Chapter 51 - Hayden
HAYDEN
“Yo! Sexy!”
I was halfway through the parking lot, almost to my car. The voice made me smile immediately, though.
“Who, me?”
I whirled, and spread my fingers across my chest dramatically.
“Yeah, you,” he barked. “Do you see any other drop-dead gorgeous women around here?”
Sawyer was straddling his bike, looking hotter than hell in his faded leather jacket and ripped up jeans. Between those two muscular thighs, I could see my helmet resting on the gas tank.
“Need a ride?”
I returned his playful smirk. “What kind of ride are we talking about?”
“Ah, such gutter talk,” he chuckled. “You really do have a dirty mind, don’t you?”
“Yes I do,” I confirmed, “and it’s fully one-third your fault.”
I didn’t need a ride home from work, but I could always come back for my car later on. And I sure wasn’t going to pass up the chance to jump on his bike with him. Clicking the lock button, I slipped the remote back into my jacket pocket.
“Where are we going?” I asked, as I hopped on behind him.
“To meet a girl,” he answered smoothly.
I stopped, halfway through tucking my hair into the helmet. “A girl?”
“Yeah. You still in?”
I thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. “Depends on the girl.”
He laughed, and kicked the engine to life with one booted foot.
“That’s the spirit.”
With that we tore off, slicing into the rapidly gathering darkness.
I thought about how much I hated it that the days were growing shorter, the nights colder.
Sawyer’s back felt warm though, even through the leather.
My hands felt safe and secure, interlaced tightly against his hard stomach as we leaned into the turns.
It wasn’t long before we arrived at our destination — some rosily-lit restaurant at the end of town.
Sawyer locked our helmets to the seat, rather than carry them in.
Then he was ushering me through the door, past the hostess, and through a maze of cozy, wooden tables covered in rich, fragrant Italian food.
I recognized her immediately, though I had no idea who I was looking for. She was a middle-aged woman, petite and well-kept, with short blonde hair and a warm, welcoming smile.
And of course, she looked just like Sawyer.
“Hi mom.”
She stood and hugged him so tightly it made my heart melt. But it was her expression of true love and happiness that really hit home.
“This is Hayden,” Sawyer said, pulling me forward by the hand. “Hayden, meet mom.”
Her face lit up with a mixture of surprise and elation. I needed one of those hugs though, so I took it.
“So nice to meet you…” I trailed awkwardly.
“Sarah,” the woman finished for me.
Sawyer chuckled as we extracted ourselves from each other’s arms. “Guess I should’ve said that.”
“Yes, you should’ve,” his mother chastised him gently. “But that’s okay. You were probably too blinded by her beauty to even think straight.”
My complexion was strawberry red as I sank into the chair Sawyer pulled out for me. Sarah only smiled and gave me a reassuring wink.
“He sprung this on you, didn’t he?” she asked.
“Yes,” I confirmed. “You too?”
“Oh yeah,” she chuckled. “But that’s my son. Sweetly spontaneous, but unpredictable as a swirling wind.”
I grinned back my agreement. It was the perfect description.
“So are you two…”
Rather than answer, I looked to Sawyer. His hands were already busy buttering bread.
“The answer to that is kind of complicated,” he replied nonchalantly.
Sarah’s face scrunched, as her blonde eyebrows knitted together. It made her look even more like him.
“Bullshit,” she huffed. “Either you are or you aren’t. There’s nothing complicated about that.”
“Yes, but—”
“Don’t leave this poor young woman hanging, Sawyer,” his mother scolded him. “If this is the one you told me about—”
“He told you about me?” I couldn’t help but say.
Sarah turned to face me again, this time with a smile so pretty it was a little disarming.
“He’s talked about you nonstop, dear. In fact, he’s called me more over the past two weeks than he has in the past six months!”
“Mom…”
“How could you?” I elbowed him. “That’s terrible.”
“I know, right?” Sarah piled on. “First he goes traipsing all over the world, country after country, continent after continent. But now that he’s back? I hear from him even less than when he was, say, deep in Angola.”
“I was never ‘deep’ in Angola,” Sawyer protested. “We pulled into Luanda once, for a weekend, but—”
“Shush,” his mother hissed. “We girls are talking.”
She winked at me again, this time while holding a hand up to the side of her face so her son couldn’t see. I tried unsuccessfully to stifle a chuckle. Sarah, I could tell right away, was the type of person people were instantly drawn to.
“He told me you were pretty,” she went on, eying me up and down. “As usual, he was wrong. You’re stunning.”
“Umm... thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, thank your parents,” she smiled. “My son also mentioned you take care of animals. That you do volunteer work finding homes for them, down at a local shelter.”
She paused, expecting an answer. I nodded.
“That makes you kind-hearted,” Sarah went on. “And generous. And… what else did you call her? Confident? Independent? Emotionally mature?”
“Mom…”
“Supportive. Expressive. Affectionate, to the point of—”
“MOM!”
