Page 67 of Monsters, Vows, and Growls
I sipped my drink and shook my head. “All this time, I thought you stopped talking to me because I was broken.”
“You were never broken,” Gabe said. “You were just quiet. And I didn’t know how to be loud for both of us.”
We sat there a minute longer, the air between us slowly starting to thaw.
Then he asked, casually, “So whyareyou out here? You and Ella get in a fight?”
I let out a breath. “Yeah.”
He nodded. “What about?”
“Her mom and our dad… closet.” I stopped myself.
"Wait." He made the sign for time out. "Her mom and our dad? Closet?"
I chuckled because, honestly, the entire situation was just ridiculous. "Yeah, Lisa and Henry were fucking in the coat closet, and we caught them."
"Well," he rubbed his chin, refilled his glass, and smirked. "Good for Dad."
I laughed, "At least someone got laid on my wedding night."
"What happened? Between you and Ella?"
"I didn't handle the situation well," I admitted, still feeling some anger, but more pain. Pain over her saying our marriage might have been a mistake.
“You mean you were you.”
I shot him a look.
He held up a hand. “I’m not judging. You’re the still-lake-to-my-hurricane type. But Ella? She’s lightning in a glass bottle. You don’t put a lid on that. You let it strike.”
“She told me I didn’t feel anything.”
“Then she’s an idiot,” Gabe said. “But you’re a bigger one for letting her believe it.”
That hit harder than I expected.
“You think she’ll forgive me?” I asked quietly.
“I think,” Gabe said, finishing his whiskey and setting the glass down, “you need to stop sitting out here stewing andgo home and grovel.Start there.”
I hesitated.
He added, “You waited ten years for her. Don’t blow it now because you can’t stand beinguncomfortable.”
He was right. I pushed her away once. Now she was doing the same thing. Maybe not on purpose, but I knew her and her insecurities, and I knew she didn't handle unpredictability very well. If there was one thing I was sure of, it was that I wouldn't allow her to push me away like I had her and wait ten more years. We would clear this up tonight. Neither of us said anything unforgivable; we could still work things out. I would grovel, just like Gabe told me. I would do anything for this woman. Thorne rumbled with satisfaction. Finally. Took you long enough.
“What, no advice on how to grovel?”
Just show up. Smell like regret. Bring snacks,he snarked.
I made my way up toward the cabin where Ella and I were supposed to—where wewould—spend our wedding night. Nobody could have been more surprised than I was when Ella came walking down the path toward me. Even in the dim moonlight, I could see that she had been crying, and my heart cracked. I had done this. To her. Again.
You're an idiot, Thorne advised.Step aside and let me handle this.
"Ella," I called, ignoring Thorne.
When I called her, she looked up, her face filled with hope, and then we were flying toward each other. I hadn't run this fast since I got hurt. She crashed into my arms like a tornado, and I wrapped them around her, determined never to let her go again.
