Perfect Fit

by Brenda Jackson

  “Here you are, Ms. Dunbar,” the hotel receptionist said, reclaiming Sage’s attention as she slid a door key-card to her across the counter. “Your room has been ready since noon.”

  Sage nodded. “My plane was delayed. They had to de-ice the runway.”

  The pretty young woman, who appeared to be in her early twenties, gave Sage a warm chuckle. “Boy, I can’t imagine something like that while suffering from this Texas heat. Where’re you from?”

  “I flew in from Anchorage,” Sage responded, smiling, glancing down at her key-card to see what floor she was staying on.

  “Well, welcome to Texas.”

  “Thanks.” Moments later Sage stepped into the elevator. Her thoughts shifted to Erol. She knew he was staying somewhere in this same hotel, attending a business meeting that ended today. She hoped the two of them would be able to sit down and discuss the past, clear things up for the final time and walk away friends.

  More than anything, she wanted to get back to Anchorage and be with Gabe.

  After a quick shower, Sage slipped into a mint green dress. She applied her makeup, combed her hair, and picked up her purse to leave the room. She glanced at the huge arrangement of flowers that had been delivered an hour ago, a gift from Erol. She didn’t want to remember what the card said. She knew from his words that he was thinking that by the end of the night the two of them would have patched things up.

  Upon reaching the lobby, she noted a number of people were checking in. According to someone who’d ridden down with her in the elevator, there was a big rodeo in town, and a number of the riders were staying at the hotel.

  “Sage?”

  Sage turned to the sound of her name being called and drew in a long breath. There was nothing about Erol that had changed except it appeared that he had lost a few pounds. He was still nicely built and good-looking.

  A keen feeling of finality passed through her upon remembering what they once had and what they would never have again. He stopped in front of her and took her hands in his, leaned down and kissed her cheek. “You look good, Sage,” he complimented, looking her up and down.

  She smiled wryly. “So do you.” She glanced around. “Do you want to stay here and eat or do—”

  “I’ve made reservations elsewhere. My rental car is outside.”

  She nodded. She remembered her mother mentioning that was how Erol’s mother had learned the two of them would be meeting in Dallas, because she’d overheard him making dinner reservations. “That’s fine.”

  “How was your flight into Texas?” he asked as they began walking toward the glass doors that led outside.

  “It was fine, but I’m missing Anchorage already.”

  He raised a dark brow. “You’re missing all that snow?” he asked, as though the very thought of it was pure crazy.

  She decided not to tell him that snow had nothing to do with it. She was missing a certain individual.

  “The weather reports say snow has been coming down practically every day there,” Erol added when she didn’t say anything.

  Sage shrugged. “You get used to it.”

  “I doubt if I could.”

  Then, it’s a good thing you don’t have to, she thought as they waited for the valet attendant to bring Erol’s car.

  During the drive over, he had done most of the talking, telling her about their friends and what they were doing.

  “Patty is upset that you don’t call her anymore, Sage,” Erol said, breaking into her thoughts. She glanced over at him. She was sure he knew why she had stopped calling his cousin.

  “I’m sure you know why I thought it was best if Patty and I cool things for a while, Erol. She’s your cousin and she loves you. She couldn’t understand why I did what I did.” Sage knew that deep down neither did he.

  “Yeah, but still, she was your friend,” he said, as if it shouldn’t matter that Patty had started getting on her last nerve. And as far as them being friends, Erol’s cousin had been her friend whenever it was convenient for her, like whenever she got behind in a bill and wanted to borrow money.

  “You could have moved in with her instead of Rose Woods while we tried to work things out.”

  Sage shook her head. She almost reminded him there was never a time when they tried to work things out. That hadn’t been an option she’d given him and, as far as she was concerned, with good reason.

  She glanced at her watch, wondering how much longer it would take to reach the restaurant. Already she felt a headache coming on.

  The restaurant was exquisite and overlooked a beautiful park in downtown Dallas. After they had eaten dinner and were drinking cups of coffee, Erol leaned back in his chair and looked at her. “I really like the way your hair is styled. I can’t get over how good you look, Sage.”

  “Thanks.” She knew it was time for them to talk about why she had come to Dallas. Over dinner they had talked about a lot of things, basically keeping the conversation light. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could get out a single word, Erol started talking again.

  “I have something for you,” he said, smiling, reaching into his jacket pocket.

  She lifted a brow. “What?”

  “This,” he said, handing her a white envelope. His face was actually beaming as though he had some sort of a secret. “Go ahead and open it,” he said, leaning toward her.

  Sage peered up at him from beneath lowered lashes as she began opening the envelope. Inside was a cashier’s check for the fifty-two thousand dollars he had taken from her accounts. She looked up at him. He was still smiling.

  “That business deal with Herb Rollins went through, and that’s from my first earnings. Already I’ve been awarded contracts for his other locations, so money will be rolling in real good this year. I’m thinking about expanding my work force.”

  “That’s good news, Erol, congratulations,” she said, folding up the check and placing it in her purse. “And thanks for returning my money.”

  “I guess that means we’re all right.”

  She glanced up at him. “All right?”

