Hollywood Heir (Westerly Billionaire #4)(6)

“It’s nice to meet you, Wayne.” Sage started down the sidewalk again, and he fell into step beside her. There were a thousand things she wanted to ask him, but helping people meant valuing each person and their experience. He was telling her what he needed. Someone or something had hurt this man, and he wasn’t ready to share his story yet. One day he would be. If there was anything plants could teach people, it was patience. No flower bloomed before it was ready, no matter how much a person wanted it to.

Their walk took them to Leicester Square, where they both paused to watch a young girl laugh and play in the spouts of water at the base of a fountain. She looked to be about four or five and was running barefoot back and forth with such joy on her face Sage couldn’t help but smile along. She glanced at Wayne. Sadness filled his expression as he watched the young girl.

“The theater district is one of my favorite areas,” Sage said. “It has an invigorating energy. So much talent. So many possibilities. If I could, I would talk to everyone here.”

“Why?”

Sage waved at the people rushing past as well as the ones grouped in circles. “Aren’t you curious about their stories? Are they students? Actors? Is this their first visit, or are they locals? What do they see when they look around?”

“I doubt anything past their cell phones.”

“That’s true for some—more concerned about the selfie they’ll share than the history of the square. There are others, though, who are savoring this.” She pointed to a couple on a nearby bench who were watching the little girl dance in the water. “I bet they saved up to come here and they don’t want to miss a single moment of it.”

“How do you know they don’t live around the corner?”

Had Bella asked her that question, Sage might have joked that it was her gift to know, but the reality was that people were not really that difficult to figure out. “She is clutching her purse like a tourist, and he has his wallet in his front pocket. People don’t tend to do that in their hometown. There’s something wrong, though. They’re too serious. This isn’t a simple vacation for them.”

Wayne looked at her with a good amount of skepticism.

“Look closer,” she urged. “He’s comforting her.”

Wayne turned his attention back to the couple. His eyebrows rose and fell as if he were mildly impressed. “You’re very observant.”

Sage shrugged. “I like people. I hate to see them upset. Let’s make them smile.” Not waiting for him to answer, she grabbed his forearm to take him with her. Touching him felt right. She couldn’t explain it; there were a great many things in life she didn’t understand, but she refused to let that stop her. She dragged him out of the small park that surrounded the fountain and across the busy street.

“Are you buying them a plant?” he asked as they approached a florist shop.

Sage pulled him past it. “Who gets a plant on vacation? It’s unlikely they could take it home with them. No, this calls for something a little different.” She let his arm go when they arrived at the party store that was a few doors down. Minutes—and a hundred pounds—later, Sage exited the store with a still-grave Wayne. She led him back to the middle of the square, this time off to the side, where they could watch without being part of the scene.

As requested, a clerk from the party store appeared with a large bunch of balloons. She announced it was a promotional giveaway, one balloon per child. A group of children instantly surrounded the woman. She asked them to line up from shortest to tallest. The little girl who had been dancing in the fountain rushed to ask her parents if she could have one. They walked her over to join the line. Sage’s joy spilled over for the little girl and her mother, who was still clutching her purse like a tourist. Her reward was how happy the couple and child looked as they walked away.

“It won’t fix whatever they’re dealing with, but I’d like to think they’ll leave London with at least one good memory now,” Sage said, happy with herself until she looked at Wayne.

He was scowling at the departing couple, then the line of children that remained.

Sage couldn’t help herself. She asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“You don’t like kids.”

He shook his head, but she wasn’t sure if that was confirmation that she was correct in her assessment or completely misreading his response.

Some might have given up and walked away from the sour-looking man, but seeing him like this only made her more determined to discover the root of his problem. “I have an idea. Let’s see a show.”

“No.”

She threw his earlier question back at him. “You have somewhere you need to be?”

He glared at her rather than answering.

She remembered being that angry with the world once. More than one teacher had given up on her, but thankfully, her dorm mother hadn’t. Giving up on people was an easy, but lonely, choice. “I’ll take that as a no. So, let’s catch a matinee. We can buy last-minute tickets right across the street.”

“I can’t do this.” Looking as unhappy as he had earlier, he started to walk away.

“Because you don’t like live theater?” she asked as she trotted after him. “I don’t believe that. You wouldn’t come to this district every day if that were true.”