Perfect Fit - Brenda Jackson [91]
“Yes,” she said tenderly, as tears moistened her eyes, hoping in her heart that Erol would be able to let things go like she had. “And there was a time that I loved you.”
He met her gaze. “But not anymore?”
“No, not anymore, Erol. At least not the way it should be. I love the memory of what we had together those five years, but that’s it.”
He still looked confused. “But I don’t understand. You’re willing to throw away everything we shared over money?”
She shook her head. He still didn’t get it. “It wasn’t over money, Erol. It was over the issue of trust. There has to be trust between two people in a relationship.”
He reached across the table and captured her hand in his. “Then, we’ll get it back.”
“No, we can’t,” she said, pulling her hand from his.
Erol said nothing for the longest moment; he just stared at her. Then he said quietly, defeatedly, “There’s someone else, isn’t there?”
Sage let out a careful breath. She knew it was a question that she didn’t have to answer but decided to do so anyway. They needed to leave Dallas with a solid understanding that things between them were over. “Yes, I’ve met someone. Only recently have I been able to feel that I can trust someone again.”
For the longest time Erol didn’t say anything, and Sage knew he was trying to deal with everything she had said to him. “Are you happy, Sage?” he finally asked in an emotional voice.
Sage closed her eyes briefly against a wave of regret. “Yes, I’m happy. I love my job, my health is good and I’m happy to know that you’re doing well in your business. But more than that, I’m happy for the five years you and I shared, and when I look back, Erol, I’ll see them as good years. They were years that were meant to be. But now we have to move on in different directions. There will always be a special place in my heart for you, and I hope the same holds true with you for me.”
Sage saw the mistiness in his eyes and said, “There is someone out there, someone who is meant to be Mrs. Erol Carlson, and when you find her, I hope for you the very best.”
From the way he was looking at her, Sage knew at that very moment that Erol had finally accepted that things between them were over.
“If you ever need me, Sage, all you’d ever have to do is call, any time, any day. You know that, don’t you?”
She wiped a falling tear from her eyes. “Yes, Erol, I know and thank you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
A cold, hard breeze made Gabe wrap his jacket tightly around him as he walked his property. He paused when he reached the lake. The memory of Sage and that Saturday morning that he had taught her to fish stood out in his mind. He smiled. She had looked so beautiful all bundled up from head to toe, and the first time she’d made a catch, she had danced around as though it had been one of the happiest moments of her life.
He glanced at his watch. Her plane should have arrived over three hours ago, but according to Malcolm, her flight had been delayed due to bad weather flying into Anchorage. He was missing her like crazy and had thought about her all day yesterday and today. Now it was almost late evening, and he still hadn’t heard anything from her.
He had called and left a message on her answering machine asking her to contact him when she got in. He had hoped to hear from her last night and had wanted his voice to be the last one she heard before going to sleep. But she hadn’t called, and his mind had begun imagining some of everything, of what she was doing and whom she was with. He’d finally reached the conclusion there was nothing he could do. It was her life as well as her decision as to what man she wanted in it.
He started walking again, this time back toward the house where a cup of warm brandy awaited him. He would take a shower and sit in front of the fireplace and wait for the call he was anxious to get. He had almost reached the back entrance to his home when he picked up a stick that had been buried in the snow to throw it.
“Gabe?”
He held his hand frozen in midair as his heart began beating wildly in his chest. He was really