“Son of a bitch,” Sabrina muttered angrily. She looked at Eva desperately. “How many other journalists did she call? Do you know?”
“None that I know of. When Theo’s paramours spilled their stories, I reminded them that no good things happen when high-profile politicians’ mistresses air dirty blue dresses. Apparently, I made a convincing argument, even on this last one.”
“Why would a journalist suppress her own story?” Sabrina wondered aloud. It didn’t make sense. Any other reporter in Austin would have milked Theo’s indiscretions for all they were worth and then some. Scandal sold.
“I didn’t do it for Theo Ward, that’s for sure.” Eva scrutinized her croissant with a distracted frown. “Damn, I could have sworn I got the pain au chocolat.”
“If you didn’t kill the story for Theo’s sake, who did you do it for?” Sabrina pressed, feeling frantic but relieved. Eva looked at her candidly.
“I did it for you,” came the unexpected reply. “When our foster family first took Carlton and me in, the first and only bit of gossip I remember hearing was that a certain Corners girl was going to take Austin by storm one day, and that girl was you, Sabrina. Even though we weren’t close friends, I always admired you from afar. I kept up with you, too. Everyone in the neighborhood talked about how you went to university on scholarship and how you landed your dream job at the State Capitol. You made me believe that anything was possible.”
“Me?” Sabrina squeaked, flabbergasted. She never knew that she made such a strong impression on anyone, but Nola had proved her wrong. And now Eva Hayes.
“Yup,” the younger woman said with a friendly sparkle in her eyes. “If you hadn’t achieved everything you did, I probably wouldn’t have gone into journalism. I would have pulled a Zarabeth Singer. Your man Ward might get a merit badge for perfect attendance, but every reporter in this town knows who did the real work. I wasn’t about to write anything that could tank your future.”
“Gosh, Eva,” Sabrina said graciously, feeling humbled. “I don’t know what to say except thank you. I owe you a drink. Actually, I owe you a lot of drinks.”
“I’m going to take you up on those,” Eva laughed then her eyes fixed on someone in the crowded coffeehouse. She gave whoever it was a coy little wave. Sabrina glanced behind her and spotted a table where a man with sandy hair and a killer smile was waiting.
“Is that your—”
“—Boyfriend?” Eva filled in. “No, that’s just Pete Carlyle’s nephew, Cash. We’ve been hanging out for the past couple of weeks.”
“Pete has a nephew?” Sabrina asked, surprised.
“Who knew, right? Cash teaches astronomy at the university, and he’s deliciously Scottish. He’s a great guy, but we both know and agree that we’re not in this for the long haul. We’re sort of, um…”
“Friends with benefits,” Sabrina supplied.
“You got it. And I must say, the ‘benefits’ are mighty fine.” Eva grinned lasciviously. Sabrina tried to think back to a time when she too was so savoir faire about sex. When her physical desire for Jackson and all of the men just like him was on par with snacking on last night’s leftover takeout to dull her appetite. If nothing else, Gage had taught her what it was like to be ravenous for physical intimacy. Mild fondness was no longer in her emotional repertoire. She didn’t know why any woman would settle for anything less, but Eva was … well, Eva.
The two women gathered up their orders from the barista and then exchanged cell phone numbers, promising to get together soon. Sabrina walked back to her car, which was now toasty warm inside. Once she finally reached the office, she sat behind her desk with her coffee and indulged herself with a quiet moment of self-pity. Time was supposed to heal all wounds. But instead of missing Gage less, she missed him more as each day passed. More fiercely, more irrationally and more desperately.
Time had only made her feel like an even bigger fool.
She was still deep in thought when Carlton slid his slim, Prada-clad rump onto the edge of her desk.
“So how badly did you mess things up?” he asked with a sigh.
“What are you talking about?” She gave him a distracted glance.
“Gage Fitzgerald. Did you totally blow it?”
“Oh, god. Who ratted me out?” Sabrina blew her bangs out of her eyes wearily.