  “Yes, I took the money out of your account, and I just gave it back. All of it.” His smile widened. “That should wipe the slate clean, and we can move on.”

  Sage lifted a brow. “Wipe the slate clean? Move on?”

  “Yes, reset a date for our wedding.”

  “Reset a date for our wedding?” She hated sounding like a broken record, but she was so astounded at what he was saying she couldn’t help repeating it.

  “Yes,” he said, grinning proudly. “We can call Reverend Jones from my room later.” After taking a sip of coffee, he added, “And you can believe me when I say that I’ll never do anything like that again.”

  Sage shook her head. She wondered if it had even occurred to him that he was doing the same thing now. Without discussing anything with her, he had not only made assumptions, but had also started making plans, plans he didn’t know if she would or would not be okay with. He’d even suggested they call Reverend Jones from his room later.

  She leaned back in her chair. “We can’t reset a wedding date, Erol.”

  He glanced up at her as if the thought of it were news to him. “Why can’t we?”

  “Because nothing has changed between us.”

  Surprise filled his face. “Yes, it has. I paid you all your money back.”

  “But I told you in the beginning that you can replace money but not trust. I can’t trust you anymore.”

  Erol inhaled with frustration. “What you’re saying doesn’t make sense, Sage. The reason you got upset in the first place was about the money.”

  Sage shook her head. “Yes, the money was part of it, but the reason I got upset was because you discounted my feelings and did just what you wanted to do, without caring about how I felt or without first discussing it with me. And if you did it once, you’ll do it again.”

  “I said I wouldn’t do it again.”

  “But that’s just it, Erol. I ca
n’t trust you to believe that you won’t,” she implored, trying to make him understand. “The reason I wanted to meet with you was to make sure that you understood that there could and would never be anything between us again. We’re over, Erol. Finished.”

  He looked absolutely stunned. “No, it can’t be finished. I love you, Sage.”

  “Yes,” she said tenderly, as tears moistened her eyes, hoping in her heart that Erol would be able to let things go like she had. “And there was a time that I loved you.”

  He met her gaze. “But not anymore?”

  “No, not anymore, Erol. At least not the way it should be. I love the memory of what we had together those five years, but that’s it.”

  He still looked confused. “But I don’t understand. You’re willing to throw away everything we shared over money?”

  She shook her head. He still didn’t get it. “It wasn’t over money, Erol. It was over the issue of trust. There has to be trust between two people in a relationship.”

  He reached across the table and captured her hand in his. “Then, we’ll get it back.”

  “No, we can’t,” she said, pulling her hand from his.

  Erol said nothing for the longest moment; he just stared at her. Then he said quietly, defeatedly, “There’s someone else, isn’t there?”

  Sage let out a careful breath. She knew it was a question that she didn’t have to answer but decided to do so anyway. They needed to leave Dallas with a solid understanding that things between them were over. “Yes, I’ve met someone. Only recently have I been able to feel that I can trust someone again.”

  For the longest time Erol didn’t say anything, and Sage knew he was trying to deal with everything she had said to him. “Are you happy, Sage?” he finally asked in an emotional voice.

  Sage closed her eyes briefly against a wave of regret. “Yes, I’m happy. I love my job, my health is good and I’m happy to know that you’re doing well in your business. But more than that, I’m happy for the five years you and I shared, and when I look back, Erol, I’ll see them as good years. They were years that were meant to be. But now we have to move on in different directions. There will always be a special place in my heart for you, and I hope the same holds true with you for me.”

  Sage saw the mistiness in his eyes and said, “There is someone out there, someone who is meant to be Mrs. Erol Carlson, and when you find her, I hope for you the very best.”

  From the way he was looking at her, Sage knew at that very moment that Erol had finally accepted that things between them were over.

  “If you ever need me, Sage, all you’d ever have to do is call, any time, any day. You know that, don’t you?”

  She wiped a falling tear from her eyes. “Yes, Erol, I know and thank you.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  A cold, hard breeze made Gabe wrap his jacket tightly around him as he walked his property. He paused when he reached the lake. The memory of Sage and that Saturday morning that he had taught her to fish stood out in his mind. He smiled. She had looked so beautiful all bundled up from head to toe, and the first time she’d made a catch, she had danced around as though it had been one of the happiest moments of her life.

  He glanced at his watch. Her plane should have arrived over three hours ago, but according to Malcolm, her flight had been delayed due to bad weather flying into Anchorage. He was missing her like crazy and had thought about her all day yesterday and today. Now it was almost late evening, and he still hadn’t heard anything from her.

  He had called and left a message on her answering machine asking her to contact him when she got in. He had hoped to hear from her last night and had wanted his voice to be the last one she heard before going to sleep. But she hadn’t called, and his mind had begun imagining some of everything, of what she was doing and whom she was with. He’d finally reached the conclusion there was nothing he could do. It was her life as well as her decision as to what man she wanted in it.

  He started walking again, this time back toward the house where a cup of warm brandy awaited him. He would take a shower and sit in front of the fireplace and wait for the call he was anxious to get. He had almost reached the back entrance to his home when he picked up a stick that had been buried in the snow to throw it.

