Sage was too stunned to say anything.
“I know one more thing about Ryan,” Paige stated. “He truly loves you.”
She picked up the check. “I promised Ryan that I would take this to the shelter.”
“Paige…”
She turned around. “Yes.”
“Ryan has a good friend in you,” Sage stated. “I hope that he will remember how loyal you are to him.”
“He has been a great friend to me. He saved my life and my daughter’s life, as well. I really hope that you two can work things out. I can see how much you love him.”
Sage checked the clock on her desk. “It’s almost time for your shift.”
“Thank you for hearing me out,” Paige stated, “and for not firing me.”
“I wouldn’t terminate your employment over something like this,” Sage assured her. “The truth is that you’ve given me much to think about.”
Paige smiled. “I’m glad to hear it.”
* * *
Alone in her office, Sage replayed the conversation in her head. Even now after everything that had happened, Ryan continued to surprise her. What he had done for Paige was a wonderful display of love for a fellow human being.
Ryan often talked about paying good deeds forward, and he lived it on a daily basis. She knew that many times he ordered dinners and took them out to the homeless who lingered near the hotel property.
I still feel like he betrayed me. He was supposed to love me enough to be honest. I understand why he kept up the pretense in the beginning, but that should have changed when we began dating.
It was obvious that he had a good heart. Ryan had shown this by his actions. But was it enough to just forgive him? Sage wasn’t perfect, but she was not a liar. She never liked playing with others’ feelings or deceiving them in any way. She also did not like being on the receiving end either.
This reminded Sage of a time when she was younger. She had been in love with this guy in college. Sage had thought that he returned her feelings until the day he came to her wanting money. He knew her parents owned a couple of hotels and assumed that they were rich. When she refused to ask her parents for five thousand dollars, he turned on her, spouting how he never loved her. He confessed to getting close to her so that he could get money from her. Sage had loaned him a hundred here and there, but after he never paid her back, she stopped giving him money.
He then tried to play on her emotions by telling her that he owed some gangster the five grand because he had a gambling habit. She was later told by a close friend that he had been bragging that Sage was going to give him the down payment for his dream car, a BMW 325i.
That experience left a bad taste in her mouth. From that moment going forward, Sage had zero tolerance for people who pretended to be someone other than themselves.
* * *
“Knock, knock…”
Looking up from her computer monitor, Sage drew her attention to the door. “Hey, you…”
Zaire entered the office, saying, “I was in the area, so I figured I’d come by to see if my sister wanted to have lunch with me. I figured we could eat something quick and then do a little shopping.”
Sage forced a smile. “I’m really not in the mood for shopping.”
Zaire studied her for a moment and then asked, “Did something else happen between you and Ryan?”
“Not really,” she responded. “He’s moved back to New York. He left yesterday.”
“Meaning?” Zaire sat down in one of the visitor chairs facing Sage.
“He’s decided to move back home.” Sage gave a slight shrug. “It’s not like Ryan ever intended to stay in California. He only came out here to gather research on the family.”
“I know that was his initial reason, but I’m sure things changed once he met you, sis,” Zaire argued. “I actually think that it’s perfect because it shows that a woman like you can love a man with nothing to give outside of his heart.”
“He played me, Zaire. How do I get past that? Better question is how would you feel if this had happened to you? Would you really be so understanding?”
“No, I’m sure that I would be angry in the beginning. I don’t like being deceived any more than you do, but I hope that I wouldn’t have tunnel vision in this situation. You have every right to be angry, but at some point you need to move past the anger.” Zaire shifted in her seat. “Yes, Ryan should have told you the truth earlier in the relationship, but he can’t go back and change the past.”
“Zaire, I want to believe in Ryan, but I can’t understand why his work was so important to him that he would risk hurting me? Our family is just as normal as everybody else. Why are people so interested in trying to find dirt on us?”
“I don’t think he was looking for dirty secrets, Sage. I’ve read some of his work, and I think he just wanted to contrast or compare us against Robert DePaul’s legacy. He’s not the type of writer who scours the earth looking for scandals. Ryan is an investigative reporter.”
“To be honest, I’m not sure I see the difference between the two.” Sage met her sister’s gaze straight on. “I don’t appreciate anyone spying on our family or using us in his or her articles.”
“Why don’t you reserve judgment until you read Ryan’s article?”
Sage did not respond.
“Sis, give Ryan some credit,” Zaire stated. “I know that you do not believe Ryan is going to try and humiliate us in his article.”
She sighed in resignation. “I just wish he had been honest with me.”
“If you love Ryan as much as I believe you do, then you need to call this man,” Zaire advised. “Talk to him.”
“You really think I should call Ryan?”
“Yes, I do. Maybe if you had, he would not be in New York right now.”