“It’s not my sister, if that’s what you’re thinking. I hear things through the grapevine, too. What I’ve heard is that Sabrina March, Chief of Staff and usual purveyor of stuffed shirts, finally got laid by a real man.”
“That’s just wonderful,” she moaned. “So what makes you think I blew it?”
“Because you’ve been on what seems like one long PMS rampage for the past month.” Carlton gave her a suspicious look. “You flip out over little things, like that time when Moira forgot to load the paper tray in the copier. When we went through the cafeteria line on Chili Dog Monday, you started to cry, and no, I’m not buying your, ‘It’s just the chopped onions, Carlton’ excuse either.
“Hmm, let’s see. What else?” He drummed his fingers across the desk. “Oh, you’ve ditched the Factory Waif look and your normal hair is back — to its natural color, I presume?” He squinted and picked up a chocolate-colored lock. “You’ve also lost a lot of weight. That’s not flattery, Sabrina. Your collarbones could shear diamonds.”
Sabrina snuck a glance at her cleavage. She had dropped several pounds.
“You’re obviously going to park yourself here until I come clean,” she said. “I had my first real love affair. I had my heart broken for the first time ever. It wasn’t pretty. I don’t want to go into details.”
“That is an incredibly tragic story. And so very unique.” She couldn’t tell if the look of empathy on Carlton’s face was genuine or if he was being sarcastic in his low-key way.
“I’m over it,” she assured him in what she hoped was a convincing voice. “Big girls don’t cry and all that.”
“Superb!” Carlton said cheerfully. “Then a little background noise probably won’t bother you. I was listening to the most hilarious talk show earlier as I drove to work. You should check it out.”
Before she could protest, he leaned over and snapped on the radio. Gage’s voice boomed through the air.
“—so someone needs to shut me up before I turn into one of those dudes who tell all the other dudes that relationships suck. It’s Valentine’s Day, man. That makes it even worse.”
Sabrina checked the date on her wall calendar. He was right. It was indeed Valentine’s Day.
“Naw, dude. I’m not gonna let that happen to you,” Giggles coached. “Some hot wings, a few beers, and some man time with your buds and you’ll be good to go. Gotta get back into the scene, hombre. Gotta make it happen with another special lady.”
“Sure.” Gage gave a half-hearted laugh. “Just give me a little more quiet time to stare into my Wheaties.” He sighed. “Damn, I miss her. I miss the SHB.”
What was that? An acronym for “short-lived, heartless betrayer?” Sabrina rubbed her forehead and wondered if she really wanted to find out. This time she really did deserve the verbal slings and arrows. Carlton slid his butt off the desk, his mission complete. He gave Sabrina a sympathetic look, blew her a kiss and headed back to the front office. Sabrina continued to listen.
“I guess I didn’t know her as well as I thought I did,” Gage went on. “I like to think that maybe I had a part of her that she didn’t give to any other man. I dunno if that’s true, man. All I know is that when she was mine, she was one sweet, hot babe.”
“Sweet, hot babe, huh? You gotta feel used,” Giggles said sympathetically.
“The sex was totally off the hook. It was ethereal. I’m a man,” Gage mused. “Can I use that word, ‘ethereal’?”
“Naw, dude. I wouldn’t,” Giggles replied with a flat chortle.
“She was worth it. It was all worth it.” A long moment of radio silence followed. It could have been part of his act, Sabrina
reasoned. But Gage could never be anything less than genuine.
For that matter, neither could Fitz.
**
Calls began to flood the radio station during the commercial break.
Gage tore off his headphones and ran a hand through his hair. What was happening to him? He’d let his personal life seep into his professional life. Fitz didn’t bare his soul to his listeners.
Not like this.
Coming back to Austin had an unnerving effect. That morning when he’d driven by the Driskill Hotel on his way to work, the memories that he was trying to put behind him had resurfaced in sharp-focused detail. All he could see was the dreamy-eyed expression on Sabrina’s face as he held her on the dance floor. She’d been dizzy with love for him then. He was absolutely sure of it. What had changed her mind? Surely he had to have said or done something …
“You okay, man?” Gideon squinted at him carefully.
