Chapter 3
Kim
“WHAT THE HELL?” I glance around before looking back at the briefcase sitting on the passenger seat of my car. The large metal case wasn’t there when I went into work this morning, and I know I locked up my car, so I have no idea who it belongs to or how it got in my car.
Feeling my heart pound, I reach over and touch the smooth metal. It looks like something out of a spy movie, like the kind of briefcase someone would deliver money in. “No,” I breathe. “No fricking way.” With the way this last week has been going, I forgot all about telling Sage I would go out with him for a million dollars. Not that I have forgotten about Sage. He’s come into the salon everyday, either bringing me flowers or demanding I talk to him. The flowers I took to the nursing home in town, and I’ve been working hard at denying his demands. But this—this is something else.
Letting out a breath, I put the keys in the ignition and start up my car. I don’t want to open the case where people could see, because if it is a million dollars—which I have no idea how Sage could get—someone could see it and then… I don’t know… track me down and kill me for it or something.
Reversing out of my parking spot, I head to my house, and as soon as I get there, I head up the stairs with the briefcase held tightly in my grasp. Locking the door behind me, I place the case on the couch and get down on my knees in front of it. I inspect the latches, noticing a button on either side of the handle. Pressing down on them at the same time, the locks click open, sounding horrifically loud in my quiet apartment.
I bite my lip, slowly open the lid, and my heart starts to go wild inside my chest when I see what’s inside. Monopoly money, lots of it. Stacks and stacks of it. Some old, and some new and still wrapped in plastic. Picking up a piece of paper that is folded on top of it, I fall to my bottom, unfold it carefully, and then start to read.
Kim,
It’s all here, a million dollars that you can count if you want.
It took me a little longer than I thought it would to get all the money together, and some I will have to return to friends and family, since they let me borrow it.
I laugh at that then pull in a sharp breath when I read the next line.
In the twenty-four hours we spent together, you gave me a taste of something beautiful, and the memories of those moments have haunted me since I walked away from you. It’s something I have regretted doing since then, something I know I will always regret, because even if by some chance you forgive me, I will never be able to get back the time with you that I missed out on.
If you accept my apology, meet me at my place tonight at seven for dinner.
Xx Sage
Seeing the address to his house scrolled along the bottom, I close my eyes and fall to my back, holding the piece of paper to my chest. I don’t know if I’m brave enough to do this with him. I don’t know if I’m courageous enough to put myself out there with everything I have going on. Sage doesn’t know about my illness, and I don’t know what he will do when he finds out. Will he take off on me the same way Kelly did? Will it be too much for him to handle?
The what-ifs are enough to keep me from going to meet him, but it’s the idea of regretting something that has me opening my eyes to look at the clock on the stove. If I’m going to do this, I need to get up and get ready to leave now. The urge to call Chris to ask him what he thinks I should do filters through my mind, but I know what he’d say. He’d tell me that I’m an idiot for not already being in my car after seeing the money and reading the letter.
I can’t imagine badass Sage Mayson going around borrowing Monopoly money, but he did that, and he did it for me. “Screw it.” If I get hurt, if I end up brokenhearted, at least I can say I gave it a shot, that I took a chance. Since the moment I was diagnosed with kidney failure, I have worked on living a life without regrets, and I know I will regret not showing up to meet him if I don’t go.
Getting up off the floor, I start to close the briefcase then pause, take a five hundred dollar orange note off one of the stacks, and then pick up my purse, digging through until I find my wallet. Once I have it unzipped, I carefully place the note in the zipper compartment in the middle, and then drop it back in my bag. With that done, I close the briefcase and head for my bedroom, where I hurry up and get ready to leave.
Putting a light pink lip gloss on, I lean back away from the mirror, and then turn my head from side to side. I don’t want it to look like I’m trying too hard, so I leave my makeup light, only adding a few more swipes of mascara. My hair is still in the same style I wore to work, which is down with wavy curls that end at the tops of my breasts. Leaving the bathroom, I shut off the light and go to my room, where I change out of the slacks and heels I wore to the salon today, exchanging them for jeans and a pair of ballet flats. Then I take off my blazer and slip on a long, gray, cashmere cardigan over my simple black tank.
Looking at my refection in the mirror on the back of my bedroom door, I put a hand to my stomach that is filled with nervous butterflies since I made my decision to go meet Sage. Knowing I don’t have time to debate with myself about going, I head for the living room, grab my bag, my keys, and the briefcase, and then head downstairs to the garage to get in my car.