Sarah stopped, chuckled, and reached for her mostly empty glass of wine. With her other hand, she pulled the waiter over. A moment later, we’d all ordered some drinks.
“So I hear you’re a medical doctor.”
“No!” I nearly choked. “I’m a physical therapist.”
“But you heal people, right?”
“Sort of,” I shrugged. “I guess you could say I help them heal.”
“And you have a license?”
“Yes.”
“Same thing then,” she waved me away dismissively.
Sawyer’s hand found mine, under the table. He interlaced our fingers and pulled it onto his knee.
“So you found a beautiful, affectionate doctor with a big heart,” Sarah continued, “who does volunteer work and rides on the back of that infernal motorcycle you insist on driving around. Is that about the size of it?”
Sawyer answered with facial expressions that only a mother could read. I could see the admiration for her in his eyes, though. The purity of their connection was truly beautiful.
“If she’s all these wonderful things,” Sarah continued without missing a beat, “then what’s the problem?”
Sawyer let out a sigh. “There is no problem, mom.”
“Tell me about the complications, then?” she demanded.
Two things were slowly becoming obvious. One was that Sawyer had spoken all about me to his mother as if I were his girlfriend. Which, technically I was.
The other, was that he hadn’t told her the rest of the story.
“What Sawyer’s not telling you,” I began slowly, “is that I met him while I was dating someone else. Or to be more accurate, two other men.”
He squeezed my hand under the table. It might’ve been a warning, or it might’ve been something else.
Either way, I wasn’t lying to this woman.
“His friends?” she guessed correctly. “Carter and Bodie?”
I nodded and reached for bread.
“So you…”
“Met them all together, at the same time,” I went on. “They all liked me. And if we’re being honest, I liked them.”
Sarah shrugged. “What’s there not to like?”
“Exactly.”
“I mean they’re three handsome, successful men.”
“They sure are.”
“And they all took you out?” she asked. “Rather than fight over you, I mean.”
Our drinks arrived. I dove for mine like a Titanic survivor, reaching for a piece of flotsam.
“I guess you could say I’ve been dating all of them,” I answered, without looking away. “This was their idea, by the way. Not that I argued with it, mind you. I was all for exploring my options. But things just sort of… happened.”
“All at once,” said Sarah.
“Yes.”
She looked at me shrewdly. Her expression became unreadable. “I see.”
“Your son is amazing,” I added quickly. “His friends are equally amazing. They’ve helped me through a very rough time in my life, and were there for me when no one else was. They pulled me out of a very dangerous situation. They’ve even saved me from physical harm.”
Sawyer and his mother exchanged knowing glances. A little voice in my head told me she knew more than she was letting on.
“So who are you going to pick?”
Very slowly, I drank my wine. It was all I could do.
“Alright, well then do you think you could love more than one person?”
What kind of answer was she fishing for here? I really didn’t know.
“I never considered it, until now,” I answered honestly. “I mean, as a parent, you can love more than one child. As a child, you love both parents unequivocally. Obviously, this is very different. But when it comes to love…”
Sarah’s mouth twisted a little, into something akin to a smile. And was that a gleam of mischief in her eye?
“Did you ever fall for more than one man?” I asked her, daringly.
Sawyer’s mouth dropped open. His gaze swung back and forth between us.
“Yes.”
He choked on his drink. “Mom!”
“Hey, I had a life before your father, you know!” his mother cried, defensively. “And it was a very fun life, too.”
Sawyer’s forehead slowly dropped to the table. He put his fingers in his ears.
“Back in college I went on a lot of dates,” Sarah continued. “I had several different suitors, some of them simultaneously. A few of them didn’t even know about each other.” She looked at me, and her smile widened. “I’ll bet it’s a lot more fun when they do.”
The sparkle in her eye was gradually replaced by deep reflection. I could see her traveling the corridors of distant memories, kicking open the doors to rooms long since forgotten.
“Sawyer hasn’t spoken to his father in almost four years now,” said Sarah, out of the blue. She looked at me pointedly. “What do you think of that?”
Long seconds ticked by. Twisting the stem of my wine glass, I bit my lip.
“I think some things you can find again,” I murmured softly. “But lost time is gone forever.”
We both looked over at Sawyer, who still hadn’t moved.
I knew there was more to the relationship with his father than what Carter had said, and the few things he’d told me.
But I also knew in my heart that he didn’t hate the man.
That somewhere, deep inside, was a path that led back to what used to be.
Sarah turned her attention back to me. I realized Sawyer had been the beneficiary of those same, steel gray eyes.
“Do whatever makes you happy,” Sarah ordered abruptly. It was as if a switch had flipped, and she’d decided for sure that she liked me. “Just don’t hurt each other. I know that part’s difficult, but that’s all the advice I have for you.” She wagged a finger at us both. “That, and have fun.”
Sawyer looked up again, making a face like he was about to be sick. I giggled at him. His mom’s smile widened.
“Now, let’s get something on this table other than bread already!” she declared, scanning around for the waiter. “I’m famished!”