“Do I sound like I’m okay?” Gage grumbled. Seeing the worried look on his coworker’s face, he quickly added, “Don’t sweat it, Gideon. It’s my first day back. I’ll get back into the swing.”
The last commercial was about to end. Gideon took a gulp of his energy drink. Gage slipped his headphones back on.
“So here’s the pressing question of the day: Do any of you single dudes out there have a place where I can crash?” Gage said into the microphone. “Give me a call if you do — or if you just wanna tell me about your very worst heartbreak.”
“Whoa, man! Looks like we’ve got a call coming in,” Gideon said with a nervous chuckle. He turned to Gage with a warning look and mouthed, “SHB.”
Gage froze momentarily. Sabrina had been listening to everything. He hadn’t felt this nervous since his first day on the job. He willed himself to speak.
“Whoa. It seems that our old friend from the House of Representatives is back. Wonder what she has to say today. You there, House?”
At first, Gage heard nothing but silence. Then the familiar husky timbre of Sabrina’s voice was coming at him in stereo.
“I broke up with someone not too long ago,” she told him. “He was everything I’d been searching for.”
“Yet you done the poor hombre wrong,” Gage said with a dramatic tsk. “You confuse me, House.”
“Oh yeah? Imagine how he feels,” she responded dryly. “I’ll wager it’s a lot worse than I do right now, and I feel like sh — I feel awful.”
“So tell me about this guy.” Gage felt himself begin to relax. He kicked back in his chair and put his feet on the edge of the desk. “What was it about him that makes you give him such mad props?”
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Gideon shaking his head and slapping a palm across his forehead.
“At first, it was the small things,” she confessed. “He really made a first impression. First, he pissed me off — that’s how he got my attention. Then he made me laugh. He’s a wonderful ballroom dancer. He bought me the best hot dogs I’ve ever eaten. He taught me not to take myself so seriously.”
“Sounds like you snagged yourself a stellar dude, House.” Gage kept his voice even. “Do go on.”
“He’s also one of the most selfless people I’ve ever met. He’s made sacrifices that most people can’t dream of making, and he made them out of love, without expecting a single thing in return. That’s what really sealed the deal.” Sabrina’s voice broke just a little.
Gage found it difficult to continue. He couldn’t even swallow. So this is how it’s going to be. She was making it impossible for Fitz to keep up his ballsy bluster.
“So then maybe you can explain this ‘love ’em yet leave ’em’ phenomenon to all of the perfectly decent, willing single dudes out there who want to settle down. Because hey — we’re clueless.” Something compelled Gage to make her keep talking. As long as she did, he had a chance in hell of figuring her out.
And finding out where everything went wrong.
“I can’t speak for every woman,” she began tentatively. “I can only speak for myself. I’ve never had a man love me before — at least not like this. I couldn’t believe that his love for me would last, so I called it off in the most cowardly way. You can’t imagine.”
“Oh, I think I probably can,” Gage assured her, thinking of the letter she’d left behind.
“Your SHB probably isn’t too different from me, Fitz.” Her voice had taken on a forlorn note. “She was trying to protect herself.”
“Still sounds like your garden variety cop out to me.” Gage kept his voice even.
There still was something Sabrina wasn’t telling him. What was it? Their on-air discourse was only confusing him more. And it made him miss her all over again.
“I’d probably feel the same way if I were you.” There was a pregnant pause. Then she said, “I guess the real reason I called was to tell you that nothing about the way she feels about you has changed. Believe that if you believe nothing else.”
Gage did want to believe her. But far more than that, he wanted to forgive her. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Gideon motioning to him to move it along.
“I do,” he said. But he heard nothing but silence on Sabrina’s end. “House, you still there?”
More silence. She’d hung up.
“Okay, next caller!” Gideon jumped in quickly. “We got ourselves a single dude on the line — thank god.”
