Page 15 of The Sweet Life

“No. I’d rather fight with you than think about Alice…” She turned her big, glassy eyes on him, and he drew her backonto his lap, holding her close. “I hadn’t talked to her in months. I didn’t get to say goodbye. I didn’t get to tell her how much she meant to me.”

He leaned back, reaching for the box of tissues on the nightstand as she sniffed into his chest. “Alice knew how much she meant to you, same as you knew how much you meant to her. She bragged about you constantly. It was annoying.”

She lifted her head from his chest. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he said, then teased her in the hope of lessening the sorrow in her eyes. “But she still loved me best.”

He hadn’t realized it back then, but they’d spent their teen years fighting for Alice’s time and attention. He’d never understood why Sage seemed to need Alice’s approval as much as he did. She had a big, loving family who were there for her no matter what. The only reason his family wanted him around was to earn money for their booze and drugs—or, if he couldn’t earn it, to steal it. If Alice hadn’t intervened when she had, he would’ve no doubt ended up in prison alongside his old man.

Sage surprised him by nodding instead of arguing with him like she used to. “She did. Alice adored you. You were her—”

“Don’t. Don’t say another word, Sage.” His voice was rough, the backs of his eyes burning as he moved her away from him and got off the bed. “Sounds like Kendra’s here. I need my T-shirt.”

Sage raised an eyebrow, her struggle to get off the bed ruining the superior attitude she’d been going for, but it had the desired effect of making him smile. As hard as Sage had tried—and she’d tried really hard—she’d never quite managed to pull off the condescending-bitch act with him. She’d either startstammering or turn red in the face or get so angry that she’d looked like she might cry. She could pull it off with the mean girls at the high school, though. No one messed with her sister or her cousin when Sage was around.

Once she made it to her feet, Sage straightened, lifted her nose in the air, and brushed past him. As she reached the door, her back to him, she pulled off his T-shirt and tossed it over her shoulder before clasping her skirt and blouse to her chest and sashaying down the hall, wearing a pair of high-cut silk panties. Whoever thought beige panties weren’t sexy hadn’t seen them on Sage.

He drew the T-shirt off his shoulder, pulled it over his head, and then groaned. The fabric was still warm from her body and carried her seductive scent of vanilla and sandalwood. He frowned at himself and his reaction. Sage wouldn’t thank him for fantasizing about what it would have been like to peel his T-shirt off her himself.

He dragged his hand down his face and then slapped his cheeks to snap himself out of it. As luck would have it, Sage walked back into the bedroom, looking remarkedly put together for a woman who’d walked into the bathroom less than three minutes ago. Unless he’d been stunned stupid for longer than he thought.

“Slapping yourself with cold water works better,” she said as she bent to retrieve her sneakers.

“You slap yourself with cold water often?” he asked, fighting a smile as she slipped on her white sneakers with her sexy skirt and blouse. It shouldn’t have been hot, but it was. He frowned, blaming the wayward thought on his hangover and lack of food.

“Pretty much a couple of times a day,” she said, and it was obvious she was telling the truth.

So Alice hadn’t been exaggerating. She’d shared her concerns about Sage with him. He couldn’t believe it was two days ago. If he’d only known it was the last time he’d talk to her. “You work too hard,” he said.

She snorted. “Says who, you? The guy who retired from the military at twenty-five?”

He smirked, deciding not to enlighten her just yet. She’d always believed, despite Alice’s best efforts, he’d end up a criminal. In Sage’s defense, he hadn’t done anything to disabuse her of the idea. In fact, he’d done everything he could to make her believe he was destined for a life of crime. It made it easier for him being around a girl who believed the worst of him. It would have been too easy falling for the girl Sage used to be with Alice and her family: brilliant, beautiful, compassionate, and kind.

“Don’t knock it until you try it,” he said, following the scents of sweet pastries and strong coffee down the hall.

“Okay. I get why, after you and your wife separated, you’d stop workingpart-timeas an investigator for her law firm.” He heard the eye roll in her voice. “But you must need to work to make a living?”

He’d asked Alice not to mention to Sage what he’d been up to for the past five years. Even though Alice hadn’t understood why at the time, she’d apparently done as he’d asked. If he’d failed, Alice knowing wouldn’t have bothered him. Sage was another story.

“I don’t need a lot to make me happy. This way, I can takeoff whenever the spirit moves me,” he said, holding back a grin at the disgusted expression that came over her face.

“On the same motorbike you’ve had since you were eighteen,” she muttered. “That thing is not safe.”

“Says the woman who drives an old lady’s car,” he said as they walked into the kitchen. He leaned into her. “Now, your mom, she has a sweet ride.”

“For an eighteen-year-old guy.” She glanced at her mother, who was getting a cup of coffee for Kendra, a young woman with dark shoulder-length spiral curls. “It’s not normal for a fifty-five-year-old woman to be driving a red Camaro with racing stripes, is it?”

“Bet you wouldn’t say that about a fifty-five-year-old man.”

“You just answered my question,” she said under her breath before walking to where Kendra leaned against the counter. She extended her hand. “Hi, I’m Sage.”

“Kendra.” She offered Sage and Jake a watery smile. “Alice talked about you all the time. Both of you.”

Jake walked over and gave her a hug. He felt bad for her. She was twenty, not much older than he and Sage had been when Alice started mentoring them. “How are you holding up?”

“Not great.” She lifted a shoulder and then nodded at a blue folder on the counter. “You mentioned you were looking for Alice’s will. I found it in a box in the front hall closet.”

Alice had wanted to get her office organized at the farmhouse before clearing out the rest of her house on Ocean View Drive. There were still a couple of weeks before the sale closed on her house, and she’d been taking her time. It was something that had been bugging Jake. He didn’tunderstand why Alice had been heading for the farmhouse the day of the accident instead of her place on Ocean View Drive. Her home was less than a mile away from where her bike had been found.

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