* * * * *
While he waited for Mason to finish tying his shoes, Trent removed two water bottles from the cooler in his trunk. He also took the opportunity to scan the parking lot of the civic center for Sabrina’s car. There was no sign of it yet, but it was still early. Would she actually show up? He didn’t need the anticipation racing through his veins to know how much he wanted to see her.
“Are you ready over there?” he called to Mason.
“Just about, Mr. Trent.”
They followed the signs to the registration area and eventually ran into Paige.
“Hey, Mason,” she said, pulling him in for a quick hug. “I heard you had a great game the other night.”
“I ran for over a hundred yards.”
“That’s fantastic.” She turned to Trent. “I hope you realize the sacrifice I’m making. I could still be in bed right now.”
“It’s one Saturday a year,” he pointed out. “Plus you’re getting a free t-shirt.”
They were standing in line at the registration table when Sabrina and Madeline joined them. After taking one long look at the former and wondering how it was possible for her to be more beautiful every time he saw her, Trent began the introductions.
“Mason, this is Miss Sabrina and Miss Madeline. They’re going to run with us today.”
Mason said ‘hi’ in a voice that was barely loud enough to be heard.
Sabrina pointed to his shirt which sported a garnet and gold tomahawk. “Are you a Florida State fan?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“My dad was too. I remember him watching the Noles every Saturday during football season.”
“Mr. Trent took me to a game last month when they played Georgia Tech.”
“How exciting! I’ve never been to a college football game.”
A voice boomed from the loud speaker urging everyone to take their places behind the yellow tape. Paige, Sabrina and Madeline walked ahead with Trent and Mason bringing up the rear. A few minutes later, the starting whistle blew and the swarm of people in front of them began to move.
Trent stayed in the background with Mason, letting the three women talk among themselves and not making any attempt to intrude on their conversation. For the moment, he was content to be close enough to hear Sabrina’s voice and catch an occasional glimpse of her smile. As his eyes followed the swinging movement of her ponytail, he remembered what Madeline had said about trying to find her sister a boyfriend. Did the fact that he and Sabrina were still single mean anything? Or was it just wishful thinking on his part?
If nothing else, meeting her again had given him the chance to apologize. It might not have meant much to her, but it was something he’d waited a long time to do. Getting her to forgive him was the next step. Until she did that, there wasn’t much hope of anything else, even something as non-threatening as friendship.
Only rarely did she lower her guard around him, and since the afternoon when she implied that she might at some point go out with him, she’d barely spoken ten words to him that weren’t related to work. He wished he’d resisted the impulse to ask her to dinner in the first place. It was too soon to expect her to want to spend time with him. He couldn’t erase years of distrust in a few days. He might never be able to do so.
At the halfway point along the marked trail, a tent had been set up over several tables and chairs. It gave those who needed it a chance to catch their breath and get some water. If he’d been by himself, Trent wouldn’t have stopped. He was used to running long distances in all kinds of weather. Since he wasn’t alone, he followed the others into the shade.
His eyes instinctively went to Sabrina. The combination of cool morning air and exercise had given her skin a healthy glow. She was laughing at something Paige was saying. What would it take for her to be that relaxed with him?
“Mr. Trent, that man over there is waving at you.”
Trent looked in the direction Mason was pointing. Recognizing one of his clients, he said, “Stay here and finish your water. I’ll be right back.”
* * * * *
Out of the corner of her eye, Sabrina saw Trent walking toward a group of three men. Something in the way Mason’s eyes followed the tall figure aroused the curiosity she’d felt about the boy since her arrival. She’d gone from supposing him to be a relative to thinking he must be the son of one of Trent’s friends. She could have asked Paige, but she didn’t want to appear too curious, and she had Madeline standing there listening to everything. With Trent occupied, this was probably her only chance to find out.
Excusing herself from a discussion of boyfriends to which she’d made little contribution, she left the two other women and made her way over to Mason.
“How are you holding up?”
“Good,” he told her, his eyes barely meeting hers.
Sabrina brushed back the long hair from his forehead. “There! Now I can see those big brown eyes.” He shuffled his feet and glanced over his shoulder as if willing Trent to return.
Realizing she’d embarrassed him, she turned the conversation to a subject he’d be more likely to talk about. “How do you know Mr. Trent?”
“He’s my Big Brother.”
For Mason’s sake, Sabrina tried to contain her surprise. “Is he really? What kinds of things do you do together?”
“He helps me with my homework, and takes me to football practice. Sometimes we go to his house and play video games. But that’s only after we wash his car. We have to do our chores first; then we can play.”
Sabrina was more than a little impressed by this recital. “Where do you play football?”
“At North Park.”
“That’s not far from where I live. What position do you play?”
“I’m a running back.”
“That must mean you’re fast.”
The little boy shrugged, his cheeks coloring a little. “I have a game on Wednesday night. You could come watch me, if you want. Mr. Trent comes to all my games because my mom has to work.”
Mason hadn’t mentioned his father which meant he probably wasn’t around. Sympathy welled up inside her. She couldn’t refuse him even if it meant running into Trent. “I’d love to come. What time is the game?”
