Page 20 of One Small Spark (Love in Sunshine #4)

FIFTEEN

WREN

I am such a sucker.

August didn’t want to walk to the small park by our house for his Wren Wednesday.

Nope, he wanted to go to the bigger park on the other side of town.

The one with miles of paved paths, two big play structures, and a disc golf course.

He also asked for a picnic lunch and unlimited rounds of hide and seek.

The hide and seek was pushing it, but I’m terrible at saying no to him. Naturally, I loaded his bike into the back of my car, got him buckled into his car seat, and headed across town after school.

“Look at me, Wren!” He’s carefully balancing on his bike so both training wheels hover over the path. There’s not a lot of wiggle room, but if he gets it just right, he’s really riding on his own.

Ian says they might as well take the training wheels off now, but Tess isn’t on board yet. She still wants to be a mama bear hovering over him.

“You’re doing great, buddy.”

He stands to pedal, shifting from side to side with each push. “I’m good at bike riding. ”

“You sure are. Do you want to go to the playground?”

We’re following the path that loops around the park, but it branches off not far ahead. That path splits through the middle of the park, taking us to both playgrounds, with the disc golf course spread out in between.

“No. I go this way with Ian.” He pedals along, nodding his dinosaur-covered helmet. “I want to watch the BMX guys.”

My stomach does a completely unnecessary flip. “Are you sure you don’t want to do the monkey bars? I bet you can get all the way across now.”

“No. I like to watch them go—” He makes a series of hoots and screeches that somehow exactly match the idea of people racing up and down the BMX trail. “I want to do it when I get big.”

“That will be so fun.” I don’t have much enthusiasm, but he doesn’t notice.

We loop around the perimeter until we reach the BMX trail at the rear of the park.

Several kids ride the dirt hills, whooping and hollering just like August’s demonstration.

They’re also wearing heavier-duty helmets than his, along with knee and elbow pads.

If August really wants to do this when he’s bigger, Tess is going to have a stroke.

My eyes are apparently Callahan-seeking missiles. I spot him near the trail as if that was my goal in coming out here all along. I should have known if it was bike-related, he would be here. He’s standing by the gate in the chain-link fence that surrounds the BMX park, talking with another man.

My best hope is to play it cool and pretend I’m not here. I lay out the blanket I brought in the grass beneath a shade tree and sit down to watch August ride the paved paths. With any luck, Callahan will leave in the opposite direction. He probably won’t even turn my way .

August shoots past me, pedaling like he’s trying to reach hyper speed. “Look how fast I can go, Wren!”

This is why I can’t have nice things.

Callahan spins around, and his gaze lands on me, squeezing the breath from my lungs.

He’s at least twenty feet away, but I shiver as if I’m close enough to see the flecks of gold in his brown eyes.

I swear his beard twitches. Probably a smirk.

That seems to be his default around me. He says something to the other man before heading my way.

That’s just perfect. It’s not enough for me to show up at his work whenever I please, I’m dropping by his home unannounced and uninvited, and now—well, whatever this is, there’s a clear correlation here. Bikes lead to Callahan. Don’t mind me, I’m just casually stalking the man.

He stops a few feet from my picnic blanket.

“I didn’t know you’d be here.” Yes. That’s a good and normal thing for me to blurt out.

“I didn’t know you’d be here, either.” He seems to find the coincidence a lot funnier than I do. His mouth slips into a loose smile that unclasps something deep in my chest.

August stops his bike level with us. “Hi, Shepherd! I’m riding my bike today.”

“I see that. You’re doing really well. I can tell you’ve been practicing.”

I’m not sure I’ve ever heard Callahan talk to August before. The fact that August remembers his name at all means they’ve run into him several times. Callahan’s sweet, soft encouragement does bad things to my ovaries.

I was starting to think my ovaries were myths. Aside from the less pleasant monthly reminders of their mostly unremarkable existence.

“Yeah. I’m with my aunt Wren. She says I’m the best bike rider in town. ”

“You’re the most enthusiastic pedaler I’ve seen.”

August grins at him, then shifts his attention to me. “Can I ride all the way around the BMX part?”

I look at the section of paved paths where he’s pointing. Because of the hills on the BMX trail, August won’t be visible the whole time as he loops behind it. I’m usually pretty chill with him, but I should probably have a line somewhere. Or so Tess keeps telling me.

