Page 38 of Coming Home to Wishington Bay
‘Good. And thank you for saying that about me too. Although I find that a lot harder to believe about myself than Gigi. I’m not exactly known for my unguarded personality. I don’t always find it easy to open up to people.’
‘Well, maybe that says more about those people than it does about you. Gigi told me you were one of the most caring, warmest people she’d ever known.’
‘She had to say that,’ I said, laughing. ‘I was her only granddaughter.’
‘Gigi never seemed the kind to say or think something just because she thought that’s what convention said she was supposed to.’
‘That’s very true. I loved that about her. Her independence of thinking, especially when her generation wasn’t exactly encouraged to think like that.’
I flopped back against the soft cushion backing. ‘You were right that first day we met. I should have come down more often. Seen her more often.’
‘Oh, no, no, Holly!’ Gabe sat up. ‘Please, do me a favour and forget everything about that first meeting. I was way out of line and I … I suppose I just got a shock at seeing someone else in this house again, and it brought back how much I missed her and, well, basically I was just a dick.’
‘No, you weren’t. But maybe we should make a deal that we both just forget everything about that first meeting.’
‘Sounds good.’ He paused a moment before taking the hand I held out to shake. ‘Do I have to forget everything about that first meeting?’
‘Everything!’ I laughed, feeling the pink that now tinged my cheeks but accepting it as a deal for seeing more sparkle than sadness in Gabe’s eyes than there had been when he’d first got home.
‘Spoilsport. But OK. Deal.’
‘I’m just going to pop these bits in the kitchen. I’ll be back in a sec.’
‘I’ll give you a hand,’ he said, beginning to rise off the sofa, but I stopped him, my hand resting on one muscled shoulder.
‘No, just sit there. You look shattered. I won’t be a minute.’ He hesitated but I gave him a look that Ned had told me always reminded him of Gigi. I guess it worked because Gabe sat back on the sofa, just as I’d asked.
I popped the mugs on the side and put the muffin tin up on a shelf, laughing as I noticed Bryan asleep upside down in his bed, front paws dangling, accompanied by a very soft snore.
‘I don’t think your master’s far behind you,’ I whispered, tucking Petey back in the bed as he was currently hanging half in and half out. Closing the kitchen’s patio door, I then returned to the living room. My words to the dog had been more accurate than I could have supposed. Gabe’s eyes were closed and from the steady rise and fall of his chest, he’d already gone way past ‘light snooze’, but I thought I’d try anyway.
‘Gabe?’ I called, tentatively. Nothing.
‘Gabe?’ I tried again, a little louder. Not a sausage.
He’d half twisted on the sofa earlier, when he’d turned to me to apologise about his words on our first meeting, and he was still in that position, his legs stretched out at an angle to him. I sat on the floor and made a scoop with my hands, which I then used to lift Gabe’s legs up on to the sofa, putting them at a better angle to his body so that, when he did wake up, he would at least be able to walk. Still there was not the slightest sign of stirrings. His long hours, combined with whatever loss or trauma his team had suffered today, had clearly wrung him out completely.
I lifted the throw that hung over the arm of the sofa, and gently laid it over him before closing up and switching off the lamp. Moonlight made a puddle near the sofa and I pulled the light cotton curtains I’d put up across, although I knew from my own experience over the last few nights, those didn’t keep the light out all that effectively in the mornings.
That was a point! How lucky I’d had the carpet fitters in today and they’d been kind enough to help me put the furniture back where I wanted it so that I was able to return to sleeping in my own room tonight. Last night, I’d been lying exactly where my ridiculously good-looking neighbour was now. My mind began twirling with what-ifs and I quickly grabbed one of the cookery books I’d brought down so that I’d have something to focus on while I sat in bed waiting to drift off. Something other than the fact I had Gabe McKinley on my sofa, and that, as I’d placed the throw over him, there was a part of me that had wanted him to wake and gently pull me down to lie there with him.
Chapter 8
I woke early but, as I soon realised on getting downstairs, not early enough. Gabe was gone, along with Bryan, and his bed. On the coffee table, he’d written a note on the back of a junk-mail envelope I’d not yet put in the recycling.
Dear Holly,
Really sorry. Dinner was great and thanks again for looking after Bryan.
See you soon
Gabe
At the bottom was the name of the book he’d mentioned last night. I sat for a moment, my hands on my chin, elbows resting on my knees and feeling a little out of sorts. Even though it had only been a few hours, having them both here last night had seemed so … natural. It had felt comfortable and – as I’d hinted to Gabe – that definitely wasn’t the norm when it came to me and houseguests. Not that I could remember the last time I’d had a houseguest, apart from Paul of course, but he didn’t count because I was trying not to think about him at all.
‘Right!’ I said, clapping my hands to my knees. ‘That’s enough of all that ridiculousness. Time for a walk, and then breakfast.’ I glanced at the paper again and then tapped the name of the book into my shopping list. If I took my walk from the beach into the village, I could drop into the bookshop there, and see if they had it. Over two floors, it was a veritable TARDIS, and one of the best kinds, as it was filled with books.
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