Page 45 of If This is Love

He immediately removed his hands from my cheek and hand and took a large step away from me.

I looked at him, and there it was in his beautiful eyes.

Mortification.

Humiliation.

Hurt.

“Wasn’t trying to.” Gabe didn’t look at me and then tossed the frisbee, which caused Jax to dart off again. “Sorry about that, Ruth,” he said, staring at the ground. “’Scuse me.” A quick, shrill whistle pealed from his lips, and Gunner stood up to jog next to him as they strode back to the house.

He left so quickly that it took me a minute to process what happened.

“Oh no.”

What had I done?

Why had I even said that? I wasn’t married, and he probably now thought I was crazy, andworse, I hurt his feelings. I embarrassed him. I had to go after him so I could apologize.

“Come on, you big baby!” I called to Jax. “Come on, let’s go back inside.”

Back inside the house, the whole crew of friends were busy pushing around the furniture in the living room and setting up a long, rectangular table. Everybody was still here, and now Luke, Chloe, and a little boy that must’ve been Chloe’s son, Jackson were all in the fray of setting up to eat.

Everybody was here—except for Gabe.

His brother had just gotten engaged. Based on the chatter, it sounded like this Sunday lunch had turned into an impromptu celebration for Luke, Chloe, and Jackson, and Gabe was just gone.

And it was all my fault.

12

GABE

ALGIERS POINT, NEW ORLEANS

Of course I wastryingto.

Trying to do something I had no business doing because I took a leap based on bad intel, and now I’d just humiliated myself in front of Ruth.Again.

Of course she didn’t really want to kiss me. What she blurted out when I moved on her like Ishouldn’t havewas the truth in her heart. Yeah, there had been a little, flirtatious dynamic between us this whole time, and yeah, she was probably a little attracted to me, but that’s all it was. Her heart still belonged to her husband. It always would. Her heart still so fiercely belonged to him that even all these years after he’d passed, she was still completely loyal to him.

And even though I was retreating from Sunday lunch as fast as my legs could casually carry me, that only flooded me with even more admiration and respect for her. It only kicked me closer to the ledge of a cliff I was inevitably going to topple off of when I fell head-over-heels in love with her.

It was already happening.

But never-fucking-mindthat.

So I turned and left.

I hated these stupid fucking lunches anyway.

Pushing through the back door with Gunner faithfully following me, I marched through the bustling kitchen, weaving around the edge as silent and stealthily as possible. I made it to the front room and made a beeline for Luke, Chloe, and Jackson.

I stopped in front of Luke. “Hey, I’m going to head out.”

His shoulders drooped, and his giddy expression dimmed. “Aw. Really? You’re already here.”

“Yeah, but I can feel a migraine creeping in, and I was only here to help Ruth with her dog.” I nodded toward the back of the house. “They’re doing fine.”

---