Page 8 of Her Christmas Wish
Too much.
Had to sort it all out.
And so, she did what she’d learned to do to survive all those years ago. She went into her head. Tackled life cerebrally.
She opened a news source she’d vetted enough times to trust its reporting. Typed in her search parameters. And beginning with articles from five months in the past, Sage started reading.
Chapter Three
Gray stayed in his room until after Scott left for work that next morning. The only way he knew to deal with life was to take what he had and make good come out of it. What he didn’t do, ever, was cry on others’ shoulders.
Seeing Sage with that little girl, living the life she’d been certain she’d been meant to live...had been one of the tough moments. And he hadn’t yet found the good that would come out of it.
Somewhere in the middle of the night, just before he’d dozed off, he’d figured out that the good had already come. For her. He’d freed her to be happy.
And for him, too. If he’d married her, he’d have given his all to make the marriage work, to keep her happy. Even, perhaps, fathering a child with her. Giving up the life he knew he’d be good at for one that he didn’t see himself living.
Trapping himself beneath a weight he knew would suffocate him, one breath at a time. He was dedicated to contributing to society. To giving to others.
Even to sharing life with someone. As an equal.
The idea of being responsible for another human being...of having someone dependent uponhim, of being the direct overseer, even partly, of the shaping of a young life...gave him the cold sweats every single time.
And yet...there was that buried part of him that had figured that if neither he nor Sage were married when they were in their forties, maybe they could be each other’s back-up plan.
It had been his way of coping. He’d realized that as he’d driven around the night before, revisiting spots where he’d made memories with Sage. Spots he’d avoided ever since.
Like the hidden alcove formed by cliff rock on the San Diego beach where he’d kissed her for the first time.
He’d needed some time to say goodbye. To accept the closure he’d thought he’d gained years before. And he needed to be certain he was done grieving a pipe dream he hadn’t fully recognized he’d held on to before he faced Scott Martin again.
He didn’t have much time since he was staying in Martin’s home. He couldn’t avoid the prosecutor’s scrutiny for long. No way he wanted the freakishly astute man to conclude that Gray still had feelings for Sage.
He didn’t.
Not in the light of day.
And if the previous night’s sojourn had been as successful as he was thinking it was, he’d just let go of any veiled yearnings attached to the past as well.
With his path more clearly in front of him, Gray was finalizing his decision of which of the Realtors he’d interviewed to hire when he got a text from Scott. Asking if he could give Sage Gray’s cell number.
And while Gray was tense all over again, thinking about why she’d need it, he texted back granting permission. With him moving in four doors down from her, albeit very temporarily, on a shared private beach, he’d look ridiculous withholding the number.
As though he couldn’t bear to be personally contacted by his ex-fiancée.
He could bear it. But wasn’t at all fond of the idea.
Why did Sage need his number? What could she possibly want from him?
And then—when Scott replied with Sage’s number so Gray would recognize it when he saw it—it hit him. He was dealing with two extremely bright lawyers. Twins on the same wavelength.
Taking care of business.
If anything, Sage would want to lay out the terms by which the two of them would coexist on the beach without actually spending time in each other’s company. He opened the text that came through from the number Scott had just texted to him.
Business to discuss. If interested, please respond accordingly.
He hadn’t talked to her in more than ten years. But he was staying with her twin brother, with whom she was obviously still close since she lived just doors away from him. And she’d given himplease respond accordingly?
