Chapter Ten
Beckett
What was happening to me? Zia hadn’t been wrong.
The Beckett who had declined to play Apocalypse Attack when all his gaming buddies were free was not a Beckett that had appeared before today.
Normally, I jumped at the chance to play, especially because the instances of all three of my online friends being available at the same time were so rare.
But I had company today.
Attractive company.
Company that needed me.
Well, she needed my know-how anyway.
And I hadn’t lied. We were on a roll. It made sense to keep . . . rolling. The sooner we had Sadie’s website up and running, the sooner she could start making money.
“Thank you for choosing to continue working with me,” Sadie said. “I’ve extended the offer of free Kalm Kingdom services into the afterlife for you.”
“Sweet, but if I need your services in the afterlife, I didn’t end up where I thought I was going to,” I joked.
“You’re definitely going to Heaven,” Sadie said. “You spent half a day—and are planning to spend more of it—with a stranger, helping her in ways she can probably never truly repay.”
“Seeing Kalm Kingdom take off will be payment enough.” I stood, gathered our plates, and brought them to the sink to rinse and put in the dishwasher.
Sadie closed the bag of chips and stashed them in the correct cupboard as if she knew where everything went in my kitchen.
And that was a pleasant notion. One I wanted to be true.
“Shall we?” I arced an arm toward the hallway that led to my office and Sadie led the way, that familiarity hitting me square in the chest again.
We settled in our seats and dove back in, polishing the website, designing and ordering business cards, and making several versions of a flyer. By the time we came up for air, darkness had crept in outside.
“Oh, I never meant to stay this long,” Sadie said. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience, Beckett.”
“Who said you were inconvenient?”
She paused in shoving all her little papers back into her tote bag, let the bag sag on her chair, and put her hands on her hips. “Can you honestly say you were looking forward to working on this with me today? Your sister volunteered you.”
I rocked back in my gaming chair. “Okay. I admit to being a little peeved at Vanessa at first for getting me into this, but you didn’t turn out to be the headache I had anticipated.”
Sadie put a hand to her chest and let out an exaggerated sigh. “Oh, such poetry.” Then she rolled her eyes, which struck me so funny because the expression didn’t seem to fit her . . . her poised demeanor.
“Hey, I never claimed to be a poet.” I put my hands up. “I’m a tech nerd, not a bard.”
“A skilled tech nerd.” Sadie resumed collecting her papers. “All that’s left for me to do is add my short biography to the website and get the word out.”
I moved back toward my laptop and hovered my hands over the keyboard. “We could pump out the bio right now. I’ve got more gas in the tank.”
“That’s all right. I can at least puzzle over that part on my own.”
Sadie had been reluctant to work on a bio with me when I suggested we do that part earlier. No photos. Not wanting to write a bio. Randomly showing up in Greenridge from I didn’t even know where.
Was she merely super private or was she hiding something?
I was about to ask her, but a little voice in my head told me not to ruin a perfectly nice day. Especially because that day was ending and I didn’t want either of our auras to darken as we parted ways.
And look at me all concerned about auras.
“Do you know that Patty has a board in Patty’s Pit Stop that advertises local stuff?” I shut my laptop and stood to walk with Sadie out into the living room.
“I do know that.” She rested her tote bag on one of the oversized chairs. “Patty invited me to put up a flyer.”
“Great. That ought to get the word out.”
She started packing up her singing bowls. I wanted to help, but now that I’d seen them, I was terrified I’d break one of them. They were so delicate and she clearly knew how to handle them.
After she zipped the cases closed, she brought them over to my front door while I carried her tote bag over.
“I had another launch idea.” And maybe I wanted her to stay a little longer.
“I’m listening,” Sadie said. “So far all your ideas have benefited me.”
I had a couple of ideas that would benefit both of us, but we weren’t ready for that yet.
Were we?
I shook my head, reminding myself again not to ruin the day.
“So we often have special events at Hartley’s Nest,” I began.
