Page 33 of Marry Your Best Friend

He covers the phone and says to me, “Honey, will you be okay if I go into work? Chris’ wife went into labor, and they’re going to be a man short.”

I sit up, holding the cover to my chest. “Yeah, sure. I’m okay.”

He nods and then brings his phone back to his mouth. “Yeah, I’ll be in soon.”

He hangs up and tosses his phone on the nightstand and then lies back down with me in his arms.

I wait for him to say something, anything, but he remains quiet for so long I’m wondering if he’s fallen back asleep. Eventually he groans. “I have to get up. I don’t want them to get a call and be short-handed.”

I disentangle my legs from his and scoot away from him. He says my name, but before he can say whatever he was planning on saying, I interrupt him. “I fell asleep at King’s and missed talking about everything. What can I do to help with planning Ledger’s funeral?”

Gabe gets out of bed and grabs the clothes he had on last night. They’re at least dry now. “King said Ledger had everything planned out, and he just had to make a phone call. We just need to show up.”

I search my memory. “Thursday, right?”

“Yeah, honey. Thursday. I’m not sure what’s going to happen at the station this week. I have a few people out already, and with Chris now, I’m not sure what my schedule is going to be, but all you have to do is call me, and I’ll be here. Or you can come by the station.”

He’s worried about me, but that is nothing new. “I’ll be fine, but I’ll call you if I need anything.”

He clears his throat. “We should probably talk about last night, don’t you think?”

I pull his shirt that I was wearing over my head, find my panties, and put them on. “Yeah, we probably should but not right now. You have to go to work, and I’m supposed to work this afternoon.”

He’s shaking his head. “Take the day off. Your boss will understand.”

“I need to stay busy. It will keep my mind off things.”

I can see he wants to try and talk me out of it, but I don’t stick around to find out. As I walk out ofthe bedroom, I call out to him, “Can I fix you breakfast before you go?”

He follows behind me. “No, I don’t have time. I’m sorry to just run, Chrissy. This is not how I pictured this morning would go.”

I shrug like it doesn’t bother me when the truth is, it’s killing me. I want to ask him what last night means, but I don’t have the guts to do it. I’m standing at the kitchen island, and he’s by the front door putting his boots on.

I grab one of my hair ties out of my catch-all on the counter and take it over to him. “Here’s for your hair.”

He takes it from me and smiles as he gathers his long hair in a bun on his head. I just stand here and watch him, not sure what I’m waiting for. He reaches for me, and it’s awkward as he hugs me. Neither one of us says anything while he holds me to him. I breathe him in, waiting for what he’s going to say and hoping he’s going to say something to make me feel like I made the right decision last night.

But all he does is kiss me on the forehead. “I’ll talk to you soon, okay? Don’t work too hard and call me if you need anything.”

I nod, forcing a smile to my face. “You too, Gabe. Take care of yourself, okay?”

I walk out onto the porch with him and spot my car in the driveway. “My car is here.”

He’s walking backwards to his truck. “I told you I’d get it.”

“Thank you!” I call after him.

He gives me a smirk and then gets into his truck. I walk back into the house and shut the door because what I really want to do is stand on the porch and watch him leave, but I feel like that would make it even weirder.

I lean my back against the door and stare at the ceiling.

I don’t even have to think about it. I messed up last night.

I thought it would change things, but I had no idea it would make it awkward between us like it was this morning.

One of my favorite things about Gabriel Gray are the hugs he gives me. And now even that was awkward. I shouldn’t have let my desires or the things I want take over. I should have let it go on like it has been and suffered the consequences. It may have been torture to watch him with anotherwoman eventually, but I would still be the Chrissy that he loved and wanted in his life.

Right now, he’s probably trying to figure out how to end this.

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