Sliding Into Second (16 page)

“Ah, for fuck’s sake.” Rosalie sighed.

“Rosalie, really?” her mother scolded.

“You’re right,” Rosalie said. “Everything you did was for Sage. You’re noble and loyal, and she needs you. So if you and my dad aren’t going to make this right, then I will.”

Nic took a relaxing breath, appearing relieved over Rosalie’s threat. He looked as if he wanted the truth to come out.

“I was in the hallway that afternoon,” Rosalie admitted. “I heard Nic ask Daddy for permission to marry you.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Sage asked. “You saw how it destroyed me when he left.”

“I’m sorry,” her sister said. “I was a kid. I thought I was doing the right thing. I was wrong. Why do you think I’m fighting so hard for the two of you now? I want to make up for my part in all of this.”

“Why did he leave me?” Sage’s voice cracked. She was so close to learning the truth that had haunted her for years. “Tell me, Rosie.”

“It’s not her place to tell you,” Nic said. “Like Rosie, I thought I was doing the right thing too, but I was older and should have known better.” He stopped pacing and leaned against the frame of the huge, arch doorway. “I believe your father was trying to do the right thing too. We just screwed up, and for that I’m sorry.”

“I’ve heard all of this, Nicky.” She wanted to wrap her arms around him and tell him whatever he confessed wouldn’t matter, but she feared that wasn’t true.

“Your dad told me he would cut you off if you left with me. Both financially and emotionally.”

Her mother let out a soft gasp as she stared at her husband. “Did you tell him that we wouldn’t have anything to do with our daughter?” Her question went unanswered.

“You love your family,” Nic said. “The sun rose and set on your dad. There was no way I could compete with that. I walked away because I wasn’t putting you in the middle. I saw how it destroyed you when he freaked out over our pregnancy scare. As brave as you were, it hurt you to know that you had let him down that way. That was because of me.”

It was true. Sage had been heartbroken when her father reacted the way he did over her pregnancy scare. She expected him to be upset and mad, but he was enraged with both of them. All he could do was blame Nic and tell Sage how stupid she was for falling for his tricks. Even after the pregnancy test came back negative, her dad still made her go to a doctor to be certain. When the doctor confirmed she wasn’t pregnant, just irregular, everyone went back to being a loving family, but Sage never forgot the rejection she felt from her dad. She had dismissed it as him being a concerned, disappointed parent, but now that she learned he was part of the reason Nic left her, she couldn’t control her emotions.

“You wouldn’t have cut me off.” She glared at her dad. “How could you have told him that? You knew he would believe you.” She threw her hands in the air. “You totally manipulated the situation in your favor.”

“Your favor,” her father said. “I did it for you.”

“He wouldn’t have cut me off,” she told Nic. “Couldn’t you see he was bluffing? Why didn’t you come to me and tell me the truth?”

“I know that now, but back then I...” He ran his fingers through his thick hair. “I had so much going on. I caved under the pressure. I needed to keep my head in the game.”

“The game that was more important than me?”

“That’s not what he’s saying,” Rosalie intervened. “Don’t run this time. Just listen to what he has to say.”

“I need a few minutes alone with Nic,” Sage said. “Mom and Dad, can you go back to the inn? Rosie, please wait for me in the foyer. I won’t be long, and then we’ll go.”

“Sage,” Nic said. “You don’t have to go.”

Her family made their way out of the room, no one daring to say anything further. She’d deal with them, but right now, she had to settle things with Nic.

“Do you see why I couldn’t tell you?” He crossed the room, standing in front of her. “I thought I was doing the right thing.”

“I would have gone with you. I would have walked away from it all.” She held back a sob. “Why didn’t you know that?”

“You don’t think I knew without any doubt in my heart where you would go? I knew, Sage,” he whispered. “You would have gone anywhere I went.”

“Then why did you do that to us?”

“I also knew how much you needed your family. How long do you think it would have taken you to regret your choices? What if Rhode Island didn’t work out for me? My career took off faster than even I could have imagined, but there were no guarantees. We could have been left with nothing, and I would have been back to square one, looking for a team.”

