I Think I Love You (Australian Sports Star Series Book 3) (5 page)

He laughed. “You say that—”

She held up her hand. “Don’t say it! Every mama deserves a break. This is mine for one day of the week. But I need to pick ’em up soon.”

“Miles at work?”

She nodded. “Working long hours at the moment.”

There was a moment of silence, before she said, “Wanna tell me about it?”

Again, he simply shrugged.

Annie placed her drink on the little coffee table and leaned in to give her brother a smooching kiss on his cheek. He cocked a brow.

“Tell me,” she whispered.

“I slept with Saz.”

Leaning back, she stared at him. “Are you kidding me?”

Markus looked at her and noticed the smile on her face. “What?”

“Finally.”

“Beg yours?”

Annie shrugged. “I don’t know. I always thought you two would be perfect together. Remember the picture of you two at my wedding. It has ‘
We’re a couple’
written all over it.”

A smile played on his lips. Yes, he remembered. He’d had a great day, and Sarah had looked great, although not as sexy as at Ty’s wedding.

“She’s given me the
no regrets
crap,” he said quietly when he saw Annie checking the time.

His sister leaned in again for a cuddle. “Something’s wrong. I can feel it. You must’ve misunderstood her.” Looking up to meet his gaze, she asked, “So you’d give the two of you a go, do I get this right?”

He placed a kiss on his sister’s forehead before he said, “I got an offer from a Sydney broadcaster to commentate the next cups on television.”

“You wouldn’t, would you? Not if you could start something with Sarah. I mean, Marco, I know you want her. Honestly, you two need to get this sorted.” Checking the time again, she said, “I need to pick up the kids. Want to stay for dinner?”

“Play babysitter?”

Her smile was all the reply he needed.

Choking back a chuckle he asked, “How about I take them to the park on Saturday?”

“Perfect.” She stood, and he followed her to the front door. “Call her, Marco. Get this sorted. You have to promise me. Promettimelo.”

He nodded, placed a kiss on her cheek, and walked to his car. His sister drove past him, honking the horn as he grabbed the phone out of his pocket and hit the button on the speed dial. With a big sigh, he lifted the phone to his ear and waited patiently for her voice. Instead, he heard, “Sarah’s phone.”

“Timmy?”

“Yup.”

Without hesitation, Markus disconnected the call.

***

The day couldn’t get any worse for Sarah. When she got back to her house, she saw Timmy standing in front of her door with a bunch of flowers in his hand. About to leave, his eyes lit up when he spotted her.

Damn it.

Biting her lower lip, she leaned her head against the steering wheel while taking deep breaths to ease the sudden tension inside her. The knock at the window startled her. She hadn’t expected Timmy to come to the car. She hesitated for a moment before turning off the engine. Her hands shook slightly. The temptation to drive off nearly did her in.

But she got out.

“What do you want?” she snapped.

He raised an eyebrow, but remained silent.

When she began to walk towards her house, he finally spoke. “Sarah—” he began, his voice patient.

She stopped and turned to him. “Don’t you dare
Sarah
me.”

Timmy came towards her but halted when she backed away.

“Look, I’m sorry I hurt your feelings, okay?”

Hurt her feelings? Well, wasn’t that the understatement of the week. Trying to keep her temper under control, her gaze went into the distance, and she noticed her nosy neighbours were watching. This day wasn’t getting any better. Knowing it was the wrong thing to do, she opened the front door and stepped inside. Timmy followed her.

With as much authority as she was able to muster, she said through gritted teeth, “Wait here. Don’t move a muscle. I’ll be back in a second.”

She threw her bag on the chair in the hall and dashed into her room to use the bathroom. All the while, she was hugely aware of the fact that the man who had cheated on her was in her house. Anger rose within her. Anger at all men in this world. For cheating, for flirting, and for not understanding when women said no, they sometimes meant yes. How hard could it be to figure that out?

