Page 49 of Snowbound

It would be easy to grab his hand and sneak away with him only to return a little more bedraggled, leaving no doubt as to what we were doing.

Maybe I should tell him how I feel. Maybe I should finally make my confession to him.

“They’re a gorgeous couple, aren’t they?” I say, trying to strike up a conversation.

Gabe only grunts.

“You’re lucky to have such good friends.”

He grunts again, barely looking at me.

“Okay, what’s the matter?” I ask. “Is something wrong?”

“Why? Should there be?” he says, his face hard.

“No, there shouldn’t. You just, I don’t know. Seem off somehow.”

How would you know anything about me?” he snaps. “You’re not my anything. I don’t want you to be. Stop asking.”

The harshness of his voice brings a tear to my eye. I swallow it back, staring down at our feet to try and hide my disappointment.

“I’ve had a good time with you,” I say quietly.

Even though his rejection is stinging like rubbing salt into a wound, I still want him to have a good memory of me.

He says nothing.

“I have to leave,” I say. “Today.”

“Oh, do you?” he says, though without the surprise I might have expected. “When?”

“As soon as we leave here. Will you drive me to the shop for my car?”

“Of course,” he says, and I wonder if he did overhear my conversation after all.

But even if he did, why would he have kept that to himself? He’s a straight-talking guy.

More likely, he’s not surprised because there is nothing between us and this spark that I keep feeling even now, thumping in my chest, isn’t real. If I tell myself that enough times, I might start believing it.

We dance until the song is finished.

Gabe releases me and takes a step back, leaving a cold void where his hands once were.

Desperately I want him to put them back, but instead, I stay frozen to the spot, staring at him, watching the way the lights dance over his face, casting shadows, making him look perfect.

This is how I want to remember him, beautiful and true.

He walks away. I take a shaky breath, knowing that he wasn’t just walking away physically.

This is him saying goodbye.

CHAPTER27

GABE

Ifeel guilty slipping out of the reception before it’s over, but John and Ruth already told me that they weren’t expecting me to stay to the bitter end, that just having me there was good. I had to promise to meet with them more often once they got back from their honeymoon. I offered to drive them to the airport for a start, and that seemed to go down well.

So, I think they can excuse me for taking Carly back to the shop. I think they’ll understand better than anyone why I had to go.

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