Page 73 of The Sweet Life

Aweek, Mom. I had no idea where you were for a week,” her daughter said with a pinched look on her face and Max the cat cuddled to her chest.

Gia was beginning to think stopping at the lavender farm on her way home hadn’t been such a great idea. “But you did know where I was, honey,” she pointed out gently, wondering what had happened to her daughter. This wasn’t the woman she knew and loved. Sage was acting like a petulant teenager, and she hadn’t even been petulant back then.

Sage dabbed at her eyes with a tissue while nuzzling the cat in her arms. “You’re such a sweet boy. You knew Mommy needed some extra love, didn’t you?”

Gia looked around the living room for a camera, positive she was being pranked. She didn’t find one, though. “Honey, is everything all right?”

“All right? How can it be all right? You were gone for an entire week! And all we got was some cryptic text about you needing time alone and that you were staying at a hotel in Boston. Really, Mom? You don’t think you need to call us orsend us daily proof of life? Nonna was… is… beside herself. Did you let her know you were home?”

“Uh, no. I stopped here first.” Gia was beginning to feel like she was the child and Sage the mother. “Did anything happen while I was away? You seem… overwrought?”

Sage’s face crumpled, and she burst into tears. Gia stood there for a moment, stunned, and then she moved closer, about to nudge Max out of the way, but Sage clutched the cat tighter to her chest. “Honey, you need to tell me what’s wrong,” she said, unable to keep the panic from her voice. “Where’s Jake?”

“He’s… he’s gone,” her daughter sobbed.

“Gone where, honey?” Gia didn’t care that she liked Jake; she was going to hunt him down and hurt him for putting her daughter in such a state.

The front door opened, and Aaron walked in carrying a bag from the farmers market. “Gia, welcome back. How are you doing, babe? Sagey, you didn’t tell me your mom was dropping by.” He frowned. “What’s gotten into her?”

In her gut, Gia knew. It wasn’t Jake she needed to hurt. It was her ex-husband. “What are you doing here, Aaron?”

“What do you think I’m doing here? Me and Sage are bonding, aren’t we, honey?” He put the bag on the counter. “You want a coffee, Gia? I think we still have some of that stuff from Fair Trade left, don’t we, Sagey?”

Sage lifted her head and held Gia’s gaze.

Gia stood up. “Don’t worry, I can make my own coffee, Aaron.” She brushed past him. “You moved in with Sage as soon as I left town, didn’t you?”

“Someone had to look after our daughter. Look at her. She’sa mess.” He wagged a bunch of carrots at her. “I’m surprised at you, taking off like that, cutting off all communication with your family.” She caught a hint of a smirk when he opened the fridge, and her stomach knotted. He couldn’t have known what she’d do, could he?

“When did Jake leave?” She directed her question at Sage, but Aaron answered.

“Not soon enough, if you ask me. I’ve been telling Sagey I don’t get a good feeling about that guy. You must feel the same as me, but I understand why you would have been uncomfortable kicking him out. He’s a big SOB.”

“There’s only one person I don’t get a good feeling about, and that’s you, Aaron.” She turned to her daughter. “Please tell me you didn’t kick Jake out of his own home because of something he did.” She jabbed her finger at Aaron.

“Hey, wait a damn minute here. It’s not my fault he had a problem with me staying at the farm with my daughter.”

She shouldn’t have left town. She should have known better than to leave her sweet girl at the mercy of this man.

“Any fool knows you don’t make your girlfriend choose between you and her family.”

She nodded. “You’re right. No one should ever choose a man over her family.”

His eyes narrowed. “That’s not what I said.”

He already knew where she was going with this, and he was getting nervous. She could tell by the way he fidgeted with the collar of his shirt. The problem with a nervous or angry Aaron Abbott was that you never knew when or how hard he’d strike back.

“You played me, Aaron, and that’s on me, not you. I won’tbe party to the emergency injunction, and I’m going to make sure Cami doesn’t give you a dime to make your suit go away. Because that’s what you really want, don’t you? You know you don’t have a chance of winning. You just wanted to create enough of a headache that Cami or her publisher would pay you off.” She stepped closer, getting into his face. “I want you to pack your bags and get out of Jake and my daughter’s home.”

“Sagey, are you going to let her talk to me like this?”

Her daughter cast a nervous glance at her father but then met Gia’s gaze and nodded. “Mom’s right. It’s Jake’s home too.”

“It wouldn’t be if you’d listened to me and contested the will.” He leaned into Gia. “You haven’t changed, have you? You’re still a bitch.” He backhanded the bag from the market, sending lemons and oranges tumbling onto the floor.

Gia fisted her hands at her sides in an effort to keep from trembling in the face of his fury. He had never hit her. Instead, he’d vented his rage on her personal belongings, her paints and paintings. Then he’d tell her he’d done her a favor—the critics would have torn her exhibition to shreds. She had no talent. She’d never amount to anything anyway.

Sage stood up. Aaron had made a mistake venting his anger in front of his daughter. A woman who spent every waking hour of every day defending her clients from men like him. She was no longer the little girl who’d wished for her daddy to come home when she blew out her candles on her third, fourth, and fifth birthday cakes.

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