20. Diego
Chapter Twenty
DIEGO
Gabriel attempted to slam the door of the passenger side of the small plane. It was a weak effort because the doors were lightweight and didn’t give a satisfying slam. I put my headset on and ran through all the pre-flight checks quickly.
Only after we were in the air did I ask, “Why so cranky?”
Gabriel slid his eyes sideways to meet my gaze, irritation evident in the tense lines at the corners and the set of his mouth. He put his headset on. We had a private channel where we could chat when we were flying. “Nora and I had a fight.”
That was the closest Gabriel had come to admitting out loud he and Nora had a thing going. They kept it pretty well hidden from Flynn, but not so much with the rest of us.
“About what?”
He was quiet for a minute and then finally offered, “I told her I never planned to get serious. I thought that was already obvious. She got really fucking pissed off with me about it.”
“Ah, I see. You were planning for this to be a long-term friends with benefits situation?”
His sigh filtered through the headphones. “I guess I wasn’t really planning. That’s part of the problem.”
“That, and you two are sneaking around like kids trying to hide from their parents,” I offered with a chuckle.
He groaned. “I know. This whole thing came up because she told me she was tired of sneaking around and wanted to be open about our relationship. She also said she had feelings she hadn’t planned on. I said we didn’t have a relationship. That set her off.”
“Nora’s pretty awesome. Why wouldn’t you want to consider something more with her?”
“Dude, you know my deal. After what happened with Greg, I’m all set with commitment and relationships.”
I angled the plane, watching the sunlight glittering on the bay below us, spread out in its sparkling glory with the mountains hugging its edges. “Seems pretty cynical to me,” I offered. “So, Greg screwed around with Elias’s ex and yours. Elias has moved on. Why can’t you?”
Gabriel chuckled. “Really? You’re as cynical as me. Out of all of us, you’re the most likely to fall in love and settle down like your parents. And yet, because your first serious girlfriend pulled a fast one on your family, you won’t even give it a second thought.”
Okay, that stung a little, but I absorbed the sharp blow. “Fair point. Maybe I’m trying to see past that.”
“With Gemma?”
“Sure. Obviously, I don’t know what’s going to happen with her, but I like her.”
“Well, that much is obvious,” Gabriel replied with a sly laugh.
Our conversation was interrupted with a radio in about an extra pickup for some passengers who needed to get across the bay to Diamond Creek for a doctor’s appointment. After that, our day was flat out busy, and we didn’t dwell on our respective relationship issues. I did wonder just how tense things would be back at the resort when Nora and Gabriel were in the same room. But that wasn’t really my problem. My only problem was curbing my impatience to go see Gemma.
My old habit of keeping my distance reared its head though. We landed earlier than expected, and I didn’t know if Gemma was free. I didn’t give in to my impatience and went out to the resort that night. I did make an appearance at dinner there, and Gabriel and Nora were icy-cold to each other. I wondered how long that would hold.