Page 68 of Love on the Run
Kate smirked. “Do you want to tell her, or shall I?”
Gabe’s eyes pleaded with Kate not to.
“Gabe?” Hannah said.
Still, he stayed quiet.
“All right then,” Kate said, clearly enjoying herself. “If you won’t, I will.” She happily gave Hannah her full attention. “I’m Gabe’s wife.”
CHAPTER42
“Hannah!” Desperate, Gabe willed her to come back.
Gabe’s threw his arms upwards as he watched her march into the distance without a second glance. He ran his hands through his hair, frustrated that she hadn’t given him the opportunity to explain. He stepped forward ready to go after her, but as she disappeared round the corner, he realised there was no point. Hannah had already made it clear she thought Gabe secretive. The fact that he hadn’t told her he had a wife proved her observation correct. He spun round to face Kate and glared at her. “What do you want?”
“Did I interrupt something?”
Knowing some people never changed, Gabe could see Kate was getting off on the fact that she had. He continued to glower. Having not seen her for two years, he couldn’t believe she had the audacity to turn up without warning.
Kate sneered as she glanced in the direction Hannah had taken. “I wouldn’t have had her down as your type.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gabe felt his hackles rise further. Whatever the reason for Kate’s visit, it had nothing to do with Hannah. Kate could keep her out of it.
“She’s a bit plain, don’t you think?”
Gabe knew Kate was baiting him, trying to ascertain how much he cared about Hannah. Oh, the fun she could have with that information. But Gabe refused to bite and instead calmed himself. Kate could say what she’d come to say then leave.
Kate shrugged. “Each to their own, I suppose.” She took a seat at the picnic table, letting Gabe know that events would follow her timetable, not his. “Aren’t you going to buy me a drink?”
“Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know.” Kate smirked. “For old times’ sake?”
Gabe scoffed. As far as he was concerned, nothing about their past life together was worth celebrating.
“I take it you got my letter,” she said.
“Is that why you’re here?”
“I tried phoning too, but you will ignore my calls.” Kate made a show of admiring her fingernails.
“You could have left a message.”
“Before or after you blocked my number? Let’s face it, you didn’t give me any choicebutto come and see you.” She paused. “Interesting.” She let her hand drop and gave Gabe a mocking look. “Maybe that was your plan all along? Maybe you still want me back?”
“Are you done?” Gabe asked. Because he was.
“All you had to do was open the envelope.”
When Kate first left, Gabe had lived in the hope that she might come back. Saying she needed some space, Gabe did everything in his power to try to make things right. He’d attempted to talk through their issues and when that didn’t work, he’d responded to her every whim. Whatever Kate wanted Kate got.
Of course she’d hint that there was a chance they could make things work, and such was Gabe’s love for her, he couldn’t see what everyone else saw. That she was playing him for all she could get. Gabe scoffed. Finding her with another man was the real icing on the cake. Up until then, she made him believe their relationship still had a future.
For a long time, the gut-wrenching pain of Kate’s infidelity would creep up, forcing Gabe to live the experience all over again. He tried to move on, but it took a long time for him to get over it. At one point, he wasn’t sure he ever would. Finally, his anguish began to fade, until one day he felt nothing.
Then out of the blue he met Hannah, with her ugly crying and her what you see is what you get attitude. She made him laugh without even trying and plucked obscure facts out of nowhere. For all her weirdness, Hannah had awakened the possibility of there being a real life after Kate. She made him feel things he never thought he’d feel again.
“Like I said. What do you want?”
