Something About You (Just Me & You) (35 page)

She was totally awake, overwhelmed by conflicting emotions
she couldn’t even identify. She touched the side of his face and felt the
warmth of his skin spread through her fingertips.

“I love you too,” she whispered.

From: sabrina@lascasadimarch…

To: molly@lechateauduparker…

Subject: Surviving the Flatlands

Hey, Molls,

I keep forgetting to charge my cell phone, so I’m
emailing you from Walden’s one and only coffeehouse instead. This seems to be
the only place where I can get an Internet connection. Things here are …

I don’t know where to start.

I don’t keep track of days or dates. Mornings bleed into
afternoons and evenings dim to night. It snows and then it stops. Other than
the changes in the light and weather, the only thing that differentiates the
hours is how I spend them with Gage. He comes home from the hospital and shoos
me into the Tahoe so I can get out of this (cold, wretched) house. I can’t help
but to love it because it’s where he grew up. Everyone who made him who he is
today lived in this house.

Last night we went to the local diner and ate chicken
potpie and limp green salad while surrounded by hideous faux wood paneling and
numerous pictures of clowns. Then we went to the second-run theater to see a
suspense thriller. Afterward, Gage drove me around Walden and gave me a tour of
his old haunts. He even took me to the track where locals go to see tractor
pulls (he took his first date to one).
Tractor pulls
, Molls. Good lord.

Everything about what we do is fairly predictable, and
most people would say it’s boring.

I love everything we do.

I don’t ask Gage too many questions about Michelle
anymore. He hasn’t said anything else about her, and I think this is his way of
distancing himself from the inevitable end, closer by the day now. His moods
are crazy, Molls. He’s taciturn one minute. Then the next he’ll give me that
merry-eyed smile of his. He’s putting up a good front, and it’s almost like he
wants to protect me (I don’t know why he’d want to do that).

He loves me. I love him. It should be that easy, right?
But I keep thinking, “Now what?” I know what you’d say if we were having coffee
in your kitchen: “It’s about damn time you two figured that out.” Shut up,
Molls. Just to clarify, I’m not just
in
love. I
love
Gage.
There’s such a big difference. No one ever told me that there was a feeling
that could steal over me so quietly and stealthily. Or that feeling this way
about a man (Gage), truly
loving
him, would be so terrifying. Put on
your thinking cap. I need some words of wisdom right now.

There’s a lot more I need to tell you, but the barista is
running a dishrag over the tables and giving me the stink-eye. He wants to
close up early before it starts snowing again. I can’t blame him. Snow sucks.

Hugs,

Brini

“Violetta’s back. I hired her back, full-time, just like you
wanted.”

Theo’s tone was casual, but Sabrina knew where the
conversation was headed. The Hon. Rep. never extended a personal gesture
without expecting something in return. She chastised herself for answering her
cell phone so early in the morning when the ringer was still set to vibrate.

“What’s the catch?” she asked bluntly.

“No catch.” Sabrina detected a hitch of a lie in the Hon.
Rep’s smooth tone. “You were burned out. That’s why you threw up your hands and
said, ‘Screw you, Theo.’ I get that. Unfortunately, Moira’s the only one who’s
as policy-savvy as you. I sent her into a meeting with the Tide Brothers, and
they came out looking like they’d been lobotomized.”

“I still have a couple of weeks of vacation time,” Sabrina
reminded him. “I’m perfectly willing to telecommute, but until then, you’ll
have to make do without me.”

There was a long, tense pause. In the background, she could
hear the phone ringing and Violetta’s familiar calm salutation. She felt a momentary
twinge of guilt. Her colleagues were probably busting tail trying to do damage
control, and here she was wearing a comfortable pair of Gage’s old track pants
and a sweatshirt, sitting at the kitchen table in front of her laptop. She
heard the sound of a door closing as Theo went into his office, and then there
was silence.

Finally, the Hon. Rep. cracked.

“I need you back, as in yesterday, Chief,” he pleaded. “Jill
gave me the heave-ho. I’ve been sleeping on my office couch for the past four
nights.”

“Oh, god,” Sabrina groaned. “Who spilled the beans?”

“I, uh, don’t know what you’re talking about,” Theo said,
but her ears easily detected the lie that walloped a waver into his voice.

She slapped her palm to her forehead in dismay. If there
were ever a time for her boss to level with her, it was right here. Right now.

“We’re going to have an honest conversation,” she said
reasonably. “I know you’ve been seeing other women on the side, and I know just
how many. I know their hair color. I know what perfumes they wear. I know their
birthdays and what flowers they like. During all the time I’ve worked for you,
discretion has not been the better part of valor, Theo, but I’ve always kept
mum. So stop pretending I don’t know what’s really going on.”

There was another pause, and then finally, Theo sighed.

“Remember the redhead you saw coming out my office that
morning?” he asked, sotto voce. “She kept calling me, even after I ended it. I
should have never asked you to change my cell phone number, because after you
did, she came by the house and told Jill about—”

“—Stop!” Sabrina commanded. “I don’t need the gory details.”

