“I love you Gabe.”
We make love in our bed and again in the shower and then both quietly get ready for work, I am up at Redhill today, organising tradesman and Gabe is off to South Australia for the day for a meeting about the hospital deal the company has been working on, he won’t be back until late tonight. We drink our coffee quietly together and he heads off before me. I almost jump out of my skin when I come out of the bedroom to find Jake in a t shirt and jocks, making himself a coffee. I had completely forgotten he was here and Gabe hadn’t mentioned him this morning.
“Shit Jake, you made me jump. Good morning.”
“Sorry Lauren, I thought you had both gone.”
My phone goes off to tell me I have a text, it’s Gabe.
Don’t forget Jakes downstairs, he probably wont be up until after lunch, just get takeout for dinner, I will be home as soon as I’m dun. Don’t believe anything he tells you. Luv ya. Will u marry me, plz? x
I smile at the message.
“No, no, Gabe’s gone out early to the airport, he has a meeting in Adelaide this morning; he’ll be back later this evening. Did you sleep okay?”
He gives a small laugh, “Yeah, I slept great – eventually”.
I frown, “Oh was everything; oh – did Jo stay over?”
I feel my cheeks burn, this is Jo we’re talking about, there’s no way she would let a fine looking specimen like Jake slip through her fingers – or her legs for that matter!
“She did, yeah, she just left before Gabe did. Sorry, it’s um, I didn’t think, it’s usually just me and Gabe here, I didn’t think it might, you might.”
For fucks sake, what does he think I’m some old prude, the shag police?
“Jake, it’s fine, really, I couldn’t give a shit, just carry on as you would normally.”
“Well that you might object to, normally Gabe would have joined me, if he had been here alone.”
He laughs, I most definitely don’t. WTF! I close my eyes for a second to clear that thought from my brains.
“I mean, not with Jo of course, she’s your friend, although, I mean just with some random, shit, I’m sorry, I’ll just shut up, sorry Lauren, I can’t get my head around Gabe being all loved up and Facebook official and everything, I’ve never known it, not even when he was married.”
I smile at him, it’s all in the past, just let it go.
“Don’t worry Jake, honestly, Gabe’s past is his past, we all have one. Right I need to get going, help yourself to anything, the keys to the Ute are there if you need a car, shall I bring something in for dinner or get takeout or are you going out?”
“No, no, don’t worry about dinner, I will sort all of that out, I’ll just see you when you get home, you have a nice day at the office dear.”
I smile, I can see why Gabe and Jake get along, they both have fairly easy going natures and despite both being blessed with faces and bodies belonging to the God’s neither of them are up their own arse.
“I don’t work in an office, but thanks.”
I’m actually dreading going to work today, it will be the first time I have seen Karen Palmer since Gabe and I were up there, we have spoken on the phone but nothing was said about their affair and I refuse to work with an atmosphere so if she doesn’t say anything, I will, I don’t want to lose out on work over this but I need to just set things straight. I suddenly wonder how much Jake knows about Gabe’s past.
“I’m an interior designer, I’m working on a refurb up at Redhill. You might have heard of the owners, Steve and Karen Palmer,” Jake spits his coffee all over the bench top and I hold back a laugh, he knows all right.
I wonder if he went there too? Jake coughs and splutters, “Shit, sorry Lauren.”
“You okay? There’s paper towel in the pantry.”
He wipes up the mess and looks at me, in a complete panic, “So, have you met her, them, the Palmers, have you met them before?”
“Yeah, I’ve done a few jobs for them, don’t really see much of Steve but I’ve worked pretty closely with Karen over the years…although this is the first time since I’ve been with Gabe, anyway, I have to go, I will see ya sometime this arvo.”
I grab my keys to my shiny new car and head down the stairs, wondering how long Jake will wait before calling Gabe, I’m wicked really as I know Gabe will have his phone off as he gets on the plane, oh well, that’s brightened my morning, that and the bed sex and the shower sex and Gabe’s marriage proposal and knowing that he loves me. I reverse out onto the esplanade feeling pretty good, despite the fact I’m off to face a woman Gabe once slept with.
CHAPTER 9