Perfect Fit Page 6

  She had put Erol’s name on her bank accounts not thinking she could not trust him to do the right thing. She suddenly felt like a fool. Pain, the likes of which she had never felt before, went through her when she thought of the money her grandmother had left her. Paula Dunbar had left all three of her granddaughters fifty thousand dollars. And now Sage felt that because she had been stupid and naive, her grandmother’s gift of love was lost to her forever. How could Erol have done this to her? To them? How could he have hurt her this way by taking away something so special? For that alone she doubted that she could forgive him.

  Tears blinded her as she took off her engagement ring. Crossing the room, she walked over and offered it to him. “I can’t marry a man I can’t trust, Erol.”

  He refused to take the ring. “No, baby, you don’t mean that. I know you’re upset, but that’s no reason to give up what we have. I’ll make it up to you, Sage, I swear I will. If I have to work day and night, I’ll replace the money, every penny of it, you got to believe that.”

  Sage blinked back more tears. “Money can be replaced, Erol, but trust can’t. There can’t be a relationship or a marriage without trust, and you destroyed whatever trust I had in you by doing what you did.”

  Since he wouldn’t take the ring from her, she placed it on his desk, then turned and walked out of his office.

  After driving around for nearly an hour with no specific destination in mind, Sage pulled into a Wal-Mart parking lot and brought her car to a stop. She couldn’t do anything but rest her face against the steering wheel as the tears continued to flow, still not believing what Erol had done. It was bad enough he had used the money in her savings, but then he’d also used money in her checking account, money that should have been used to pay bills. If he had needed sixty thousand dollars, that meant he had used eight thousand of his own money. It was obvious he had gotten so caught up in that investment deal he hadn’t thought rationally. How had he planned for them to pay the bills for this month? They both had large car payments, not to mention the rent on the apartment which was no small amount.

  She jumped when her mobile phone rang. Knowing it was probably Erol, she refused to answer it. There was nothing he could say to her now.

  Sage sighed deeply when the phone stopped ringing. She had to pull herself together. Going to their apartment was out of the question, since that would be the first place he would look for her and try to talk her out of breaking their engagement.

  As much as she wanted to, she didn’t want to go to her parents’ home either, as least not yet. She wasn’t ready to tell them what Erol had done.

  When the phone began ringing again, she ignored it. She needed someone to talk to and immediately thought of Rose. Turning the car’s ignition, she pulled away from the parking space after deciding to go to Rose’s place. Even if Erol called Rose looking for her, there was no doubt in her mind that after telling Rose what he’d done, she wouldn’t tell him a thing.

  Rose opened the door, took one look at her and asked with concern, “Sage, are you all right?”

  Sage tried holding on to her smile. “May I come in, Rose?”

  “Sure,” Rose responded, stepping aside. “Sage, please tell me what’s wrong.”

  Sage nodded. As she turned toward Rose’s living room, she heard a noise coming from Rose’s bedroom. It was then that she noted Rose was wearing a robe, and it was obvious she didn’t have on anything underneath.

  “Oh, Rose, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come. You have company,” she said, moving toward the door to leave.

  Rose reached out and grabbed her arm. “Whoa, slow down. You aren’t going anywhere. Besides, he was just leaving.”

  No sooner had Rose spoken those words, than a man walked out of the bedroom, buttoning up his shirt. Sage blinked, and her mouth nearly dropped open. It was Mr. Poole. He glanced up, surprised to see her as much as she was to see him. He was wearing the same clothes that she had last seen him in earlier, which meant he had come home with Rose straight from the airport.

  Sage racked her brain trying to remember if she had noticed something going on between them while they were in Anchorage or on the flight back home, and for the life of her, she hadn’t detected a thing.

  “Ms. Dunbar,” he greeted, after clearing his throat.

  “Mr. Poole.” Goodness, she thought, the man was their boss, yet he stood in Rose’s living room with obvious signs of what he and Rose had been doing. What on earth could Rose have been thinking to sleep with him? But then, Sage decided, she had problems of her own to deal with and couldn’t get involved with anyone else’s.

