WHAT BOTHERED ME most about Nicole going home with the guy named Brent was that she didn’t go home. I knew because I went to her house after I left the office and her car wasn’t in the driveway and all her lights were off. If she wasn’t there, it could only mean she was still with him. Spending the night with him. The thought made me crazy. Fucking crazy. I knew then, while I was standing outside her house, listening to the sound of the waves crashing, that I would willingly go insane for her love. It was more than just desire that I felt. It was deeper than that, more serious than that. In that instant, as I thought about her in bed with another man, the rage that ran through me was aimed toward myself for being an idiot. For not opening my eyes sooner. For not handing the case to somebody else when I should have. For not realizing the kind of woman I had and now had probably lost. No, fuck that, I hadn’t lost her. Not yet. But worse than losing her, I was now sharing her. And I didn’t share. Ever.
“YES, DAD,” I said for the tenth time. I was definitely going back home. I’d stayed a week longer than anticipated because when I went to get clothes the day after the promotion event, the media frenzy outside my house had been too much for me to handle. Why were they still on my case? During my week at Dad’s, I managed to stay away from the cameras, aside from the day I went to the premiere with Gabe, which was when he asked me if I wanted to fly to Argentina. To visit your mom, he’d said. I’ll pay for your flights. It’s the least I can do. And I had agreed. It was the least he could do, and I was dying to see my mom.
“I just want you to be careful over there. Are you staying with your mom?” Dad asked. He knew I would. I never went to Argentina and stayed anywhere else. I responded anyway. “Good,” he said. “What time is Gabriel picking you up?”
“At four. No need to get up and ready your shotgun at such an ungodly hour,” I said.
“And you’re sure you won’t be with Gabriel?”
“No, Dad. We’re over.”
I told him I wouldn’t go to the actual press events with him, but I would go on the same flight. He seemed okay with that. Gabe was definitely being cautious around me. Good thing, too, because despite my agreement, I still hadn’t forgotten about our ice cream shop experience, or that girl’s tell-all. Despite that, I wasn’t going to turn down a free trip to go see my mom.
“Okay, sweetheart. Good night. Call me when you land,” Dad said.
“I will.”
I gave him a hug and went out to the guest house to finish packing. I couldn’t sleep, so I went online and looked through gossip sites, because I needed to see what they were saying about me now. I’d kept a very low profile since the night of Victor’s promotion, so I couldn’t imagine they had much to say, unless Darryl fed the media things about Gabe and me. One of these days I would wake up and not find anything posted about me, and no cameras following me. Goals. One day soon. I just needed to get through one last media frenzy first.
I woke up at three and got ready, and Gabriel pulled up at the gate just as I was lugging my suitcase to the front of the house. He opened the backdoor of his Escalade and jogged toward me with a smile on his face. He looked like the man I’d met all those years ago, willing to help, excited to be going on a trip with me. Excited to see me. He leaned down and kissed my cheek as he reached for my suitcase.
“Thanks for coming,” he said.
“Thanks for inviting me,” I responded. As I looked at what he was wearing, which looked very similar to what I had on, I laughed. He gave me a once-over, taking in my black sweats and white T-shirt, and did the same. My shirt was a tank I’d tied at the bottom so it fit more like a crop, and his was just a regular white tee. We were both wearing the same black Nikes. Gabe laughed.
“Great minds, huh?”
“I guess so.”
On our way to the airport, we both kept yawning, and at some point I dozed off with my head on his shoulder. I was startled awake when he moved, and I felt a flash of light on my face.
“Holy crap,” I said, wiping my eyes and fixing my hair. “How the fuck do they wake up so early?”
Gabe groaned. “I don’t know, but I swear Darryl didn’t call them.”
“Where is that asshole anyway?”
“He’s in Argentina,” he said.
“Oh. Fun.”