Getting Gabe

by Kate Hunt

  I love hearing Gabe talk like that. God, I love it so much. Before I can stop my imagination, I find myself fantasizing about what it would be like to be his wife. I have no idea what the day-to-day reality of it would be like, of course, but I can imagine what it would feel like. Together we’d make a home filled with love.

  After dinner, Gabe drives me home. I don’t want this night to end. But when I ask him if he’d like to come up for coffee or something—my imagination running wild when I say the words or something—he says, “Another time.” There’s such promise in his voice, though, that I don’t feel disappointed.

  “Thank you for such a nice evening,” I say.

  “It was my pleasure,” says Gabe. And then he leans across the gearshift, cups a hand around the back of my head, and presses a kiss to my lips. His lips are strong and in control; he kisses me like no one else ever has. My whole body vibrates with heat.

  “Goodnight, Marisa,” he says. His eyes are full of restrained need.

  “Goodnight,” I manage to squeak out, and then I stumble out of his car toward my building.

  Chapter Four

  Gabe

  The honeysuckle taste of Marisa’s lips is still lingering on mine the following day. It’s a busy day at work, full of back-to-back meetings, but despite how hectic it is, my mind is still consumed with thoughts of Marisa.

  God, I wanted to do so much more than just kiss her last night. I wanted to carry her upstairs to her apartment. I wanted to lick those luscious curves of hers. I wanted to make her come like she’s never come before.

  But I restrained myself. Because I know that doing anything more than kissing is going to seal our fate together. Forever. And I need her to know that.

  Later that afternoon, when I finally get a break between meetings, I give Marisa a call to ask her out again. I already have a place in mind I’d love to take her—I think she’ll love it even more than last night.

  “Hey you,” says Marisa when she picks up. “I was just thinking about you.”

  I grin. “Guess I called at the right time, then.”

  “You sure did,” she says flirtatiously.

  I close my eyes for a second and think about her endless curves and her beautiful baby-making hips. I reopen my eyes and come back to reality. “Can I take you out again tonight, Marisa?”

  “Oh, I…shoot.” She sighs. “I’m actually busy tonight. What about tomorrow night?”

  “Tomorrow works.”

  “Great. I’m looking forward to it.”

  I ask her how her day’s been going and we talk for another few minutes. But as much as I want to keep this conversation going, I have a pressing number of emails stacking up in my inbox and another meeting to head off to in a few minutes. Marisa and I say goodbye.

  The rest of the day goes by quickly. Soon it’s five o’clock and I realize I’m going to be behind on some projects if I don’t stay late tonight. I order some delivery for dinner and settle in at my desk for the next few hours.

  Before I know it, it’s after seven and I’m the only one left in the office. I pull my eyes away from my computer and groan as I stretch. I’ve gotten a shitload of work done, but it feels like I haven’t blinked for hours.

  I stand up and quickly tidy my work space. I toss some papers I don’t need, file away a few others, then gather up the coffee cups that have accumulated on my desk. I head down to the breakroom and quickly wash them out.

  I’m on my way back to my office when I hear something. My first thought is that maybe a coworker came back to grab something they forgot. But as I round the last corner, I see it’s the night cleaning crew.

  As I walk past a woman who looks like she’s in charge of the crew, she smiles at me and says cheerfully, “Good evening.”

  “Good evening,” I say. “How are you?”

  “Good, thanks,” she says.

  A few feet away from her, another woman is emptying a trash can from under a desk. I’m about to say good evening to her, too, when I hear a familiar voice across the room.

  “Lisa? Is this the toilet cleaner?”

  I look over and surprise overtakes me as I see Marisa standing there, holding up a bottle of blue liquid. Marisa’s eyes shift from the woman to me, and her face instantly morphs into a look of mortification.

  “That’s the extra strength cleaner,” the woman near me says. “Only use that if there’s a really bad mess to clean up. You found the toilet brush, right?”

