“Hey there, buddy.” She set her belongings on the end of the couch and knelt down.
Happy rushed up to her and lathered her with kisses. She scooped him up in her arms and gave him a hug. She didn’t understand what he was doing here, but she was so happy to see him.
“Oh, there you are.” Louise’s voice came from the doorway.
Sage turned. “Were you looking for me? Or the dog?”
“I didn’t know if you’d return after the board meeting. How did it go?”
“It’s a closed vote. And it might come down to Trey’s vote.”
“But I thought you said he was on board with the magazine now.”
“That was before.”
“Before what?”
“Before I decided to play God with his life.”
“Oops. That doesn’t sound good.” An indecisive look settled on her face. “This sounds like it’s going to need some coffee and a Danish or two.”
Sage moved to her desk chair, knowing that as the boss she should insist they get to work, but her heart just wasn’t in it today. Maybe if she talked to Louise, it’d help clear her head. But something told her neither the talking nor the baked goods would help the ache in her heart.
Louise hurried back into the office balancing a plate of goodies and two coffees. She placed everything on the desk and then took a seat as though settling in for the whole sordid story.
Sage didn’t want to get into the painful details, but maybe someone else’s perspective would help. She needed someone to tell her that what she’d done hadn’t been as awful as it felt—even if it hadn’t ended the way she’d been hoping.
And so the words came o
ut slowly at first. The more she talked about her time with Trey, the more she missed him. And then as she spoke, she started to see things differently. She finally understood what Trey had been trying to tell her—she was trying to make him do, feel and say what she wanted.
“I can’t believe I didn’t see this sooner,” Sage said more to herself than Louise.
“Sometimes when you’re so intimately involved in a situation, it’s hard to see things clearly.”
Tears rushed to her eyes. “But I hurt not only Trey but his father, too.” She blinked away the tears. “I made things so much worse for both of them. And that’s not what I meant to do.”
“But you brought them back together. That’s more than anyone has done in years.”
“That’s not a good thing. You didn’t witness the tension and the anger that filled the room.”
“Did they speak to each other?”
Sage nodded. “But none of it was constructive.”
Louise’s eyes filled with sympathy. “You did it out of the goodness of your heart.”
Happy rounded the desk and put his paws up on Sage’s lap. She picked him up and gave him another hug. “Do you think Trey has discarded Happy because of me?”
Louise shook her head. “I talked to him last night. He said he had a few things to take care of and then he offered to pay me for puppy-sitting. Like I would take money for watching that furry ball of love.” A big smile filled her face as her gaze landed on Happy. “You and I, we’re buddies, aren’t we?”
Arf!
A smile tugged at Sage’s lips. “If he changes his mind, I’ll take him.”
“You’ll have to stand in line. This little guy already stole my heart.”
“I’m sure Trey is missing you.” She couldn’t resist giving Happy another hug and recalling the way they’d worked together to help Happy. That’s when she’d let her guard down long enough to see that there was so much more to Trey than his good looks.