Chapter 6
‡
Gabe stared down at the screen of his phone, practically willing it to light up with a notification from Adriana. She hadn’t responded to his text. He was going for charming, but he honestly had no idea what she might be thinking of him, and it was driving him a little bit crazy.
Sure, he’d said he would text her when he was done, but he expected at least a “K” or an emoji of some kind. He’d never had a girl completely ignore his message, and it was making him wonder if she even wanted to see him again.
He’d never been worried about what people thought about him. He never replayed things he said like an insecure middle schooler. He never second-guessed himself. But he was doing all of those things now.
“Everything okay?” Jake asked from across his desk.
“Yeah.”
“You sure?” His cousin flipped through the paperwork that Gabe had just completed. “You seem preoccupied.”
“I’m good.”
There was a beat before Jake lifted his head and Gabe saw the genuine concern in his cousin’s eyes. “Well, first you were late and you’re never late. And now it seems you can’t go two minutes without checking your phone.”
“It’s nothing.” Gabe put his phone back in his pocket.
“Is this about the tests you took before the fight? Did something come back irregular?”
“No.” The frustration that he’d pushed down for years boiled to the surface.
Gabe hated that the first place his cousin’s head went was bad test results. It was the same with his brother. His coaches. For the past five years, anyone that was close to him jumped to the conclusion that anytime he was quiet, or distracted, or fatigued, it was automatically health-related. He couldn’t blame them; they cared about him. He understood that their worry was born out of genuine love, but it still frustrated the hell out of him.
He was tired of his identity being linked to cancer. It was a chapter of his life that he wanted behind him, but he knew that it was naïve of him to think that could happen.
“What is it then?” Jake persisted.
Gabe wanted to tell his cousin that it was none of his business, but he knew that Jake deserved more than that.
When Gabe had done his first round of chemo, Jake had put his own life on hold and flown to Chicago to be with him. He’d stayed for six weeks; he and Glenn had rotated trips to the hospital in order to stay with him and take care of him. His cousin deserved more than just a dismissive response.
“It’s just…I don’t know,” Gabe sighed, unsure of how to explain the situation. “I think I met someone.”
A wrinkle appeared on Jake’s forehead as his brows rose. “You think you met someone?”
“I did meet someone. That’s why I was late.” Gabe cleared his throat and scrubbed his hands over his face. “She runs a blog. I was doing an interview.”
“Did it go badly?” Jake rested his forearms on his desktop and leaned in. “The interview?”
“No.” Gabe shook his head. “The interview was fine.”
“You said you think you met someone.” Jake pressed on.
Gabe sighed. “Yeah.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I think I met someone,” Gabe reiterated.
“Someone, like someone you’re interested in?”
“Yes,” Gabe admitted.
“So, what’s the problem?” Jake lifted his hands. “That’s a good thing, right?”
Gabe nodded even though he wasn’t at all convinced it was.
His less than enthusiastic answer caused all the worry that had been clouding his cousin’s expression to disappear. It was replaced by amusement as Jake asked follow-up questions. “Wait. She didn’t fall for the Gabe Maguire charm, did she? Did you finally meet the one woman on the planet that didn’t giggle and blush when you looked at her?”
There was definite blushing and giggling, but Gabe kept that to himself. “It wasn’t like that.”
“Well, something’s got your panties in a twist.” Jake sat back and crossed his arms.
“I just said some things I wish I hadn’t.” Gabe recognized his misstep the second the admission was out of his mouth.
“Oh damn, this is even better than I thought. What did you say?”
Again, Gabe’s first instinct was to tell Jake it was none of his damn business. He opened his mouth to do just that, but apparently, his brain to mouth communication was lacking because instead, he ended up repeating his embarrassing speech. “I told her that she was the kind of beautiful that men wage wars and build things like the Taj Mahal or the Hanging Gardens of Babylon for. That someone could get drunk on and addicted to. That she was more than just beautiful that she was devastating.”
Gabe ran his hands through his hair and waited for his cousin’s response. He’d shared his faux pas with his cousin in the hopes that he’d tell him it wasn’t that bad. After he gave him shit for it, of course. What he hadn’t expected was Jake’s blank look of horror.
After several seconds, his cousin’s head fell back and he laughed so loud Gabe was sure the entire firehouse could hear him.
There it is. That was much closer to the reaction he’d expected.
“I don’t know what the hell came over me,” Gabe shook his head. “Who talks like that?”
