Sadie had wanted her family to trust her blindly, to believe everything she said about Dennis, but now she was angry at Beth for believing Tamlyn?
Sadie released a massive sigh and took her friend’s cold hand. “Beth... Man, what a mess. I’m mad at you because your actions led to a confrontation with Carrick, but I just realized that if it didn’t happen now, it would have happened later.” She took a deep breath of cold air, felt the burn, but was grateful that the temperature banished the last of her anger toward her friend.
“We’re not together anymore, but I’m not going back to Paris. My home is here now, in Boston. With or without Carrick, here is where I need to be.”
Beth wiped away her tears. “You’re not mad at me?”
Sadie managed a smile. “Slightly irritated, but that will pass.” Her smile died when she realized it was time to come fully clean. “I don’t want you to tell anyone, especially not Tamlyn, but I am pregnant. Carrick is the father and that’s why I’m staying in Boston. I want my child to have time with their father and Carrick is a good man.”
Beth stared, her eyes wide.
“You really believe that, don’t you?” Instead of disparagement, Sadie heard wonder in Beth’s voice.
“I don’t believe it, Beth, I know it,” Sadie replied, feeling like her heart was being ripped apart by the claws of a wolverine.
Beth squeezed her fingers. “I think it’s time I started making up my own mind about your man, Sades.”
Sadie managed a tremulous smile. “Unfortunately, he’s not my man, Beth. Not anymore.”
“Oh, honey, he really is.” Beth reached out and Sadie felt arms around her, heard the clear but heartfelt apology Beth spoke in her ear. “Forgive me?”
Sadie, her throat clogged with tears, just nodded. Beth tugged her into the hallway and Sadie blinked to clear her vision. When she looked at Beth, her eyes were wet.
“So does this mean I’m not fired?” Beth asked, keeping their hands linked.
Sadie managed a quick, small smile. “Well, not today.”
I don’t have an angle! And I’m sleeping with you because I’m crazy about you. I can’t stop thinking about you. Hell, I think I’m in love with you!
Carrick, giving up on work, swiveled around in his chair. He couldn’t concentrate because Sadie’s words were bouncing around his brain.
He had a hangover from hell because he’d tucked into a bottle of twelve-year-old whiskey from his father’s famous, rare and expensive collection. He refused to feel guilty for throwing it down his throat because having his heart broken again should be accompanied by the soothing taste of rare, expensive whiskey.
But unfortunately, there was no difference in rotgut liquor and smooth whiskey the day after. They both made him feel like someone was taking a sledgehammer to his brain.
Crazy about you, think I’m in love with you, I trusted you, but you won’t trust me.
Carrick placed his elbows on his knees and stared at the floor. Seeing a paper clip lying on the carpet, he picked it up and slowly unbent the wire.
He had refused to explain. He had asked her to make up her own mind about him. And he believed they’d turned a corner, that she saw him clearly. She’d trusted her intuition, trusted him to show her who he really was and she’d believed...
He hadn’t.
What if what she was saying was true? What if she really wasn’t going back to Paris? What if, instead of reacting, he’d sought to understand first and judge later?
First things first, he needed to know whether Sadie was leaving Boston, leaving him. He’d call Beth, get this straightened out...
Carrick sat up and reached for his phone, wondering if he still had his sister-in-law’s number. He scrolled through his contacts. One call and he could have this straightened out...
But if he called Beth, he would be going through an intermediary, taking her word above Sadie’s. If they had a chance to make this work, make them work, then he had to deal with Sadie. He had to work this out with her.
Calling Beth was the easy way out and he was still ducking the issue. The fundamental problem was trust. He either trusted Sadie...
Or he didn’t.
He’d asked her to believe what he’d shown her; what if he did the same for her? What if he looked at her words and actions and made up his own mind, just as he’d asked her to do? Yeah, unfortunately, the boot didn’t fit so easily when he shoved it onto his own foot.
Putting his phone back down on his desk, he thought back over the past few weeks and forced himself to carefully examine all their interactions. Sadie had never, not once, lied to him. She worked long hours, prepared professional updates, kept their working life separate from their personal relationship. She’d told him about the baby; she hadn’t hidden her pregnancy from him. She’d agreed they’d raise their child together; she’d told him she wanted her child to have as much of a full-time dad as he could manage to be.