Page 15 of Marry Your Best Friend

I whip my head up and look him in the eye. He doesn’t mean what I think he means, does he? “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit, Gabe. We all know how you feel about Chrissy. You need to tell her.”

I’m like a deer caught in headlights as I look at him. All this time I thought I was being careful. I thought I was doing a good job of keeping how I feel on the down low.

He leans toward me, nodding his head. “That’s right. We all know. It’s as plain as the nose on my face, brother. Why haven’t you told her?”

Holden implores me with a look, and I want to deny it, but I know it will be useless. “Why haven’t I told her? Because she’s my best friend, and she doesn’t think of me that way.”

His eyebrows raise. “You’re joking with me, right?”

Before I can answer, his phone rings, and the smile on his face tells me it’s Cat. He puts the phone to his ear, and his voice drops an octave. “Hey, honey.”

I can only hear one side of the conversation, but it has me on high alert.

“What? What happened?”

He looks worried. “Oh no! Is she okay?”

Silence and then he’s shaking his head. “Should I come over and see her?” A pause and then, “Yeah, don’t sweat it. I’ll grab dinner for me and Cole, don’t worry about us. No, just take care of my sister and let me know if I can do anything.”

“Chrissy? Something happened to Chrissy? Is she okay?”

Holden puts a hand up like he’s trying to silence me, but I don’t mess around when it comes to Chrissy. I grab the phone from his hand and put it to my ear. “Cat. This is Gabe. Chrissy okay?”

Cat tries to calm me, but she’s whispering. “Yeah, she’s going to be okay. She lost a patient today, and she’s taking it pretty hard.”

“I can come over.”

Chrissy must be right next to Cat because I hear her ask, “Hon, Gabe wants to know if you want him to come over.”

The next thing I know, I hear Chrissy on the phone. Her voice is thick, and it’s obvious she’s been crying. “Hey Gabe. I’m going to eat dinner with Cat and we’re going to hang out for a while. Why don’t you go to dinner with the guys and thencome by. I mean, if that’s okay.” She sucks in a breath. “You don’t have to…”

I grip the phone tighter. “Hell, honey, you know that even if you told me not to, I’d come anyway. What time do you want me there?”

I hear Cat talking in the background. “I’m going to leave here around eight.”

Fuck, that’s like two hours from now. “Okay, I’ll be there at eight. Call if you need me before then, baby.”

She mutters softly, “Okay.”

I wait for her to hang up, and then I hand my brother his phone. “Here, let’s go eat.” I look over at Cole and Dom. “You guys want pizza?”

Cole pumps his fist in the air. “Yes!”

Dom practically sprints off the court, huffing. “Thank God because I wasn’t going to last much longer. This kid is wearing me out.”

Cole pats him on the shoulder. “You’ll be thanking me later when we continue to beat the brakes off these two old guys.”

Holden shouts. “Old?”

Cole takes off running, and Holden runs after him. Dom is stretching out his back. “Fuck, I’m getting old. You doing okay, brother?”

I nod. “Yeah, Chrissy had a patient die today.”Before he can ask, I fill him in. “Cat’s with her now, and after we eat, I’m going to check on her.”

Dom shakes his head. “Let me know if I can do anything.”

I nod, and we start walking through the parking lot to our cars. All I can think about is having Chrissy in my arms and making sure she’s okay. The next two hours are going to be grueling. The only thing that makes me feel any better is knowing she has Cat with her now, but I’ll be staying the night with her, holding her so the nightmares don’t come.

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