“Losers,” Jake continued chuckling. “Or virgins. Virgins talk like that.”
Gabe was no virgin, but his cousin’s dig still hit a little close to home. It had been over two years since he’d had sex. Maybe that was what this whole thing was about. Maybe his attraction to Adriana seemed so much more intense because of his forced celibacy. Maybe he just needed to have sex.
When Jake continued laughing, Gabe got a little defensive. “What? Like you never said cheesy shit to Tessa?”
Jake grew serious, the way he did every time the subject of Tessa came up. To say that his cousin was protective of his wife and kids was like saying that the Grand Canyon was a pothole. “Hell yeah, I did. But that’s Tessa. I was in love with her. Is that what this is?”
“I just met her.” Gabe sat back up.
“Exactly.” Jake nodded with an expression that could be interpreted as wise or arrogant, Gabe was leaning toward the latter. “So either your game has gotten real rusty, or this girl might be someone special. Personally, I’m hoping for special, because otherwise, you’re giving the Maguire name a bad rep.”
There was a knock at the door and Marco Reyes, a fellow firefighter, stuck his head in. “Mayor’s here to see you.”
Jake stood, and Gabe followed his cousin’s lead and headed out of the office. Mayor Henry Walker was in the day room talking to a few of the men that were gathered. He was wearing cowboy boots, a hat, and a large belt buckle with an image of a horse surrounded by pine trees.
Gabe had met the man several times. He was friendly and warm. From what Gabe had observed, Mayor Walker knew everything that went on in Hope Falls.
When he saw Gabe, he stretched out his hand. “Great fight, son.”
“Thanks, Mayor Walker.” Gabe shook it.
“Henry, please.” The mayor insisted everyone call him by his first name, but that just wasn’t how Gabe had been raised. The man leaned in and lowered his voice as he asked, “Are the rumors I keep hearing true? Are we going to be getting a new resident in Hope Falls?”
“Yes, sir,” Gabe confirmed.
The mayor’s face lit up as he patted Gabe on the shoulder. “Good to hear son. Glad to have you!”
“Thank you, sir.”
Gabe nodded as Jake ushered the mayor into his office.
“Hey, man.” Marco slapped Gabe on the shoulder before dropping down in one of the recliners that faced the flat screen TV. “Drinks. Tonight. JT’s.”
Gabe hesitated. Adriana had said that she would only be here until Sunday. If it were up to him, he would spend every minute he could with her.
“Don’t even think about flaking.” Marco pointed the remote control at the television and turned up the volume. “You signed your papers. You’re official. It’s tradition.”
As much as he wanted to bow out, he knew better. Being a firefighter wasn’t the same as other jobs. Your life depended on the people you worked with and vice versa. You needed to trust them, and they needed to trust you. That meant that you needed to build relationships. Most of the time those bonds happened outside the four walls of the fire station.
“I’ll be there.” Gabe agreed before heading out of the station.
He’d just stepped out of the open bay door when his phone buzzed. His heart jumped as he pulled it out of his pocket. When he saw that it was Maxi, it landed. Hard.
“Hey,” he answered.
“Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. I was in a meeting. When I got out, I checked my messages. There were two from Rena saying that she is so sorry that she wasn’t able to make it. Her car was making a weird noise—”
“Do you mean Adriana?” Gabe cut in.
“No. Rena, the blogger. The one you were supposed to meet today. She was wondering if it would be possible to do a Skype call or—”
“I met the blogger,” Gabe interrupted again.
“What? Where? When? Who?” With each word the stress level in Maxi’s voice rose.
“Why? How?” Gabe teased, hoping to settle her nerves.
“Ha, ha, ha. I’m serious, Gabe. What do you mean you met the blogger? Rena said she never made it. So who was it?”
Whether or not Adriana was the blogger made no difference to him. He’d spent an hour with an amazing woman that he wanted to see more of. If she wasn’t the person he was supposed to meet, then he would just consider that a happy accident. He didn’t necessarily believe in destiny or fate, but hey, if either of those things had come into play here, he might just need to convert to a believer.
“Adriana.”
The click of fingers flying over a keyboard came over the line as Maxi asked, “What’s her last name?”
Once again, no clue.
Maxi’s tone was a fun combo of patient and frustrated as she asked, “What do you know about her?”
