Perfect Fit - Brenda Jackson [29]
Sage lifted an arched brow. “And how did you know that I didn’t?”
“Because Erol called again this morning looking for you. Your father and I have been worried sick. He was so worried he couldn’t go into the office this morning.”
Yeah, I bet that’s the lie he told you as to why he couldn’t go in, Sage thought, giving her mom a hug, while fuming on the inside at the thought of her father’s duplicity. “I’m fine, Mom. Where’s Dad?”
“He’s upstairs taking a shower. He worked later than usual last night, and when I told him that you and Erol had had some sort of a tiff and you were missing, of course he became concerned.”
“I wasn’t missing, Mom. I merely spent the night at a hotel,” she replied, following her mother into the house and closing the door behind them.
Her mother took her hand and met her gaze. “Are things that bad between you and Erol, Sage?”
Sage thought she may as well get it out. “Yes, Mom, in fact, I broke our engagement.”
She wasn’t surprised by her mother’s sharp intake of breath. “What on earth did he do?”
Sage threw her purse down on the couch. “He took money out of my bank account without discussing it with me first.”
Delores Dunbar shook her head, smiling warmly. “Sweetheart, your father takes money out of our account all the time. Just last week he took out a hundred dollars to buy something he saw advertised on television. A woman learns to grin and bear that sort of thing, and make sure extra money—namely his—is consistently put into the account.”
Sage dropped down on the sofa. “We’re not talking about a hundred dollars, Mom. We’re talking about over fifty-two thousand dollars.”
“Fifty-two thousand dollars!”
Sage glanced at the shocked look on her mother’s face. “Yes, and that includes the money Gramma left for me,” she said, fighting back tears. Each time she thought about it, she got upset.
Delores immediately joined her daughter on the sofa and hugged her. “Oh, honey, I’m sorry about that. What could Erol have been thinking?”
“Evidently not about me,” Sage said angrily.
Her mother shook her head sadly. “Why would he need fifty-two thousand dollars?”
Sage wiped her eyes. “For what he thought was a sure-fire investment which turned out to be a hoax. He lost every penny he invested, of which over ninety percent belonged to me. And what hurts so bad is the fact he didn’t discuss it with me beforehand. He said he knew I would be against it and decided to go ahead and do it anyway.”
Delores nodded. “I’m sure he thought he would get back more in return for his investment.”
“Yeah, but that’s not the point. The point is that I can’t trust him anymore. He didn’t consider my feelings. He knew how much I loved my grandmother and that the money in my savings account was her gift to me. How could he do such a thing?”
“Oh, honey. Sometimes men can be insensitive, but that doesn’t make them totally awful people.”
Sage leaned back and lifted a surprised brow. “And you think I should not have broken up with him?”
“I think the two of you should make an attempt to work things out, Sage. You both have too much time invested in your relationship not to.”
Sage frowned. “There’s nothing to work out, Mom. I trusted him, and he betrayed my trust. It’s as simple as that.”
Delores shook her head sadly. “Nothing about a relationship is simple, Sage. You have to be willing to work at it, iron out the kinks and flaws, and accept the fact that no one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes.”
Sage wondered if her mother would be singing that same song if she knew her husband had spent over three hours in a hotel room with some woman last night while she thought he was working late. “I never expected Erol to be perfect, Mom, but I did expect him to be trustworthy. Trust is important to me.”
“And it should be. All I’m saying is that when two people love each other, and I mean really love each other, they need to try and work things out before calling it quits, which makes me wonder.”
Sage arched a dark brow. “About what?”
“Just how much you do love, Erol. Look how long it took you to agree