Perfect Fit (16 page)

“Your father and I are fine, but I’m sure that he would love to hear from you more often than he does. I wish that whatever it is that has you and him at odds would come to an end, Sage. You can’t hold a grudge forever.”

Sage swallowed. “What makes you think Dad and I are in a disagreement about something?”

Her mother chuckled. “Because I know you and I know your father. And whatever it is I can tell it’s bothering him. I also think I know what it’s about.”

Sage lifted a brow and pushed her hair away from her face. “Do you?”

“Yes. It has to be about what’s going on with you and Erol. That’s when this animosity toward your father started. You can’t fault him for wanting to remain neutral in all of this, especially when we think that eventually you and Erol will get back together.”

Sage shook her head. Her mother was wrong on two accounts. Her and her father’s strained relationship had nothing to do with Erol, and the thought that she and Erol would get back together was far from the truth. Why was it so hard for everyone to see, including Gabe, that she and Erol would not be getting back together? Some things between couples couldn’t be worked out, and this was one of those situations.

“He came by on Sunday for dinner.”

Her mother’s words pulled Sage back into the conversation. “Who came by for dinner on Sunday, Mom?”

“Erol. He looks so sad and lonesome without you.”

Will he not give up?
Sage thought as irritation flowed through her. Of course her parents felt a special closeness to Erol since he was the first guy she’d ever gotten serious about, and she could appreciate that even now they had retained that close relationship. But what bothered her more than anything was that it seemed Erol was trying
to use that relationship in his favor and to his benefit.

“He should have thought about all of this before he took my money,” Sage said through gritted teeth.

“Yes, and I’m sure he regrets what he did, Sage.”

Sage blew out a frustrated stream of breath. “Fine, then I forgive him if that will make him feel better and get him off this guilt trip he deserves to be on. But forgiving him won’t patch up things between us, Mom. I’m here in Alaska because I’ve moved on with my life, and I suggest that Erol do the same.”

“He can’t. He still loves you.”

Sage inhaled deeply, and her lip curled sullenly. Erol must have really gotten next to her mother for her to take the role of becoming his messenger. “Then, I suggest he get over it, because I have.”

For the longest time her mother didn’t say anything; then she said, “You have, haven’t you?”

Sage reached out with her free hand and began rubbing the back of her neck when she felt tension there. “Yes, Mom, I have, but it wasn’t easy. No matter what you or anyone might think, I’m not going through a phase just to make Erol’s life miserable. Nor am I doing the ‘eye-for-an-eye’ thing. It was Erol’s decision, without any input from me, to do what he did. For me it’s not about the money; it’s about trust. I’ve told you that countless times, but you refuse to accept it. What Erol did hurt me deeply mainly because he didn’t care enough to respect my feelings. I cannot marry a man like that. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life living with a man I can’t trust. There is no way I can ever get back with him.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and Sage waited patiently for her mother to say something.

“I think I believe you, Sage.”

Sage breathed in a deep-gutted sigh.
Thank you, Jesus! Finally!
“I’m glad, Mom,” she said quietly, fighting back the tears. She knew both her and Erol’s families were holding back, hoping and wishing that she would come to her senses. What they’d both failed to realize was that she had.

“The best thing that you can do for Erol, Mom, is to make sure he believes it as well. Feeding him false hope won’t help the situation. I just hope that with the next woman he becomes serious about, he takes into consideration her feelings with any decisions he makes.”

Sage heard her mother’s long sigh before she said, “All right, Sage, you’ve set matters straight regarding your relationship with Erol; now what about your father?”

Sage frowned. “What about Dad?”

“Will you make an effort to resolve what’s going on with the two of you as well? I’ve never seen him so down. You’re his daughter, Sage, his only child. He loves you, and there has always been that special bond between the two of you. I don’t want this thing with Erol to destroy that.”

Sage inhaled deeply upon hearing the worry in her mother’s voice. “Is Dad still working late?” she couldn’t help but ask.