Chapter 20
Sage stared at the telephone. She had been home for about an hour debating whether to call Ryan. What more could be said at this point? They had already gone round and round on the subject.
However, Sage began to wonder if she had given him a fair chance. She had been so angry in the beginning, but now the anger had dissipated. She still felt the sting of his betrayal, and the heartache was still with her at all times.
I miss hearing his voice.
Sage picked up her phone and punched in Ryan’s number. She had gotten it from Paige earlier.
Ryan answered on the second ring.
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Sage, it’s good to hear your voice.”
“Paige told me that you decided to head back to New York. I would have said goodbye, but by the time she told me you were already gone.”
“I would have told you I was leaving, but you weren’t taking my phone calls,” he explained. “This was not the way I wanted to leave.”
“I understand,” she said.
“I love you, Sage,” Ryan stated. “You have to know that I would never do anything to hurt you or your family. I had hoped that my reputation as a writer would speak for itself.”
“Oh, it does,” she responded. “Some of your articles have been very biased to your point of view rather than objective. For example, the article you wrote on women turning thirty and how desperate they are to find a husband.”
Ryan released a small chuckle. “That’s not an accurate summary of my article, Sage.”
“I think it sums it up perfectly,” she countered. “Regardless, what you did to me and my family was wrong. My brothers thought I was crazy when they found out we were dating, and I defended you to them. I assured them that your intentions were nothing but honorable. Now I look like a fool.”
“I have no problem talking to your brothers and explaining my position. In fact, Blaze and I already had a talk.”
“Ryan, this i
s not the point,” Sage interjected. “I fell in love with you. I thought I knew you—the real you. Everything about you seemed real, even when I thought you were homeless. I was wrong.”
“We can get past this, sweetheart,” Ryan assured her. “I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Sage didn’t respond.
“Did you hear me?” Ryan prompted. “I’m saying that I want to marry you. I know this is not the way a proposal is done. It’s certainly not romantic, but it is the truth. I want all of eternity to love you and make up for the pain I caused.”
Tears filled Sage’s eyes and spilled down her cheeks. “Ryan, I can’t think about marriage right now, especially after all that’s happened between us.”
“Is it because you are worried about what your family will think?” Ryan asked. “Sage, you are a grown woman, and it’s time for you to make up your own mind. I know you are loyal to your parents and your siblings, but this is not about them. It’s about our loving one another and wanting to be together.”
Sage couldn’t believe that he would try and make this about her family. “My decision has nothing to do with my family, Ryan,” she replied tersely. “I’m not so desperate for marriage that I’d just fall for the first proposal from a man that I’m not sure I can ever trust.”
“You are just going to give up on us?”
“There really wasn’t an us, Ryan,” she responded. “It was a facade.”
* * *
Ryan pulled the tiny box out of the inside pocket of his jacket. He had been filled with hope when she called, but now he was filled with a feeling of hopelessness.
I’ve lost her.
Ryan felt like kicking himself. He had not meant to upset Sage by proposing.
Talk about bad timing….
He called her back.
“Sage, I’m sorry if I upset you,” Ryan said as soon as she answered the phone. “It was not my intent.”
“Apology accepted.”
“I care about you, Sage. Please don’t forget that.”
“I know that you do,” she said in a small voice. “I still care about you, too, but what we had is over now.”
“I guess I have no choice but to accept your decision, Sage. I really miss you. You were the best thing to happen to me. I am a jerk.”
“I wouldn’t say that exactly,” Sage stated. “You are not a jerk.”
He wanted to plead for another chance but did not want to upset her any more than he already had. “Sage, I…I wish you well. I hope you will find that special someone who will be all those things you thought you saw in me.”
“I can’t really think about that right now,” she told him.
Ryan loved Sage with all of his heart, and it was tearing him apart to think that after this phone call she would fade from his life forever.
* * *
Meredith and Paige showed up at the penthouse to check on Sage at Ryan’s request.
“I don’t know why he bothered either one of you. I will be okay.”
“Honey, I just don’t think you should give up like this,” Meredith advised. “You and Ryan love each other. I think you should hop on a plane and go to him or ask him to come back here.”
Paige agreed.
Sage turned around to gaze at Meredith. “What would you do if you were in my shoes? Could you really forgive so easily?”
“I wouldn’t give up so easily on true love,” Meredith responded. “I’d keep fighting until there was nothing left to fight for.”
“It’s too late for me and Ryan,” Sage announced. “Our relationship is much too fragile to even consider a long-distance romance. It’s best that we move ahead separately.”
Paige released a soft sigh. “I’m really sorry to hear that. I was pulling for you and Ryan to get back together.”
“Maybe if he were still out here,” Sage said, “then we could just take it one day at a time, but he’s on the East Coast. It just won’t work out.”
Sage walked over to one of the huge windows in her penthouse. She stared outside, fighting back tears. Now that Ryan was in New York, there did not seem to be any chance of them ever getting back together.
