Page 117 of Bad at Love

He laughs—actually laughs. “Things haven’t changed that much. Go sit down.”

With a smile, I go back to my seat and watch him. When he’s just about done, I get up to make a cup of coffee and a cup of teafor him. We finish at about the same time, and then we’re sitting down for breakfast.

“This is delicious,” I tell him.

“Of course it is,” he says, reaching for his tea.

We finish eating in silence, and when we’re done, he cleans up. When the sink is free of dirty dishes, he turns to face me, resting against the counter.

He’s so beautiful, standing there in a pair of plaid pajama pants and a t-shirt. Something I’ve never seen him wear before. He always wears matching pajama sets.

“We should talk,” I say softly.

I don’t miss the way his face falls. He nods and moves toward the living room. I follow after him and we sit on the couch, which isn’t something we did often, so it’s sort of weird now. And it doesn’t help that it stays silent for far too long. There is so much I need to say, but I have no idea where to begin. I need to say something before I screw this all up too.

“I’m sorry if that was too much,” Gabriel eventually whispers.

“What? No, Gabriel. It wasn’t.” I shake my head, shifting to face him more and take his hand.

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. It wasn’t too much at all. It was perfect.”

He nods, eyes going toward the floor. “I looked for you.”

I barely hear those words, but I do hear them. Though they should make me happy, they only make me feel like shit for making him have to do that.

“I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have had to do that.”

“I went to Kauai.”

He did what?

“What? When?”

He looks at me from the corner of his eye. “I got back last night.”

“No way.” He nods. What the hell? “I got back from Kauai last night.”

He frowns, turning to face me fully. “You were there?”

“Yeah, I was with Dominic and Mikah. I needed… I just needed some space, I guess.”

“Where were you? I was there, looking for you. I went to the hotel we stayed at and…”

This is unbelievable. He was there, and he was looking for me?

“I didn’t stay at that hotel. I stayed at the one Dominic and Mikah stayed at. They got kicked out of that one.” His eyebrows shoot up, and I can’t help but laugh. “Yeah… They’re animals.”

He gives a little laugh before pulling his attention from me again.

“I’m sorry,” I finally say, my voice breaking. “I’m sorry for hurting you, for leaving you, for everything.”

He licks his lips, taking a deep breath. “Thank you for that, but maybe I should speak first.”

“Okay, sure.”

He clasps his hands together and rests them in his lap. It takes a few seconds, but finally he starts to speak.

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