“No, he gets home on time like clockwork every day in time for the evening news. He even goes to prayer meeting with me on Wednesday nights. We’re spending more time together than before. We’re both missing you like crazy, Sage. Other
than the time you left for college, this is the first time you’ve lived away from Charlotte. It’s taking some getting used to.”

Sage nodded. “I’m fine, Mom, and I’ll call and talk to Dad real soon. I’m trying to accomplish some things here and move on with my life. It gets a little hectic at times, but I’m doing fine. I’m surviving this weather and doing what Denmark is paying me to do. The resort will be beautiful, and I’m happy about the part I’ll be playing in its success.”

“And we’re happy for you as well. We’re also proud of you. Both your dad and I are. Always remember that we love you, Sage.”

Sage wiped a tear from her eye. “And I love you and Dad, too, Mom.”

Malcolm looked up when a very bundled up Sage walked into the office. He smiled. “I thought you would probably work from home today. Anyone in his right mind definitely would have.”

Sage chuckled as she pulled off her coat, mittens and knitted cap. “Then, why are you here?”

Malcolm grinned. “Because I’m not in my right mind. You don’t know how hard it was to leave the warm coziness of my bed this morning, especially when Leanne was still sleeping in it.”

Sage shook her head and laughed. “Yeah, I can see how that would be hard. After yesterday, I plan on this being a fairly light workday for me. I’m not doing anything but staying in my office and concentrating on that list of recommendations I plan to give to Mr. Landmark by the end of the week.”

Malcolm tapped the pad he’d been writing on and gazed up at her thoughtfully before saying,
“Leanne and I went to dinner last night. We saw you.”

Sage paused at her office door and tilted her head and met Malcolm’s gaze. Knowing more was coming, she said, “And?” She watched as a huge smile spread across his face.

“And it seems you were enjoying yourself. I had to rack my brain to remember that you were indeed dining with the same man you wanted to feed to the lions when I left you here yesterday afternoon.”

Sage gave him a small smile. “Yes, well, he stopped by right after you left and apologized for his behavior at lunch. And he even admitted the dinner theater was a good idea. We discussed it more rationally this time, and I even shared with him some of my other ideas and thoughts about Eden. He was very receptive to them.”

Malcolm mustered a huge smile. “So now he’s on our side?”

Sage chewed her bottom lip in concentration. “I wasn’t trying to win him over, since that’s not how I like doing things. I just wanted to present my ideas to him.”

“And did you?”

Sage blinked. “And did I what?”

“Did you present your ideas to him?”

“Yes.” Sage met Malcolm’s stare and noted his eyes shone with undisguised hope, not particularly for Eden but for her. The two of them had grown close since working together, and although she was his manager, she considered him as well as the other members of her staff as valued team players. But outside of work, she also considered Malcolm something of a big brother. She had confided in him about her breakup with Erol and the reason.
She had needed another opinion, an unbiased one since both her and Erol’s families thought she had been too hard on Erol by calling off their wedding. Malcolm had agreed with her that what Erol had done was thoughtless and inconsiderate and that trust, once violated, was hard to regain. He had fully understood her reason for deciding not to marry Erol. But she knew that as a friend, he was also concerned with her decision not to get serious about another man because of the trust factor. He thought the best and quickest way to get over Erol and to put the past behind her was to move ahead into another relationship with someone she felt she trusted. He thought she was the type of woman who believed in romance, love and happily-ever-after. She inwardly admitted that a part of her wanted to still believe in those things, but unknown to Malcolm, her father had done a pretty good job of corrupting those thoughts in her mind.

“Don’t read anything more into my having dinner with Gabe than that, Malcolm,” she said finally. “Gabe and I are nothing more than friends.”

Malcolm lifted a brow. “Friends and no longer just business associates?”

Sage frowned. Her and Gabe’s relationship had shifted from associates to friends, at least it was headed in that direction. But then, after talking with her mother on the phone that morning, she knew that unless she started getting out more, sharing her time with a man, even in just friendship, everyone would think that she was still carrying a torch for Erol. “Yes, Gabe and I decided to have dinner every once in a while as nothing more than friends.”

“So the two of you will be dating?”