She thought about his proposal of marriage. The timing was not right to even consider marrying Ryan. Sage had heard the pain in his voice. He really did love her. She was sure of his feelings for her, but what about trust?
Without trust, love did not matter.
* * *
Sage opened the large envelope that contained an advance copy of Ryan’s article. According to the enclosed note, he had sent one to every member of her family.
She missed him terribly. The past two months had been hard on Sage. She worked long hours and traveled on company business, trying to keep her mind off Ryan. Nothing worked for her.
Ryan haunted her thoughts day and night.
She still loved him, although she kept trying to fight her feelings. She had a couple of guys ask her out, but Sage wasn’t ready to embark on another relationship. She needed time to get over Ryan. However, she was not sure she would ever stop loving him.
Sage placed the article on her desk. She wasn’t yet ready to read the series that had caused her so much pain.
“Why did you send this to me?” she whispered. “I’m doing everything in my power to get over you.”
Her telephone rang.
She smiled when her father’s number came up on the caller ID. Picking up, she said, “Hey, Daddy.”
“Hey, sugar,” Malcolm responded. “Did you receive an advance copy of Ryan’s article?”
“I did,” she confirmed.
“Have you read it?”
“Not yet. Why?”
“I think you should read it when you have a moment,” Malcolm uttered. “I’d like to hear your thoughts when you’re done.”
Sage was curious. “Sure. I’ll sit down and read it shortly.”
She ended the call.
“Okay, let’s see why my father wants me to read this article,” Sage whispered.
* * *
Some 74,000 people live on the streets or in shelters, making the county America’s capital of homelessness. They are an incongruous sight amid the shows of superfluous wealth, underscoring the pervasiveness of the huge homeless population in Los Angeles County. They live in parks, bus shelters and alleyways. However, being homeless in this upper-crust enclave is not exactly the same as living on the street in other places.
In this manicured community of 35,000, Rolls-Royces and Lamborghinis glide around the city streets of Beverly Hills, movie stars live in gated mansions and Rodeo Drive price tags provoke gasps from tourists.
“This is the finest place you can be,” said Elijah, an affable 59-year-old with a wide grin and a smooth baritone voice who has been homeless in Beverly Hills since 1992.
* * *
Sage continued reading. Ryan had done a thorough job in acquiring research for his article.
* * *
My experience as a homeless person in Beverly Hills was nothing I expected. I was on the street for one day when I came across an angel. This young woman handed me a hundred-dollar bill, but most importantly, she looked at me as if I were her equal—something most homeless people crave but rarely receive. The next day, “my angel” changed my life completely by offering me a place to stay, clean clothes and employment.
Our generosity is often born out of tragedy; however, generosity is a way of life for the angel and her family, as well. The young woman who came to my rescue is none other than Sage Alexander.
She rescued me because she saw someone who was looking for a second chance—someone who needed a helping hand. Ms. Alexander was there for me, in the same way that Robert DePaul had been there for Franklin, who was homeless
at the time.
“There are those people who have a sympathetic thing for us, and we’re grateful for it,” said a man with grizzled hair pulling a train of wheeled suitcases, an office chair and a stroller piled high with a motley bunch of items found in the trash. He would only identify himself as “Bond.”
George, a lanky man who pedals a bicycle around town and sleeps on a building roof, said paparazzi and parking valets can be a problem when he panhandles outside celebrity haunts. However, being close to wealth can lead to one-hundred-dollar handouts or finds such as gold jewelry, video cameras and an Armani suit….
* * *
Sage was pleased with the way in which Ryan wrote about her family. It was actually a good article.
She considered calling Ryan but did not. Her heart still belonged to him, and it was just too painful to hear his voice.
“I miss you so much,” she whispered.
The article left Sage with mixed emotions. Ryan had done a wonderful job in capturing her family in addition to highlighting the plight of the homeless.
He had proven one important fact: he could be trusted when it came to her family.
Chapter 21
Ryan had hoped to hear from Sage regarding the article once she read it. He had worked hard on the piece and was proud of the way it turned out.
He had hoped that Sage would understand that he never intended to hurt her family, he was seeking the truth.
In a moment of weakness, Ryan considered calling Sage. She dominated his thoughts most of the time. He had tried calling her several times in the past, but she had not responded to any of his calls or emails since that last conversation, so Ryan knew what his heart could not accept: they were over.
Paige Skyped him.
His computer made an audible sound, a notification that Paige was online via Skype. “What’s going on?”
“I read the article,” she said with a smile. “It’s great!”
“Thanks,” he murmured.
“Did you send a copy to Sage?” she asked. “I know she’ll enjoy reading it.”
“I sent her a copy, but I haven’t heard anything from her. Hopefully she will get a chance to read it. I want to ease her mind.”
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