Page 74 of A Table for Two
“I will.” She hurried out of the restaurant and started up the street at a brisk pace, putting all her musings aside. Her mind needed to be focused on her patients.
The afternoon proved to be as much of a whirlwind as the morning, and Serenity was more than ready to kick her feet up when she got home. Thankfully, she’d made some chicken salad last night and didn’t have to worry about cooking dinner. As she pulled into her driveway, Gabriel was coming out of his house. By his attire, she figured he might be going for his daily run. He waited until she got out of the car and sauntered over.
“Hey, sweetheart. You look exhausted. Long day?”
She smiled tiredly. “Beyond.”
Gabriel rubbed her arm. “Do you want me to bring you something for dinner? I was going over to the lake for a run, but I can throw something together real quick before I go.”
Her heart melted. “Thank you for offering, but I’ve already got it covered.”
“You sure?” When she nodded, he said, “Okay, but if you need anything, just call.”
“I will.” She leaned up and kissed him. Belatedly, she remembered she was standing in the middle of her driveway, giving a prime time viewing to Adele, who would no doubt be on speed dial with Gabriel’s grandmother and anyone else who’d stand still long enough to listen.
“I’ll check on you later.” Gabriel blessed her with one of his knee-weakening smiles and strolled off toward his car.
Serenity felt the scales in her heart tilt a little further in his favor. The past two months with Gabriel had been amazing, and if she were being honest with herself, she didn’t want it to end. And that was the crux of her problem because she knew it would end. And soon. Every time she considered asking for space, he did some thoughtful thing, like just now, that made her say, “One more day won’t hurt.” Except, in the end, it would hurt.
***
Thursday morning, the slip-slap of Gabriel’s running shoes hit the pavement as he kept up a steady rhythm. As he jogged, he mentally went over his schedule for the rest of the day. He’d gotten up at seven and worked for three hours to finish his part of the note-taking app and decided to go for his run now to clear his head for the meeting with Darius and Brent at noon. They had originally planned to meet on Tuesday but had to postpone it until today due to Brent needing to take care of some personal business. After his meeting, he’d work for another four or five hours, then go grocery shopping.
His thoughts shifted to Serenity, and he wondered how her day was going and whether it would be as tiring. He’d called to check on her last night, as promised, but they spoke only briefly because she was already in bed, despite it being before ten. Gabriel increased his speed until he reached a fast sprint and kept up the pace for the next few minutes. He slowed, reversed his course, and went back the way he came. When he got to his car, he took a moment to cool down and drink the bottle of water he’d brought before sliding behind the wheel and driving home.
Gabriel showered, ate a bowl of fruit, and downed a protein shake, then booted up his computer and clicked on the videoconference link. While waiting for his friends to log on, he made a few more notes on the new video game he and Darius would be starting on next.
“What’s up, G?” Brent said.
He moved back to the screen. “Hey. Everything okay with your dad?”
“Yeah. It turned out to be heartburn, not a heart attack, thank goodness. Mom was freaking out, and I had a hell of a time trying to keep her calm. She kept saying he couldn’t leave her here alone. Man, these have been the longest two days of my life.” He ran a hand over his head. “They’re both okay, so I’m relieved.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Tell them I said hello.” Brent’s parents had been married for over forty years and were still passionately in love. He could imagine how hard the loss of one would be for the other. Had his own parents lived, Gabriel knew they’d be the same. They’d never hid their love from him and Andrea, and it wasn’t uncommon to see their parents sharing a kiss, a tender touch, or a dance, even though no music would be playing. Gabriel had yet to experience that kind of deep love. An image of Serenity flashed in his mind, along with them dancing in her kitchen. He had done his best to remain detached, but somehow she’d worked her way into his psyche and was inching toward his heart. “Where’s Darius?” he asked, shifting back into work mode.
“He’s finishing a call.”
As soon as the words left Brent’s mouth, Darius appeared on the screen. “Sorry. Hey, Gabe. Did you guys start yet?”
Brent shook his head. “I was just giving Gabe an update on my parents. I’ll start with the business and then leave you two to talk.” He went over the company’s financials and projected income. Because of the last two projects, the firm was solid so far, which made them all breathe easier. “Darius mentioned that you two are pretty much finished with the note-taking app.”
“We’re going to do a practice run once you’re done,” Gabriel said. “You staying on to see it?”
“You’d better believe it. With all the elements you two included, we should have no problems launching it. Actually, I’m done, so go ahead.”
Darius chuckled. “Eager?”
“I’m eager for anything that’s going to make us some money.”
“True that,” Gabriel said. He clicked a few keys, activated the share screen option, and launched the program. His excitement grew with each passing moment. He typed a test sentence on the page. “The beauty of this app is that the notes can be accessed by multiple people if necessary.”
“This is fabulous,” Brent said. “Will they have to access it from their computer or laptop only?”
Darius shook his head. “It should work across all platforms. I’m going to log on from my phone.”
A minute later, Darius’s words flew across the screen. Gabriel hit the “share” button and sent it as an email. “Brent, I just sent the note to your email. Let me know if you get it.”
“It came before you finished your sentence. Is this the final version, or do you think you’ll need to tweak some things?”