“She’s threatening to take her story to Eva Hayes at the
Lone
Star Monthly
, Chief,” he whined. “Carlton’s sister! What do we do?”

We?
Who was this “we” Theo was talking about?
Sabrina’s temples pounded. Other Chiefs of Staff worried about smoothing things
over when their bosses made a gaffe at a speaking engagement. Why couldn’t the
Hon. Rep. have gotten a DWI like a normal public official?

“I’m your lead executive assistant, Theo, not your ‘fixer’,”
she said sternly. “I can only give you my best advice. The first thing you’re
going to do is check out of your office and into a hotel. Not the Four Seasons,
either — someplace closer to your own neighborhood. If the press gets wind
of this, you’ll never live it down. Secondly, you make an appointment with a
counselor.”

“A divorce attorney?” Theo sounded alarmed. “Don’t you think
that’s premature?”

“No, a marriage counselor.” Sabrina’s head had started to
thud. “Remember, Jill holds all of the cards right now. She wants to know that
you’re making an honest effort to get back into her good graces.”

“But this other woman—” Theo whined.

“—I’ll figure the rest out when I get back to Austin,”
Sabrina interrupted him firmly. “That’s all I can do for now. Besides, it’s not
like I can hop on a plane from Iowa in the next few hours.”

For a few moments, there was nothing but stunned silence.
“Iowa?” Theo finally repeated with disbelief. “What the hell happens in Iowa
after the Caucus packs up its tents? Oh …
Iowa
.” He finally snapped
to. “Big Red. The shock jock. I take it you’ve been given a tour of his tough
paper route.” He sounded thoroughly displeased.

Sabrina bit her lip before she said something truly nasty.
“I didn’t come here on a lark,” she told him instead. “I’m tending to important
personal matters. And right now, I need my downtime. So the way I see it is
like this. I can either help you get out of this ridiculous and highly
unprofessional situation you’ve gotten yourself into or—” She used the same
contemplative tone Theo did when addressing fellow legislators who were
wavering during a vote on one of his bills. “—I can wait for Carlton’s sister
to call, and I’ll tell her — very innocently, of course — ‘Gosh, Miss
Hayes, I don’t know anything about Representative Ward’s private life. I
suggest you talk to his wife about that’.”

She leaned back in her chair, propped her feet on the corner
of the table and studied the nubby yarn of her wool socks. She had played her
trump card.

“You really learned how to play this game, didn’t you,
Chief?” he asked.

“Only from the best.” Sabrina kept her tone breezy.

Theo chuckled mirthlessly. “You have the heart of a true
politician.”

“Gee, thanks, Hon. Rep.” Why did the compliment make her
feel slightly sleazy?

“You gave me some advice, and I’m gonna take it, because I trust
you with my very reputation, Sabrina. Now I’m going to give
you
some
advice, and I hope you listen to it carefully.”

Here we go
, she thought. This was it.

Theo’s come-to-Jesus talk.

“You are a woman.” Theo pointed out the obvious.

“I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter.” Sabrina
propped her phone to her ear with her shoulder and moved to the coffeemaker.

“We men, we get in the ring and duke it out. But for a woman
like you — a gal with a high-powered career — your career is more
like Monopoly. You have to keep passing ‘Go.’ You can’t let yourself go to
jail.”

She paused with the coffee scoop in hand. Had Theo just
compared her livelihood to a board game? “Where might ‘jail’ be?” she asked.

“Jail isn’t a where, Sabrina. It’s a
who
. This Fitz
character? He gives me pause.”

Sabrina scooped out three heaping servings of coffee and
dumped them into a filter. “You know something, Theo? The last time I had this
type of discussion, it was with my father on the night of my first car date.”

“I’m just saying that I understand the mutual attraction,”
Theo said, trying to play up their simpatico. “You’re alpha to his alpha. That
is, until you end up in his own private Iowa. Then everything changes.”

Sabrina shoved the coffeepot onto the burner and turned the
machine on. Without her morning caffeine, she felt a splitting headache coming
on. “If you have something to say, just say it, Theo.”

“This
thing
between you and this Fitz guy could
derail you if you’re not careful,” he warned. “You want somebody who gives you
a little thunder and lightning between the sheets? I will not throw a single
stone. I’m hardly in the position to. But boxing and Monopoly have two
different sets of rules. If I play a little dirty, I’ll probably be the one
left standing. Every single move you make is analyzed when you’re in the public
eye. If this thing between you and the shock jock is serious…”

Sabrina had grown tired of weighing the importance of Theo’s
cautionary tales.

“There is no ‘thing.’ There never was,” she said. But putting
her feelings aside, she was telling Theo the truth. To describe her connection
with Gage as a lusty encounter the same way she would Molly’s flings with bad
boys felt demeaning.

“Well, thank Christ for that.” Theo sounded relieved. “It’s
just that when you’re a woman of, ah, your particular age—”

“—I think the word you’re looking for is ‘childbearing’,”
she supplied in a dry voice.

