Pick Me (Wait for Me Series Book 2)

by Walters, Dawne

  “Colette,” Gabe whispered.

  “GET OUT!” Colette screamed and frantically looked around the remote to call the nurse. “Get the fuck out!”

  “Colette relax,” Gabe said, reaching out to grab Colette’s hands.

  “I can’t!” she screamed. “You…you take June’s word over mine even after I’ve just lost your baby. You are so transparent. Do the math Gabe.” She gave him a moment and pulled her hands out of his.

  “Please…leave,” Colette begged. “Come back tomorrow or something, but for now…just leave.”

  As if on cue, the door to Colette’s room opened and in walked two nurses. The taller of the two came up to Colette’s bed and saw the distressed look on her face.

  “Miss Hughes? Everything all right here?” the tall nurse asked in a soft southern accent.

  “Mr. Moreno was just leaving,” Colette said in return. “Weren’t you Mr. Moreno?”

  Gabe’s fists clenched at his sides. He looked at Colette as if she was his worst enemy, then turned on his heel and took off out of the door as quickly as he could.

  “Are you okay sweetie?” the tall nurse asked.

  Tears started falling down her face like a waterfall as she shook her head no.

  The shorter nurse came over with a needle in one hand and pushed it into the port in Colette’s IV. “Let’s get you to relax a bit, hey?” She smiled brightly, pushing the stopper down to administer the medication. “There you go honey. Just relax.”

  Colette put her other hand on the nurse’s arm when she pulled the syringe from the port, “Please stay with me until I fall asleep.” Her eyes pleaded.

  “I’ll stay right here honey.” The nurse put the syringe in the container for hazardous waste on the wall, pushed her gloves off, tossed them in the trash and sat next to Colette until she fell asleep, which wasn’t very long.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Gabe drove back to his townhouse reflecting on what he’d just learned. Colette admitted to having sex with Carter, before she was with him. Although at this moment, it didn’t matter. He got out of his car, walked up the sidewalk and into his townhouse. He saw that Brock was playing Call of Duty, but he didn’t care. Walking into the kitchen, he pulled open the fridge grabbing the cranberry juice. Then, in the cabinet for the vodka. He walked across to where the glasses were and took a moment, deciding on which glass he wanted. A squat on-the-rocks glass just wouldn’t do. So, he pulled out a tall eight ounce glass and walked back over to mix his drink.

  Sitting down on the sofa, Gabe watched Brock play his game. His mind was filled to the brim of images of Colette in the throes of passion. Not with him, but with Carter. He took a long sip of his drink and still didn’t say anything to Brock, who continued to play.

  After about ten minutes, Brock got pissed and turned the X-box off, but left the TV on. He tossed the controller on the coffee table and took in his best friend. He didn’t say anything at first, just started as Gabe watched the images on the television.

  “A tall glass of vodka-cran with no ice cubes,” Brock noted. “Either you are nursing some fierce wounds or you are really upset. Which is it man? Talk to me.”

  “Both,” Gabe replied, taking a long drink.

  “Whoa,” Brock whistled. “What happened?”

  “She said she slept with Carter.”

  “So, it wasn’t your kid?” Brock asked shocked.

  “Oh, it was my kid.” He took another sip and looked up at Brock. “June cornered me on the flight line. She was talking shit to piss me off and put a seed of doubt in my mind about Colette and Carter. Colette said that she never told June that she’d slept with Carter. She never told anyone.”

  Brock went to interject, but Gabe put a hand up to stay his comment or question and continued.

  “She slept with him before we got together. She said it was just one night…not when, but it was before she and I started dating. She said that she’d never told anyone about it either, so…” he took another long sip of his drink before he continued. “…she got mad and told me to leave…for now.”

  “What the fuck is it with June?” Brock slammed his fist on the coffee table. “She’s been pissing me off lately. I’m getting pissed with her antics.”

  “Well…I can say that if it wasn’t for her…stirring the pot, I’d never have known about Colette sleeping with Carter.” Gabe was introspective. “So, I guess it could be a good or a bad thing. I didn’t stay around long enough to ask Colette if she ran to him after she ran out of here because of Rosa.”

  “Does it matter?” Brock asked, his elbows resting on his knees, looking up at Gabe.

  “I guess not, really.”

  “There you go,” Brock answered. “So, what is your plan?”

  “I don’t know.” Gabe finished off his drink and looked at the empty glass. “Another drink, some deep thinking and getting so obliterated that I can’t feel.”

  “Great plan,” Brock said sarcastically. “Not that it accomplishes anything. Here, give me your glass, I’ll fill you.” He got up and took the glass from Gabe’s hand.

  Gabe sat there as Brock re-filled his glass. He was going to be a father if things had been different. Realizing just how life altering that would have been, he rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and leaned back into the soft leather of the loveseat. When he opened his eyes, Brock was holding a full glass in front of him. He took it and drank.

