Chapter 26
BOXED IN
Clover
Even though I miss Maverick, I have New Year’s with him to look forward to, and it’s nice to spend time with my family. Everything is going great until Gabriel shows up on Christmas Day—conveniently an hour before dinner. And in true Gabriel fashion, he arrives laden with gifts and flowers.
My mother ushers him into the kitchen, where I’m busy pouring holiday sangria into glasses. I’m so shocked—though I probably shouldn’t be—that I drop the glass I’m holding, and it shatters on the floor.
I also lose my filter. “What the hell are you doing here?”
My mother rushes over to help with the glass, mouthing I’m sorry, but I put up a hand. “It’s all over the floor. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
The room is suddenly tense with the awkwardness of the situation. My mother hates to be rude, and I’m sure she has no idea how to handle this—not to mention still wrapping her mind around it.
When I first left Gabriel, my parents thought it was temporary, but I made them promise not to tell him where I was or give him any information regarding my whereabouts.
I know my parents support my decision to leave him now, even if it took them a while to fully understand how awful my marriage became.
But none of that changes the fact that he’s currently in their home.
I cross the room, heading for the closet where we keep the broom, but Gabriel stops me. “Stay where you are, love. I wouldn’t want you to end up hurt.”
I ignore him and bend to pick up the bigger shards, setting them carefully on an empty plate on the counter. I’m about to bend again, but his arm encircles my waist, and he lifts me off my feet. Gabriel fireman-carries me around the island, then sets to cleaning up the mess.
My mother and Nicki, my brother’s girlfriend, stand off to the side, seeming unsure what to do.
Nicki hasn’t been around long enough to know Gabriel, and he’s generally not a topic of conversation.
He dumps the pieces in the garbage, then grabs a fresh glass from the cupboard, all while chatting with my mother and Nicki like it’s totally normal that he’s showed up out of the blue.
“Are you visiting your parents?” my mother asks, trying desperately to be polite.
“I am. I have some business in town, so it made it easy to spend a few days with them.”
“How are Sylvie and Jacob? I haven’t seen them since we ran into you in the fall.”
I glance between my mother and Gabriel, tugging at the collar of my shirt. It’s suddenly hard to breathe. “When was this?” I ask.
My mother waves a hand in the air. “A while back. Early October, maybe. We were at the same restaurant. They invited us to join them.” Again, there’s apology in her voice.
I wonder if that’s how Gabriel found out I was in Chicago.
It would make sense, timeline-wise. As upset as I’d like to be, I’m aware that Gabriel is very good at getting information out of people and then using it against them.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask my mom. I could really use that drink now.
“You weren’t being very reasonable at the time, were you, now, love?
” Gabriel cuts in. “I was still hoping things would change.” He crosses the room and folds my hands around the glass, his gaze dropping to my throat.
He reaches out and fingers the crane charm on my necklace, and it’s everything I can do not to throw the wine in his face and slap him.
“Don’t touch me,” I grit through clenched teeth.
The right side of his mouth quirks up in a smile as he lets it drop back into place. “Is that new?”
“It was a gift from Sophia.” I clasp it between my fingers.
“Hmm . . . Interesting. Seems a very intimate gift from a friend.”
“We’ll give you two a minute,” my mother says.
“I’ll be right out to join you,” I call after her. As soon as I hear the door to the back porch close, I take a step back.
"Where did that necklace really come from?”
I ignore the question. “You need to leave. Now.”
“That would be rude, considering your mother invited me to stay for a drink.” He picks up his glass of scotch, ice tinkling as he takes a sip. “She’s very worried about you, you know.”
“You need to stay the hell away from my family.” I remind myself that he likes to twist words, and that he’s likely trying to stir up shit and make me question my parents’ loyalty. “And me.”
“Darling, you need to calm down. I came here because I wanted to wish you a merry Christmas. It’s the holidays. I’ll have this one drink and leave.”
He doesn’t give me a chance to respond, just turns around and heads for the back porch.
And he doesn’t stay for one drink. In fact, he stays for dinner, because his parents celebrate on Christmas Eve and they’re out with friends tonight, he explains.
And he doesn’t really give my parents an opportunity to say no.
During dinner, Gabriel presents as the charismatic man I naively fell in love with, and it’s infuriating.
The only person who seems to see him clearly at the moment is my brother, Blaine, but when his girlfriend ends up sauced before dessert, they head back to their hotel, leaving me with Gabriel and my parents.
