Page 13 of A Little More Forgiveness

A hand smeared the condensation off the window, irritating me. I hated smears on my glass; they took forever to get out, for some reason. I tried to ignore the section of glass, but I had to wonder how one guy could rile two people so easily, seemingly without effort. If I thought about it long enough, I’d have to acknowledge he really had a major talent.

“It’s Leo,” I stated the obvious and shone the light into my face. The locks clicked open, but he didn’t attempt to get out, so I took the initiative, and opening the door to a blast of heat, climbed inside, then quickly shut it behind me.

Except for the muted light emanating from the dash and radio, I hardly saw a thing, and needing to see what type of reception I headed into, I reached up to flick on the interior light. Gabe sat stiffly in the seat, looking straight ahead at the steamed-up windshield, hands resting on his thighs. He seemed so isolated and alone, all I wanted to do was reach out and touch him, to lay my hand over his and offer him comfort, a connection. I reined myself in though as I didn’t think he’d welcome any type of physical contact from me at the moment. At a complete loss what to do or say next, in the end I did neither; instead, I sat beside him quietly, listening to the music until he was ready to speak.

I didn’t have to wait long.

“Well, ain’t this cozy.”

Sagging into the seat, I wondered how I’d gotten to be the one stuck in the middle. As a lawyer, I got to negotiate for a living and had been in court for hours at a time arguing my case, trying to get the best results for my clients. But having to be the one to keep the peace between these two all day was exhausting.

“Please don’t do this,” I pleaded, turning to look at him. “Please.”

His jaw clenched.

“I’m sorry, okay?”

“Oh? For what exactly? You weren’t the one who threw me out of the house, were you?”

I sighed. “No, no, I wasn’t.”

“So why be sorry?”

I didn’t know how to answer him. I shouldn’t feel the need to apologize, but somehow this all felt like my fault. If I hadn’t let Gabe rile me in the first place, I wouldn’t have gone outside, and he wouldn’t have been alone with Mitch. They were responsible for their actions, not me, but as I set the meeting up in the first place, I should have been the one in control of the negotiations, no matter how long we were together.

“How did everything get so fucked up in such a short space of time?” I replied instead. “Because I can’t figure it out.”

He didn’t answer for a while, and I didn’t think he would, until “It’s me,” he stated softly. “I’m the cause.”

Not what I was expecting. “Why would you say that?”

He closed his eyes and let his head fall against the headrest. “I’m thirty-two years old and still haven’t learned how and when to shut the fuck up.”

I smiled at his admission. “You won’t hear any arguments from me.”

His mouth twitched, a barely there lift to the corner of his lips, giving me hope.

“Would you tell me what you argued about?” Mitch was too guarded to tell me himself, so Gabe seemed the easier to approach, which considering his arrogance and self-important attitude said a hell of a lot.

He turned to look at me, the harsh light making his face all sharp angles and shadows, the jade green of his eyes vivid and bright. “He didn’t tell you?”

I shook my head. “I didn’t ask. I’m not sure he’d have given an answer.”

Gabe’s laugh held no humor. “Yeah, he’s real easygoing is Mitchell Houghton.”

“So what do you think’s going on?” I prompted.

He frowned, a crease forming on his brow, as he thought it through. “I hit a nerve somewhere along the line when I pointed out how run-down the property was. He didn’t like my observation, though I fail to see why, as it’s true, after all. The place needs a huge amount of work. He must see that, surely?”

He paused and glanced my way. I shrugged, totally in agreement with him. “Perhaps you dented his pride.”

He mulled my response over. “Possibly.” I’m not sure he believed me though. “Then he told me to be careful about what I said in his house.” He winced. “I might have told him it wasn’t strictly only his house, and I owned as much as he did.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, that did not go down well. He got in my face, punched me in the gut and basically shoved me out the door. The rest, well, the rest you already know.”

I did, though I got a shock on finding out they’d had a physical altercation before Mitch threw him out of the cabin.

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