  “Are you all right, Ms. Dunbar? You seem upset about something.”

  Sage felt her cheeks heat up. From the way both Rose and Mr. Poole were staring at her, it was obvious they could tell she’d been crying. “Yes, I’m fine, but a personal matter has come up. Will it be possible for me to have tomorrow off?”

  He nodded as he continued to look at her. “Yes, sure. And if you need more time, let me know.”

  “Thank you.” Sage nibbled on her lower lip, suddenly feeling awkward when he walked over to Rose and whispered something in her ear. Whatever he said made Rose smile.

  “I’ll see you when you return to the office, Ms. Dunbar,” he said, holding her gaze.

  Sage nodded as she watched him open the door and walk out, closing it behind him.

  Rose didn’t waste any time crossing the room, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the kitchen where she pulled out a chair from the table. “Now sit and tell me what the hell is going on, Sage,” she ordered, taking a chair across from her.

  At first Sage couldn’t say anything, but her hesitation lasted for only a moment. She could feel fresh tears spring into her eyes when she met Rose’s gaze and said, “Erol took nearly every cent I have from my bank accounts without telling me.”

  “How could he do such a thing!” Sage didn’t think she had ever seen Rose so mad. After telling her friend the entire story, she had watched Rose silently get out of her chair and walk over to the sink to make coffee. She had said nothing during the process, but after setting a cup on the table in front of her, Rose evidently had gathered her wits and had quite a lot to say.

  “I just can’t believe he would do that to you, Sage. What on earth could he possibly have been thinking about?”

  Sage had the answer to that one. “Getting rich quick,” she answered bitterly.

  “Yes, but he should have talked it over with you first,” Rose responded, shaking her head. She reached out and touched Sage’s arm. “Are you sure you want to go so far as to call off the wedding, though?”

  Sage nodded slowly, decisively. “Yes. Erol had the perfect opportunity to tell me about it that morning, and he chose not to. And the thought that he let me go to Alaska without sufficient funds in my checking account tees me off. What if I had needed money due to some sort of an emergency? But the really bad part about it is that he used the money my grandmother gave me. He knew how I got that money and what it was for. Part of it was to pay for our wedding and was to be used as a down payment on our first home. The rest of it was to be put in trust for our children.”

  For the longest time neither of them said anything; then Rose asked softly, “When are you going to tell your parents?”

  Sage inhaled deeply. More than likely Erol had phoned her parents looking for her, although she doubted he would tell them why. “Tomorrow. I can’t handle the thought of telling them today.”

  Rose nodded. “And you don’t have to. You’re welcome to stay here tonight and for as long as you need a place to stay. I have an extra bedroom.”

  After taking a sip of coffee, Sage said, “Thanks, but since my luggage is still in the car, I’m going to stay at a hotel tonight. I need time alone to think things through and make some concrete decisions. Besides, I wouldn’t want to cramp your style with Mr. Poole.”

  Sage could tell by the sudden glare that appeared in Rose’s eyes that what she’d
said had offended her. “Look, Sage, what I do with Mr. Poole is my business.”

  Sage nodded. “I know that, Rose, and I’m sorry for what I said. I just don’t want you to make a mistake. That man has slept with other women in the office. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

  “Not since I made damn sure he had on a condom.”

  Sage raised her eyes to the ceiling. “It’s not just the issue of unprotected sex, Rose. He’s using you. You’re just another one on his list.”

  “Yeah, and the flip side to that is that he’s just another one on mine. He got what he wanted from me, and I got just what I wanted from him, and I must say everything I heard about him is true. That man sure can—”

  “Rose!”

  Rose stood and crossed her arms over her chest and glared. “What’s wrong, Sage? Does it bother you to discover I’m not a nice girl? Umm, what’s the term they use for women like me? Oh, yeah … promiscuous?”

