Chapter One #4
‘Gabriel, I’m not following you.’ Jennifer was genuinely lost. She’d barely remembered what she’d ordered until it was now put in front of her.
Calamari. He sat back as some kind of salad was placed in front of him, but then he immediately leaned towards her and looked at her with an intensity that instantly made her wary.
Mostly because she felt as though she was missing some kind of vital link in the conversation.
His eyes were intent and serious. Up close like this, she could see the flecks of gold in the dark, dark depths. His dad had been a strikingly handsome Italian, so her mother had once absently told her, and Gabriel had obviously inherited those looks.
She frowned and tried to join the dots.
‘You’re asking me to come with you?’ Her frown deepened. ‘To look at a vineyard?’
‘I always welcome input,’ Gabriel murmured. ‘Although now that you mention it, I’ll admit that isn’t the only reason I’m asking.’
‘Gabriel, I wish you’d just tell me what’s going on.
First of all, you show up without warning, tell me that there’s nothing to worry about and that you’re not here because of your mother except…
you might be, and now you’ve decided that you want me to drop everything and head to a vineyard in Tuscany with you in a couple of days for no apparent reason. Can you get why I’m a little puzzled?’
Gabriel nodded.
He got it. Rarely was he at a loss as to what to say, but he was now, because he was about to wade into uncharted territory.
He and Jennifer had a relationship that had grown over the years, had become firmly rooted in mutual respect and honesty.
From kids through adolescence and into adulthood, with breaks in between when they weren’t in the same place at the same time, they had settled into a rhythm that worked for them both.
The relationship was quite unlike any relationship he had ever had with another woman.
But now…he was about to introduce change, even if that change wasn’t really going to alter anything.
He sighed and raked his fingers through his hair.
He pushed his plate to one side and looked at her carefully. In return, she pursed her lips in confusion.
‘My mother’s depressed,’ he said flatly.
‘She hasn’t let on anything of the sort to me over the phone in the past couple of weeks, and I’ve spoken to her daily, as you know, but on the last call, she couldn’t quite keep up the facade.
You touched on it earlier. It seems that the combination of cancer all those years ago and now this situation with her heart… ’
‘Oh, Lord,’ Jennifer said with a wince.
‘She said she’s staring mortality in the face, and she’s scared.’
‘But the consultant has said that everything is going great!’
‘You and I both know that, but the mind…’ Gabriel said drily, ‘…the mind can be irrational once fear takes hold, and that seems to be the case now. She’s getting lost in thoughts of past regrets and, more importantly, things she feels she will die without achieving.’
‘Like what?’
‘Seeing me find myself a good woman and settle down.’
Jennifer didn’t say anything, but personally, she thought his mother had a point.
Would Gabriel ever find himself a good woman and settle down?
He’d certainly never shown a single sign of doing any such thing in all the years she had known him.
In fact, he’d always given the impression of being actively turned off by the idea.
She’d never asked him what, exactly, his problem was with commitment. She raised both eyebrows now and tried not to smirk.
‘Well, you’d best start looking, then,’ she advised tartly. ‘I’m sure your pool of potential candidates is extensive. Might take you a few years to wade through it and narrow down your options.’
‘I have no intention of doing anything of the sort, but it’s important my mother doesn’t lose sleep over this. With her recent heart problems, the last thing she needs is stress. And so here’s where you come in.’
Jennifer was busily imagining what tiny blonde pocket rocket he might consider making his wife and quickly discovered that she didn’t like the thought.
Was she so averse to the status quo between them changing?
If so, then that was ridiculous. Everything in life changed over time.
Certainly things would change between them anyway just as soon as she found herself a suitable partner!
Gabriel might be a commitment-phobe when it came to women, but she had no such hang-ups when it came to men.
If she hadn’t found Mr Right yet, then she was looking in the wrong places.
She only surfaced to hear the back end of what he was saying. When it finally registered, her eyes widened, and she stared at him open-mouthed.
‘A charade,’ he was telling her smoothly. ‘Just until my mother is back to her normal self.’
‘Sorry…what?’
‘She needs something to lift her spirits.’
‘Okay, you’ve lost me.’
‘How have I lost you? Have you been listening to a word of what I’ve just said?’
‘My mind may have drifted.’
‘How you manage to be such a great teacher is a mystery if you lose focus after five seconds.’ He looked at her indulgently with fond amusement, but then the smile dropped, and he was utterly serious.
‘My mother needs something to look forward to, Jen—and you and I? We could give her that. Together. Two people in love, in just the sort of relationship she wants for me. The two of us ready to settle down…’