“I would have flipped burgers for you and been perfectly content.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks, mourning the loss of what might have been. “Do you know why?”

When he reached for her hand, she backed away. She couldn’t allow him to comfort her. Not now. The betrayal cut so much deeper than she ever expected. She was finally coming around and forgiving him, opening up to the idea that the past didn’t really matter anymore because they were making a present and looking forward to a future.

He sighed. “Why?”

“Because we would have been together. Making a life of our own.”

“It’s easy to say now, but there was no way for me to know where I was headed. I couldn’t be responsible for screwing up your future, your education. The burden of knowing that your relationship with your dad was in jeopardy was too much for me to handle. I’m not proud of it, but that’s the way my twenty-two-year-old self dealt with it.”

“It was a shitty way to deal with it.” She headed for the door. “You crushed me.”

“Where are you going?” He followed her. “Don’t walk out.”

“I need some air.” She turned and looked at him. “Some space.”

“I won’t let you walk away this time.” He grabbed her hand. “I’ll fight harder than I ever have. I screwed up before, but I’ll never stop until you see we’re worth it.”

She closed her eyes when he pressed his lips to hers, kissing her gently.

“I love you,” he whispered. “I won’t give up.”

“I have to go.” She pulled out of his hold and ran down the foyer.

Everything he said made sense. There were no guarantees in this life. No way to know if things would have worked out back then. They had the present, but what if that wasn’t enough? She couldn’t lose him again.

“Sage,” he called after her, but didn’t try to stop her.

“We need to go.” She grabbed her coat from the foyer closet. “Right now, Rosalie.”

“Are you sure this is what you want?” her sister asked. “You need to think about what you’re doing.”

Before opening the front door, she glanced down the hall, locking her gaze with Nic’s.

I’m not sure of anything.

Chapter 15

Last night couldn’t have been more of a clusterfuck
, Nic thought as he finished up his morning workout. First, he’d professed his love to a woman who clearly wasn’t ready to hear any such declarations. And, if that wasn’t enough, her family dropped an admission of a silly secret that would have been devastating years before, but now didn’t seem so prominent. He could have told her the truth weeks ago, but would that have accomplished anything? In the end, he was the one who made the decision to leave Sage behind. He had been making up for that choice for the last month.

As he came up from the basement gym, the doorbell chimed. He hadn’t been expecting anyone, and his rational side told him his girl was far too stubborn to show up at his place today. Opening the front door, he found Rosalie standing on the porch. The driveway and lawn were covered in a light dusting of snow. The weather people were calling for a heavier storm later that afternoon.

“Hey.” He motioned for her to come inside. “I thought you were heading back to school today.”

“I am.” She stepped into the house. “My parents and I are going to the airport in an hour.”

“Hopefully you’ll beat the storm.” He shut the door and joined her in the foyer.

“I hope so. I’m eager to get back and get this last semester over with.”

“Did you come here to say goodbye to me? Or yell at me for not going after Sage last night?”

“You’re giving her the space she thinks she needs. I get that. Just don’t take years to do it this time. She doesn’t need that much space. Trust me.”

“You always could make me laugh, Rosie.” He pulled her into a hug. “Don’t be a stranger.”

“I’ll visit when I can, but I expect you to be with my sister when I do.”

That’s the plan.
“How is she?”

“Miserable, pissed off, mad at all of us, but she loves you, so she’ll figure it out.”

“Thanks for clearing the air last night.”

“Are you mad about that?” She let go of him. “I thought it was for the best to tell Sage what happened and why you left. Even if it doesn’t really matter anymore.”

“I had hoped to let what happened between your dad and me go and move forward. Sage and I are adults now and capable of making our own choices.” Nic didn’t agree with the way Sage handled their new relationship, but he had to respect her timeline.

“She couldn’t get past it. She was too afraid to let you in, but I know how much she wants to. She needs to know that what happened before won’t happen again.”

“Well, now it’s all out there for us to work through. She can see for herself how stupid I was and decide if she wants to forgive me.”

“She can’t forgive you if you don’t go to her and make her see.”

