Page 67 of The Sweet Life

“Maybe. Maybe not. I’ll let you know in the next couple of days.” He frowned at the sound of upraised voices, sighing ashe headed for the door. “I guess it was too much to hope that seating Cami and Gia as far apart as possible would keep the peace for the night.”

The two women had surprisingly been on their best behavior when they’d arrived. Jake had a feeling they were both embarrassed that their fight had gone viral on social media. They were each pretending the other didn’t exist, and the family had broken into two camps. Eva and her husband were playing Switzerland, and so were Willow’s friends, sitting at a table between Cami’s and Gia’s.

There was also the fact that Sage had laid down the law, and even he had to admit she could be intimidating. Albeit in a sexy kind of way, he thought with a smile.

But his smile disappeared as soon as he opened the screen door. “What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” he snapped at Aaron Abbott, walking to where the older man and Sage stood facing each other. He stepped between father and daughter.

He felt the light pressure of Sage’s hand on his back. “It’s okay. Let him finish. I want to hear what he has to say.”

Flynn gave Jake a reassuring nod—he’d have his back if he needed him—and then he walked to Gia, who looked shell-shocked.

Jake crossed his arms. “Talk.”

Behind him, Sage blew out a frustrated breath and moved around him. “Aaron, we can talk inside.”

“I’d like that, thanks.” His leaf-green gaze moved to Jake. Sage had his eyes and hair color, but that’s where the similarities ended. “I have no intention of hurting Sage. Ever since Ilearned I had a daughter”—his gaze searched out Gia—“and a wife, I moved heaven and earth to find them.”

“What do you mean, you learned about us?” Sage asked.

“Sage,” Jake warned, positive nothing out of this man’s mouth was the truth. He’d bet the farm that Aaron Abbott was a con man, and Jake had experience when it came to con men.

“If the reporter hadn’t found me, I never would have known about either of you. I suffered a traumatic brain injury back in ’95. I’ve been living in Costa Rica ever since. As I understand it, I’d been doing a photoshoot there when I fell.”

Jake scoffed. “Nice story. I think I watched it on Lifetime last week.”

“Jake!”

“Come on, Sage. You’re smarter than this. Don’t let him play you.”

Gia had joined them with Flynn at her back. Jake glanced at him. Flynn didn’t buy what this guy was selling any more than he did.

“Gia, baby, I don’t know what to say. When the reporter told me who I was, and relayed everything that had happened from the book your sister’s written—” His voice broke, and he cleared his throat. “It was like he was talking about someone else. Then slowly, my memory came back. I don’t understand why I would have left you…” His gaze moved to Cami, and his expression hardened. “For her.”

It was the first time Jake bought what he was selling. Aaron Abbott did not like Cami.

“I loved you, babe. You’ve gotta believe me. I wouldn’t haveleft you.” As if he sensed Gia wasn’t buying his story, he turned his attention on his daughter. “I never would have walked out the door that day if I had known I’d go almost twenty-nine years without having my daughter in my life. Please, give me a chance to make it up to you, Sage.”

Jake silently pleaded for her to look at him, but she had eyes only for her father. He knew before she even said the words that she’d give Aaron Abbott a second chance. Jake met the man’s gaze, a silent warning in his own. He didn’t miss the glint in Abbott’s eyes. It was as if he was issuing a silent challenge.

Back off or he’d make sure Jake lost Sage.

Chapter Twenty-Two

It was surreal standing with the man who Sage had spent her entire life believing had abandoned her only to discover it hadn’t been intentional. He hadn’t left them because he hadn’t loved them enough. He hadn’t left them because she’d done something wrong.

It didn’t matter that she was thirty and well aware that a child blaming herself was a common psychological effect of divorce. Somehow the belief that it was her fault her father had left had lingered in her subconscious, feeding on the lies she’d told herself. She could finally let it go.

It hadn’t been anyone’s fault—not hers, his, or her mother’s. Sage glanced at Cami. Did her aunt bear some responsibility, as her father seemed to imply? As if she knew what Sage was thinking, Cami’s eyes widened, and she slowly shook her head.

Willow, who sat at Cami’s side, frowned but then seemed to understand what was going on and made a disbelieving sound. Despite Willow’s fiancé trying to convince her to stay out of it, she jumped to her feet, said something to Cami, and then the two of them were headed her way. Make that four, Sagethought, when her grandmother and Aunt Eva got up to follow them.

She wasn’t the only one who had noticed. Behind her, Jake swore softly, and her mother groaned. In front of her, Aaron moved nervously from one foot to the other, fidgeting with the collar of his colorful dress shirt.

Sage didn’t blame him. Finding yourself in the crosshairs of one Rosetti was bad enough; four of them was terrifying. “Why don’t we talk tomorrow?” Sage suggested.

“Yeah, that’d be good.” He leaned toward her, then leaned back, raised an arm, then a hand, unsure, it seemed, whether he should kiss her or hug her or shake her hand.

She sympathized with his dilemma. “I’ll walk you to your car.” She moved to his side, noting Jake taking a step toward her. “Alone,” she said, unhappy with how he’d acted toward her father.

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