What did he know about her? He knew that when he was with her, everything had felt right in the world. He knew that when she smiled, it revealed two adorable dimples. He knew that her eyes changed from green to blue depending on the light that hit them. He knew that she smelled like heaven. He knew that he wanted to see her again. Now.
Knowing that wasn’t the information Maxi was looking for, he went with more concrete things. “I know her name is Adriana. She has twin girls, and she adopted her cousin’s nine-year-old son when she passed away last year. Oh, and the dad’s not in the picture.”
“The dad’s not in the pic…” Maxi started to repeat before her voice trailed off. “You like her.”
“No comment,” he joked, using one of Maxi’s favorite PR phrases.
“Did you go on a date or give an interview?”
“Who says it can’t be both?”
“Are you going to see her again?”
I hope so. “Maybe.”
He heard the exasperated breath of a woman that dealt with difficult clients’ messes all day long. Typically, he tried to stay out of that category, but if seeing Adriana put him in it, he could live with that. “I’ll set up the Skype with the real blogger for next week and be careful, Gabe.”
“I don’t think she’s dangerous.”
“I wasn’t talking about her hurting you. She’s a single mom with three kids. Did you learn nothing from Jerry Maguire?”
“Show me the money?” he purposely quoted the wrong tagline.
“Yep. That’s exactly what I was talking about,” sarcasm laced her words. “And speaking of money, I need to go so I can earn mine.”
The line went silent. Gabe lowered his phone so he could check again to see if Adriana had messaged him back. She hadn’t. So, he broke a cardinal rule and messaged her again before she’d even responded. He was in trouble. He knew that for a fact. What he didn’t know was where the trouble would lead.
*
Adriana did everything she could to block out the buzzing sound that was doing its best to pull her out of the unconscious state she was happily floating in. She did everything she could to ignore the insistent interruption, but she couldn’t successfully block it out.
Finally, she lifted her heavy lids but all she saw was darkness.
The girls. Panic shot through her and she sat straight up. Questions whizzed around in her mind. Where are they? Are they okay?
She was still half asleep as she tried to stand just as her eyes started adjusting to the dimness. The first thing that registered in her partially conscious state was that she was in an unfamiliar space. The second was that her bag was sitting beside a door.
Then, in the blink of an eye, everything clicked into place. The buzzing that had woken her up started again. A stark light illuminated the space. She looked down and saw that her phone had somehow ended up on the floor and the screen was bright with a call.
Leaning over, she picked it up as her left eyelid shut and the right squinted at the brightness. When she saw that it was her mother calling she swiped to answer.
The panic returned. “Are the girls okay? Jonah?”
“We’re all fine.” Her mother said calmly. “I just got the girls down to bed, and Jonah is watching a movie.”
“Oh, good.” Adriana sank back against the couch cushions as she adjusted to her surroundings and the knowledge that everything was fine.
“Sunshine, you sound stressed. Remember what I said. You need to let go and just be. Stop trying to make things happen. Stop trying to control everyth—”
“I’m fine.” Adriana blurted out. “I just woke up. I didn’t mean to fall asleep but…”
“Good. That’s good. The best time for the body to heal both physically and emotionally is while you sleep. It refreshes and rejuvenates the spirit and body.”
Adriana was tired, and not just of getting life advice from a woman that she truly didn’t believe was qualified to hand it out. She hadn’t woken up from her nap refreshed. Instead of feeling rejuvenated she was even more exhausted than she’d been before. “Did you need something, Naomi?”
“Yes Sunshine, I needed to look up a recipe and tried to do it on my phone first, but the words were too small. Then I tried to look it up on your computer, but it’s asking me for a password.”
She gave her mother the password and had her promise to call when the girls woke up in the morning. When they hung up, Adriana saw that she had two missed calls, one from her mom and one from Gabe’s number. She had two unread text messages from him as well.
Her heart started pounding as she opened them. The first was sent earlier in the afternoon. He had finished at the station and wanted to know if they could meet up. The second had come in a few hours later. He’d asked if she would like to get dinner.
As if on cue, her stomach growled when she read that one. She thought back and realized that she hadn’t eaten all day. It wasn’t unheard of for her to go through the day and realize that she hadn’t had a meal, but she always grazed on snacks and more often than not she finished off what the kids didn’t eat.
She remembered Sue Ann mentioning that the fridge was stocked with waters and a few snacks and that there was some bread and peanut butter and jelly in the cabinets, but this weekend she didn’t want to eat something that she fed to the kids every day. She wanted to have an adult weekend. An adult weekend where she didn’t do dishes, cook, or bathe anyone but herself.