“It’s at seven. Mr. Trent always takes me out to eat after the game. Maybe you could come with us. We usually get pizza because that’s my favorite.”
Sabrina’s gaze slid over to the tall figure with his back toward them. First the puppy, and now Mason. Not many people were willing to volunteer so much time and energy to someone else’s child. It showed a depth of character and thoughtfulness she couldn’t dismiss or rationalize. Trent had no reason to do something like this other than the obvious one: that he wanted to help others.
A hand touched her arm. “Do you like pizza, Miss Sabrina?”
She turned back to answer Mason. “I do like pizza.”
“I’m going to Mr. Trent’s house today so we can work on my pinewood derby car. We cut it out of a block of wood and now we have to sand it.”
That explained the sandpaper she’d seen Trent buying at the store. “What color are you going to paint it?”
“We’re thinking about black with gold racing stripes.”
“That sounds cool. What are you going to do with the car after you finish it?”
“My Boy Scout troop is having a race to see who has the fastest car. They give trophies to the winners.”
“Well, I hope you win.”
“Me, too.”
Sabrina looked up to see Trent coming toward them. He sent her a smile that had more than her pulse fluttering. What was happening to her? She thought those feelings for him lay buried in the past, and that’s where she preferred them to stay. He might be the world’s greatest philanthropist, but in matters of the heart, he couldn’t be trusted.
“What’s going on over here?”
Ignoring the thudding of that annoying organ in her chest, she replied, “Mason and I are getting acquainted.”
“Did we lose the rest of our group?” he asked.
Sabrina looked at the empty space where Paige and Madeline had been. “I guess they got tired of waiting.”
“We’ll catch up with them soon enough.”
After throwing away their empty water bottles, they took off again. Mason broke the silence that had fallen over the three of them.
“Mr. Trent, Miss Sabrina said she’d come to my game on Wednesday.”
“Hey now, you’re not putting moves on my girl, are you?”
Sabrina knew he was teasing, but her fingers itched to wipe the cat-who’s-found-the-bowl-of-cream grin off his face.
Mason chuckled. “No, sir.”
She sent Trent an irritated glance which he ignored. “I think Mr. Trent is confusing me with one of his other girls.”
“Girls?” the exasperating man asked innocently. “As in more than one? Where would I find the time?”
“I’m talking about the girls you have lunch with almost every day.”
Trent laughed suddenly. “I’d forgotten about them.”
“That makes it even worse.”
“It’s not what you think, Sabrina.”
What else could it be? She’d heard him and Jared talk about it numerous times. “It doesn’t matter what I think. What you do is your business.”
“You’re not going to let me explain, are you?” he asked, smiling slightly.
“There’s nothing to explain.”
“History seems to be repeating itself.”
“And not in a good way. I see Madeline and Paige up ahead. I think I’ll go join them.”
“That’s probably for the best.”
It didn’t take nearly long enough for Sabrina to catch up with the others. She wasn’t so much angry with Trent as frustrated with herself. Why was she so upset? It wasn’t as if his behavior was a surprise. Flirting came as natural to him as breathing. His lack of integrity in his dealings with females was no longer her problem. It shouldn’t matter to her how many ‘girls’ he met for lunch, and it definitely shouldn’t bother her that a guy with such a big heart had such a huge blind spot when it came to women.
* * * * *
Watching Sabrina walk away was like déjà vu. It wasn’t as dramatic or life-altering as before, but it was still aggravating. If he hadn’t been so annoyed, Trent might have found the irony of the situation amusing. She’d put the worst possible interpretation on the innocent remarks he and Jared traded back and forth, not knowing that the subject of his lunch companions was a standing joke between the two men. He couldn’t blame her for jumping to the wrong conclusion, not with the reputation he had in college added to the way he treated her. He just wished it didn’t hurt so much to know her low opinion of him.
The rest of the 10K run was a blur. Trent didn’t bother trying to talk to Sabrina again. For one thing, there were too many people around, and for another, she was wearing the very recognizable ‘stay away from me’ look. He’d been involved in enough business negotiations over the years to know when to press his advantage and when to withdraw. This was definitely the latter.
After he and Mason recouped their lost energy and calories with double cheeseburgers and chocolate milkshakes, they headed to his condo. As they were pulling into the parking lot, Mason turned to him.
“I think we made Miss Sabrina mad.”
“Not ‘we’, Mason. You didn’t do anything. I’m the one who upset Miss Sabrina. But don’t worry; I’ll sort it out with her later.”
“Do you think she’ll still want to come to my game?”
“Of course she will.” He’d make sure Sabrina was there even if he had to sit at the other end of the field. There was no way he was going to allow Mason to be disappointed. The boy had suffered enough from the actions of the adults in his life.
Forcing his mind away from her, Trent concentrated his efforts on removing the worried frown from Mason’s face. The work on the pinewood derby car was a welcome diversion for his chaotic thoughts. It was only later after he’d taken Mason home that he recalled in detail a conversation he wished had never happened.
