Page 24 of Marry Your Best Friend

She slaps my chest. “So you did threaten him?”

“I did, and I don’t feel bad about it.”

She finally leans her head back to look up at me. “What were you thinking? Why?”

Shit, I know I’m digging myself in deep. “You know how I am about you, and you asked me to fix you up on a date. Did you really think I would just fix you up and not lay down any rules?”

She stops swaying side to side and looks up at me. “I feel like I’m just repeating myself.I’m thirty-three years old. You’re not my father. You’re not my brother. You’re not responsible for me.”

Any other time it wouldn’t bother me if she said I’m not her brother, but right now, it bothers me. She’s acting like I’m nothing to her and like I’m just supposed to stand back while some guy paws her. At this point, we’ve both stopped dancing, and I’m just trying to calm my racing heart. I know why she’s mad, and I understand it, but it doesn’t make it any easier to accept. “Okay, so—” I’m shoved by someone in the back, and I instinctively put my arms around Chrissy.

She pushes against my chest, and right at that moment, Mark and Bethany come over to us. “Hey guys, so we’re going to get out of here.”

“But—” Chrissy starts.

Bethany waves her off. “Is that okay? I mean, if you don’t want us to, we can stay, but Mark and I were talking about going over to the drive-in and catching the new action flick.”

Chrissy nods her head and looks at me. “Gabe… do you have something to say to Mark?”

She’s giving me that look and she doesn’t even have to explain what she wants from me. I turn to Mark and hold my hand out. “I’m sorry.”

Chrissy clears her throat, and I grunt. “Right.Well, I’m sorry for threatening you. Your job is safe.”

When I stop this time, Chrissy stomps her foot. “Gabriel.”

“Fine. I’m not going to kill you either.”

Mark starts to stutter, “Sure, boss. So, uh, we’re going to get out of here.” He nods at Chrissy. “It was nice meeting you, ma’am.”

He and Bethany walk away hand in hand, and Chrissy points to the tables. “Can we sit down for a minute?”

I walk behind her, and I have an uneasy pit in my stomach. This doesn’t feel right, and when we sit down, the way Chrissy is fidgeting makes me even more nervous. “Talk to me.”

She wraps her hands together and holds them on top of the table top. “We need to talk, Gabe. A serious conversation.” She looks around the bar at the people laughing, talking, and having a good time, and then she looks at me with a grimace on her face. “Maybe we should do this somewhere else.”

I’m too impatient for that. “Just tell me.”

She opens her mouth and then closes it again and shakes her head.

“Look, I know I probably went a littleoverboard. I shouldn’t have threatened Mark, but I wasn’t going to just fix you up with some guy that—”

She cuts me off. “Why not? Why couldn’t you just fix me up with a guy?”

I rest my elbows on the table and lean toward her. “Because I couldn’t. I want you safe.”

She rolls her eyes. “Safe? This was a double date that you were going to be at the whole entire time. How would I not be safe? That doesn’t make sense.”

“Chrissy, listen, you know how I am about you, and you can get mad at me all you want, but I can’t change who I am.”

“No, you listen to me, Gabe. Do you have any idea how it makes me feel that you were in a relationship? You were happy, and because of me, she broke it off with you. She broke your heart, and it was all my fault.”

I blurt out a laugh. “Broke my heart? Please, honey, we were fucking. That’s all that was, and it was three years ago.”

She leans back in her chair and crosses her arms over her chest. “We need… we need to think about the future, and if our relationship is going to hold you back from having a fulfilling relationship, then we need to fix that.”

I hold my hand up. ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. This is nonsense, Chrissy.”

She’s indignant and shakes her head. “It’s not nonsense. No woman in her right mind is going to be okay with you dropping them to save the day for me. No woman is going to be okay with you… with you sleeping in my bed!”

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