Driving down a long dirt road, through what can only be described as a forest, I look at the map displayed on my dashboard. The mapping system in my car told me that I arrived at my destination about three minutes ago, but I still haven’t seen a house, and I’m starting to freak myself out. It’s dark. I’m in the middle of nowhere, or I should say in the middle of the woods, and I’m pretty sure Bigfoot is going to walk out in front of my car at any moment.
Leaning forward to get closer to my windshield, I squint my eyes trying to see through the darkness that has engulfed me, when I notice something move off on the side of the road.
Please don’t be Bigfoot. Please don’t be Bigfoot, I pray inwardly, and then slam my foot on the brake when two deer run out of the woods and across the road. “Oh my God.” I hold my hand to my chest, feeling my heart beat hard against my palm. I pull in a breath then let it out slowly as I take my foot off the brake and start to drive forward, going much slower than I had been before.
It’s now seven, which means I’m late. My stomach tightens, and my palms start to sweat then my breath leaves on a whoosh as I come over a slight incline in the road, spotting a house, which is not a house at all, but a cottage. A white stucco cottage with bright blue, red, and yellow trim around the windows, and doors that make it look like it belongs in a fairy tale.
Pulling up slowly, my foot automatically hits the brake when I see Sage standing outside next to his car like he was just about to leave. I don’t know how long we stare at each other through the glass of my windshield, but it feels like a lifetime, and before I even realize he’s moved, he’s at the hood of my car then at my door, opening it up.
“Put it in park and turn it off,” he barks, making me jump.
“Sage—”
“Now,” he demands, and I fumble with the shifter to put my car in park then hit the button to shut down the engine. As soon as the lights go out, he unhooks my seatbelt and pulls me out of my seat.
“Sa—”
His name ends on a whimper as his hands take hold of my face gently and his mouth crashes down on mine. My toes curl in my ballet flats, and my arms wind around his neck so I don’t fly away. I don’t know how I did it, but I had forgotten what it’s like to have him kiss me. I forgot that it feels like the world around me has disappeared, leaving nothing but him and me. Feeling his tongue touch my bottom lip in a silent request for entrance, my mouth opens and I moan down his throat while digging my fingers into his shoulders, trying to keep myself from falling.
“Goddamn,” he growls, dragging his mouth away from mine and tucking my head under his chin. “Fuck me.” Hearing his heart beating wildly, I close my eyes and suck in a deep breath before whispering.
“I’m sorry I was late. Bigfoot ran across the road.” Pulling my head away from his chest, my eyes open and I find him looking at me curiously.
“Bigfoot?”
“What?” I frown.
“You said Bigfoot ran across the road,” he says, and I shake my head, trying to get my brain, which is totally fried from that kiss, to work again.
“A deer ran across the road, not Bigfoot. Though I thought for sure it was going to be Bigfoot. I didn’t know your house was in the middle of the woods.”
“I should have told you. I… fuck, I didn’t even think you’d show.”
“You gave me a million dollars in Monopoly money,” I reply quietly, feeling a smile lift at the corners of my mouth. I don’t know of another man who would put their ego aside and do what Sage did. I don’t know of another guy who would care enough to even try to win back someone they barely know.
“You know I’m sorry, right?” he asks, and I force him to let me go so I can take a step back, because he can’t be this close when I say what I need to tell him.
“Please.” I hold up my hand when he takes a step toward me, and I watch his eyes flash right before he lifts his chin and crosses his arms over his chest. “I should have forgiven you the first time you apologized. It wasn’t right of me to tell you I accepted your apology and not actually accept your apology. It also wasn’t right of me to lie about who Chris really is to me.”
“Who is he to you?” he questions, and I can hear an edge of jealousy in his tone but I ignore it.
“My best friend. He’s been my best friend since I was five.”
“Is that all he is to you?”
“Yeah, that’s all he is to me.” I smile weakly, watching his body relax slightly. “What I’m trying to say is I’m sorry, too.” I pause, wondering how to tell him how I feel without telling him how I feel. “I just didn’t want to get hurt again. I know it’s stupid, since we don’t really know each other, but you hurt me, and I didn’t want to end up hurt again.”
“Come here.” He opens his arms but doesn’t move to reach for me again, and I know this is when I need to go to him. This is me silently letting him know I forgive him—really forgive him.
Stepping into his embrace, I feel his arms wrap around me and his chin drop to the top of my head. Closing my eyes, I wonder how it’s possible to feel what I’m feeling right now. I barely know this man, but I feel more connected to him than my college boyfriend, who I dated for three years.
“Thank you for coming to me,” he says quietly, and tears burn the back of my throat as my arms tighten around his waist. I’m still scared to death, but there is now hope mixed in with the fear of what could happen.