  “Gabe?”

  He held his hand frozen in midair as his heart began beating wildly in his chest. He was really losing it. He’d actually thought he heard Sage call his name.

  “Gabe?”

  Finally accepting that the sound wasn’t a trick of his imagination, he quickly turned around. Sage was standing a few feet away from him all bundled up in a coat and snow boots, with a scarf around her neck and a fuzzy-looking hat on her head. Even with all of that, she still looked adorable.

  “Sage? When did you get here?” he asked, overwhelmed at seeing her. It was as if his very thoughts had made her appear.

  “I came straight from the airport over thirty minutes ago. I saw your car and figured you had to be here. When you didn’t answer the door, I went back and sat in my car awhile. But when it started getting late, I decided to check out back. You mentioned that you occasionally go walking in the evenings.”

  He nodded and watched as she folded her arms nervously across her chest. His brow rose with a question that he didn’t really want to ask. The mere fact that she had come to see him straight from the airport after spending time with her ex-fiancé didn’t bode well. Had she come to tell him that she and Erol had worked things out? A feeling of déjà vu shifted over him. He would never forget that similar time with Lindsey. He cleared his throat. “Is there a reason why you’re here, Sage?”

  Forcing a smile, Sage nodded, thinking Gabe didn’t particularly act as though he wanted to see her. And all this time she couldn’t wait to leave Dallas to get back to him. She wrapped her arms tighter around herself. Maybe she had made a mistake in coming.

  “Sage?”

  She met his gaze and knew that whether he still wanted her or not, she had to say what she came to say. “Yes, I was hoping that we could talk.”

  Gabe sighed, feeling a sense of doom coming on. “All right, let’s go inside.”

  “Boy, it feels nice and warm in here,” Sage said as she began removing her coat, scarf and hat.

  Gabe shrugged as he removed his jacket and then nodded toward the fireplace. “You may want to go stand in front of that to warm up some more.”

  Sage nodded. When she’d first arrived, she’d had other plans on how she wanted to warm up, mainly in his arms, more specifically in his bed, but now with the way Gabe was acting, she wasn’t sure it would be appropriate to harbor any such ideas. “Thanks. I think I’ll do that.” She quickly crossed the room to the huge brick fireplace that was emitting a massive amount of heat.

  “Would you like anything to drink?” Gabe asked, leaning against a bookcase as he watched her. The dress she wore looked good on her and was shorter in length than the ones she normally wore, and thick black tights covered her legs. But that didn’t matter. He didn’t have to see her legs to know how gorgeous they were. Hell, he even knew how they tasted since he had done a good job licking them all over the last time they were together.

  “Yes, I’d like something to drink.”

  Sage’s soft voice brought him back around. “You want brandy?” he asked.

  “Is that what you’re drinking?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then, that’s what I’ll have.”

  Nodding, he went to the corner of the room where the bar was located. He decided to ask the question that would open up his world or effectively close it. “So, how was your trip?”

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her shrug. “It was all right. In fact, I believe it was rather productive.”

  He shook his head, not having a damn clue what that meant. So he decided to come at it from a different angle. “Did you and your ex get to spend time together?”

  Now feeling warm enough, Sage crossed the room to sit down on the
sofa. She felt tired. She had left Dallas early only to have to sit and wait all day at the airport for her flight to leave. “Yes, we had dinner last night, and he even took me to a rodeo afterward.”

  Gabe turned so his back was completely to her as he drew in a long, silent breath. She and her ex had had dinner and had gone to a rodeo afterward? His heart sank. He began feeling angry, frustrated and disappointed. He turned around, deciding they may as well have their talk and get things over with.

  He walked over to the sofa with Sage’s brandy in his hand. “Here you—”

  He stopped in midsentence. Sage had curled up on his sofa and had gone to sleep.

  Without giving it a second thought, he placed the glass of brandy on the table, then swung Sage up into his arms, cradling her against his chest, and made his way toward the guest room. He gently placed her on the bed, then stood back and studied her sleeping form for several long moments.

  He loved her. There was no use asking for the thousandth time how he had let such a thing happen, because it had happened, and it was too late to question it. He swallowed against the tightness he felt clogging his throat.

  He loved her and didn’t know how he was going to give her up.

  Sage yawned and slowly stretched out on the bed when she came awake. She glanced around the room. Déjà vu. She had awakened in this same room before with the aroma of Gabe preparing food in the kitchen.

  Her gaze locked on her luggage that he’d brought in from her car. Why? It wasn’t as if he’d been glad to see her, so why would he assume she would be spending the night? Swinging her legs off the bed, she reached for her purse, deciding to use her cell phone to call Malcolm to let him know she was back.

  “Hello.”

  “Malcolm, this is Sage. I just wanted to let you know I’m back.”

  “Sage, where are you? I just tried calling you at home and didn’t get an answer. Are you in a safe place?”

  Sage lifted her brow. “A safe place?”

  “Yes, a torrential blizzard is headed for the city. They predict several feet of snow in the morning and suggested that everyone just stay inside and keep off the roads.” He chuckled. “In other words, we’re snowed in for a day or so.”