Sarah had met Timmy a few months ago. She’d run into him a couple of times at the café around the corner from work, and one day she’d done so literally—turned around the corner running right into him.

“Whoa, easy girl,” he’d said as he grasped her arm to steady her. “What’s the hurry?”

Their gazes had met, and she sucked in a breath as heat rushed through her. He had a mischievous and sexy bad-boy smile on his face, and looked like a model of the latest fashion magazine with his dark hair and blue eyes. Overcome by a sudden shyness, her usual confidence had left her, to the point that she felt her cheeks colour. “I…I’m…” she stuttered.

“You are…” he said, trying to help her with her train of thought.

When she finally pulled herself together, she said, “Late for work. I am late for work.”

He’d asked her out for dinner the next day. Sarah had liked him straight away, but kept her heart in reserve. It was important to her to stay focused on her
plans,
whatever they had been at the time. She’d never been one for plans, but finally she was on top of things financially, the mortgage under control, money she’d borrowed from Markus returned, and she actually liked her job. She wanted to keep it that way for a little bit longer before heading into an adventure—especially not with a man. The thing about Timmy was that he had stormed into her heart like a tornado. He was fun, witty, intelligent, and extremely sexy, and at the sight of Timmy all cool and relaxed in his low slung jeans and a plain black T-shirt she’d cursed herself for being such a sucker for men.

For once, she’d ignored Markus, Oliver, and Ty’s warning about
there’s something iffy about him
. Timmy had been as close as perfect as any man could be. Cooking her dinner when she had to work late. Picking her up on the weekend for a surprise drive along the coast. Calling her at night to ask whether she’d had a good day and that he’d missed her. He seemed so uncomplicated and yes—one to fall in love with.

Then came the day, she’d wanted to surprise him for their four-month anniversary. One of his bad traits was that he always left the back door open, but as it’d turned out, that day it’d been a good thing. Five minutes after she’d snuck into the house through the back door, she’d stood in his room in front of his bed…the very same bed he’d been in with someone else. It had seemed he was a bit too uncomplicated for her.

It’d shattered her heart into pieces.

The sound of her phone ringing hauled Sarah back from her thoughts, and she rushed back into the front of the house where she found Timmy with her phone.

“What the hell are you doing with my phone?”

“Answering it,” he replied with a shrug.

Sarah snapped it out of his hand. “Who was it?”

With a casual shrug, he replied. “Dunno. Hung up.”

Glaring at him, she took a deep breath before saying in almost a whisper, “You’d better go. This is not going to work.”

He stepped closer. “Look, I’m really sorry you found out this way,” he said, guilt in his eyes.

“Are you really?” Her voice was full of sarcasm.

“I didn’t want you to—”

“What? Find out? Or find out this way?” She paused for a moment to watch his reaction before she continued. “Either way, Timmy, you’re right. You hurt me. Deeply. You apologised. Very noble of you. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to leave.”

He reached forward, but she pulled her arm away.

“Sarah, let’s give this another try. I think we had something really good.”

“Emphasis on
had
. It was your choice to throw away what we apparently had. Now be a man and live with it.”

“Sarah?”

“Go!”

Timmy held her glare for a long moment before he turned and left. Sarah did her best not to cry. She would not cry for a man who had treated her with so much disrespect.

But she did. She cried, which infuriated her even more. There was no doubt in her mind that breaking up had been the right thing to do, but it hurt none-the-less. It hurt deep inside. The sudden loss, the sudden emptiness, and the thought that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

Trying to fist her hands, she remembered the phone in her palm. With a few touches of a button, she flicked through the phone calls.

The last one was from Markus. She leaned back against the wall and slowly slid down until she sat.

Timmy had answered Markus’ call.

More tears filled her eyes, and the pain in her chest spread through her whole body. With her head leaned against the wall, she stared against the ceiling hoping…hoping for someone to hold her.

Taking in a deep breath, she knew she needed to find that anchor to centre her life again, to focus on the right and the wrongs, the important and irrelevant things in life. She knew she had it in her to get through this.

