“At the same time?”
“Swimming and spending time on the computer.”
Maya laughed. “I do like to multitask but not to that extent.”
The waitress appeared with their food, and the conversation ebbed for a bit as Gabe said a prayer of thanks for the meal—after checking that she was okay with that—and they began to eat. Maya was actually surprised at how relaxed she was considering the direction the conversation had taken.
“You said you like reading,” Gabe commented between bites of his burgers. “Who is your favorite author?”
“It’s really hard to choose just one. I read voraciously.” Her love of reading had been somewhat forced on her in her early teens when she’d been stuck inside for months on end. “I like suspense and psychological thrillers. Stuff that’s a bit on the frightening side.”
“Really? You like being scared?”
“I guess so,” Maya admitted. “That’s probably how I get my adrenaline rush.”
“I enjoy thrillers as well. Also stuff by James Patterson and others like him. I spend a lot of time on planes, so I read quite a bit. I also read a lot of non-fiction.”
Books seemed to be a safe subject for them, and they stayed on that topic for quite some time. They veered a bit into movies and TV, with Gabe revealing a preference for movies since it meant he didn’t have to commit to watching a new episode of a show each week. Maya, on the other hand, preferred TV shows where she could become involved in storylines and characters.
Maya found that she was disappointed when the meal ended and they had to head back to the office. She wondered if this was just a one-time thing. Considering that Gabe would most likely be leaving again soon, it might be better if it was. There was no doubt that he held a fascination for her that she’d never felt for any man before, but if he wasn’t going to be around much, that wasn’t a good thing for her.
After helping Maya off with her coat back at the office, Gabe found himself lingering by her desk, unwilling to end their time together, but then the phone rang, grabbing Maya’s attention and reminding Gabe she had a job to do. Gabe knew he should let her get back to it, but he wasn’t interested in leaving the building just yet. He gave her a broad smile, then headed down the hallway to where the offices were located.
Gabe stuck his head into Tristan’s office and spotted him sitting with his back to the door, facing his monitor. “Hey, Tris. How’s it going?”
When Tristan didn’t respond, Gabe plopped down in one of the chairs next to his brother’s desk. He waited for a moment, then gave the desk a kick. That got Tristan’s attention, and he spun around in his chair, tugging his earbuds out.
“Hey,” Tristan said with a growing smile when he spotted him. “Just a second.” He swung back to his monitor and tapped a couple of keys before turning his attention back to Gabe. “So what are you doing here at the office?”
“Had a meeting and then took Maya out for lunch.”
Tristan’s brows rose. “Took Maya for lunch?”
“Yeah.” Gabe paused then asked, “How well do you know her?”
“Not too well. I mean, she seems like a sweet girl. She’s friendly and helpful.” Tristan tilted his head. “I’m afraid I don’t know much about her personally. Makayla’s probably the one you should be talking to. Or Grace.”
“Grace is a bit busy at the moment,” Gabe pointed out. “Maybe I’ll have a little chat with Makayla later.”
“Why are you so interested in her?” Tristan asked, a quizzical look on his face.
And wasn’t that just the question of the hour? Gabe sat for a moment, trying to come up with an explanation. On the one hand, it was no surprise that he’d asked her out. He tended to live life following his instincts and impulses. When he’d walked into the office and seen Maya’s friendly smile, he’d known he wanted to get to know her better. Though he’d found it amusing to realize that she’d initially thought he was Mitch. It had been awhile since that had happened.
Still, he wasn’t completely sure how to answer Tristan’s question. “Her smile just did something to me and made me want to get to know her better. So, I asked her out.”
Tristan grinned as he shook his head. “Only you, Gabe.”
“You weren’t interested in her, were you?”
His brother shook his head. “Not me, but I’m not sure about Mitch.”
“Bennett?”
“I think that’s a definite no. Benn’s hung up on Grace.”
