying in Punta Palacia?”

Caleb tugged at the neck of his T-shirt. He bent his neck to the right, then to the left, as if he were stretching before a boxing round. Considering his pencil-thin neck was nowhere near the collar, Sage attributed his erratic movement to nerves.

“I’m not sure. I’m scheduled to be here another six months because of some timing and reassignment issue, but I might want to stay longer if they’ll let me.”

Sage made a mental note that Caleb wasn’t aware that they might close the location.

Makei handed them each a smoothie. They thanked him, and he went to a table and folded his hands in his lap and gazed toward the front door.

Before clicking Kurt’s name on the Skype address book, Sage turned to Caleb. “Listen, Kurt’s just like you and me, okay? Probably more like you than me. He’s a good guy. He’s quiet. He probably won’t make much conversation, but that’s just the way he is. You’ll need to ask him whatever it is you want to know, and don’t be scared off by his silence.”

Caleb nodded quickly.

“Sure you’re ready?”

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

Sage clicked Kurt’s number, and they watched the Skype icon spin. Kurt’s perfectly coiffed image appeared on the screen, and excitement filled Caleb’s eyes, as if he were a kid seeing Santa for the first time. Santa in a neatly pressed polo shirt sitting in front of a wall of windows.

“You must be Caleb,” Kurt said in an even, friendly voice.

“Yes. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.” Caleb’s hands shook. Sage watched him slide them beneath his thighs.

“Sure. Sage tells me you’re writing a book. Tell me about it.”

Listening to Kurt as a writer rather than his brother was strange. Kurt had always been the watcher in the family. He took in his surroundings, and if Sage tried hard enough, he thought he could see his brother taking mental notes that he might use in one of his thrillers. Kurt didn’t start conversations. He was the guy who nodded, threw in a word here or there, but preferred to be pretty much invisible. A bystander. Sage enjoyed seeing this less-introverted side of him.

“It’s a thriller based here in Belize. Villagers are being killed and no one can figure out why…”

Sage listened to the description of the dark thriller Caleb was writing, and he couldn’t reconcile the image of quiet, introverted Caleb writing about a killer running loose in the jungle murdering villagers. Then again, he’d never been able to reconcile Kurt’s personality and his writing thrillers either. As he listened to his brother talk about story arcs, believable killings, and which gruesome details will lure in readers and which might turn them off, Sage wondered if there was some secret genetic trait that thriller writers had. Maybe they were quiet because in their minds they were always plotting the perfect murder.

With that thought, he wandered outside. The blazing sun beat down on his face as he lowered himself onto a bench in front of the café. He thought about the visceral pull he’d felt last night to continue painting and how strong that urge had been, how all consuming, and how real the fear of losing his inspiration had felt. But he’d done it. He’d taken the first step toward a change in his zoning out, and though he had no idea if he’d be able to fight the urge to continue painting every time he promised to be somewhere, it was a start. Jack had been right. It wasn’t that Sage had been unable to change. He’d simply not been motivated enough to
really
try. He realized that Jack’s disappearing into the mountains of Colorado had lasted so long for the same reason. He hadn’t found a reason not to—until he’d met Savannah.

If Sage hadn’t felt so confined in New York, if he hadn’t needed to escape, if he hadn’t heard about AIA, he’d never have met Kate. And if he hadn’t met Kate, he’d still be floundering in a sea of indecision about how he could make his life more meaningful. He wouldn’t know the feeling of loving someone so completely. Yes, he decided. Fate definitely had a hand in
their
lives. How could it not? And how could he leave her tomorrow?

Caleb came outside twenty minutes later with a bounce in his step. “That was amazing. Your brother is amazing. Thank you, Sage. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me.”

Sage pushed the thought of leaving from his mind. “Yeah?”

“Oh my God. I’m so pumped about writing. I can’t even begin to tell you how great it was to talk to someone who totally gets disappearing into the world of writing.” Caleb walked with renewed confidence, his head held up high, his shoulders back, and his eyes full of life.

“That’s awesome.”
Disappearing into the world of writin
g. Maybe he and Kurt weren’t so different after all. He wanted to disappear into Kate for the next twenty-four hours.

“He told me about a writer’s conference he’s going to be speaking at. I can’t go, but wow. I can only imagine how great that would be. Your brother is so cool. You’re so lucky.”

Sage did feel lucky, but not for the reasons Caleb might have thought. His brothers and sister were a constant source of support—even when they gave one another shit. He wondered what it must be like for Kate not to have a sibling to lean on. That was something he couldn’t fix, but he would make sure that he was there for her. Unconditionally.

KATE AND LUCE took their time walking back to the compound. They’d taken loads of photographs with the residents, and Kate had a hard time keeping the sadness about leaving at bay. With Luce and Sage leaving so soon, she wanted to spend as much time with both of them as she could.