“Yeah, that,” Theo agreed quickly. “Chief, mind if we get a
little personal?”

“Shoot.” As if she had any choice in the matter.

“Get married, if that’s your druthers. Find another
pedigreed stiff like Sprinkle, one who won’t give you any lip. But Big Red
isn’t the one for you. Stick with him, and in two years you’ll be completely
out of the loop. You’ll be waking up to two a.m. feedings, stumbling around in
the dark to find your robe in a cluttered house—” Sabrina looked at the sink,
which was overflowing with dirty dishes again. “—and it won’t give you the warm
mushies like those grocery store novels Jill reads. You have a bright future,
Sabrina. Once I finally hang it up, you could go far as long as nothing stands
in your way.”

Theo’s voice had taken on a subtle mesmerizing tone. Sabrina
felt the back of her neck begin to tingle. It was as though he had crept right
into her head.

All of this was worth it.
It has to be worth it
, she
told herself after Theo hung up. Gage hadn’t spoken the L-word again. He didn’t
talk about marriage or babies. But she felt the weight of his love in his eyes
and the gentle rumble of his voice. Maybe she’d be a short-lived obsession,
like Lacey Adams. Or maybe they’d end up having the same conversation she’d had
with Jackson almost verbatim. Until then, she’d be good to him.

She loved him. What other choice did she have?

**

Gage came into the kitchen with four large grocery bags to
find Sabrina scowling at the cell phone in her hand.

“Catching up with the homegirls?” he asked, referring to
Molly and her mother.

“Theo called,” she explained with a listless sigh. “I don’t
want to go into it, but suffice it to say he’s on tenterhooks, and that means I
dangle along with him. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t ever apologize to me because you have
responsibilities, honey.” Gage put the bags on the table. “Hell, I took a leave
of absence from the station and all it took to replace me was recordings of
myself. You’re golden if you’re needed in real time these days.”

“I’m not sure I’m quite as golden as you think.” She looked
unconvinced as she stuffed the phone back in her bag. Whatever Ward had said to
her, it had her rattled, Gage thought. 

“What is all this?” Sabrina peered into one of the grocery
sacks. “Gage, there are enough cans in here to stock a bomb shelter.”

“It gets brutal here during winter.” He began shelving cans
in the pantry. “And I probably won’t always feel like going out to eat after
you go back to Austin. You will eventually have to go back, and I think we both
know that.”

Sabrina plucked a box of macaroni and cheese from one of the
bags and paused to look at him with her great, wary eyes before she put it in
the pantry with the rest of the dried goods. Something about her slight
hesitation and
that look
set off a distant alarm.

Gage knew
that look
.

He tried to recap their conversation the night before. He’d
been deliriously tired both emotionally and physically. He’d probably run his
mouth off about something. Whatever that something was, it had made her body to
tense up and recoil away from his slightly.

But he knew one thing. Telling her he loved her wasn’t one
of them. 

She loved him too. He’d heard her whispering into his ear
softly.

Or had he just dreamt it all?

Gage cast an eye around the kitchen. Despite Sabrina’s
cleaning jag earlier in that week, the place was starting to dirty up. He
traced the pervasive smell of scrambled eggs and corned beef hash to a cast
iron skillet he’d left on the stove. He watched her carry it to the sink, which
was overflowing with other dirty pots and pans plastered with grease and
remnants of yolk.

Everything about the scene was wrong, he thought.

Sabrina looked out of place standing in this shabby kitchen,
surrounded by his grandmother’s collection of porcelain travel plates and
pineapple print wallpaper that had long since lost its cheer. She shouldn’t
have been wearing one of his old sweatshirts, her hair scraped up with a clip,
cooking his breakfast and then doing the cleaning up.

Like him, she had worked hard to make a respectable life for
herself. Damned if he’d let her settle for anything else but the best he could
possibly give her — even if that wasn’t much.

She was about to reach for the dishwashing detergent when he
reached around her and turned off the faucet.

“Don’t.” Gage told her gently. “I’ll hire one of the local
women to come in tomorrow and clean up.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Sabrina protested.

“Yes, I do.” He wrapped his arms around her waist. “I don’t
want you to get into any bad habits. You’re the Chief of Staff, remember? You
won’t have time to play domestic diva once you get home and hit the ground
running.”

“It hasn’t been that bad. I learned how to cook macaroni and
cheese from scratch,” she said. “That’s a good skill to have in a pinch. Like
Nola always says, you have to know how to make a good sandwich before you learn
how to make the bread.”

Gage smiled. He got a kick at the earnest practicality in
her voice. 

“Something tells me I’m going to love your mother.” He
laughed and planted a kiss on the back of her neck. Standing there with her in
his arms watching blinding drifts of snow coming down outside the kitchen
window, he realized that the moment was almost perfect. It would have been
perfect, had it been any other time and place. And had he been in a different
state of mind. He hadn’t exactly been himself lately.

“I’m still in here somewhere, Sabrina,” he murmured into her
hair. “Things will change.”