  He needed to forget what happened. He was so sure when he sat in the ER that Colette was his future. Now, he wasn’t sure. Why did it even fucking matter that Colette had sex with Carter for one night before she started dating him? Because it did, it just did. He could see himself in the mall, shopping with Colette for their little guy. Or was it a girl? He’d love a sweet little girl that looked like Colette, but just as suddenly as the image of he and Colette hit him, the image changed to show Colette with Carter.

  Fucking hell!

  “Do you love her?” Brock asked, taking a long drink of his beer.

  Gabe opened his eyes and looked at his friend. “I did.”

  “Did? Or do?”

  “Did, do…does it fucking matter?”

  “Yeah, it does.” Brock leaned back against the sofa. “It matters when it involves your next move.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If you love her…present tense. You tell her, you move on. If you did…past tense, you leave her the fuck alone and you move on without her,” Brock said it like it was simple.

  Gabe didn’t say anything. He was lost in his own thoughts. Sitting there drinking his vodka-cran and not feeling, anything. That was what was important. Did he really give a shit that he needed to not feel? No. Would he feel this in the morning? Yes. That didn’t matter. What mattered was now. Watching the TV, commercials showing kids with snacks in the kitchen or diaper commercials was really getting to him, and he suddenly felt hollow. He wouldn’t be like the families on TV. The loss of his child hit him hard.

  He looked up and saw June standing in the front doorway expectantly. Brock was blocking her way from coming in. Gabe sat up setting his glass on the coffee table and really took June in. Her hair was pulled back in the perfect ponytail, her makeup just right. Her jeans were tight, as was her t-shirt with the rhinestone letters that spelled BABY GURL across her tits. The little red rhinestones made a pair of lips under the letters. Gabe snorted. Ironic. Even June’s shirt was mocking him that he wouldn’t have a baby girl. His loss hit him harder.

  “Ironic,” Gabe laughed.

  “What’s that?” June stood there with a hand on her hip.

  “Your shirt.”

  “What’s ironic about it?” she asked.

  “I won’t have a baby girl, or a baby boy.” Gabe took a long drink from his glass.

  “Probably wasn’t yours anyway,” June sneered.

  “You know what June, I think you…”

  “No…by all means,” Gabe interrupted Brock. “Let’s hear what…” he leaned
down reading her shirt again and tilted his chin toward June, “…baby guuuurl has to say. I’m curious,” He moved closer, his face in hers. “If it’s just jealousy that motivates her or if she is really just a huge bitch!” He barked out the last word making June take a step back from the doorway. He retreated back to the loveseat.

  “Dude,” Brock started. “This probably isn’t the time.”

  “Why the fuck not?” Gabe swung his arms wide. “June wanted to start shit to put that seed of doubt in my mind. Well it was there.” He put his hands in his pockets. “She was almost six weeks. I did the math and got called out on it. But you know what?” Gabe stepped around the sofa and walked back to the door.

  “Everything you said was a lie,” he looked right at June again, “You didn’t know shit! You don’t know shit. I’ve come to realize that if someone has something you want…you have to make up shit, lie about another person in order to bring them down. If it wasn’t for your little talk about how Colette ran to Carter and that they were fucking…I’d be at the hospital right fucking now. By Colette’s side as she lie in that hospital bed after losing my child, our child.” Gabe leaned in to get in June’s face again. “Get out June. You aren’t welcome here. If you ever come back…I’ll have you arrested for trespassing.”

  June opened her mouth to say something but closed her mouth and looked at Brock.

  “I think we’re done here June,” Brock shook his head. “Gabe is my best friend. I won’t stay with someone who hurts the people around me. It doesn’t matter if you can suck a golf ball through a garden hose or let me fuck you so hard you don’t care.”

  “There is something that you can fall back on,” Gabe swayed back and forth for a moment raising his glass, “your skills for sucking dick.” He laughed heartily, walked back to the loveseat and fell back against the cushions.

  “You never complained,” June said haughtily.

  “You’re right,” Gabe agreed, “but, a blow job is still…just a blow job. No matter who it’s from.”

  June stared at him for a moment until Brock said goodbye and closed the door in her face.

  Throughout the afternoon and into the evening, Gabe’s mood didn’t improve. Through a bottle of vodka, a whole container of cranberry juice and half of a pepperoni pizza, he didn’t know how he was still coherent. Brock on the other hand had only had two or three beers, because he said he wouldn’t let Gabe drink alone. They would mourn together as they had with brothers in arms that they had lost. But this was different. This was his child. It wasn’t a fetus. It was his child.

  He had gone through a gamut of emotions, but nothing was more profound than his affection for Colette. His Amante. He couldn’t imagine what she was going through. He felt like he’d failed in protecting her so that this might not have happened. He thought of his failure in being so transparent in believing June and her lies. If he was anything, he was honest. He told her the truth so that they could get through this, but in the end, she still sent him away. It was her way of running. Just like she’d done after that whole debacle with Rosa.