Gage conjured up his Fitz persona and took another couple of calls. One was from a car salesman who had just cracked his fourth beer of the morning after finding out that his former girlfriend had hooked up with his boss. The second caller was in the process of emptying the contents of his ex-fiancée’s lingerie drawer onto the street from their fifth-floor condo.
The weeks after New Year’s were always prime dumping season, Gage thought.
He pictured Sabrina sitting behind her desk at the Capitol chewing on her lower lip nervously while she decided how much of her soul to bare on air. She’d always desperately wanted to tell him something. She still did. Moreover, she wanted him. He could hear it in the small breaks in her voice.
He was willing to meet her halfway this time, but that was all. The rest was all up to her.
“That was way heavy,” Gideon informed him gloomily during the next commercial break. “Keep it up, Fitzgerald, and we can kiss our ratings goodbye.”
Gage glanced out the window at a low-lying nimbus of formless gray, a sure indicator that the weather was about to change. He had lived in the Midwest long enough to know exactly what those clouds meant.
“Screw the ratings,” he said.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Sabrina tried to keep busy for the rest of the day. If she allowed herself any downtime, she was likely to dwell on Gage. Theo had farmed out the oldest Wardling’s homework between her and Violetta for double-checking. Sabrina redlined a science report, replacing each “dolfin” with “dolphin” and helpfully writing in the margin that in Japan, the mammals were hunted for their meat.
So Gage was back in Austin. He had to be staying someplace. Where? The Chateau was the most likely place, although surely Molly would have said something to her. Unless he’d gotten back late last night. There was still the matter of his belongings. He’d eventually want to move them out. That could be uncomfortable if both of them were in the house at the same time. Maybe she could sleep on Carlton’s sofa for a couple of days.
The rest of the Think Tank was empty. Moira and Carlton were probably at committee hearings. Or maybe not, Sabrina thought, remembering the way the gray light seemed to fill the fishbowl like cloudy sediment when she took her last coffee break. She checked her watch. Was it really almost four o’clock? The only thing she could hear was Theo rattling paper around inside his office more loudly than he usually did. While she was returning a call, the phone at the front desk squawked, and she could hear Violetta discussing something with Theo.
As Sabrina was placing the phone back in its cradle, she jumped at the sound of Vio
letta clearing her throat from the doorway.
“Theo wants you in his office,” the receptionist informed her. “He asked me to fetch you. Just so you’ll be forewarned, he sounds—” She hesitated and gave Sabrina a fretful look.
“Pissy?”
“‘Put-out’ is a better word for it.” Violetta rolled her eyes. “He took a long call from someone named Benold during lunch.”
Terry Benold, a prominent family law attorney, had a reputation of securing lucrative divorce settlements for scorned society wives and gold diggers with prenups. So it had come to this, Sabrina thought sorrowfully. She wished Jill had waited until after session ended to file.
“You know the Hon. Rep.,” Sabrina told Violetta. “His rattle is worse than his strike.”
She was going to hate this part. The part where negotiations between Theo and Jill ceased, and he became demanding and clingy. She was glad she was still wearing her no-nonsense “Floor clothes,” an inauspicious black wool suit, patent pumps and, heaven help her, a pearl choker. She found Theo sitting behind his desk examining large drawings of the elaborate stucco condominiums she’d seen on the cover of the construction brochure. When he didn’t look up, Sabrina cleared her throat.
“Come in for a spell, Chief.” He paused to look at her briefly before studying the pictures again. “I was admiring the latest Tide Brothers Construction endeavor.”
“Epic,” she commented as she leaned over the desk to inspect a drawing of a swimming pool that spanned the rooftop. “Does it come with its own ski dock?”
Theo gave her an irritated glance, shuffled the papers to the side, and clasped his hands in front of his desk.
“Counseling isn’t working,” he informed her somberly. “Jillian and I have decided to divorce. I thought you should know.”
Something About You (Just Me & You) Page 38