“It has been over twelve hours.” He grinned. “I guess that’s enough time.”

“More than enough.” She laughed. “You two need to get out of your own way.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

No more games. He planned to put it all out there for Sage to see today and make her believe him this time. He needed her to know exactly how he felt and why he’d made the choices he did. He would keep telling her until she stopped running from him. They had to learn to move ahead. He’d tried things her way, but now he had to prove that they could have it all.

“Good luck, Nicky.” Rosalie kissed his cheek. “I’m rooting for you all the way.”

“Thank you, sweetie.” He hugged her. “Be safe going back to school. I’ll be in touch soon.”

“Don’t let her mess this up. She wants to be with you.”

“I’ll figure out how to make her come around.”

* * * *

Sage stepped out of the shower, toweled off, and quickly threw on a tank and boy shorts. The banging on her cottage door proved that her caller was a bit impatient. She tried to get dressed as fast as she could, but her guest continued to knock.

“I’m coming!” She hustled out of the bathroom and down the tiny hallway that led to a narrow staircase. She had hoped now that her parents and sister were headed to the airport, she could have a day of quiet time. Not so much.

She peeked out of the side panel window and smiled. If there were ever a day she needed to see Jason, it was today. He’d know what she should do.

She opened the door. “Jason. What are you doing here?”

“I figured you were screwing things up royally and you needed me.”

“Jerk.” She pulled him into the house and wrapped her arms around him. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” He hugged her tight. “Now that you’re not in New York, I have many lonely dinners.”

“Sorry.” She took his hand and guided him over to the sofa. “Why are you here?”

“I have to cover the Super Bowl pre-interviews, so I thought I’d stop in Kingston and see how you’re doing.” He sat down. “I have a flight out tomorrow. Can I crash here tonight?”

“That would be really cool.”

Jason had always been a good sounding board. He’d helped her through several career choices. Every time she got close to the edge, he helped her off. She had done the same for him. It might be good having him there for a few hours to help her figure things out. She knew what she wanted; she just needed to decide how she was going to go about it.

“Umm...” He looked her over. “Not that I’m complaining, because you look really hot, but do you want to go get dressed?”

“Huh?” She glanced down at her skimpy attire. “You’ve seen me in a lot less.” She plopped down next to him. “I was rushing to the door after my shower because you kept knocking.”

“It’s cold out there.” He grabbed the throw from the back of the sofa and threw it over her lap. “Don’t distract me.”

“Fine.” She giggled as she covered herself with the blanket. “I’m really happy you’re here. I could use a friend.”

“Uh-oh. What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything.” She sighed. “Okay, maybe I did fuck things up royally.”

“Hmm, I thought you might have.”

She rolled her eyes. “Why are you here again? To torment me?”

“I knew you were heading for disaster when you decided you were going to treat whatever this is with Cordova as a casual fling. You were past casual the day he showed up in New York.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I saw it that night at the restaurant with your parents. You had already fallen back in love with him. That’s why you drank the way you did. You were afraid and you didn’t know how to handle your feelings.”

“You’re right.”

“What?” He opened his mouth and pretended to be shocked. “Can you say that again?”

“No, it was a onetime deal.” She shook her head. “Jas, I did screw up. I’ve been pushing Nic away, but at the same time, I’ve been sending him all these mixed signals. He’s been so patient with me, and I’ve been all over the place. I don’t know why he hasn’t dropped me.”

“That’s what you’re waiting for, isn’t it?”

“Of course not.”
Maybe.

“You’re testing him and he’s passing with flying colors. You didn’t expect that, did you?”

“I didn’t expect any of this when I signed up for the job. I thought we’d see one another and move on. I didn’t think he’d come to New York and we’d end up a couple so fast.” She stood and paced the living room. “It’s been me and you for so long. We’re comfortable and we work.”

“We
worked
.” He leaned back against the cushions. “Maybe we didn’t. I don’t know.”

“What are you saying?” She loved Jason with all of her heart, but not the same way she loved Nic. Jason was fun, safe, and secure. Nic was passion, fire, and excitement—all the things that made her feel good, but terrified her. “We’re friends all the time.”