Page 34 of Mine to Love
He paused, glancing over his shoulder. “What?”
“You must have missed the part where I mentioned more.” She smiled.
“No. I heard that.” He chuckled. “But let’s save it for our date. I want to do it right this time. Not have you stealing my shirt and scurrying across the yard afterward.”
“Have it your way.” She blew him a kiss.
Fuck. He was in way over his head and he knew it.
This called for a little advice from one of his brothers. But which one?
He’d decide that tomorrow. For now, he’d go climb into bed and dream about the sweet girl who lived next door.
8
Liberty handed Gabriel a tall soda and sat on the park bench. “How are things going at the shop?”
“I love my job.” Gabriel slurped on his soda before reaching for the bag of food. “Miles is so smart. He knows everything about cars. And I mean everything. Motorcycles too. It’s hard to believe he has that processing thing because there isn’t anything he doesn’t know when it comes to a motor or rebuilding any vehicle.”
“He’s certainly learned to compensate for it. Much like you.” Liberty pulled out her sandwich and opened the wrapper.
“Are we going to stay in Lighthouse Cove?” Gabriel fiddled with his French fry packet.
“We own that house. This is the place I wanted to make our home. Don’t you like it here?”
Gabriel continued to stare at his food. Difficult conversations made it harder for him to make eye contact, even with his big sister, the only constant in his life. “I do really love it here. But sometimes it feels like there’s a storm brewing.”
That was a big analogy for Gabriel to make and she wasn’t sure if it was because Charlie wasn’t coming around and Gabrielwas smart enough to know that when he did, it could be bad. Or if it was something else entirely. “What do you mean?”
Gabriel shrugged. “You say things are over with you and Charlie, but are they really?”
She let out a long breath. “I’m so sorry that my divorcing Charlie has hurt you, but yes. He and I are over and we will never get back together.” She took her brother’s hand. “I can’t have him coming around.”
Miles and everyone in his family believed that a little truth wouldn’t hurt Gabriel. If anything, it might keep him safe. And Miles was right. She did tend to treat her brother like a baby.
“Charlie has done some things that I can’t forgive him for,” she said softly.
“Like what?” Slowly, Gabriel lifted his gaze, but it wasn’t to catch hers. Instead, he stared off toward the inlet.
“I don’t know if this is the right time to get into the specifics and it’s not fair for me to pull you into mine and Charlie’s problems. Besides, they’re done. It’s over. All you need to know is that in the end, he was not a good husband to me and he’s not respecting my wishes. I want to start over here and I need him to let us do that. Him moving here and coming around is interfering with me starting a new life.”
“Is that why you filed some order that can have Charlie arrested if does come near you?” Gabriel asked, clenching his fists on his lap.
“How did you know about that?” she asked in a calm voice, even though her insides were raging.
Fucking Charlie.
“And please be honest with me, Gabriel. We’re all each other has. I’m doing my best here not to coddle you or treat you like you’re a kid. But I also don’t want to upset you to the point you go off the deep end.”
“Charlie called me and told me before we got the new phones and you told me not to give him the new number,” Gabriel said. His tone was void of any real emotion, but his body language said something entirely different.
When he was angry, he usually stood, paced, and often tugged at his hair.
But he didn’t do that.
Instead, he rocked slowly, back and forth, with his fists rubbing his thighs.
Fear.
