Page 53 of The Sweet Life

Willow interrupted their staring contest. “Uncle James has a doorbell cam, and he goes for a run every morning around six.”

“Good to know. Thanks, Willow,” Jake said, and left the room.

“No problem.” There was a long pause and then her sister said, “He’s left the room, right? ’Cause just to say, he totes thinks you need a babysitter, and he’s totes into you.”

“I heard that,” he yelled from down the hall.

Nothing got past the guy. He had the hearing of a bat. She thought it had something to do with his special forces training, and she had a feeling that if anyone found creeper guy, it would be Jake. It was nice to know she could let that worry go and leave it to him. Which reminded her…

“So, if Spicy Eggplant, also known as creeper guy but could be creeper gal, was the background info, what kept you up all night?”

“Okay, so obviously major excitement with the police arriving at the restaurant, sirens blaring and lights flashing, and this will make you laugh…”

Sage sighed and pulled up theBoston Globe, half listening to her sister as she gave her a play-by-play of the night’s events.It wasn’t until Willow said, “I can tell I’ve shocked you. I was stunned too. I can’t believe Mom would do this. Without even talking to me. It’s no wonder I couldn’t sleep last night. What are we going to do?”

Crap.At least Sage knew it had something to do with her mother. She tried to come up with a leading question without giving herself away, but Willow kept talking. Prolonged silence was one of Sage’s favorite interview techniques; clients were typically unable to resist filling the silence. She realized then that she’d probably learned the technique from dealing with Willow.

“You have to talk to her, Sage. I’m too close to the situation.” Willow groaned. “Can you imagine me sitting down with Mom and talking about her having sex with my dad?”

Sage sent Jake a text. You win. My mom and Flynn are romantically involved. To her sister, she said, “Honestly, I don’t know what the big deal is. You’ve never had an issue talking about sex with anyone. You recently did a segment onGood Morning, Sunshine!about sex positivity and the importance of open and honest conversations about sex, didn’t you?”

“Wow, you really do watch my show. But this is different. Put yourself in my position. How would you like to talk to your parents… Okay, so it’s not like you can put yourself in my position, but you know what I mean.”

Her sister’s comment stung. But maybe she was being overly sensitive because Willow had a great father who was involved in her life and Sage’s father had abandoned his family and had no interest in knowing her. Or was that gnawing little ache just a symptom of burnout? She went with the latter.

Let me know when you’re off the phone, and I’ll come collect, Jake texted, adding a fire and an eggplant emoji.

She laughed, a warm, little flutter in her stomach offsetting the gnawing little ache in her chest.

“I can’t believe you think this is funny, Sage. This is serious. And I’m not the only one who’s unhappy about this. Cami thinks Mom’s using Flynn as payback for your father abandoning you both to be with her.”

It was funny how Willow’s perspective had changed, and not ha-ha funny, at least not to Sage. She’d had company in her abandonment when she and Willow had believed they were biological sisters. Somehow, it had made it easier to bear knowing her father hadn’t abandoned just her but Willow too.

Sage scrubbed a hand over her face. She’d thought more about her father in the past couple of days than she had in years, and she blamed Cami and her damn memoir. Which might have been why Sage’s response was sharper than she’d intended.

“That’s a pile of crap and you know it, Will. Maybe you should be spending more time with Mom than Cami, if you’re buying into her bullshit.”

“Sage!” Willow gasped.

“What? I’m not going to let you parrot Cami’s narcissistic crap about our mother and not call you on it. Do you honestly believe Mom would stoop so low, be so unkind and vindictive, as to use Flynn to get back at Cami?”

“No! I’m just repeating what Cami said.”

“Maybe instead of repeating what she said, you should call her on her lies. How do you think Mom would feel if she heard this kind of crap? Or Flynn, for that matter?”

“I’m pretty sure they’ve already heard it. Cami was calling them both.”

“And who told you and Cami about Mom and Flynn?”

“I told you already. Nonna did.”

“Of course she did,” Sage muttered.

“But it’s not just Cami and me who are upset, Sage. My sisters are too.”

The gnawing little ache grew, and Sage didn’t like that it did. She was happy her sister had bonded with her biological family. It was just that, at the moment, it felt like she was choosing them over Sage and Gia.

“I bet August isn’t upset, is he?”

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