Page 5 of The Sweet Life

She nodded, too stunned by her reaction to the feel of his lips on her skin to do anything else.

He handed her his phone. “Put in your number. I’ll text you updates when I have them.”

She did as he said, hesitating before handing it back to him. She searched his face as he’d searched hers only moments before. “Maybe you shouldn’t go either. It will be as hard on you as it would be on me if you, if they…” She still couldn’t bring herself to say the words.

“I was special forces, Sage. I—” Someone yelled out, and his gaze shot to the woods. He took off at a run. “Keep Sageaway,” he ordered her family as he sprinted past them and up the hill, stopping when the two women and their dogs walked out of the woods, their expressions somber.

The dark-haired woman hugged Jake. He nodded at whatever she was saying to him. He took a moment before glancing back at Sage. He held her gaze and slowly shook his head and then disappeared into the trees.

She moved to run after him, but her sister and mother darted in front of her, each of them grabbing her by an arm. “Let me go! He shouldn’t be doing this on his own.”

“He doesn’t want you there, honey. He’s trying to protect you. Let him. Please,” her mother begged before she and Sage’s sister sandwiched her in a hug.

“We’re here for you,” Willow said, holding her tight. “You don’t have to go through this on your own.”

Sage’s grandmother and aunt joined in the group hug. Sage, her head on her mother’s shoulder, hadn’t needed to see Cami to know she was there. She’d felt her mother stiffen.

Taking a steadying breath, Sage wiped her eyes and moved out of her family’s comforting embrace. She didn’t have the bandwidth to play intermediary today. “Thank you. I’ll be okay. It’s just…” She swallowed, barely managing to get the words out. “It’s a shock.”

She had to shut away thoughts about Alice and the accident, her guilt over not being there for her friend, her sorrow over losing her. When she was alone, curled up on her bed at her condo, Sage would let her feelings out.

The last members of the search party walked out of the woods and down the hill. Jake wasn’t with them. She pressedher lips together to hold back a sob, unable to stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks.

Her mother slid an arm around Sage’s waist when two paramedics walked up the hill carrying a stretcher between them. They were followed by three police officers, one holding a roll of yellow tape in his hand.

The sight of the police tape took Sage’s breath away. The officers and the green of the trees merged as everything in front of her blurred and spun. She placed her hands on her knees and bent over, pushing her breath through her clenched teeth.

“You don’t need to be here for this. Let me take you home,” her mother said, rubbing Sage’s back. “I’ll make you a nice grilled eggplant caprese. You’ll feel better once you eat.”

The Rosettis’ love language was food.

Sage waited for everything to stop spinning before slowly straightening. She glanced at her phone, wondering if she should text Jake or leave him alone to process his grief. It seemed important that she stayed, for him and for Alice. “I can’t leave.”

As she stood vigil with her family by her side, a crowd gathered behind them.

A woman’s voice rose above the whispers. “Her poor family when they find out she died alone in the woods.”

Sage’s fingers tightened around her phone. Willow looked over her shoulder in an attempt, Sage imagined, to get the woman to stop talking. It didn’t work.

“I don’t think she had any family. I don’t think she ever married,” another woman said.

“Really? She must have had a partner at one time. She’s… she was in her early seventies, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, but she had a busy legal practice. It didn’t leave her much time for anything else.”

Carmen reached around Gia to tap Sage’s back, which Sage’s mother didn’t miss. “Really, Ma? You think this is the time to get on Sage’s case about how much she works?” Gia said in a heated whisper.

Obviously, the women behind them didn’t realize their conversation was giving Sage’s grandmother talking points as they continued. “That’s so sad. There’ll be hardly anyone at her funeral. We’ll have to go.”

As the women discussed what they’d wear to Alice’s funeral, Gia moved to the other side of Sage. The better to hear Cami and Willow’s conversation.

Sage looked at her grandmother, who’d lightly elbowed her in the ribs. “Don’t even.”

“I wasn’t going to mention how you’ll end up like Alice if you’re not careful.” She looked up as two officers started down the path from the woods. “But it won’t surprise me if the coroner discovers she dropped dead from overwork.”

“Nonna,” Sage muttered.

“God rest her soul.” Her grandmother made the sign of the cross. “She was a good woman even if she worked too hard and passed her work ethic on to you.”

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