  “Yep. Got it,” Marisa says quickly, and spins on her heels. Before I can say anything, she disappears down the little hall that leads to the bathrooms.

  I head after her, quickly crossing the room and going down the hallway. The men’s and women’s restroom doors are side by side, and the women’s door is propped open.

  “Marisa?” I call out, standing at the threshold of the bathroom.

  She doesn’t answer.

  “Marisa,” I call out again. “Please talk to me.”

  “I’m busy,” she finally calls back.

  I grunt out a sigh. Fuck it. I walk into the bathroom and find her standing at one of the sinks, wiping down the ceramic surface with a rag. She stops and turns to stare at me.

  “You work here,” she says flatly.

  “I do,” I say. “But—”

  “Do you know how embarrassed I am right now? I’m cleaning the freakin’ toilets at your work.”

  “Seriously, Marisa, I don’t care.”

  “Well, I care.” She tears her eyes away from me. “Please go.”

  “Marisa—”

  “Just go.”

  I run a hand through my hair. Fuck. How can I convince her that it doesn’t matter to me what she does for work? I know she’s just doing this until she gets her catering business off the ground, but even if this was her regular full-time job, I wouldn’t care.

  “So you’re doing janitorial work,” I say. “Who gives a fuck? It doesn’t make me think of you any differently than I did yesterday.”

  “Please just go, Gabe,” she chokes out. I can see that she’s on the verge of tears. Fuck, I just want to wrap my arms around this sweet girl and give her whatever reassurance she needs. But when I take a step forward, she shakes her head, and I respect her space.

  “I’m going to leave,” I say. “But I’m not walking away forever. We’ll talk later. Okay?”

  She doesn’t say anything, just stands there, clutching the rag in her hand.

  With reluctance throbbing in my chest, I leave.

  Chapter Five

  Marisa

  I thrust the toilet brush into the last of the toilets, feeling sick to my stomach as I scrub it clean. I should have known this wouldn’t work out. I mean, he took me on a helicopter ride. The moment I laid eyes on it, I should have known that we were too different.

  But I stupidly let my desire for him take over my common sense.

  When I push my cleaning cart out of the women’s bathroom, I’m worried that Gabe is still going to be there. To my relief, he’s not. I walk over to Lisa and ask her what she needs me to do next. She tells me I can start vacuuming and points to a small gray vacuum by her side. I plug it in and start running it over the floor, trying to keep my focus entirely on the boring pattern on the carpet.

  But that only works for so long. And eventually I find myself face-to-face with an office door that has Gabe’s name on it.

  His office door is already ajar. I push it open the rest of the way and start to vacuum the space. His office feels perfectly like him—powerful and refined—and of course it has an incredible view overlooking the city.

  On his desk, there’s a couple framed photos. One is of him and his sisters. Another is of a bigger group—maybe it’s from a family reunion or something. It makes my heart hurt looking at it, because I’m never going to be a part of something like that with him. I know he said that stuff about how he doesn’t care what I do, but come on. Of course he’d say that; he’s not an asshole.

  I force mysel
f to look away from the photos and finish vacuuming the last corner of the room. Then I walk out, pushing the droning vacuum in front of me, and I don’t look back.

  The next morning—a Saturday—all the girls are over at my place. Aurora has just gotten back from her vacation with Cole and we’re all dying to hear more about their engagement. I’ve got a frittata baking in the oven and am making mimosas in a pitcher while we’re all gathered around my kitchen island.

  I still feel torn up about last night, but I don’t want to bring down the cheerful mood of the morning, so I’m doing my best to hide it.

  “Damn, look at that rock,” says Lindsay, grabbing Aurora’s hand. “Wait a second. I thought Cole made you a ring out of a flower when he proposed. When did you get this?!”

  “Last night,” says Aurora, beaming. “As soon as our flight got in, Cole drove us straight to a jewelry store. He told me he’d seen the perfect engagement ring there a few weeks ago…and as soon as he showed it to me, I thought it was perfect, too.”