“My sister and my oldest brother, Darius, run art and academic classes here. One of my sisters-in-law-to-be, Carina, will be starting a preschool here after the winter. The public comes here to use our nature trail. What I’m saying is that Hartley’s Nest is part of the community so what if you did a free mindfulness event here as a kickoff to your business?
It would be a great way to showcase your services.
You know, give people a taste and leave them wanting more. More they have to pay for.”
Sadie was quiet for a few moments as she chewed on her bottom lip, looking sexy as hell while she contemplated my idea.
Then I couldn’t wait any longer to get an answer from her. “So . . . what do you think?”
“I think your generosity knows no limits, Beckett Hartley.” She fiddled with the sleeve of her sweater where it rested at her wrist. “You’ve already done so much.”
“But doing an event here at Hartley’s Nest wouldn’t be me doing anything,” I said quickly. “You’d be the one doing the doing.”
She grinned. “More poetry.”
I nudged her shoulder. “C’mon. What do you say?”
“Are you sure your family would be okay with this idea?” she asked.
As Sadie’s question still hung in the air between us, I caught sight of my mom and Jimmy out the window as they both approached my front door.
“We can find out right now,” I said as I opened the door. “Hey, Mom. Jimmy.”
“Oh, hey.” Mom’s brow furrowed. “How did you know we were out here?” She backed up a bit and scanned around my front door. “Do you have cameras out here?”
“I do,” I said, “but that’s not how I knew. My guest here was about to leave so we were right at the door.” I turned toward Sadie. “Mom, this is Sadie Rodgers. Sadie, this is the legendary Beth Hartley.”
Mom swatted my chest then looked at Sadie. “Legendary is his way of saying I’m old.”
“It is not.” I glanced at Jimmy. “Would you or would you not agree that my mother is a legend in Greenridge?”
“She is well known throughout the town,” Jimmy said, rubbing at his beard as he regarded my mother, his eyes full of admiration. “I’m sure there are youngsters that want to grow up to be her someday.”
“Oh, you two.” My mom rolled her eyes, but she adored what we were saying. “Hello, Sadie. This is Jimmy Slater.”
“We’ve actually met already,” Sadie said.
“She helped me with the hay.” Jimmy extended his arm then winced. “My elbow is sore today.”
My mother gave his arm a tender little rub then her attention was back on Sadie. “It’s lovely to meet you, Sadie.”
“The honor is all mine, Mrs. Hartley.” Sadie glanced back at me, a little smile tilting up her lips. “I must compliment you on raising such a generous and kind man. Beckett has spent his entire day helping me for free.”
My mom’s gaze instantly softened as she looked at me.
“My Beckett is a good one, isn’t he?” She stepped closer to cup my cheeks.
“He’s also intelligent and gifted with finances.
He keeps Hartley’s Nest on budget.” She gently turned my head to the left then the right.
“And he’s handsome too. Don’t you think so, Sadie? ”
I hooked my fingers on my mother’s wrists to lower her hands. “Okay, Mom. That’s enough of that.”
“What? It’s a simple question,” my mother said.
“One with a simple answer,” Sadie said, but instead of supplying the answer, she popped back into my house to retrieve her tote bag and the singing bowl cases.
Did she think I was handsome or not? I was dying to know.
When she came back outside, however, she headed straight for her car. Jimmy immediately jogged over and opened the back passenger door to help her.
“She’s cute, Beckett,” Mom said quietly as Sadie loaded her things into the car and chatted with Jimmy. “Where did you find her?”
“Originally, I found her lying in a grassy field at Granite Cliff National Park,” I said.
“I thought she was dead, but she was meditating. Then Vanessa and I ran into her again while shopping for clothes. Vanessa volunteered my skills when we found out Sadie wanted to start a business that offers services such as yoga and meditation.” I arrowed a thumb to my house behind me.
“She gave me a phenomenal sound bath. Helping her will help the community.”
“You’re the best person to help her.” Mom turned her attention back to me. “And you like her. I can tell.”