Sage drew in a long breath. “I don’t exactly consider it dating since it’s not with the intent of anything serious ever taking place. I’m not ready to get involved with another man again, and Gabe knows that. In fact, what I didn’t tell you yesterday was that at lunch he’d even accused me of coming up with the idea of the theater just to extend my time here to make my ex-fiancé suffer before going back to him.”

A small crinkle formed between Malcolm’s brows. “He actually accused you of that?”

“Yes.”

Malcolm smiled wryly. “No wonder you were fit to be tied yesterday and wanted to feed him to the lions. Even I know that’s not the case.”

Sage smiled softly. “Yes, but then, you know the full story. All Gabe knows is that when we first met nearly six months ago, I was a happily engaged woman who was looking forward to her wedding. Now that’s not the case.”

Malcolm shook his head. “But I still don’t understand why he would think that although you called off your wedding, you and your ex-fiancé would get back together. Couples decide not to marry all the time—sometimes at the ninth hour—and go their separate ways, without looking back. Why would your case be any different?”

Sage shrugged as she remembered her conversation with Gabe over dinner and the reason he’d given her for thinking the way he did. “I think Gabe believes that two people who love each other can work through any problem.” She chuckled. “He’s right there in good company since my parents and Erol’s seem to think that way, too. After
talking with Mom this morning, she even alluded that Erol was still holding out that I would change my mind, return to Charlotte and marry him.”

She crammed her hands into the pockets of her skirt. “Well, enough about that. I can’t help what Erol or Gabe think. In time I will just prove them wrong, as well as everyone else. There is no way Erol and I will ever get back together.”

A few hours later Sage leaned back in her office chair and listened to the slow ticking of the clock on the wall. It was the only sound around since Malcolm and the rest of her staff had left for lunch.

She glanced down at the legal pad on her desk that contained a lot of the notes she had made. She was just about finished and would have her secretary type up everything to have ready for her meeting with Mr. Landmark. Gabe would be at that meeting as well. She smiled when she remembered how he had sat in her office last night, on the other side of her desk, going over the papers she had given him to look at. She had been utterly quiet, and the only sound that had marred the tense silence was the same one that was marring it now, the ticking of the clock on the wall.

She could recall and would now admit that the woman side of her, the one that naturally appreciated the sight of a good-looking man, had studied him while he’d been unaware of it.

He’d been impeccably dressed in a tailored suit with the words
intelligent, competent
and
business-minded
written all over him. And then later, at the restaurant when he’d smoothly pushed all business aside, he had brought out the charm. Not in
an overflowing way but in a way she wasn’t used to. While talking business he had succeeded in keeping his expression impassive, the trait of a good businessperson. In his line of work it was good not to let a business opponent know what you were thinking. But when the business side of dinner had concluded, he had bestowed upon her a slow smile, one that had nearly turned her bones to mush before she had quickly pulled herself together, reminded that Erol was also a charmer—although in her opinion, not of the same caliber as Gabe. Gabe’s charm seemed to come naturally, it seemed to be genuine, and if a woman wasn’t careful, it could prove to be lethal.

Sage rose from her chair and walked over to the window. It was still snowing but not as heavily as earlier when she had arrived at work. Tonight was her pamper-yourself night, and she looked forward to lighting the candles in her bathroom and taking a well-deserved leisurely bath. Already in her mind she could smell the scent of vanilla. She smiled as she closed her eyes. She saw herself easing into the big tub filled with bubbles while the candlelight flickered across her naked skin with the soft sound of Kenny G and his saxophone playing in the background. And as the water and bubbles covered her body and she leaned back, she slowly glanced to the side. A man was standing in the shadows watching her. When he stepped forward, his image became vivid and crystal clear.

Gabe.

Sage snapped her eyes open and quickly turned away from the window. Sitting back down to her desk, she couldn’t help but consider just where her mind had taken her a few moments ago.

She frowned. Although the path her thoughts
had taken her down had been forbidden, challenging and … she had to admit … for a brief moment, an exhilarating experience, on a common sense level it really made no sense, at least not in any logical form.