Chapter Twenty-Five #2
“I’m not thrilled you went without telling me, but if you’ve got what we need to shut him down, we’ll play boss and naughty PA when you get home, and I’ll fulfill your deepest desires.
” Sage didn’t know if it was her offer or the monkey jumping on Jake’s head that made him drop his phone.
Whichever it was, their connection cut out, and the screen went dark.
Half an hour later, as she was crawling into bed beside Willow, she got a text from him. I survived the monkey attack with barely a scratch, but you nearly gave me a heart attack. I’ll be home Sunday before noon. Be ready.
She smiled. I’m counting down the hours until you get home and fulfill my deepest desires.
I don’t care who does the fulfilling as long as we do it all day long.
Sunday afternoon, Jake walked into Sage’s bedroom to find her in bed with Max and her sister.
He sat on the edge of the mattress beside her hip, gently swept her hair aside, and pressed his lips to her shoulder.
Her eyelids fluttered open. “This isn’t what I was expecting.
Are you backing out on your promise already? ”
“No. I set my alarm for ten.” She pushed herself up, wrapping an arm around his waist and reached out with her other hand to pat around the bedside table. She kissed him and brought her phone to her face. “How is it one in the afternoon?”
“It looks like you shut off your alarm.” He leaned back, smoothing her hair from her face. “Have you not gotten any sleep at all while I was away?”
“Not much, and before you give me crap, Brenda and Renata needed my help with a couple of cases, and then I had to prepare a brief for one of my pro bono clients and organize the farm’s opening next weekend, and Alice’s celebration next month.
” She snuggled into him. “That’s what happens when you leave me on my own. I don’t follow doctor’s orders.”
“We’ll start making up for it now. I’ll keep you in bed for the next twenty-four hours.”
“I don’t think the doctor would approve of your plans.”
“I promise, I’ll let you rest in between.” He nuzzled her neck and then brought his mouth to her ear. “I missed you.”
A pillow smacked him in the face. “Don’t you dare start making out with my sister. You’re going to scar Max and me.” Willow raised herself up on her elbows, her hair in her face. “Did I hear you say it’s one in the afternoon?”
“You did,” Sage said.
“You, close your eyes, and you, shake a leg,” Willow said first to him and then to Sage. “We told Nonna we’d help cook for tonight’s family dinner.” The bed bounced, and there was a loud thump.
“Don’t use all the hot water,” Sage called out.
“Am I good to open my eyes?” Jake asked.
“You are,” Sage said, and tugged on his arm. “And you’re good to get into bed with me.”
“But from the sounds of it, you won’t be staying in it with me for long.”
“You better make the most of it then,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck as he slid his body on top of hers. Her moan went straight to his groin. “Don’t leave me on my own again.”
He didn’t remind her that it wasn’t him going anywhere; it was her leaving him for the city.
They made out for all of five minutes before Sage’s phone started ringing, and Willow’s began vibrating on the other bedside table.
“This can’t be good,” Sage murmured before accepting the call.
“Hey, Mom. We’ll be at the restaurant at two. ”
Then Gia must have started talking because Sage bowed her head, greeting whatever Gia said with several uhmmm s, I see s, okay s, and then a reassuring it’ll be fine . Sage started swearing as soon as she disconnected from her mother.
Willow walked in wearing a robe and a towel wrapped turban-style around her head. “What’s—” She slapped a hand over her eyes. “I’ll meet you two in the living room, and do me a favor and put some clothes on.”
“We have clothes on,” Sage said.
“Not enough of them,” her sister called back.
Jake decided to stay quiet about the phone call until Sage could tell both her sister and him, instead of having to repeat it. He walked into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee while Sage told them Aaron had figured out his next move.
“Because Aaron abandoned us, my mother assumed it wasn’t necessary for her to file for divorce. She didn’t worry about him seeking custody, and she knew she didn’t have a hope in hell of getting support payments from him. And then there was the small fact that he couldn’t be found.”
“Because he didn’t want to be found,” Jake said, unzipping his carry-on. He handed the evidence against Aaron over to Sage. “You should have enough here to have him think twice about going after your mom for his share of their marital assets.”
“He couldn’t do that, could he?” Willow asked, looking from him to Sage.
“Depends how he spins it. He could make a case for it, but I don’t think Mom had much in assets when he left, other than from the sale of the house.”
Jake thought about the man and the situation. “Unless he claims he didn’t abandon his family. He’d simply gone to do a job in Costa Rica, had an accident, and didn’t remember he had a family until he was contacted by the reporter.”
“And as soon as he found out about his family, he rushed to see them and make amends,” Sage said, nodding. “He might even claim that he and Mom had talked about going into partnership with Nonna and Zia Eva. It would be a case of he said, she said.”
“You’re not saying he could try to go after part of the restaurant, are you?” Willow asked, sounding panicked.
Jake felt a touch of that same panic at the thought of what this could mean for Sage’s family, but she seemed completely unfazed by it, even when she nodded and said, “And their new product line.”
“How can you be so calm!” Willow yelled.
“Because I’m very good at my job,” she said, looking through the evidence Jake had given her. She smiled up at him. “Jake is too, and so was Alice.”
“What has Alice got to do…” He slowly nodded as the final puzzle piece clicked into place. “Your mom would have gone to her seeking advice about divorcing Aaron, and as thorough as Alice was, she would have opened a file whether your mom went through with the divorce or not.”
“Yes, she did. After I talked to you, I got to thinking about some of the things that Mom said to Aaron and her expression when he backhanded the bag of groceries off the counter. He scared her, and I’m sure that wasn’t the first time he had.
It wasn’t a big leap to think that the one person Mom would seek out would be Alice, so I spent yesterday and most of the night going through her old case files.
I found this in the last box I went through. ”
Sage handed him a file folder, a shimmer of tears in her beautiful, tired eyes. “This was why she was coming to the farm that night. She was trying to protect my family.”