Page 19 of It's Always Been You
As if I spoke the words into the universe, Julie swings into my office, a takeout tray of coffees in one hand.
“Good morning, friends. I brought coffee.”
“Jules, you are my favorite human today.” I breathe deeply as I take the cup she hands me.
Julie snickers. “That’s a little dramatic for just coffee, isn’t it?” She hands cups to Jordan and Allie and takes one for herself, sitting on the edge of my desk.
“You wouldn’t think so if you had the morning I had,” I grumble, taking a sip and hissing when the hot coffee burns my tongue. It’s a small price to pay because—caffeine.
Allie, who has a well-honed and very accurate gossip radar, perks up. “What happened this morning? And don’t tell me it was nothing because that was not a nothing voice.”
Jordan grins. “You should just tell her, Mol. My girl is nothing if not persistent. She’ll get it out of you eventually.”
He hooks a leg under Allie’s chair, pulling it close enough to tuck her under his arm. He must decide it’s not close enough because he stands, picks her up, and settles back down with her on his lap. She kisses the top of his head and wraps an arm around his neck. He looks up at her with a face so full of devotion and love my throat gets tight. Over the last year and a half, I’ve found myself surrounded by couples who are wildly in love, but they don’t have anything on Jordan and Allie. There are no two people in the world who love each other more than they do.
Gabe’s face invades my brain again.He loved me like that, I can’t help but think. I loved him like that too.
“I wouldn’t mind knowing myself,” Julie says, shifting on the desk to look at me. “You usually come into work with rainbows practically shooting out of your ass. Grumbling is a real change of pace for you.”
I give Jules a dirty look. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? Isn’t that why I’m handling Allie and Jordan’s planning instead of you? Not that I don’t want to do your planning,” I say to them.
Allie waves that away. “We appreciate you taking the time. I would appreciate even more if you would give us the tea.”
“I have a meeting,” Jules says, reaching into my open desk drawer for a bag of Reese’s Pieces I keep there and tearing it open. “But I came in to tell you that Gabe already called to get on your schedule. You have an eleven-thirty slot tomorrow, so I gave it to him. Is that okay? If it’s not, I can call him to cancel.”
“He didn’t waste any time,” I mutter. I take a deep breath and remind myself how good it felt to be open about this part of my life to my friends last night.
“I ran into him this morning. He walked into Coffee Tree right behind me.”
“Holy shit! What happened?” Jules asks.
“Wait a second, back the truck up.” Allie sits forward on Jordan’s lap and literally waives her hand between Jules and me. “Who is Gabe, why does he need a meeting, and why is he running into you in your favorite coffee shop?”
“Gabe is Gabriel Sullivan.”
Jordan looks at me, eyebrows shooting up. “Gabriel Sullivan, the famous tech guy who invented the phone that literally everyone in the world owns? Well, except for you, Mol. What the fuck is that even about anyway?”
I glance over at Allie, who makes a face at Jordan while Julie snorts out a laugh. “The very same one.”
“Holy shit, I love this day already.” Allie is practically rubbing her hands together with glee. “How do you know him, and what’s he doing here in our fair city?”
“Tell her and make it snappy, Mol. I have a meeting in ten minutes.”
I give her an unimpressed look. “Feel free to see yourself out. No one is handcuffing you to this desk.”
“Not to this desk, no.” Julie gives me a wry look and Jordan snickers.
“I always knew Asher was a kinky fucker.”
Julie grins at him. “How do you know Asher’s the kinky one?”
Jordan wraps his arms around Allie, pulling her back against him. “Touche, Jules. Tou-fucking-che.”
“Okay, well, back to Molly,” Allie demands.
I grab a bag of Reese’s Pieces for myself and toss a handful in my mouth. “Long story short, Gabe was my college boyfriend back when he was just a really smart guy who loved robots and superheroes and built three-thousand-piece Lego sets. We were in love. Like real, huge, be with you forever, you’re the only one for me kind of love. Towards the end of our senior year, his parents died in a helicopter crash, and he had to go home to take care of his sisters, who were eight and twelve at the time. I didn’t know what to do for him, and he didn’t know how to let me help. It tore us apart. I hadn’t seen him in ten years until he showed up at the office yesterday during the party.”
I suck in a breath and take another sip of coffee. I may have cried out the initial sadness and grief in the shower last night and been buoyed by his good-natured cheer this morning, but talking about it makes my heart gallop and my stomach clench.