The following afternoon after a leisurely walk with Butterscotch, Trent began pulling together the materials he needed for an investment conference he and Jared were hosting in a few weeks’ time. Even then, he couldn’t escape Sabrina. His attempts to get on better terms with her were failing miserably. It didn’t seem to matter what he did. Nothing could remove the stigma of being a liar.
It was while he was in the garage looking for the research he’d done for his master’s thesis that he came across his old chemistry book. He’d forgotten he still had it. After the water skiing accident, he hadn’t been in any condition to do anything for weeks. His parents had made the trip from Augusta to Young Harris to clean out his dorm room. Not knowing what he would need, they packed up everything. Trent remembered going through the boxes when he first moved to Atlanta. What he didn’t remember was keeping this book.
He picked it up and opened the front cover. Stuck to the title page was a yellow sticky note. A smile crossed his lips as he read the words: if you touch my leg again, you’re going to be sorry. He’d made the mistake of thinking that was an idle threat. His baseball coach hadn’t been amused when he showed up at practice with a splint on two of his fingers. Sabrina didn’t know it, but that action more or less sealed her fate. From that moment, his interest in her increased tenfold.
Instead of putting the book back in the box, he carried it inside and laid it on the coffee table. It might be illogical and even silly, but it was the only thing he had in his possession with any connection to her. He wasn’t a particularly sentimental or imaginative person, but even he couldn’t totally dismiss the coincidence of finding the book at just this time.
* * * * *
Sabrina walked over to the sink in the garage to clean her brush. She’d just finished applying a second coat of stain to the trestle table. It was a tiring job, but she was pleased with the result. The remaining step was to finish it off with several coats of polyurethane. The grumbling of her stomach reminded her that she’d skipped lunch. When she started working on a project, she tended to forget about such things as food.
Setting the brush aside to dry, she made her way into the kitchen to fix a sandwich. She hadn’t been there long when her phone rang.
“Hey, Camille. How was the visit with your sister?”
“Exhausting, but enjoyable. The twins are crawling now. You can’t take your eyes off them for a second. I would have been home sooner but there was an accident on the parkway. Traffic was backed up for miles. There were five vehicles and a semi involved. I saw them pulling a silver BMW out of the ditch. The whole front end was smashed.”
“A silver BMW?” Sabrina asked unsteadily, her heart plummeting.
“Yeah, why?”
“Trent drives a silver BMW.”
“He’s not the only man in Alpharetta driving one.”
Sabrina felt as if she’d been punched in the stomach. “What if it was him?”
“Stop worrying, Sabrina. Chances are it wasn’t.”
She’d thought the same thing when she first heard the rumor of the water skiing accident. That story turned out to be all too true.
“Hey! Are you still there?” Camille asked.
“Sorry. I was thinking about something.”
“My niece’s school is having a fundraiser at Buffalo’s Thursday night. It’s all-you-can-eat-wings. For once, we don’t have to feel guilty about going. We’ll be stuffing ourselves for a good cause.”
Sabrina forced herself to concentrate on what Camille was saying. “Sounds like fun. What time?”
“Let’s meet at six-thirty.”
“I’ll be there.”
Laying down the phone, Sabrina went back to her sandwich, but all she could think about was that smashed BMW. Images of a seriously injured Trent in the emergency room flooded her mind. This was going to drive her crazy! How could she find out i
f it was him? It was then she remembered the business card Jared had given her a few days ago. Included with the main office number were his and Trent’s cell numbers. There was the solution to her problem. She could call him. If he answered, then she’d know he was all right and she could put the matter to rest.
It only took a few seconds to locate the business card in her purse. Before she could talk herself out of it, she touched the numbers on her keypad. As she silently counted the rings, she tried to stay calm. When the phone switched over to his voice mail, she told herself that he could be in the shower or taking a nap. She’d wait fifteen minutes and call again. The second attempt got the same result. With a rush of frustration, she ended the call and tossed the phone on the counter with scant regard for its future operation. It rang almost immediately.
She snatched it up, hope rising within her, only to realize that it wasn’t Trent. It was her sister. For a moment, all she could do was stare at the screen, her anxiety level escalating again. What was she going to do? Call him every fifteen minutes all night? Knowing she couldn’t ignore her current caller, she took a deep breath and answered the phone. “What’s up, Maddie?”
“James and I are going to tour the model homes in that new subdivision off Dairy Road. Want to tag along?”
Normally Sabrina would have joined them, but right now she was too distracted. “No, thanks. I, uh, I need to get my clothes ready for work tomorrow.”
“Okay. We’re going to grab something to eat afterward. I should be home by nine.”
Over the next two hours, Sabrina called Trent’s phone four more times and still he didn’t answer. In between each call, she paced the floor and calmed her rising panic by inventing more reasons for why he wasn’t answering. Finally, she couldn’t take the stress anymore. She might not know where he lived, but she did know where they took accident victims. As she left the house and got into her car, she could find no acceptable reason for what she was doing. Her behavior bordered on irrational if not totally crazy, but she couldn’t stop herself.
Dare to Love: A Sweet Contemporary Romance (Finding Love Book 4) Page 9