“Seriously?” Gabe had suspected—once upon a time—that Bennett had a thing for Grace, but he’d figured that Bennett had gotten over it when she’d married Franklin.
“It seems that way. He’d been spending a lot of time with her and was with Grace when the baby was born, but since then, he’s kind of distanced himself from her for some reason.” Tristan’s brows drew together. “But you know what Bennett’s like. He’s not really talking to anyone about what’s going on.”
Gabe nodded, understanding completely how Bennett was. He had never been a guy to confide in people. At one time, his main confidant had been Kenton, but in recent years, there was a noticeable tension between the two of them. Gabe made a note to spend some time with his older step-brother while he was there. Though he wasn’t always around when his siblings might need someone to confide in or lean on, if he was there when they needed support or a confidant, he tried to step up.
“So, if you and Bennett aren’t interested in Maya that just leaves Mitch.”
Tristan shrugged. “Yeah. I don’t know how he might feel about her. He hasn’t said anything to me.”
The fact that Tristan wasn’t saying for sure that Mitch wasn’t interested in Maya made Gabe feel a little unsettled. He had to wonder if his brother might have feelings for her. However, Mitch hadn’t mentioned anything about her, and they’d always talked about everything—especially girls that snagged their attention. Surely if Mitch had been interested in Maya, he would have said something.
“I’ll have a conversation with him tonight,” Gabe said as he got to his feet. He decided he needed to leave the office and head to his parents’ house. Until he had a chance to chat with Mitch, he didn’t want to think anything more about Maya. Although that might be nearly impossible, he would make a concerted effort.
“Are you planning to hang around this time?” Tristan asked as he swung side to side in his chair.
And yet another question he didn’t want to answer. “For now, just until after the new year.”
Tristan scowled, a rather unusual expression on his face. “Then why are you even trying to start something up with Maya? If you’re just going to leave again, that’s not fair to her.”
Gabe could hardly deny the truth in Tristan’s words. But there was just something about Maya that made him want to get to know her better. To be a part of her life. Honestly, what he was experiencing might seem a bit ridiculous to people watching it unfold, but to him, it felt completely natural. He’d felt the urge to get to know her, so he’d asked her out for lunch.
He still wasn’t sure it was love at first sight, but clearly, there was something about her that had drawn him in. Now he wanted to find out what that was. He just had to figure out what he was going to do if Mitch did, in fact, have an interest in Maya.
3
“I’m going to head out now.”
Maya looked up from the files in her lap at the sound of Gabe’s voice. She smiled as he came to a stop in front of her desk. “Thank you again for lunch.”
“It was my pleasure.” He pulled on his jacket and looped his scarf around his neck. “Would you be interested in doing it again?”
A frisson of excitement shot down her spine, but she also felt a bit like she was at a crossroads. Was she willing to allow her emotions to get more involved with this man who would be leaving again in a few weeks? She couldn’t deny that she wanted to get to know him better, but she had no experience in these sorts of things and wasn’t sure that she was equipped to handle the type of
relationship that he might require considering his frequent travels.
Sure, it might seem like she was getting ahead of herself, thinking about being in a relationship with Gabe. However, the reality was that this could be the start of one, so she needed to be sure it was what she wanted.
Carpe diem, sugar. Carpe diem. That’s what you need to do.
Seize the day. That’s what her best friend—the one she’d met online but never in person—had drilled into her since the beginning of that year. That’s how she’d ended up with a bank account she’d set up on her own, a new car, and a job. Was it possible she might even end up with a relationship?
“I think I would be,” Maya said, hoping that seizing the day didn’t lead to heartache down the road. But maybe that was something she needed to experience. After all, by the time most people were twenty-four, they’d had at least one heartbreak. Maybe it was just her time.
“Great!” Gabe reached into his jacket and pulled out a card. “This is my cell number. Can you text me, so I have your number?”
Maya took the card. “I’ll do that.”
Gabe walked backward toward the front door, keeping his gaze on her. “Talk to you later.” With a final smile, he turned to push open the door and left the building.