I help my mother clear the table, and my dad, ever oblivious, invites Gabriel out back to look at his new lawn tractor. It’s the first time since Gabriel arrived that he hasn’t been glued to my side—apart from the two minutes I was in the bathroom.
My mother looks over my shoulder, making sure we’re alone, but I shake my head and grab her hand, pulling her down the hall to her bedroom. I close the door behind us, lock it, then continue to the bathroom, putting the barrier of extra doors between us and prying ears.
I hate how paranoid I am right now.
“What’s going on?” Mom asks as I press my back against the door.
“He makes me feel like I’m losing my mind.”
“Honey, are you okay?” Her hands come to rest on my shoulders. “What is happening right now? I thought you two were getting a divorce. Did you change your mind?”
I’m relieved to hear that the optimism her voice once held during conversations about Gabriel is no longer there. I shake my head. “No! Gabriel showing up out of the blue seems to be his new go-to tactic. Why didn’t you tell me you ran into him in the fall?”
She drops her hands and clasps them in front of her. “You were so happy about your position at Hawking, and I didn’t want to upset you. It seemed coincidental. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything.”
I nod. “It’s okay.”
Her fingers go to her lips. “I shouldn’t have invited him in for a drink. I was just surprised, and I thought . . . I don’t know. He acted like you were expecting him. I’m so sorry, Clover. I didn’t realize he was making this so difficult.”
“It’s not your fault. He’s good at manipulating people and situations and turning on the charm when he wants to.”
“Do you want me to get your father to ask him to leave?”
I shake my head. “It’s fine. I can tell him.”
But when Gabriel finally does leave, he returns a minute later to report that he has two flat tires and needs to call AAA. It’s another three hours and going on midnight before the tow truck finally comes. I end up having to tell Maverick I can’t call and not to message until I contact him.
By the time Gabriel is gone, it’s after one in the morning. And then I can’t find my phone, so of course I start panicking. My paranoia reaches new heights when I find it in the driveway, the screen cracked. Did I drop it, or did it end up under Gabriel’s tires on purpose?
The next morning, I drop my phone off to be repaired, but my mom has a day planned for the two of us, and by the time we’re done, the store is already closed, so I’m not able to pick it up until the next day.
It puts me on edge because it means I can’t reach out to Maverick to let him know what’s happening.
I fake exhaustion early that evening and disappear into the bedroom so I can finally call him.
I’m on the fence about telling him what happened, worried about his reaction, but feeling very much like I could use his support.
If there wasn’t a flight between us, I’d want to go to him right now.
As it is, my heart skips like a scratched record when his face appears on the screen.
“I’m sorry for the cryptic messages, but there were some issues.
” I check to make sure my door is locked.
I’ve been paranoid over the last two days, worried Gabriel is going to show up again.
“What kind of issues? What’s going on that all I got was radio silence for almost three days?” He rubs his bottom lip, and while his voice is even, I can see the hurt in his eyes.
“Can we talk about it when I see you?” I start biting my nail but realize they’re going to be stubs if I’m not careful.
“Is this going to be one of those situations where you want to see me so you can tell me we’re done?” he asks softly.
“No! That’s not—I don’t want to upset you.” Of course that’s where his head has gone. It’s where mine would go if I received the same message from him.
“Hey. What happened that’s got you so rattled?”
I bite the inside of my cheek, knowing I can’t keep this from him. “You’re not going to like this.”
“I’m going to like not knowing less,” he counters.
“Gabriel showed up at my parents’ place on Christmas Day, and he invited himself to stay for dinner.” I feel like now would be a good time for Maverick to teach me how to make those origami cranes.
He nods somberly. “Yeah. You’re right. I’m not happy about that. What was he doing in Florida?” He cracks his jaw. “Should I be worried?” He taps his lips, clearly stressed by the situation. I don’t want to make that worse for him.
“His parents live here, and he was visiting them for the holidays. And no, I don’t think you need to be worried. I’m just . . . frustrated and paranoid. I want to see you for New Year’s, but I’m concerned he’s going to show up at my house back in Chicago.”
He nods slowly. “Then why don’t we go to your place in Pearl Bay?”
“They don’t plow my road very often in the winter.”
“What about snowmobile access? Could we get in that way?”
“I think so, but I don’t have one.”
“I do. Can you give me the address? I’ll get everything ready. And I can even pick you up at the airport.”
I hesitate. “It’s a lot of driving for you.”
“I’d drive halfway across the country for a night with you at this point. Back and forth to the airport is nothing.”
My heart skips a beat and warmth floods my body. This feels so much better than the mind games Gabriel plays. “Okay. New Year’s in Pearl Bay it is.”