“Ian lets me.” His big, pleading eyes prove he knows exactly what he’s doing.

Unfair of him to pit me against his new favorite person in the world. I like being in the top spot.

“Okay, but be careful. If you pass someone, make sure they know you’re there.” He doesn’t get going super fast, but he’s still figuring out how to brake appropriately. I’d hate for him to crash into someone in his eagerness.

“I will.” He turns his bike around on the path before careening away.

Callahan gazes down at me. “Do you want me to follow him and make sure he’s okay?”

I scan August’s route again. It’s not a busy day at the park, and he’ll only be out of sight for seconds at a time. I’m overreacting.

Oh, no. I’m turning into Tess. I can’t let that happen.

“That’s not necessary. Thanks, though.”

He goes on standing there, alternating between watching me and watching August. Not that long ago, I would have said something snarky to encourage him to move along. He would have bantered back, and I would have glared as he walked away after getting in a parting shot.

Now…

“You can sit down. If you want.” There’s more bite to my offer than I intend, but Callahan’s mouth tips up as if I issued him a fancy invitation complete with wax seal.

He sits next to me, stretches out his lanky legs while keeping his sneakers off my blanket, and leans back on his hands. He scans the park as if he’s not even seeing what’s in front of him, peak Callahan nonchalance on display.

But then his gaze collides with mine, and nothing about this feels nonchalant.

It’s giving off deeply chalant vibes. A week ago, I didn’t even want to share the same air with him.

But look at us now, sitting two feet apart on a picnic blanket, gazing into each other’s eyes like we’re acting out some romance book trope.

Again.

“Checking up on your business interests?” I ask, tilting my head toward the BMX trail.

August’s pedaling for all he’s worth, his attention divided between the path in front of him and the kids on the track. A crash is definitely in that kid’s future. I just hope it’s not on my watch. Ian can have that bonding moment.

“The pump track is maintained by a team of volunteers,” Callahan says. “We come out regularly to inspect it and see what needs to be done next time.”

“The pump track?”

His mouth tips up beneath his short beard. I should not be thinking about how surprisingly soft that beard feels when it scratches over my skin. Or that I want it there again, ASAP.

“You don’t pedal to get around it. You use your body weight to ‘pump’ the bike over the rollers.” He nods toward the course. “Watch.”

I rip my gaze away from his beard to observe the kids on the track.

I’ve never paid much attention before, but he’s right.

They’re not pedaling most of the time. They’re standing out of their seats and leaning from their shoulders to get the bike over the humps, using that momentum to carry them through the valleys.

“And that’s fun?”

His soft chuckle brings my focus back to him. “Some people think so.”

“It’s biking without the actual biking.”

“Does that mean you’re interested in trying it?”

“ No .” He doesn’t need to know just how many years it’s been since I rode a bicycle. Or how many times the word bicycle has flitted through my mind in the last two weeks.

More than average, that’s all I’m willing to say.

“I heard you need a ride to movie night.”

I spin to face him so fast, my neck cracks like a chiropractor’s ASMR video. “What?”

“Ada said you’re concerned about your car getting out there in one piece. She said I’d better offer, since you’re too shy to ask me to pick you up.”

“I didn’t—I never said—those devious little sneaks.” I should have known they would never be satisfied just dropping their hints to me . I hate to think what they’ve said behind my back. What I know now is more than enough.

He chuckles again, the low sound warm and cozy. “I figured as much. Nothing about you is shy.”

Nope. Loud and opinionated, that’s me. Unease crackles through me like a burst of static electricity. But he’s not watching me like he’s thinking about how obnoxious I am. It’s more like…admiration. Affection. Attr?—

A jazzy, electronic tune cuts through the air between us.

“Son of a bus.” I pull out the phone that has August’s continuous glucose monitor app on it and check the notifications. “Crap.”

I kneel up on the blanket and wave at August, who’s luckily on the nearest part of the loop around the BMX trail for the second time already. He spots me and pedals faster, heading our way. Thank the patron saint of little kids he’s not going to make me chase him down.

It’s happened. It’s not a good look for anybody.

“Everything okay?” Callahan asks as I sit back down.