  ____

  It was midnight. He’d thrown up everything in his stomach, gotten a shower and was now lying down in his bed. Picking up his phone, he dialed Colette and was sent straight to voicemail. No surprise there. He hung up without leaving a message. He lay there a few more minutes when he decided he’d be the first to make a move and put the ball in her court when she woke up later. He dialed, waited for her message to end and then the beep.

  “Amante…it’s me. I can’t tell you how sorry I am that I upset you today. I went through a whole bottle of vodka and cranberry juice to get through the pain that I feel in the loss of our child. I wonder if it was a boy or a girl…whose hair and eyes our baby would have.” He paused for a moment then continued, “I wondered all day how you were doing. I miss you. I just get you back…and this happens. I want you forever Colette. I want to give you everything you’ve ever wanted. You are my other half…you belong with me. Call me back. I’m forever yours.”

  Gabe waited a few seconds before he decided to hit the end button on his phone, plugged in the charger and set it on his night table. Pulling up his covers to his chin, he rolled over grabbing the pillow Colette had used the night before and inhaled her scent deeply before passing out.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Colette had a fitful sleep with all of the nurses that came in to take her blood pressure every so often. She declined any further medication after the last dose wore off. She was sore, but not to the point she wanted to be doped up. Half expecting to see Gabe in the chair next to her bed when she woke up groggy from the pain medication, she saw that the chair was empty. It hit her again that she’d asked Gabe to leave, so she had no one to blame but herself for being alone.

  The nurse un-wrapped the blood pressure cuff from her arm, moving her around in the process. Asking if she needed anything else, the nurse helped her with a quick trip to the bathroom. She slid back under the covers of her bed. The light above her bed was on low, so Colette took the opportunity to look at around her room. She saw two bouquets of flowers. One was pink roses in a small vase, while the other was a huge bouquet of different flowers in a lovely crystal vase.

  “Your younger sister wanted you to have this,” the nurse handed Colette her iPod and earbuds. “She said that you’d relax better if you had your music. She said you liked Thirty Seconds to Mars. I love me some Jared Leto myself.” She smiled and made her way out of the room.

  Suddenly realizing that she needed to check her messages on her phone, or at least text Meavy and Hamish, she looked around for her purse, hoping that her phone was in it. Finding it on the rolling tray, she picked it up and dug for her phone. It was dead and she didn’t see her charger with it, so she stuffed it back in her purse and set it back on the tray. Curious as to who got her flowers, she got up, careful not to pull at her IV, she went to the roses first. They were simple and elegant. She had an inkling who they were from, but their relationship was tumultuous at best. So her surprise was evident when she saw that the card was from her sisters.

  Pleural.

  Letty,

  Hoping you are feeling better soon.

  Love, Clair and Lannie

  Both signatures were unique to each sister which made her smile. Sliding the card back onto the plastic fork, she fished for the other card in the huge bouquet. It was from Meavy and Hamish.

  Lass,

  You take your time and get on your own two feet before you come in. We love you.

  Meavy and Hamish

  Feeling overwhelmed with emotion with everything that had transpired today, well, yesterday, as it was certainly after midnight, Colette put in the earbuds, turned on her iPod to Thirty Seconds to Mars’ first titled album and lay back down. She cleared her mind of everything going on right now and in no time at all, she was asleep.

  _____

  Breakfast was the best part about the hospital Colette thought, pushing around her scrambled eggs on her tray. It was only the best part, because she had to stay. It was just after seven thirty as she sat alone in her hospital bed. She wasn’t tired anymore, she wasn’t hungry, and she didn’t feel like music could comfort her any longer. Wasn’t that strange that even her favorite band couldn’t satisfy her? She wracked it up to the fact that there wasn’t anything Jared Leto could sing about that would be fitting to the loss of a baby. Even if it was only almost six weeks.

  Pushing her tray way, she lay back and stared at her flowers from her sisters. Simple, elegant pink roses in a square glass vase…just like Clair. And now she was in love with not one, but two men. A triad. What would Bunnie and the Colonel think of that? Would Clair continue working with Bunnie? So many questions.

  What was more important to Colette were the pictures that Clair had shared with her when they were little girls. Their mothers were friends and now the Colonel was married to Bunnie, giving her and Clair half-sisters. What had happened that the Colonel married Bunnie? T
hinking it over and the conversation that she’d had with Clair, the only thing that Colette could surmise was that Bunnie was their realtor and they became friends. They certainly didn’t run in the same social circles. Not by the way the two women were dressed in the pictures. Bunnie, even at a picnic was dressed in a flowery dress and sandals while Amilie was in shorts or pedal pushers with a t-shirt. What had happened to make Clair dislike her so much? As the questions mounted, a soft knock hit the door distracting her.

  “Yeah?” she answered.

  A huge bouquet of lavender roses, purple irises huge hot pink gerbera daisies, and green poms appeared before a very sheepish looking Gabe peeking around them.

  “Gabe,” Colette whispered with a smile on her face.

  He came in the room further and set the vase of flowers down on a table by her bed before coming over to stand by her bedside. He looked at her with a tentative smile on his face and leaned down to kiss the top of her head.