by Amity Hope
The address he’d scrawled down hadn’t been familiar but she found it easily enough. And to make things even easier, Gabe was leaning against the outer wall of the building, arms crossed with an indecipherable look on his face as he waited for her.
“I wasn’t sure you would show up,” Gabe told her as she made her way down the sidewalk.
“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked with raised eyebrows. Then realizing that she was immediately on the defensive for no apparent reason she switched topics.
“So, sushi, huh?” she asked.
Gabe looked up at the sign and shrugged. “Is that okay? We could go somewhere else if you want.” He kept his voice even but he eyed her warily.
Ava didn’t know if it was in regard to her attitude, which she instantly regretted, or if there was something else on his mind. She forced a smile. “Sushi’s fine. Do you,” she began, drawing out the question, “like sushi?”
He shrugged. “Not sure. But I want sushi.”
“Okay then,” she said as she reached for the door.
He followed her inside where they were immediately met by a gorgeous Japanese woman. She smiled at Gabe. In very carefully enunciated English she said to him, “Where have you been?”
Gabe’s eyes darted to Ava before going back to the woman whose tasteful gold name tag read ‘Tomiko’. “I’ve been all over lately.”
She smiled at his response and led them to a table near the window. When she was gone, Ava noticed Gabe giving her a quizzical look. “What?” she demanded.
“You look really tired,” Gabe noted and Ava flinched. “I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just an observation. You still look great, you just look…tired.”
“I am,” she admitted. “I didn’t sleep well last night. And I had to work early.”
He nodded, knowing without her having to point it out, that it was his fault she was exhausted.
“I’m glad you asked me to meet you, but why are we here?” Ava wondered. He seemed nervous, fidgety. Very much unlike his usual self and it was making her feel nervous and fidgety as well.
“I wanted to take you some place nice, to thank you for everything you’ve done for me,” he said.
Is that was this was? An expensive meal to pay her off? To say thank you before he went on his way, went on with his life. Without her?
“Your message said we needed to talk.” She forced the words out. Since when did guys want to talk? Just the thought of it made her uneasy.
Gabe shifted uncomfortably. “I was hoping we could do that later. I don’t really want to talk here.”
“Why not?” she asked, trying to ignore the prickle of panic.
“Because,” Gabe said carefully, “I don’t think you’re going to like what I have to say.”
“That bad?” Ava asked, trying to keep her voice even.
“Are you ready to order?” Tomiko asked, looking to Gabe as she materialized in front of them.
“Uh,” he said as he looked to Ava, she motioned for him to go ahead. “Great, because I’m starving,” he glanced at his menu one final time, getting ready to point at the item he wanted.
“The usual for you?” Tomiko pressed.
“I’ll have the Tako sushi,” Gabe said.
Tomiko smiled. “Ah, the usual. And for you?” she asked turning to Ava.
Ava was about ready to say she’d only like a glass of iced tea. She didn’t have much of an appetite at the moment.
“Maybe the vegetarian sushi?” Gabe suggested. “If you’re leery about the rest of it?”
“What’s in it?” she asked.
“Vegetables,” Gabe replied.
Ava fought off the urge to roll her eyes. “What kind of vegetables? Oh, never mind. I’ll take it,” she said to Tomiko who was waiting patiently.
When she’d gone again, Ava turned to Gabe and sighed. “Apparently you do like sushi. Sounds like you must’ve come in here quite a bit. Do you…?”
He quickly shook his head and his voice came out sharper than he meant for it to. “No. I don’t remember.”
Ava held her hands up in a defensive gesture. “Sorry, I was just wondering. I mean, since you ordered ‘the usual’ and all,” she said, accentuating her comment with finger quotes.
Gabe put his elbows on the table so he could rest his face in his hands for a minute. He finally looked up and shook his head. “Maybe this was a bad idea.”
“Eating dinner with me was a bad idea?” she asked, her voice sounding a little higher than usual. Or maybe eating dinner with me because I can’t seem to drop the attitude, she thought to herself.
