Page 45 of Mr. Infuriating

“No plans. I mean, I need to grade some papers, but that can wait until this afternoon.”

I wasn’t picking Jake up until lunchtime tomorrow, so my day was flexible. I knew our time together had to come to an end, but I liked the idea of it lasting just a little bit longer.

Gabe tapped my butt.

“Good. Go get dressed. I’m starving.”

Pancakes never sounded better.

****

Gabe

What the fuck was I doing?

I’d never gone to breakfast with one of my hookups. Then again, I’d never woken up with one either.

Still, I didn’t regret it. In fact, it’d been nice to wake up and find her lying next to me.

A first time for everything, I guess.

Gretchen ushered me toward the garage when I tried to pause and take in her kitchen in the light of day.

“Your new cabinets are going to look great in here,” I said with a cocky grin because… they really were fucking awesome.

“Hmph,” she said with pursed lips. “I guess we’ll let the courts decide about that.”

“Sweetheart,” I said in a gentle tone as we walked out the door. “You don’t want to go to court. You’re not going to win.”

She hit a button on the wall next to the doorjamb, and the garage door made a whirring noise as it came up. “I can’t afford them, Gabe.”

Pausing before I opened the truck door for her, I made a show of looking around the two empty garage stalls.

“Let me at least deliver them so I don’t have to tack on storage fees to your total. You’ve got plenty of space in here.”

Her eyes were narrow slits of blue when she stared up at me. “Won’t you expect payment on delivery?”

I pulled on the handle and put my hand on the small of her back as she stepped on the running boards.

“I’m not worried about that right now. But I really need them out of my shop by Tuesday. I have a lumber shipment coming in and your cabinets are taking up too much space.”

She settled into her seat and let out a defeated sigh.

“I guess you could store them here until we get things figured out.”

And by “get things figured out,” I hoped she’d realize that meant having them installed.

****

Gretchen

It really was a shame that I wouldn’t be seeing Gabe again. He seemed like the kind of guy I was looking for. Handsome, funny, down-to-earth, and trustworthy. The kind of man who would be a good role model for Jake.

Of course, my trustworthy meter might be broken because I had once put all my trust into Troy, who turned out to be acheating asshole who ditched his family for a barely legal woman who fawned all over him.

I had once fawned all over him, back when we were in college, and I was the geeky, shy girl who had caught the eye of the handsome frat guy. He’d made me feel special. All the girls had wanted to be with him, and he’d chosen me. But I grew up, started a career, became a mom, had a household to worry about…. I had other things besides my husband’s ego to attend to. I guess that was why things deteriorated in my marriage. Maybe I should have tried harder to put him first, but then again, he should have made his family a priority.

I see now that it was for the best. When I found myself legally alone, I realized that my life hadn’t changed that much, other than I had to more closely watch how much I spent at the grocery store and give up a few luxuries. I had essentially been a single parent all along. That had been a sad realization, but it’d made me stronger.

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