  “Wait, a couple weeks ago?” says Elle. “You two had just met, Aurora!”

  “I know,” says Aurora, laughing. “It all sounds so crazy when you say it out loud. But when you’re meant to be, you’re meant to be, you know?”

  I hear my phone ring and excuse myself to go grab it. As soon as I see Gabe’s name glowing on the screen, my chest tightens. I don’t feel ready to talk to him yet. I hit Ignore and go back into the kitchen. When I check on the frittata, it looks perfectly done, so I pull it out of the oven. As I’m dishing it up, I hear the beep of a voicemail message from my phone, but I ignore it. I’ll deal with it later.

  “Enough about me and Cole,” says Aurora. “How have you girls been?”

  “Good,” Lindsay says with a shrug.

  “Marisa has some news,” Elle says, nudging me.

  “Oh, yeah?” says Aurora, and my friends all look at me.

  As I set the plated slices of frittata in front of each of my friends and pour them mimosas, I tell them about Gabe. Elle is the only one who knows about my date with him. And nobody knows about the disaster of last night yet. I feel like I’m riding on a roller coaster as I tell them all about the highs and lows of the last couple days.

  “Oh, Marisa,” Aurora says when I finish telling them everything.

  “I know,” I say, shrugging. “I’ll get over him, though. And I guess it’s good that it ended before I developed real feelings for him.”

  “Uh, can I be honest?” says Lindsay. “I think you’re calling it too soon. He said he didn’t care what kind of job you have.”

  “I know,” I say. “But even if he doesn’t care, it’s still going to be an issue. It’s going to be this thing between us, you know? He’s going to be the well-off CFO and I’m going to be the toilet cleaner. It just doesn’t fit.”

  “First of all, the job you have right now is temporary,” says Elle. “Your catering business is going to get off the ground soon. We all believe in you. I mean, take this frittata! It’s seriously the best frittata I’ve ever eaten in my life.”

  “I thought you said you’d never had a frittata before,” I say.

  Elle rolls her eyes. “Okay. Fine. But that doesn’t make it any less delicious. My point is that I know your catering business is going to be successful. Businesses can take a while to get going, that’s all. Anyway. Second of all, he doesn’t care! So neither should you.”

  Lindsay and Aurora nod in agreement. I appreciate how encouraging my friends are being. But I still don’t think things will work out with Gabe.

  “More mimosa, anyone?” I ask, holding up the pitcher.

  Later, after the girls leave, I finally work up the nerve to listen to Gabe’s voicemail. My heartbeat quickens when I hear his voice.

  “Hi, Marisa. I know you’re probably ignoring my call. But I need you to know that I meant everything I said to you last night. It truly doesn’t matter to me what kind of job you have. And if telling you that isn’t enough, then I’m going to prove it to you. I know we’ve only been on one date…but the way I feel when I’m with you…Marisa, I’ve never felt that way with anyone before. We have something special, and I’m going to show you how much I believe in us.”

  Chapter Six

  Gabe

  I show up early on my first day. The business is located in a small strip mall, their sign cheerful and bright. When I walk in, the woman from the other night comes out and greets me.

  “Welcome aboard, Gabe,” she says. “I’m Lisa. I’ll go get you some coveralls.”

  She disappears into a back room, then comes out a few seconds later holding the navy blue coveralls folded up in her arms. She studies me for a second after she hands them over. “You seem so familiar. Have we met before?”

  I nod. “We’ve crossed paths. I work in one of the buildings downtown.”

  “Ah. That’s it.” She nods and smiles. “Well. There’s a bathroom right down the hall that you can use to change in.”

  I thank her and stride down the hall to do exactly that.

  With my coveralls zipped up over my button-up shirt and slacks—I came straight from the office—I return to the main front room. When I walk in, Marisa is there.