“Thank you for being persistent,” I say, meaning that, and his arms tighten before he loosens his hold slightly.
“Are you hungry?”
“A little.”
“I cooked,” he tells me, and I tip my head back to look up at him.
“You cooked?”
“Don’t sound so surprised. There’s a lot about me that you don’t know yet.”
“Yeah, like the fact you live in a fairy tale cottage,” I state, and his brows draw together.
“What?”
“Your house, it looks like a fairy tale cottage right out of a book.”
Turning us to the side, he looks at the house. Even though it’s dark, the bright colors around the windows are in stark contrast to the white of the stucco. It’s all accentuated by the outside lights that are coming down off the edge of the roof and others that are shooting at it from the garden.
“The couple who built it was from London. They wanted to have a little bit of home in the US. When they moved home after their first child was born, they let it sit with plans to come back and visit, only that never happened. Eventually, they realized they would never come back, so they put it on the market.”
“That’s so sad.”
“Sad for them. It worked out for me. Come on.” He takes my hand and begins leading me toward a stone walkway to a heavy-looking wood door that is curved at the top. Pushing the door open, we step right into a small living room with gold and white wallpaper on the walls that has began peeling away. There are plastic drapes all over the floor and a ladder in the middle of the room under one of the many large wooden beams that run across the ceiling.
“I’m in the middle of re-staining all the beams,” he explains, pulling me past the living room and down a hall.
Reaching the kitchen, I blink. It’s even more beautiful than I imagined it would be when he showed me the things he picked out. The cream cupboards and countertops go perfectly with the light gray walls. The large stove off to the side looks amazing with the huge decorative vent above it that blends in with the cupboards. All the appliances look awesome in the space, and they tie in perfectly with a huge metal-top table that is off to the side with coordinating chairs placed around it.
Taking a step farther into the room, I see a second living room with a large stone fireplace as the centerpiece with a TV mounted above, and one large sectional in front of it that is a dark gray suede material. Fur pillows of different shades are stacked up in the corners, and a few fur throws are tossed over the back. The whole space looks like something out of a high-end magazine ad for housewares. Spinning to face Sage, I shake my head.
“This is…” I look around again, trying to come up with a word that means more than beautiful. “This is spectacular! This could be in a catalog.”
“My mom and aunts will be happy to hear that.” He smiles.
“They did all of this?”
“Yeah, they love shopping, so I gave them my card and a budget and told them to let loose as long as they didn’t show up with anything pink.”
“No, this is… this is you.”
“If you think this is nice, you should see the view from my bed,” he says, and I feel my face go soft.
“You put in a skylight?”
“Yeah.” He holds out his hand, and I place mine in it and let him lead me down a short hall that is just off the kitchen. Opening the door to the room, I walk in ahead of him and go to the bed. Climbing in without asking if it’s okay, I lie on my back and look up at the night sky that seems to be a hundred times brighter than it does from the skylight over my bed.
“I knew this place would be beautiful when you were finished with it,” I say quietly. Then I turn my head when the bed moves and watch Sage crawl up next to me to lie down on his back, just far enough away that we’re not touching.
“I still have a lot to do, but it’s coming along.”
“Have you done it all yourself?” I ask, lifting my head to find him already looking at me.
“You know my uncles own a construction company, so they did some of the work, but my brothers, cousins, and I did the kitchen and floors ourselves.”
“You guys have done a great job.”
“Thanks,” he tells me, and then he rolls toward me, putting an elbow to the bed and looking down at me. Watching him study me with the light through the skylight and the open door of the room, I fight the urge to squirm under his stare. “I’ve imagined this.” He tosses his hand out to encompass everything. “I’ve imagined sharing all of this with you hundreds of times. I’m glad you’re here.”
Feeling my lips part, I lift my hand and rest it softly against his cheek. “Me, too,” I confess without thinking, and he turns his head and touches his lips to my palm.
“Come on. I made lasagna,” he urges, sitting up and getting off the bed, pulling me along with him, and I feel my stomach twist. I can’t eat lasagna, and I can’t even tell him why not without exposing too much.
“I’m not really hungry anymore,” I lie, and he stops at the door to look at me, frowning.
“You’re not hungry anymore?”
“I forgot I had a big lunch today.”
“Oh.” His frown deepens.
“I’ll try to eat some, but I don’t want you to think I’m being rude if I don’t eat much,” I say, and he shakes his head.
“It’s all good. You can watch me eat and we can catch up,” he assures, and so that’s exactly what I do. I watch him eat and tell him about Chris, my parents, and even a little about Kelly, before it’s time for me to leave. And when I go, he gives me a kiss goodbye that puts his kiss hello to shame.