The words pierced me like a spear through the heart. “I’m so sorry,” I said in a whisper.
Gabe shook his head. “No, I’m sorry,” he said, looking away from me. “I should have known better.”
Gabe said something to the driver and then turned his attention forward. As the cab pulled away, he didn’t look back.
Chapter Seventeen
I thought I would die on the spot. I sank to the ground, my head throbbing, my face was flushed with shame. The valet was staring at me like I was a lunatic.
Just then, another cab pulled up, and Poppy cheerfully alighted with a tall, sandy-haired, completely gorgeous guy in tow. He had his arm slung over her shoulder, and she was giggling about something he was saying. Then, just as they tumbled onto the pavement in unison, she looked up and saw me.
“Emma!” Her eyes registered surprise as she stopped dead in her tracks. She started to smile at me then seemed to realize that something was wrong—perhaps due to the fact that I was currently crumpled on the sidewalk. “Emma?” she said again, dropping to one knee next to me. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head, and although I was biting my trembling lip and trying not to, I burst into tears. I didn’t know if they were from the shame or the sense of loss or the copious amounts of champagne. I knew only that I was sitting on the ground in front of one of the nicest hotels in London, trying not to cry in front of my friend and the human incarnation of her voodoo doll.
“Oh, goodness, Emma!” Poppy exclaimed in concern, wrapping me in her arms and then pulling back to search my face. “What’s wrong? What is it?”
I glanced up at the man with Poppy—presumably Darren—and flushed. “I’m sorry,” I said to him. I looked at Poppy. “I’m sorry. Now on top of everything else, I’m ruining your night.”
“No, no, not at all,” Poppy soothed, stroking my hair. She glanced up at Darren, who was looking at us with concern but not, I noticed, with any sort of disdain. Poppy stood up slowly and whispered to him. He nodded.
“I’m going to head home,” he said with a casualness I knew was forced. I tried to protest, but he shook his head. “No, no, it’s late. I’ll see Poppy tomorrow.”
“Emma, this is Darren, by the way,” Poppy said.
I forced a smile at him and stood up from my spot on the ground, feeling silly. I extended a hand, which Darren shook firmly. This both impressed and embarrassed me, as my hand had obviously just been on the ground—not to mention on the surface of my wet, mucky face.
“Nice to meet you,” I said.
“And you as well,” he said pleasantly, as if I weren’t a pathetic mess. “Poppy has told me a lot about you.”
“Er . . . thank you,” I said, glancing at Poppy.
Darren smiled at me again and then, after a few whispers and kisses with Poppy, he got back into a cab, waved good-bye to both of us, and disappeared.
“I’m so sorry I ruined your date,” I moaned as soon as he was gone.
“Nonsense,” Poppy said firmly. “Now let’s go inside, and you can tell me what’s wrong.”
She put her arm around my shoulder and guided me back to my room, where we both sat down on the edge of my bed.
“I think I’ve ruined everything, Poppy,” I declared miserably, once she’d gotten me a box of tissues and a glass of water. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t say anything. “Guillaume will have a problem with the UPP, I’ve lost Gabe . . . everything is just so screwed up!”
I found myself pouring out the whole story of what had happened this evening, from the champagne-in-the-shrubbery plan gone awry to the hurt-looking Gabe hurtling out of the hotel with his suitcase, slamming the cab door behind him.
“Emma, why didn’t you tell me you felt like this about Gabe Francoeur?” Poppy asked when I was done.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged uncomfortably. “I don’t think I even realized I did before the whole roller thing the night before last anyhow. Or maybe I did, but I didn’t want to. It’s not like it’s professional of me to start falling for one of the journalists I work with.”
Poppy shrugged. “Hey, we live in Paris,” she reminded me gently. “The City of Love. You can’t control who you fall in love with.”
I shook my head. “Anyhow, it doesn’t matter. I’ve totally ruined it. But what’s even worse is I’ve probably ruined Guillaume’s relationship with the UPP. I have no idea what Gabe will write, but seriously, Poppy, he could sabotage us. And I don’t know that I would even blame him at this point.”
I felt tears pricking the backs of my eyes and blinked them back. I was already pathetic enough.