She dialled Oliver’s number, but only got the voice mail. Her fingers hovered over Markus’ number, but she eventually threw the phone into the corner of the hall.

In the end, she decided that even though she’d sworn to never touch it again, it was time for another bottle of red.

When Sarah sat down ten minutes later on the couch with a glass of red in her hand, she grabbed her phone and rang Oliver again.

No answer.

She slouched back into the couch. Feeling so alone, she flicked through her contact list. With Katie and Tyson on honeymoon, she tried Hazel’s number. Hazel was Ty’s grandmother and had always been like a grandmother for all of the friends including her. Sarah was about to hit the dial button when she hesitated. What was she going to tell the over-seventy-year old woman? Hazel had always been good when she was in trouble, mainly with her mum or her sister, but telling her about her sex life, in particular with Markus? She went back to her contact list and flicked through it again.

Her mum?

She sipped at her wine when she hit the dial button.

Closing her eyes, she leaned back waiting for the call to connect.

“Sarah?”

“Hi, Mum,” she said so quietly, she barely heard the words herself.

“Thank God you’re calling. Rachel’s gone again.”

One look at the bottle of wine and she knew she should’ve finished it off instead of trying to talk to someone.

Chapter Three

The next morning, Markus went for a long jog along the small park near his home. It was something he’d learnt over the years from intense training to sort his problems or think things through while running. Halfway along the path, exercise equipment had been installed by the council a few years back. He loved the idea of doing his workout outside so he did a few chin-ups, sit-ups, and step-ups before heading home in a leisurely jog.

Yet, all the way through the exercises he thought about what his sister had said.
It has ‘We’re a couple’ written all over it.
If so, what the hell was Timmy doing answering Sarah’s phone?

He shook his head and broke into a sprint.

After grabbing a sandwich and coffee, he walked the rest of the way home, trying his best letting his mind empty of thoughts.

After a quick shower, he tried to call Oliver again.

“’ello?”

“Well, look who’s in a good mood this morning.”

Oliver laughed. “Well, and you can’t change it with your shitty mood.”

“Piss off.”

“Want to meet at Carlo’s for breakfast?”

“Half an hour?”

“I’ll be there.”

Half an hour later, he sat across the table from Oliver, who wasn’t able to take the grin off his face. As annoying as that grin was that morning, it was good to see his friend happy. Oliver had lost his girlfriend a few years earlier in a car accident when he’d driven his car into a tree, also leaving his mother in a wheelchair. His injury a few months earlier had ended his career in baseball and thrown him into a spiral. A big blow to him, and it’d taken him a long time to come to terms with it. Not to mention that he’d fallen hard for his coach’s niece, only to find out she’d still grieved the death of her husband.

“Tell me,” he said to his friend.

Oliver shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. “Got engaged.”

Markus froze and stared at Oliver. After a long moment watching the expression on Oliver’s face, he said, “You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope.”

“Fuck me.”

The grin on Oliver’s face spread even further.

“So, within thirty-six hours you two go from non-speaking, hating each other to getting engaged?”

“More or less, yes. Although, we didn’t hate each other. That’d be a too strong of a word.”

Markus stared at his friend. “Just like that.”

“Mate, you
know
it wasn’t
just like that
.”

Markus gazed outside.
Just like that
he’d slept with Sarah and
just like that
he’d stuffed up what he’d hoped for.

Oliver placed his knife and fork on the table. “Okay, mate. Spill it.”

Shrugging, Markus turned back and looked at his friend.

“C’mon, man.”

“You said Saz heard my message and you had a feeling.”

Oliver lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Mate, she seemed upset, is all.”

“About sleeping with me?”

Oliver chuckled, took his cutlery, and started eating.

“What’s so funny?”

“You two dancing around like she’d thrown a bucket of sand in your face.”

“You’re an ass.”