“No, Ava,” Gabe started but she cut him off.
“I need to use the restroom,” she said as she leapt to her feet. She rushed to the bathroom, fighting tears the whole way. Was she being unreasonable? She wasn’t sure. All she knew was that Gabe was acting tense and strange, which made her feel tense and left her wanting to lash out. He’d said he wanted to take her to dinner to ‘thank her’ and while really, he possibly meant nothing by it, she wanted him to take her to dinner because he wanted to spend time with her. Not because he felt obligated to her.
And the sushi? He said he didn’t remember. But…really? She sniffled as she burst through the bathroom door. Was it possible he remembered without realizing he remembered? What were the chances he’d just order ‘the usual’?
This is so ridiculous! I am not going to cry over freaking sushi!!! she said to herself as she leaned forward, her hands on the bathroom vanity. She just…wasn’t. She chastised herself, trying to fan away the tears she felt welling up in her eyes. Of all of the events of the past few weeks, why was it that Gabe’s possible remembrance of sushi felt like the final mental brick on the wall that had been erected between them?
She braced herself against the sink, ignoring the warning voice of Julia in her head babbling on about germs. She closed her eyes and, to her disgust, took a deep, not so cleansing breath. A restroom, even a spotless one, was not an appropriate place for an almost-break down. She needed to pull herself together. She needed to stop overreacting and just talk to him.
He’d had an odd look on his face when she’d asked if he remembered. He’d said no but that look, it was slightly wide-eyed and he’d answered quickly. Too quickly. Which made it sound too defensive. He wasn’t lying, was he?
The thought was like a mental slap to the face.
He wouldn’t be lying to her. Would he be?
She took a few more deep breaths, told herself to stop jumping to conclusions, scrubbed her hands clean and marched herself back out to the dining area. For just a moment, she wished she’d stayed in the bathroom a little while longer.
A petite blond was standing next to their booth. Her hip was cocked to the side as she leaned against the tabletop. Ava knew a sexy, flirty pose when she saw one and this girl was going all out.
“Oh, that girl, always bothering him,” Tomiko said as she whisked past Ava, heading to another table.
Her mouth fell open in surprise. This girl was someone he knew? That would make sense because her actions made it look like she thought she knew Gabe quite well. Ava marched forward, tightening her resolve around her like a shield. The blond was suggesting they get together. Soon.
Hating how it made her feel like a possessive girlfriend, Ava sauntered up to Gabe’s side. She told herself it was in part because she couldn’t have slid into her side of the booth anyway because this girl was blocking it. Instead, she went up to Gabe and placed a hand on his shoulder, she gave him a questioning look which he returned with a questioning look of his own.
“Ah,” the girl said with a twitch of her eyebrows, “you must be the girlfriend.”
Gabe’s hand rose to Ava’s and for one terrifying moment, she was sure he was going to wipe it off his shoulder. Instead, he gave her hand a—reassuring?—squeeze. She thought it felt reassuring. Perhaps it was a warning. Regardless, she answered the girl’s question.
“Yes, I’m Ava,” she said.
“And you are…?” Gabe asked.
She gave him a contemptuous glare. “Kara. And I see you are still the same.”
Kara threw her hands in the air as she spun on her heel so she could sashay away.
“Old girlfriend?” Ava asked as she took her seat once more.
“I…” Gabe said as he helplessly put his hands in the air. “You know I don’t know the answer to that.”
Ava had no idea what she knew anymore. She shrugged in response.
“Did you see her?” Gabe asked quietly. “Does she look like the kind of person I would want to be with?”
Ava momentarily wondered if that were a trick question. Kara was beautiful and apparently confident and flirty and seemingly very into Gabe. She grimaced at the thought of the two of them together because yes, she could see it happening. Girls like Kara were probably a hundred times more fun and exciting than she would ever be. She decided to ignore the question.