She sat and stared at the door for a moment before looking down at the card in her hand. Should she text him right away? After a brief internal debate, Maya set the card to the side. She needed to focus on work. He’d been enough of a distraction to her day.
When Maya left the office a few hours later, even the fact that it was already dark couldn’t dampen her good mood. And when she got home and found out that her mom was heading out to a Christmas party with her dad, her mood improved even more. It meant she had the whole evening without having to worry about her mom coming to her room and trying to talk her out of working—or ever leaving the house.
Maya popped into the kitchen to find Elisse, their cook, standing at the counter with a bowl in front of her.
“Hello, darling,” Elisse said when Maya pressed a kiss to her cheek. “It’s just you for dinner tonight, so I made lasagna.”
“Oh yum,” Maya said as she hopped onto a barstool at the island counter. “I’m going to eat in my room tonight, I think.”
“Sounds good.” Elisse gave her a wink. “I think I’ll see if Thomas is interested in joining me.”
Maya laughed. “Excellent idea. I think he loves your lasagna as much as I do.”
“You’re not wrong,” Elisse said as she set a tray on the counter then fluffed her silver curls and gave Maya a wink. “And I don’t think that’s all he loves.”
Maya laughed at the older woman’s antics, knowing that she was right. Both Elisse and Thomas, their daytime driver, had been previously married but had lost their spouses within a year of each other. Maya had known each of the deceased spouses and knew that they would be happy if Elisse and Thomas found love again with each other.
As Elisse worked to get her meal together, Maya pulled her phone out of her purse along with the card Gabe had given her. She stared at her phone for a moment before tapping his number into a contact screen and then sending a quick message.
Hi, Gabe. This is my number. -M
Gabe: Finally! I was beginning to wonder if you had lost my card. ;)
Nope. Sorry. Just wanted to wait until I got home.
Gabe: You’re a good employee!
I try! :-)
Gabe: Oops…gotta run. Getting called for dinner and we’re not allowed to have phones at the table. Chat later.
Maya smiled at his words. She’d heard Danica—the youngest daughter of the Callaghans—telling Sierra, Ethan’s teenage sister, how she’d missed a text from a guy she liked because she wasn’t allowed to have her phone at the table.
She set her phone down on the counter, watching as Elisse put an oval dish with a baked lasagna in it on the tray. Maya knew that the lasagna was made with eggplant instead of noodles, but that was only because her mom and dad weren’t home. There was a bowl with a salad and another one with a selection of berries. She so appreciated that Elisse was willing to work with what she wanted to eat even if that happened primarily when her parents weren’t dining at home.
“There you go, sweetie,” Elisse said as she pushed the tray toward Maya.
“Thanks so much, Elisse. It looks delicious.” Maya slipped her phone onto the edge of the tray and carefully picked it up.
Once in her room on the second floor of the west wing of the house, Maya put the tray on her desk then went to change into something more comfortable. It didn’t take long to slip out of the pencil skirt and loose blouse she’d been wearing and into a pair of yoga pants and a long sleeve T-shirt.
Maya flipped the switch to bring the gas fireplace to life then turned off all but the lamp on her desk. Circumstances beyond her control had kept her in this room for a good portion of the last decade of her life. One would think she would hate the room, but the opposite was true. Her mother had given her free rein to do what she wanted with the large suite, so Maya had spared no expense creating a haven for herself.
From the large four poster bed to the comfy chairs in the seating area, everything had been chosen with an eye to pleasing her aesthetically or because it was comfortable. The sage green walls were offset with chocolate trim. The curtains and bedding contained both colors while the windows were covered by darkening blinds since there were times she slept late into the day. It didn’t happen as frequently now, but at one time, it had been the norm for her.