  “Gabe,” she says, surprised to see me. “What are you…why are you…”

  Her eyes scan down my coveralls. Confusion is etched on her face.

  “You two know each other?” Lisa asks.

  “We do,” I say.

  “How funny,” Lisa says, and grabs a set of keys from her desk. “All right. It looks like it’s just us three tonight. Let me go check on something, and then we’ll be all set to go.”

  As soon as Marisa and I are alone, I take a step toward her. She still looks like she’s in shock.

  “Marisa, I’m here to prove to you that I don’t care what kind of work you do,” I say.

  “I see,” she says slowly.

  “And this isn’t just a one-time thing. I’m going to stick with this job for as long as you’re working here.”

  “What about your day job?”

  I shrug. “What about it? The hours don’t conflict. Besides, this is a part-time gig.”

  “You’re going to be exhausted, Gabe,” Marisa says, shaking her head. “It’s too much.”

  “Nothing’s too much if it means being with you.”

  Marisa chews on her bottom lip. She looks like she’s about to say something else. But then Lisa pops her head back into the building and says, “Okay, we’re all set.”

  For the next handful of hours, I’m all business. This is a job, after all. Even though I applied to this company to make a point to Marisa, that doesn’t mean I’m going to be a lackluster employee. That’s just not who I am.

  So I scrub those damn toilets until they shine. I swipe away every last smudge on every damn mirror. I clean like a motherfuckin’ machine.

  “Very good, Gabe,” says Lisa when she checks in on me. She nods with her eyebrows raised and her bottom lip jutting out, like she expected far less from me. “Very good.”

  We finish the night’s rounds by midnight and then head back to put away the supplies for the night. Marisa and I say goodnight to Lisa, who whistles a merry tune as she walks away. The tune grows quieter and quieter, and then it’s silent around us. Above us, the night sky is full of stars, although they’re hard to see with all the city lights around us.

  “Marisa,” I say. “I know you think we’re too different. But I don’t think that. I think you’re amazing. Period. And I want you. Unconditionally.”

  Marisa’s eyes soften as she looks at me. But then she shakes her head. “It’s one thing to say that. But for us to actually be together…Gabe, you don’t know what it’s going to be like.”

  “You’re right. I don’t know. But neither do you.”

  She lets out a light laugh. “Fair enough. I guess you’re right.”

  “So you’ll give me a chance?”

  A cautious smile spreads across her lips. “Okay. Yeah
. I’ll give you one.”

  “Good,” I say. “Because I already have something in mind for tonight.”

  I take her to my favorite park in the city. When we get there, I grab a blanket from the back of my car and wrap it around Marisa’s shoulders. Then I lead her by the hand to the middle of the park and up onto the hill that flattens out at the top.

  “Oh my gosh, you can see the stars so clearly here,” Marisa says. “This is so sweet, Gabe.”

  We sit on the grass side by side and gaze up into the star-studded sky, picking out constellations together. Once we start finding a few constellations, they all seem to come out.

  But as beautiful as the stars are, they pale in comparison to the woman sitting next to me. When I steal a glance in Marisa’s direction, I swear I can see the constellations reflect in her pupils. I give her leg a squeeze. “You warm enough?”

  She nods. “Yeah. This blanket’s perfect.” Then she smiles and shakes her head. “I’m hogging it, aren’t I? Here. Join me.”

  She opens up her arm and I slide closer to her. But while she’s trying to drape one end of the blanket over my shoulder, all I can think about is kissing those sweet, sexy lips of hers. I angle my head down and capture her mouth with mine.

  We forget about the blanket and just kiss.

  And kiss and kiss.

  Fuck, I want her so badly. I want to have her right here, under the stars.

  But it’s cold. And I don’t want our first time to be in the middle of a park. I want her in my bed, in the warmth and comfort of my home. I want her to fall asleep in my arms.

  As if reading my mind, Marisa pulls back from our kiss to whisper, “Take me back to your place?”