Chapter 29
“The bitch,” Gabriel hissed. “I should have seen this coming.”
Spiral were suing Flight Europe for breach of contract, for awarding the business that should have been theirs to the Zimmerman group.
Tanya didn’t know all of their history, business or romance wise, but it sounded as though Gabriel’s split with Vanessa hadn’t been amicable. He now thought that she was getting her revenge by hitting his company with a lawsuit.
“I can’t talk for too long,” said Gabriel, on the one and only time he’d called her while he’d been in the US. “How have you been?” he whispered, his tone hushed.
I’ve missed you,she wanted to say. “Good, busy.” She kept her answers short, just like his emails had been.
She’d been hurt, and was still hurting, by his attitude which at best showed restraint and reserve. The man she had spent that passionate night with was all but a fading memory.
She’d expected better from him.
His voice lowered to a whisper, “I’ve been thinking of you.”
“Yeah?” She felt a whimper of happiness.
“I know you’re anxious about the campaign, and I’m sorry this has happened. We only just found out and I’m about to go into a meeting with Russell. I think this might impact our campaign. Unfortunately, we can’t go live until this whole mess with Spiral is resolved.”
“Okay.” It was the campaign he’d been worried about.
“I’ll be back sometime next week.” He told her.
“Okay.”
“But I wanted to alert you as soon as I found out.”
“Sure.”
“Look, I have to go. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to call much. It’s always so late here by the time we finish and Russell seems intent on taking me out each evening. We’re seeing a group of people from the Zimmerman Group later tonight. I’ll be meeting Ethan and Nadine.”
“Tell them I said ‘hi’.”
“I will. I’ll see you soon?” he asked, but she chose not to answer and hung up.
Tanya pondered about the implications. This legal issue could take a long time to resolve. It wasn’t only bad news for Flight, but also for the Zimmerman Group, and for her.
Yet hearing Gabriel talk just about business had been disheartening. For days after her return she’d waited to hear from him. She hungered for his words. Words that would tell her he thought about her, that he missed being with her, that he wanted to see her again, that he also remembered that night.
That he also dreamed of another night like that.
But his emails had been brief and mostly work related too: Had she arrived back ok? Were things moving along with the ad campaign?
There had been no mention of the intimacy they had shared. And that had hurt her more.
And so she dove straight into work matters which kept her mind from mulling too much over Gabriel.
Things had cooled as suddenly as they had sprung up between them and she was left feeling out of sorts.
Unsure of her status.
She’d secretly hoped it might lead to something worth having. But as the reality of her days dawned upon her, she’d become disheartened, thinking that what they had shared didn’t mean anything to him.
And yet she could think about nothing else but her time with him.
Today when he’d called her, she’d forgiven him at ‘hello’. But he had only wanted to warn her about the legal action taken by Spiral. That had been the reason for his call.