Gage and Sadie

Chapter 11: Sadie

When Gage had been adamant about wanting another chance, I wasn't sure how I felt about that. He'd not only hurt me that night I overheard him talking to Galen, but it had crushed me that he'd wanted me only as a way to keep his company. So why had he tracked me down and put himself in the middle of my life again? The obvious conclusion was that he needed something from me. Did it have something to do with his announcement that there wouldn't be a divorce and he wanted to give our marriage a try?

It was a lot to wrap my mind around and something I couldn't help focusing on. He seemed sincere, but the man had proven he could totally sell sincere when he'd pursued me the first time.  However, even my suspicious mind felt there was something different about his pursuit this time. 

Before we were married, Gage had seemed kind and indulgent. But I'd always felt that he'd seemed somewhat removed, a trait I'd chalked up to us being new and Gage's personality. I'd been so naïve that I'd thought it also had something to do with him being older and more worldly. His aloofness had seemed intriguing and had presented a challenge that I'd fallen victim to -- I could change Gage, I could be the only one he really allowed in. He'd present one front to the world, but to me, in the privacy of our home, he'd be different.

How'd that work out for you, Sadie?

It hadn't seemed to work out...but here he was now. Demanding a second chance, professing to not wanting a divorce for no reason other than I'd now intrigued him and he wanted for us both to get to know each other. To see if we could become something.

Since he'd had to return home, he'd called me every night. And every time his name popped up on my screen as the caller, I debated answering. But then the weak part of me, the one that secretly wished my marriage had worked out, whispered maybe it still could. And I'd answer his call, so mad at myself for being weak but enjoying his voice in my ear.

Gage and I would talk for hours. He'd ask me about my day, about my patients -- and he was learning enough about my occupation as a speech language pathologist to know what to ask about that would get me to talk. Then we'd go to more general topics and questions that got to the heart of who we were, what we thought about politics and religion and children and all sorts of other issues.

Gage's view on the topic of children was fascinating to me. He knew he wanted them, but beyond that, he wasn't sure exactly what to do with them after they were born. Although he was raised in wealth with a family around him and I was raised in foster care with no one around me, we both had lacked love and concern growing up. Gage had been foisted off onto nannies with barely any interaction with his parents until he became old enough to start assuming a role in the family business. In Gage's world, you weren't important and didn't merit attention until you were needed for business. It was no wonder he'd approached me the same way.

And, as Gage pointed out to me in one of our nightly conversations, "You come at life full speed ahead, Sadie. You just offer yourself up to it without thinking about whether or not it will hurt you. Except with me, and that's because I taught you a horrible lesson about trust."

Oliver, the king of drama himself, was loving this and every day demanded an accounting of my conversation with Gage the previous evening.

"I know it's your life, Sadie, but honest to god, it's like the best telenovela, K-drama and reality TV series combined," Oliver told me at lunch three days after Gage had returned home. "You're fighting it, and he's just pursuing you like his life depends on it, going totally over the top to win back the wife he wronged. All you need is the first wife coming back from the dead and a scheming little sister and you'd kill it in the ratings."

"It's not that dramatic," I huffed. "Not really."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "Girl, between fleeing the state to hide from Gage, the restaurant fiascos and the multiple car disasters, this is freaking gold. If I knew someone in the business, I'd totally have them following you with a camera crew."