The café was right downstairs, and Adriana wondered if they did deliveries. She was tired, and since she’d clearly missed her opportunity to see Gabe again today, she was considering tonight a wash. She’d have some dinner, take a shower, and figure out how she was going to broach the subject of Jonah’s paternity with Gabe.
Gabe. Just thinking his name caused her insides to flutter.
He was so different than she’d expected. From what she’d seen in interviews on YouTube he’d seemed charming, friendly, and charismatic. All of those things were true, but he was so much more than that.
Her stomach growled once more, and she reached her arm out to the left and flipped on the lamp beside the couch. She scanned the coffee table and nightstand to see if there was a menu to the café downstairs and her phone dinged once again.
Another text from Gabe.
I just wanted to let you know that I’m down at JT’s Roadhouse. There’s pool, dancing, and drinks. I’m not inviting you to come down here. In fact, I hope you don’t. (See what I did there? It’s reverse psychology.)
Does reverse psychology work if you reveal it? I guess we’ll find out. Hope to see you soon.
Adriana chuckled. He really was funny. She was about to message him back and tell him she couldn’t go out tonight but maybe tomorrow when she realized it was just her. She had no twins, no Jonah, no anyone except herself that she was responsible for. She could go out at nine o’clock on a Friday night.
But should she?
She’d promised herself that the next time she saw Gabe, she’d tell him why she was in town. Was that something she could do at a bar with pool, dancing, and drinks? Maybe the drinks weren’t a bad idea.
Liquid courage, anyone?
The inside of Adriana’s cheek was tender from how much she’d chewed on it this past week. It was a nervous habit she’d had since childhood. And as she bit into it now, her mouth watered from the soreness. Nerves popped in her stomach like hot grease in a frying pan at the thought of seeing him again.
Excitement bubbled in her as her mind went over the sweet things he’d said about her. They might’ve been lines, but they were good ones.
Stop it, she reprimanded herself. She was being ridiculous. This weekend wasn’t about her and it sure as heck wasn’t about her and Gabe. There was no her and Gabe. There was only Gabe and Jonah.
Her hands pressed against the cushions and she stood up in a single decisive motion. There was no excuse for wasting time. She was leaving to go back home in thirty-six hours. She needed to tell Gabe that he might be a father. That was her only objective here. Whether or not he would still look at her as if the sun rose and set in her eyes wasn’t the point.
With her objective clearly defined, she decided to go to the bar. Tonight she’d tell him why she was here. Hopefully, he would take it well, or at least as well as any man would that found out he may have fathered a child one drunken night in Las Vegas, a decade earlier.
After grabbing her bag, she headed down the hallway to the bathroom. It was small but immaculate and looked to be fully stocked with toiletries, which was good because she had a bad feeling that she might’ve forgotten something. When she opened her bag, she determined that that was the case. Toothpaste.
Mini toothpaste to the rescue.
She turned on the water after squeezing paste from the small tube onto the bristles of her brush, and when she lifted her head, she caught her reflection in the mirror. And just like so many times in the recent past, she wasn’t thrilled with what she saw.
Her hair was matted on the side that she’d been laying on. There was a large crease on her cheek. The dark circles beneath her eyes were even more pronounced against her pale complexion.
She looked down at her wrinkled T-shirt and jeans. It’s a sad situation when even your clothes looked tired.
Closing her eyes, she tried to remember the last time she’d put on an outfit that wasn’t chosen because it had a lot of pockets or was comfortable. She tried to think back to when she’d put any effort into doing her make-up and hair.
It was before the twins were born. She and Em had what they called their Knocked-Up Girls’ Night Out. Just like Leslie Mann and Katherine Heigl had done when Katherine’s character was eight months pregnant, she and Em had dressed up and gone to a club. Unlike the characters in the movie, they’d actually gotten in and danced, laughed, and drank Shirley Temples until the bar closed.
Tears sprang to Adriana’s eyes as she remembered the night. She missed her cousin and felt lost without her. But she was now starting to wonder if she also might feel lost because she hadn’t felt like herself since that night. She couldn’t bring her cousin back, but she could try to reclaim a sense of herself.
If she could do that then maybe, just maybe, she’d be better equipped to handle the Mauryesque Gabe-you-might-be-the-father moment.