Page 78 of Embracing Love

“Gabriel suggested this?” He could talk to them but not her?

Nadine shook her head. “Does it bother you that they talk? It’s just that when Gabriel was in San Francisco, we hung out together a couple of evenings, when we went to dinner with Russell and Michael. Obviously that was just before the lawsuit came out of nowhere.”

“It bothers me that he’s been talking to Ethan and you but not me.”

Nadine’s face relaxed and she slipped her body down along the chair, resting her head on the cushy headrest. “Honey, Ethan’s been talking to him about places to visit. Not me—I’m part of the Zimmerman Group. Gabriel merely suggested a few places we might want to visit.”

“I bet he did.” It pained her to know that the three of them seemed to have formed a clandestine little group. She felt hurt enough already by the way he had suddenly cut her off, but to hear the things Nadine was telling her, only made her sadder, and angrier. It was all so up and down and all over the place. She wasn’t sure exactly how she felt.

“Are you two not talking or anything at the moment?” asked Nadine.

“That’s an understatement,” said Tanya, propping her elbows on the table.

“It’s just that a few times, Gabriel just…I don’t know, it was little things he’d let slip.”

“What things?” Tanya suddenly felt anxious.

“Oh, nothing specific, no details but whenever your name came up in the conversation, Gabriel would suddenly become interested. He’d talk about you. Like he’d mention the Stormont, on the Friday night, before dinner, and then he said something about your presentation. Good things, only. And then he said something about how you’d handled the ad campaign. Ethan said he talked about you more often than not.”

Tanya frowned.

Nadine looked at her. “And you know, men are really slow to pick up on these vibes, so when Ethan tells me one night that he thinks Gabriel has a thing for you—I mean, come on, this is Ethan we’re talking about, he never picks up on this stuff—so when Ethan tells me, I take notice. And the next time we go out with Gabriel, I’m all ears. It took me less than a minute to figure out that the man is falling for you.”

Tanya blushed. Just because Nadine had a theory, it didn’t mean a thing. She crossed her arms. “There’s nothing to tell.”

Nadine mirrored her moves. “Nothing to tell, huh?”

“Whatever small thing we shared, and it only happened at the Stormont—”

“So you did share a thing? Was it the night we ran into you at the Roman Gardens?”

Tanya shook her head.

Nadine looked crestfallen. Her eyes narrowed, “The next night?”

Tanya threw up her hands in defeat. “Just that one time.” No need to tell her friend how many times they’d made love that night.

Nadine’s face brightened. “I knew it! I knew there was something. I could feel it.” She was almost ready to burst with excitement. “This is the best news ever. I knew this was going to be a great trip. And now that you two are—”

Tanya didn’t understand. “But there really is nothing going on. Not anymore. I’ll tell you what would be the best news ever—if Spiral dropped their lawsuit.”

“Spiral has dropped its lawsuit,” said Nadine, lifting her head up, and sitting up straight. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know that either?”

“I didn’t.” Tanya frowned so hard she could feel the tension building between her eyebrows.

Nadine sighed. “There is no contract between Spiral and Flight. There was a contract between the previous company, before they were acquired by Flight. Since that company no longer exists, the contract is null and void. I never did think they had much of a leg to stand on. Michael was always dubious about the whole thing from the start. Hasn’t Gabriel told you?” Nadine paused for a moment to take a breath.

This was news to Tanya, and no, she didn’t know, and no, most definitely, Gabriel hadn’t told her a thing. They hadn’t spoken at all since she’d paid him a visit at his office.

“When did you hear?” asked Tanya with interest.

“Yesterday.” Nadine looked at her, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”

“Gabriel hasn’t said a thing to me,” said Tanya wearily. “Last week he mentioned you’d be coming, but since then we’ve not had any contact. I was only good for a one-night stand, and nothing more it seems.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” said Nadine. “He’s been talking about arranging for us all to get together when Ethan arrives.”

Tanya gave a cruel laugh. “This is the first I’ve heard of it.” The two women looked at one another across the desk.

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