Oliver nearly spat out the food. “Look, mate. She seemed upset about the idea that your wording
fuck up
meant you regretted what had happened. Did you?”

Markus leaned back, rubbing his hand over his face before staring at his friend. “Really wanna know?”

Oliver shrugged.

“It was great,” Markus whispered.

“Why the fuck up?”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, Oliver. How long have we known Saz? Geez, she’s more like a sister to me. I don’t want to lose her as a friend.”

Oliver leaned forward. “Mate, I had the feeling she was upset about the idea that you regretted your dance in the bed. So I’m obviously missing a piece of the puzzle here.”

“She came over to see me later that day and gave me the
no regrets
speech.”

Stunned, Oliver frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. That’s bullshit, man.” He shook his head while he waved his knife in front of Markus. “You need to get that sorted. It doesn’t seem right.”

Markus chuckled. “That’s what Annie said.”

Oliver’s frown broke into a grin. “Aww, good old Annie. How is she?”

“Sneaky as ever. Got me to babysit the kids on Saturday.”

The bark of laughter startled a few patrons in the café, and Markus rolled his eyes at his friend.

“Get it sorted, man. Or you’ll have to wait another twenty years until the next kiss.”

“I got an offer to work in Sydney. Television.”

Oliver’s eyebrows shot up. “Holy shit. Interested?”

Markus thought about that for a moment. Was he really interested or was the idea to escape, to put distance between him and Sarah tempting?

“A few years would fill the bank account all right and I could retire.”

“You’re retired already with the bank account filled up.”

Markus shrugged.

“Man, you’re not running, are you?”

“I’m not running. One has nothing to do with the other.”

“Oh, for God’s sake. It’s got everything to do with it. When you moved back home from England, it’d been because you’d been homesick like a little puppy.”

Markus didn’t reply. There wasn’t anything he could say, because his friend was right. He’d made big bucks during the few years he’d played in England, and except the few months his sister had lived with him, he’d missed home. Missed his family and his friends.

They ate in silence for a long moment when he finally asked, “So, you and Tamara?”

Oliver snorted. “You’re in denial.”

Ignoring his friend, Markus sipped at his coffee before he said, “Where did the sudden change of heart come from?”

“She’s had her reasons.”

“Congratulations, mate. Really happy for you.”

“Thanks.”

Markus sighed.

Tamara had moved to Melbourne the previous year for a brief period after losing her husband during a burglary gone wrong. Oliver had fallen for her within a brief period, but at the time, she hadn’t been ready for another relationship, and it’d crushed his friend for weeks. It was good to see him happy, albeit Markus was somewhat envious. Possibly the idea that he was the last one still single didn’t sit with him very well. Why, he didn’t know. But seeing both his friends so happy in a relationship, he wondered whether it’d be something he longed for as well—deep inside, hidden away from him.

“Wanna tell me how that happened within thirty-six hours?” Markus asked after a while.

“Nope.”

He stared at Oliver.

His friend shrugged. “Hey, a gentleman never tells.”

Markus laughed. “Gentleman, my ass.”

Oliver’s phone buzzed and after a brief conversation, he said, “Gotta go.” He stood and hit Markus lightly on the upper arm with his fist. “Good luck. And listen to your sister.”

Markus finished his breakfast before heading back home again, with Sarah constantly on his mind.

***

After her mother had told her about Rachel’s disappearance, she checked the bottle of wine and called a taxi to drive her over to her mum’s.

The taxi driver was quiet, realising she wasn’t interested in any chitchat. Silence overtook the car after he asked for the address and started the money meter and they drove along the familiar roads. He slowed down as he came closer, passing the old community centre which used to be white, but had faded into a dirty shade of grey.

The memory of her sister’s disappearance a few years earlier came back to her. It was something that always lingered in the back of her mind.