I thrust my arm out toward Sadie. “What’s not to like?
She looks like that and she’s very . . .
I don’t know . . . very sweet.” I hadn’t thought so at first when she’d badmouthed my aura, but she’d actually been right.
After spending the day with her, I had a different perspective on auras and on her.
Sadie and Jimmy made their way back over to us so we didn’t say any more, but the subject of liking Sadie cycled through my brain still.
“I told Sadie she should do a free event here at Hartley’s Nest to launch her business,” I said. “That’s fine with you, Mom, right?”
“Of course. This place is for the community—both the wildlife and the people.” Mom smiled at Sadie. “We’d love to have you do an event here.” She held up an index finger. “As long as you promise to incorporate nature into your offering.”
“That’s a promise I can absolutely agree to.
” Sadie pressed her hands together in a prayer pose.
“Thank you so much, Mrs. Hartley.” Her gaze landed on me again.
“And thank you, Beckett, for everything. I can’t believe how much we accomplished today and that now I have a launch event to plan.
” She bounced up and down a little. “I’m so excited! ”
Seeing her excited made me excited.
“Plan out the event in terms of what you want to do,” Mom said, “then let Beckett know and we’ll handle whatever needs handling on our end.
” She focused on me. “Jimmy and I came over here because Logan purchased the new generator for the farmhouse.” She held out some papers to me that Jimmy handed her from an inside pocket of his jacket.
“He wanted these to get to you, and Jimmy and I were up for taking a walk so here you go.”
I took the papers—receipts and warranties for the generator. “Great. I’ll log this tonight.”
“Tomorrow is fine if you have plans this evening.” Mom winked at Sadie.
“Oh, I’m leaving,” Sadie said. “I’ve used up enough of Beckett’s precious time today.”
“I’m sure he has more time to spare.” Jimmy winked as well but at me instead.
“We’ll get out of your hair.” Mom looped her arm around Jimmy’s and they both turned around on my front walkway. “Looking forward to that event, Sadie. See you, Beckett.” She gave a wave and the two of them strolled off.
“How could I have ever thought Jimmy Slater was dangerous?” Sadie asked once Mom and Jimmy were far enough away to not hear her.
“It’s pretty easy to do,” I said, “but I’ve seen enough evidence to come to the conclusion that he makes my mom happy. What else do I need to know about the guy, you know?”
Sadie angled her head as Mom and Jimmy leisurely walked away. A look of such longing came over her face, and I understood the feeling.
I was about to suggest she come back inside the house and we hang out, but she jolted a little as if just realizing she’d been hyper-focused on Mom and Jimmy.
“I have to get home.” She turned toward me. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Beckett. I’ll plan out the event and have the particulars to you as soon as possible.”
“Great. Then we can look at the calendar and see when would be a good time to schedule it. Sooner rather than later would be good, especially if you want to host it outside here. It’ll be getting too cold quickly.
” At least this gave me an excuse to have to talk to and see her again.
Maybe then I’d be braver in asking her to spend time with me in a non-business way.
“Bye.” Sadie gave me a little wave then skipped off to her car.
Did I watch until I couldn’t see her brake lights anymore?
I sure did.
Then I went back into my house, painfully aware of how alone I was now and not liking that one bit. Maybe Zia and the guys were still available to play Apocalypse Attack.
Somehow, though, I knew playing a video game wasn’t going to be enough. Not after a day spent with Sadie.
I went into my office and hopped online to search Sadie Rodgers. The only search result, however, was the website we’d built today. She had no other online footprint, which was odd, but the idea that she liked privacy was becoming apparent.
I swiveled to face my gaming station, but honestly, the desire to play wasn’t there right now so I headed to my home gym and did some lifting.
After a shower, I considered gaming again, but I ended up on the couch instead, remembering how relaxed Sadie had made me with her breathwork and sound bath.
I flicked on the TV to dispel the quiet, but instead of watching a show or a movie, I found a music channel that played singing bowls.