  “Rose, I—”

  “No, you’re the one who’s the nice girl, yet you’re the one sitting at my kitchen table crying because her trustworthy boyfriend generously screwed her over. So pardon me for not wanting to get taken in by a man I thought I could trust. I’ve been there twice before. Remember, I’m the woman who walked in on her fiancé making out with another woman in a bed I was paying for. So forgive me for knowing just how they operate and deciding to enjoy them with the same attitude and detachment that they enjoy me, rather than fall head over heels in love with one and suffer the hurt and pain like you’re suffering now. So the way I see it, after what Erol did to you, you’re the last person who should be judging my lifestyle.”

  Rose saw Sage flinch at her words and immediately regretted saying them. She sat back at the table and reached over and touched Sage’s hand. “I’m sorry, Sage, I shouldn’t have gone off like that.”

  Sage tried smiling through the tears that clouded her vision. “No, you’re right, I was being judgmental, and I’m the last person in a position to be that way. Hell, I’m the fool because I’m the one who’s financially ruined because I trusted the wrong man. Maybe you have the right idea about love, trust and commitment after all, Rose. If you can’t trust the man you’re supposed to marry, then who can you trust?”

  Rose scooted over closer to Sage and tightened her hand in hers. “You’re not a fool, Sage, and you’re wrong about me having the right idea. Maybe it’s the right idea for me but not for you. Regardless of what Erol did, you’re a one-man woman, and you can’t help but believe in love, trust and commitment. It’s part of your makeup. You’re hurting now, but you’ll get over it because you know that not every man is like Erol. You have your father and uncles to compare other men to. I didn’t have that. My mother was a single mother, and all I ever saw was a string of boyfriends who only took advantage of her. For a while I let myself follow in her footsteps, but I’ll never do that again. I will never love any man blindly. What I shared with Mr. Poole today was a sex-only encounter based on physical needs. The only thing I wanted from him was pleasure, and he gave me what I wanted. There was no love, expectations or commitment involved. And it had nothing to do with any curiosity on my part with him being white, because I’ve slept with white guys before in college.”

  Sage nodded as she wiped at her tears. Rose was right, a sex-only relationship worked for some people, but it wouldn’t work for her. Even now with all the pain she was feeling because of Erol, she had to believe that some men could be trusted. “I need to go,” she said, standing on somewhat shaky legs.

  “What hotel are you going to?”

  “I’m not sure yet.”

  Rose also stood. “But you’ll call me as soon as you get there and let me know you’re okay, right?”

  “Yes, I’ll call you, and if Erol calls here looking for me, just tell him you haven’t seen me, okay?”

  “Okay.” Rose reached out and gave Sage a hug. “Do you need any money to hold you over for a while?”

  Sage shook her head. “No. I have a credit card I can use, although it was nice having it paid off for a while.”

  Rose then gave Sage another hug. “You’ll get through this, Sage. Trust me when I tell you it’s not the end of the world.”

  Sage nodded, thinking maybe it wasn’t, but for her it certainly felt that way.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Sage checked into the Sheraton Hotel, the one that was locatedin Kannapolis. The short drive from Charlotte did her good, and she preferred spending the night at a hotel that was in another town, needing to put distance between her and Erol.

  She called Rose to let her know where she was. Rose mentioned that Erol had come by looking for her, and with a straight face and without blinking an eye, she had told him she hadn’t seen or heard from Sage since they had parted at the airport earlier that day. When she’d casually asked him if anything was wrong, he’d simply responded no, but asked her that if Sage did come by, to have her call him immediately. Rose also added that he looked rather pitiful.

  As soon as Sage had taken a shower and changed clothes, she went downstairs to the hotel restaurant for dinner. She hadn’t eaten a thing since leaving Anchorage, and her stomach was making hunger sounds. Twice she’d been tempted to call her parents but had decided against it. She sat in a booth, eating her dinner alone, trying not to dwell on her problems, when she happened to glance around the restaurant, noticing the other people and wondering what stories they had to tell. Were most of them travelers passing through, lovers or married couples wanting a few days alone to enjoy the solitude of seclusion the small town of Kannapolis offered, or were some like her, people who needed to get away for a night to deal with things complicating their lives?