Rachel was a couple of years older than Sarah. Both looked the same and as teenagers had often been thought to be twins. Yet, they couldn’t be any more different. Rachel had always been drawn to trouble like a moth to the light. The relationship between Rachel and her mother had never been good especially since Sarah’s father had left. Rachel had always blamed her mother for him leaving. That was when she started her rebellious phase or it might possibly have been the trigger. Sarah wasn’t sure.

Cursed with bad reports at school, although Sarah was still convinced it was more lack of trying than intelligence, Rachel had built a wall around herself. Nobody was able to tear it down. Until a few years ago, when she’d become more approachable and helped out in the house. The fact that she’d dressed in very old-fashioned clothes should’ve given Sarah and her mother a clue that something hadn’t been right. But who could’ve blamed them? They were enjoying the happy atmosphere around the house too much to notice or want to notice. A few weeks later, Rachel had been gone.

Sarah paid for the drive, got out of the taxi, and headed towards the house. Mixed emotions rushed through her as well as apprehension about what to expect. Her relationship with her mother had always been a combination of love and hate. Now in her late twenties, Sarah had come to realise it hadn’t been easy for her mother after her husband had left her with two small children, but even with her best attempts, they’d never become close. And her longing for her mother’s acceptance had faded years ago.

Lisa sat in the lounge room with a box of tissues on her lap.

“Hi, Mum.”

“Hello, Sarah.”

She sat next to her and placed her hand on her mother’s.

“Want some coffee?”

Disappointed, but not surprised by the disregard of Rachel’s disappearance, she simply replied, “Glass of water and a Panadol.”

Following her mother into the kitchen, she sat at the table rubbing her temples with her fingertips. There was a silence in the house that reminded her of her childhood. The three of them living under the same roof, but not talking with each other. They never had a close relationship. That was most likely the reason why she’d spent so much time with Markus and his family.

“Going to work tomorrow?”

“Have to. No leave left and I need the money.”

“Markus can’t help?”

Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose. “I can’t always go to Mark when I’m in trouble.”

Her mother snorted, and Sarah looked up at her. Lisa was only in her mid-fifties, but life hadn’t been a bed of roses for her, and it showed. She’d always been told she was the older sister of the Winter girls, looking so much like her daughters.

“He didn’t help last time,” her mother explained.

Sarah closed her eyes. Little did her mother know.

The time Sarah’s sister had moved in with some religious group north of Melbourne, any contact to the outside world was prohibited. They’d lived on a farm with beliefs similar to the Amish people, yet a lot stricter, and Sarah never really figured what they’d actually believed in. Markus had lived in England during the period Rachel had vanished. But he’d rung almost every day, had sent Sarah money to be able to take leave without pay from work, and engage professional help to search for her sister. Oliver and Ty had been there for her as well, but Markus had been her rock.

“He did, Mum.”

“So why won’t you ring him this time?”

“Complicated.”

“You two had a fight?”

“Not really. As I said, it’s complicated.”

Lisa handed her daughter the glass of water. “Never got what you saw in the guy.”

Sarah stood and took the packet of Panadol out of the drawer, popped two, and swallowed them with some water. “I’ll go to the police before work.”

Her mother let out a short huff. “What kind of mother do you think I am? I’ve done that already, but they said with Rachel’s background there’s not much they could do.”

Sarah turned to look at her mother. “Background?”

Lisa sipped at her coffee.

“Mum?”

“Well, she did run away a few years ago.”

“That’s not a reason not to help.”

Again, her mother simply shrugged.

“Have you called hospitals, friends…?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, done all that.”

Sarah was about to check her sister’s bedroom, when she stopped at the door. “Mum? Did you two have a fight?”

“Damn you,” Lisa snapped. “Damn you and your perfect little world.”

Sarah was taken aback by her mother’s outburst. She didn’t understand.

“Yes, we did have a fight, but that is no reason to blame me. I’ve given my best to raise you two only to get nothing in return.” She stood. “You have no idea how hard it is to raise children without a father around. With no money. And all you two are doing is take, take, take.”