Page 11 of Forever Yours

“I—” Gabe tried to answer.

“She doesn’t want to see him, Winters,” Sebastian cut him off. “In fact, she went so far as to lie to you about the whole thing. Like I said before—”

“Before?” Gabe asked, doing the interrupting this time. “I gather you’ve both talked about this at length?”

“I wouldn’t call it talking.” Annabelle sounded sheepish. “But yes, we’ve gone over the facts a few times.”

“I don’t know if this has escaped your notice”—Gabe looked at each of them in turn—“but she hasn’t been knocking down my door to have a heart to heart.”

“It hasn’t escaped mine,” Sebastian muttered into his beer.

“Now listen here—” Annabelle started.

Gabe held up his hand to cut her off. “Don’t push this, Annabelle. In fact, both of you listen to me. I need to come to terms with her living in my city in my own time, and you need to let me approach her when I’m ready. It will happen. We will talk, I promise you both, although I owe nothing to either of you regarding this.”

“She’s my friend, Gabe.” Annabelle’s tone softened, showing a side of her that he knew came out only on rare occasions. “She opened up a little bit and I think you should hear her out. A simple conversation will take care of the whole thing.”

Gabe opened his mouth to answer when the door chimed and Prudence and Greyson walked in, hand in hand. They took in the separation between Annabelle and Sebastian and the frustration on Gabe’s face, looked at each other and headed to opposite corners, Prudence to Annabelle’s side and Greyson to Sebastian’s.

“We’re having The Talk,” Annabelle explained to Prudence as she sat.

“Ah,” Greyson responded. “How’s it going, little brother?”

“About as well as it can with these two offering sage advice I didn’t ask for.”

“Hey, my advice is rock solid,” Sebastian insisted. “As for Winters, I wouldn’t listen to a word she has to say.”

Greyson elbowed Sebastian and took a handful of fries from his plate. “We haven’t said anything since New Year’s but you and Devlin ignoring each other is starting to get a little weird, I have to admit.”

Gabe scowled and put a pint in front of Greyson. “As I was just telling Woodward and Bernstein here, she hasn’t exactly been knocking down my door to have a heart to heart. I don’t understand why I’m the one who needs to make the first move. So far, she’s admitted to knowing about me for over a year and not doing anything about it. She lied to AB and Pru about the whole thing.”

He turned around to the till, opened it and started organizing the bills, a habit he had when he needed a moment. He could still see the look of surprise turned horror on Devlin’s face, a comical change of expression that would be funny in any other circumstance but in this case, it just made him sick. He’d replayed the moment, over and over, so many times that he was sure the outcome would be different. In his mind, instead of freezing, he’d put his hand on hers to still her, stopping her from running away. She’d entwine her fingers with his and squeeze, understanding what he wanted to say without him having to speak any words.

He slammed the till shut. That shit only happened in romance novels. Telepathy was an underused form of communication in real life. In real life you had to talk and argue, be right or be wrong. Then, when you figure out what side you fall on, be willing to be the bigger person by either forgiving or groveling. He’d lain in bed for so many nights thinking about her that he had a hard time processing how close they’d been to each other. He felt like he should have sensed her, a disturbance, her life force connected to his in such a powerful manner after one night that they should’ve been drawn together as soon as they were in the same zip code.

In the last week, he’d started second-guessing what had happened in Boston. Had it meant so little to her that she was unfazed by his presence? How could she know they were neighbors and not want to bust his door down to shout that it was her—she was here! —and they could reconnect like no time had passed? It stung to know that not only this wasn’t the case, but she’d lied to her friends about it. They’d never talked, no Amber Falls Accord had been drawn up so they could peacefully coexist in the same place.

“Gabe, we’re not passing any judgment on you,” Prudence called from behind him when he didn’t turn back around. “We just want everyone to get along, and that can only happen if you guys talk.”

He turned, all eyes focused on him, waiting for what, he didn’t know. He’d said all he needed to, so he’d say it again. “Iwilltalk to her.”

Silence settled over everyone. Even Sebastian and Annabelle appeared to have nothing to say to each other, the quiet only broken when Leo, the chef for the bar, came out from the kitchen.

“Woah.” Leo saw the somber group. “Who died?”

Annabelle laughed, breaking the tension that had taken over the room. “No one, Leo. We’re just having a discussion.”

“Ooh, is it about Devlin?” he asked.

Gabe turned to him with his hands up. “What the hell, Leo?”

“You’ve been moping about her for longer than you realize, man. I’m just pointing out the facts.” He looked at Greyson and Prudence. “You guys want any lunch? I just took some ribs out of the smoker.” They both agreed that it sounded perfect, and Leo left to plate it.

“In fact,” Gabe decided with a suddenness that gave him whiplash, ready for it all to be over so they could go back to their regularly scheduled lives, “I’ll be the bigger person here and talk to her today.”

He ignored the surprise on their faces at his words. He could do it. He was an adult. He’d pull his big boy pants up, go over there and talk to her.

Long after his friends had left and he was bundling up to go and shovel the sidewalk, the thought crept into his head that when he went to Devlin, they’d once again be sharing the same space.The same air. But a promise was a promise, and he told them he’d talk to her today. Why did he think he needed more than courage to approach her?

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