“She started talking about the radio station, so apparently that’s how I know her. Knew her,” he corrected as Ava slit her eyes at him. Gabe sighed and tried to ignore the suspicious way she was looking at him. “She asked why I haven’t been in lately. She said Rafe’s appearances have been sporadic as well and she was wondering if I was coming back.” He shrugged. “That’s pretty much all you missed of the conversation. I kept it vague and told her I’ve been busy.”
“I wonder how close she and Rafe are,” Ava said. She decided it was safer for her emotions if she steered the conversation away from Kara and Gabe.
“Hard to tell,” Gabe muttered. “Hopefully not close enough that she’ll mention this. I’m glad I’ve been able to avoid him so far.”
Tomiko appeared with their food before Ava could comment. Not that she had an answer to his question anyway. Just the thought of Rafe was enough to turn her blood frigid.
Gabe dove into his food.
Ava picked at hers.
“Here, try this,” Gabe offered as he dipped his sushi into a sauce Ava thought looked questionable. She hesitantly took a bite only because he was holding it out to her.
“It’s not bad. What was it called, again?” Ava wondered once she was done chewing.
“Tako,” Gabe supplied.
“Is that a type of fish?”
Gabe shrugged. “I’m not sure an octopus is actually a fish.”
“It’s…octopus?” Considering the anomalous events that had occurred since Gabe’s return, she knew that eating octopus should not even blip on the radar of strange things. Yet it did. She reached for her iced tea and took an enormous gulp, forcing what suddenly felt like the rubbery remnants of a non-fish down her throat.
“Yes,” Gabe said, giving her an odd look. “It’s octopus.”
“Of course it is,” Ava heard herself mumble. “And of course you would remember that.”
He chose to ignore her hostility. He was regretting suggesting dinner first but since they were there, he was determined to get through it so he could take her somewhere quiet to talk.
“Did you like it?” he demanded.
“It was fine,” she said, noncommittally. “How about you? You didn’t know if you would.”
“I love it,” Gabe admitted after swallowing another enormous bite.
“Right,” Ava muttered. And that was when she inexplicably lost it. She lost the fragile hold she’d had on her exhausted emotions the last few days. Without a word to Gabe she was on her feet and racing toward the door.
She was rushing down the sidewalk, unsuccessfully fighting back her tears when he caught up with her, grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around. “What the hell is going on?” he demanded.
She motioned back toward the restaurant. “You left without your sushi. You should go back and finish it. You love sushi,” she said in a way that immediately had her feeling humiliated at her own misplaced petulance.
“I don’t care about the sushi!” Gabe said, dumbfounded as she pulled away and he marched along beside her.
“Of course you do,” Ava said, seemingly unable to control her own misbehaving mouth. “You love the sushi.” She groaned inwardly, appalled that she’d said it not once, which was bad enough, but twice. How childish and yet…she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
“Ava,” Gabe said as he grabbed her by the arm, holding her in place this time. She swiped her hand across her face to wipe some of the moisture away. “Why are you so mad about sushi?” he asked, looking alarmed and somewhat stunned. And then, as if a fog lifted, he seemed to see the situation with excruciating clarity. “You’re not pissed that I like sushi. You’re upset because you think that I remember sushi. Which, by the way, I don’t remember it. Not really, anyway.”
Ava tugged her arm from his grip as she refused to look at him. Still, she noted that he ran a frustrated hand across his face as she fought of sniffles, prickly eyes and a twitchy nose. Because yes, she did wonder if he remembered but worse, was his proclamation of love for sushi that had inexplicably been too much.
“We need to talk,” Gabe said. His voice was tense.
“I can’t do this here,” Ava finally ground out. “Just go back in and eat. You were hungry.”
“I don’t care about eating!” Gabe told her. “I—”
“Excuse me?” a perplexed Tomiko called down the sidewalk. She held a piece of paper in her hand and waved it at them. “Your bill?”
“Damn it,” Gabe grumbled. He looked at Ava and then back to Tomiko. When his gaze swung back around, Ava was storming down the sidewalk, away from him.
***
“When did I turn into a yelling, screaming, tantrum-throwing crazy girl?!” Ava wondered as she threw herself back on Molly’s bed.
