Page 43 of It's Always Been You
I’m a bright side kind of girl, and maybe the bright side to this home disaster of epic proportions is that it will give me that time.
“Rory baby, there is no possible way I’m dropping you off at a hotel tonight. So, either you can march your gorgeous ass next door to stay with Emma and Jeremy, or you’re coming homewith me. Besides, you’re my fake fiancée. It’ll look even more authentic if we’re living together.”
I make a face at him. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. It’s just for a night or two until I find something to rent for a while.”
Gabe smiles and shrugs. “We’ll see. I think I’m going to like living with you. We never did get the chance to do that the first time around. It’ll be fun.”
I just look at him, entirely unsure how to respond to that. Emma chuckles and gives me that weird look of hers, like she knows something I don’t know. “Looks like you’ll be well taken care of, Mol.”
“There is no one who will take better care of her than I will,” Gabe says with an earnestness to his voice that makes everything inside me turn to liquid. I want to keep my shield up. Really, I do. But I’m only human, and every time Gabe opens his mouth, it drops just that much more.
“I just bet you will,” Emma murmurs. “Mol, text me if you need me, okay? I’m taking my guy home.”
“I will. Thanks for coming over, guys.”
“Always, Molly.” Jeremy kisses my cheek and follows Emma down the stairs, calling, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” over his shoulder.
I huff out a laugh and turn to look at Gabe, who is studying me with a mix of amusement and heat. “I really like your friends.”
“They’re the best people in the world,” I say honestly.
“I’m glad you have them,” he says, a note of wistfulness in his voice. Not for the first time, I see a loneliness in Gabe, and I wonder if he has people or if it’s really just been him and his sisters all this time. My instincts say it has been, since as soon as his youngest sister went to college, he picked up his entire life and moved it here.
For me. Gabe moved here for me. I don’t know what it is about tonight, but I have the sudden urge for everything. To let my heart lead me straight back to him. To put my arms around him and protect him from ever feeling hurt again the way I couldn’t the first time around. To give Gabe a place to call home and let my friends be his friends and live happily ever after. To see what Molly and Gabe, the sequel, looks like.
I can’t do all of that. Not just yet. I’m not ready. But what I can do is put in the time. Meet him halfway and do the work to see if what we have now is just left over from what we had then, or if we can build something entirely new. I’d like to hope we could.
“I’m glad I have them too. So, since Emma bailed, probably to go have freaky sex next door, want to help me navigate tree branches to get my stuff together? I’m looking forward to seeing what a tech billionaire’s house looks like.”
I give him a wink to let him know I’m kidding, but it’s not necessary. The smile that spreads across his face hits me right in the chest.
“Anything, Rory. Lead the way.”
Emma
See, the thing is, Molly is always the one pressing us for details about our sexy lives, but when it’s her having a sexy moment, she’s mysteriously silent.
Julie
OMGWTF.
Hallie
You better start talking.
Me
Keep your pants on! It literally just happened.
Julie
If it just happened, how does Emma already know?
Emma
Neighbor privileges.
Hallie