Once she had everything set up to her satisfaction, including a playlist of music drifting softly in the air, Maya sank down into the chair at her desk and brought up the chat program on her laptop. With a sigh of contentment, she took a bite of the lasagna, savoring the rich tomato flavor mixed with the cheeses she loved so much.
After a moment, she leaned forward and typed out a message in her chat program. I met a guy!
It took all of five seconds for the familiar sounds of a Skype call to start up. She’d figured that comment would be the one that would prompt a response out of her best friend. Okay, pretty much her only friend. The one who knew almost everything about her life. Almost. From the moment they’d met in a cancer survivors online group three years ago, they’d had a connection. Close in age, they’d had similar cancer journeys, and even though they had opposite life stories, Lainie Deyes had become a super important person to her.
Though they were very close, Maya had never told Lainie that her family was rich. Very rich. And courtesy of a trust fund her father had set up for her, Maya was rich in her own right. But that wasn’t information she tended to share with people since when someone found out about her wealth, it seemed to be a relationship changer.
Plus, when her dad had given her her first laptop and allowed her access—albeit rather limited—to the internet, he had emphasized quite heavily that she needed to keep her identity under wraps. He’d done what he could to protect her, including giving her his mother’s maiden name because of his own very distinctive last name, so even as an adult, she’d continued to keep her connection to her father and mother a secret. She knew that Lainie just assumed her parents were Mr. and Mrs. St. James.
Her dad had even gone so far—once she’d reached adulthood—to set up an apartment in a building he owned in her name. She used that for all snail mail correspondence and had given it when applying for the job at C&M Builders. In the current day and age when everyone had access to Google Earth or map apps on their phone, typing her actual address into any of those would have been fairly revealing.
Though she’d balked at all the measures her dad wanted to take, she’d stopped complaining when word came of a kidnapping attempt on the teenage son of an acquaintance of her dad’s. He’d let it be known that she could agree to the measures he insisted on, or she could have a full-time body guard. Needless to say, she agreed to everything he’d insisted she do for the sake of her safety. Which had incl
uded not revealing everything about herself to her best friend.
It wasn’t like she’d lied to her, but that was only because Lainie hadn’t asked the right questions. Ones like: So is your dad in the top 10 of Forbes Richest Men? Or Does the square footage of your house rival a mall’s? or even Does your home come with an indoor and outdoor pool, a bowling alley and a movie theatre?
With a sigh, Maya took a glance behind her to make sure that the laptop wasn’t aimed at the room at large. Once she was sure that all that Lainie could see would be the wall behind her with a small painting on it, Maya clicked to accept the call and start up the video.
“A guy?” Lainie shrieked as her image came up on the screen. Her blonde hair created a curly halo around her head, and her blue eyes were huge. “A real, honest-to-God man?”
Maya laughed. “Yes. A real man.”
“Oh, my goodness. You have to tell me all about it.” Lainie leaned in close to the screen.
“I’m going to eat while I talk because I’m hungry,” Maya said as she picked up another forkful of food. “Remember how I told you about Mitch at work?”
“Yeah, you said he was cute, but you didn’t seem into him.”
“I wasn’t. I’m still not, but no one told me he had a twin brother. An identical twin brother who I actually am attracted to.”
“Really? He looks the same as Mitch, but you’re attracted to him when you weren’t to Mitch?” Lainie’s brow furrowed as she spoke.
“I don’t know how to explain it except that Gabe exudes a zest for life that Mitch doesn’t seem to have. Or at least not in the same way that Gabe does.” Between bites, Maya went on to tell Lainie all about her time with Gabe, answering each of the questions her friend had. Telling someone about it made it real, and Maya felt another burst of excitement.
“I can’t believe the guy asked me out the first time we met,” Maya admitted as she picked up the bowl of berries then pushed the tray to the side.
Lainie laughed. “I can’t believe that you said yes!”
“Well, that’s your fault. If this all falls apart, I’m going to blame you.”
The Love of Her Life: A Christian Romance (The Callaghans & McFaddens Book 3) Page 3