“You haven’t turned into a crazy girl until you’ve slashed his tires or publicly dumped a drink in his lap. That didn’t happen. You’re good,” Molly said decisively. “But Ava, he wouldn’t have taken you out to eat if he was leaving you.”
“Really?” Ava asked with a sharp edge in her tone. “Not if he thought that meal was like a pity meal to thank me for, I don’t know, feeding him and doing his laundry the last few weeks? Because he said he wanted to buy me a nice dinner to thank me.”
“Oh,” Molly said, looking contemplative.
“I yelled at him. Because he liked his sushi. What kind of person does that? I’ve turned into a raving lunatic,” Ava moaned as she threw her arm over her face.
“Oh, sweetie, your emotions have been on a wild rollercoaster ride for months. You were all giddy when you met Gabe. Head over heels when you started dating him. Devastated when he left. Elated when he came back. Confused when everything turned into such a cluster. It’s no wonder you’re just a wild, crazy, walking, talking disaster right now. I’m guessing your thoughts and your emotions are nothing but one big, tangled up mess.”
Ava silently added: Blown away when she found out he was Nephilim. Terrified to find out his father was a demon. Petrified when she realized that aforementioned demon wanted her dead. Shocked beyond words to realize Grier was an angel. Traumatized as she watched him take his own life. Devastated when he’d tumbled into The Abyss right before her eyes. It was more like her emotions had been dumped into a blender and pureed. Not tossed on a rollercoaster and jostled.
So,” Molly—oblivious to her friend’s mental ramblings—firmly told her, “you need to go find Gabe. You need to talk to him and work this out. Don’t turn it into a long-drawn out drama-fest that could easily be avoided. I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding. Go fix it.”
Ava sniffled as she uncovered her tear-swollen eyes. “And if it wasn’t a misunderstanding?”
Molly sighed and nudged her best friend’s thigh. “Then you call me immediately. I’ll pick up Julia and we’ll be there in no time at all. We’ll stuff you full of ice-cream, hand you tissues and we’ll assure you that he just made the biggest mistake of his life. We’ll tell you that he’ll regret it every day for the rest of his lonely, pathetic, mis
erable existence. And you, you will find your prince charming sooner rather than later and live happily ever after. With or without Gabe Castille.”
She gave Ava an appraising look. “After everything he’s put you through, whether he meant to or not, are you sure he’s worth it?”
“Yes,” Ava said, not needing to hesitate.
Molly grinned. “I thought so. Now go find him.”
Chapter 14
In theory, sitting down and talking with Gabe and getting everything out in the open was an excellent idea. In reality, it wasn’t so simple. Ava had gone home to find the cabin empty. She’d checked her phone, disappointed to see there were no messages from him. There was one from her mom, which she knew she should return sooner rather than later but she just couldn’t imagine talking to her mom at the moment. She would know something wasn’t right and until she knew where things stood with Gabe, she didn’t want to bring him into the conversation.
Things were messy enough on a good day. On a day like today, they were a virtual disaster she knew she could never explain.
Feeling slightly panicked at first, she’d rushed into the bedroom to check the drawer she’d cleared out for him. Everything they’d purchased appeared to be in there. Next, she checked the bathroom, relived to see his belongings were still there as well.
After that, she called him. Though it rang, he didn’t answer. When his voicemail kicked in, Ava left the calmest message she could muster. “It’s me. I am so sorry for the way I acted tonight. You’re right. We need to talk. If you get this, call me. Or just come back. I promise I’ll act like a reasonable, sensible, rational adult.” She paused, debating, and then before she could be cut off she threw out, “I love you.”
She realized that maybe Gabe not being there was a good thing. It gave her time to think of what she wanted to say. She needed to stop assuming the worst, yet she still wanted to be prepared for it. Gabe was different. In a lot of ways, he was still the same. The way he moved, the way he spoke. The way he’d felt when they’d kissed. Like he really hadn’t wanted to let go. But he was obviously different too and that, of course, was the core of her concern.