  She had picked up her cup of coffee to take a sip when she recognized the couple who had just walked in. At least she recognized the man who was with the attractive woman. She smiled, wondering what sort of business dinner meeting had brought her father all the way from Charlotte. She was about to get his attention when something stopped her. Maybe it was the way his arm was placed around his dinner partner’s waist, or the way the woman was smiling up at him, that made things look more like an intimate liaison than a business affair.

  Sage inhaled sharply, forcing her mind and thoughts not to go there. She briefly closed her eyes and tried to convince herself that she was exaggerating; her mind was playing tricks. This mistrust thing with Erol had her on edge, suspicious of anything and everything, and now she was looking at a purely innocent situation through all-accusing eyes. Her father was an honorable man who loved her mother. Their thirty-year marriage was solid proof of that. There was no way he would be doing something sleazy and unfaithful by being involved with another woman, even one as young and pretty as the one he was with. The woman appeared to be in her midthirties, and although Sage would be the first to admit that at fifty-four her father was a very good-looking man, there had to be a reasonable explanation why he was here with that woman.

  As a corporate business person, he often had dinner meetings with clients…. But while she continued to watch the couple, another deep, unnerving sensation settled in her stomach as it became obvious as time ticked by that the two were very familiar with each other.

  Sage continued to sip her coffee and watched them. From where she sat, they could not see her, but she definitely could see them. When it was time for her to leave, she would have to pass their table, so she decided she would stay put for a while and be observant. She hated the fact, the very idea, that at that moment for the first time in her life, her trust in her father was wavering. She just hoped and prayed that she was misreading the entire thing.

  She shook her head to clear her mind. Stop being silly, her mind admonished. That man sitting over there is your father, for heaven’s sake. He loves your mother and would be the last man on earth to be unfaithful. Get up and cross the room and speak to him. It will be perfectly all right for you to let him know you’re here. But then you’ll have to explain to him why you’re spend
ing the night here and not at home with Erol, and you aren’t ready to do that; so chill and stay put. Enjoy some more coffee. And go ahead and order that slice of cheesecake you’re dying to have. Then soon enough you’ll see that Satan has been busy today, and now he’s filling your mind with unrealistic thoughts because of what Erol did. You can’t become distrustful of everyone because of him. Open your eyes and see that there is nothing going on between your father and that woman. Don’t read anything into it that really isn’t there.

  Satisfied she had gotten her mind straightened out, she caught the waiter’s attention and asked for more coffee and that slice of cheesecake. She even became daring and requested that he squirt some whipped cream on top.

  Sage forced her thoughts away from her father and his dinner companion to Rose and Mr. Poole. She wondered if things were really as Rose claimed—a sex-only thing—or would Rose become involved with their boss on a more emotional basis. From what Sage could see, his past history indicated he never stayed with the same woman for long. She wondered if that would be the case with Rose. It certainly didn’t seem that Rose would lose any sleep over it if it was. She wished Rose would have shown interest in Parnell Cabot. He had seemed like such a nice person, a man who would treat a woman right.

  As she took another sip of her coffee, her thoughts went to Parnell Cabot’s boss, Gabriel Black-well. The man was as charming as he was handsome, but sometimes the charming, handsome men were the ones you had to watch out for. Hadn’t Erol proven that?

  Seeing that an attempt to get her mind off her father wasn’t working, she glanced over in their direction and wished she hadn’t. She took in a quick breath. Her father was holding the woman’s hand.

  Sage’s nostrils flared in anger. She was seconds away from losing it, big time. She began shaking so badly, she had to set her coffee cup down. She watched as they stood to leave at the same time the waiter was returning with her cheesecake.

  “I’ve changed my mind about the cheesecake, but charge it to my hotel bill anyway,” she said to the waiter, who was looking at her in surprise as she stood. A part of her had to know that her father and the woman were leaving. Then maybe, no matter how damaging things had looked, the woman was a client who had tried coming on to him, and he had played along with her.