10. Gabby
It’s Sunday morning, which means the diner doesn’t open until eleven. I usually try to make it to church, but today I just didn’t feel like making the effort. I’m in my pajamas, my hair in a messy bun, drinking coffee from a mug I bought from the Coffee Loft this summer that says “Sip, Read, Repeat” with a stack of books. I grab my cozy mystery from the coffee table and scoot back onto the couch. May as well get lost in the story for a while.
I’m just to the good part, when there’s a knock at the door. What in the world? I slide my bookmark back in place—because, really, who dog-ears a book?—and set it back down next to my cold coffee. That’ll have to go back into the microwave.
There’s another knock at the door. “Coming,” I call. Hopefully, Mrs. Johnston didn’t lose her cat again. I don’t really want to spend the next hour walking around the house calling for Ms. Prittens. I swing the door open, ready to tell Mrs. Johnston I can’t help, when my mouth falls open and I squeak. I actually squeak.
“Can I come in?” Heath’s big brown eyes take in my pajamas and crazy hair. “Or is this a bad time?”
I close my mouth. At this point, he’s seen me in all my fleece-pajama glory. What difference does it make? We’re friends, right? That word feels like sandpaper in my brain.
“Sure,” I step back and motion for him to come inside. “I was just taking it easy before I go into work in a little bit.”
He nods and stuffs his hands in his pockets. “Thanks for the gifts.”
I feel my face heat. He knows it was from me? “You’re welcome. I think I forgot to put a card in it.” More like “didn’t put my name on it in case I needed to flee.”
“Yeah, I noticed.” His eyes roam my face. “Why didn’t you stay?”
I consider making up an excuse, but the pain in his eyes stops me. “I was overwhelmed,” I say. It’s the truth. “I saw you with Olivia and Zade, and . . . I don’t know. It was too much.”
He shakes his head. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. If I could go back and make sure you knew the truth before that day, I would.”
“I believe you,” I whisper.
“I never loved her. Not like you’re thinking. She’s a friend. She needed help. I couldn’t turn her away. You know that.”
I nod, tears sliding down my cheeks. “I know. It just hurts to see them with you because it brings back the pain from being dumped.” There, I said it.
He opens his mouth to argue and then closes it again. “I’m so sorry. It never should have happened. I shouldn’t have broken up with you. I thought I was doing you a favor by freeing you. We were so young, and I didn’t want you to put your life on hold for me.”
I swipe the tears from my cheeks. “We can’t change the past, Heath. All we can do is move forward.”
He reaches out and takes my hand. “I’d like to be friends again, but I’m going to tell you now, Gabby. I want more. I want it all. I wish I’d asked you to marry me that summer.”
My eyes snap to his. “You what?”
“I know we were young. We thought we had plenty of time, but I knew then that I wanted you forever.”
I shake my head. “No, we were kids. You couldn’t have known that,” I argue, but a voice in my head stops me. Didn’t you know?
I did.
I knew the day he left that my heart had gone with him.
“I did,” he insists. “I didn’t feel like I was good enough for you yet. Felt like I had to prove I could handle being a man, learn some skills to take care of you, of a family, before I asked you. So when you asked if we could keep it a secret from everyone, I agreed. I was stupid.”
“You weren’t stupid, Heath. You were young, barely an adult when you left.” I pull my hand from his and walk over to the couch, sitting down. “Things have a way of working out the way they are supposed to. Maybe we weren’t supposed to be together forever.”
He shakes his head. “I disagree. I want to prove to you that we still have that spark. That we still belong together, and if you don’t feel the same way . . . well, I’ll settle for being friends. Not having you in my life these past few years has been painful, Gabby.” He sits down on the opposite end of the couch. “So, I’d like to start by being friends. Real friends, not friendly acquaintances or whatever you called it the other day. I want to get to know the Gabby you are now.”
I take a minute to think about what he’s saying. “Friends.”
He nods.
“I can do that.”
“Great,” he says, pulling out his phone. “I don’t know if you got a new number, but mine is the same.”
I shake my head. “No, I have the same number.”
He looks at me, puzzled. “Then why didn’t you ever answer when I called or texted?”
I take a deep breath. “You broke my heart. I blocked your number.”
He nods. “Will you unblock me now?”
I stand and head to my room. Taking my phone off the charger, I open the contacts as I walk back into the living room. “Done,” I say, putting the phone in my pocket.
“And you’ll answer me?”
I hesitate, and he must take that as a no.
“How about we text for a while first? That way, you can answer me when you’re ready.”
“Okay.”
He glances down at his phone, taps the screen a few times, and puts it in his pocket. My phone chimes with an incoming text.
“All right, I’m going to go so you can get ready for work.” He walks to the front door. “I’ll talk to you later.” Then he slips outside, and he’s gone.
It’s the middle of the after-church rush, and the diner is packed. “Order up,” Ricky calls from behind the cook’s line.
“Thanks, Ricky,” I say, putting the plates on a tray.
“You got it,” he says, giving me a thumbs up before grabbing another ticket off the printer. “It’s hopping in here today.”
I nod. “Need anything?”
He grins. “I wouldn’t turn down a cold sweet tea when you get a chance.”
“I got it,” Patty says from beside me. “You take your food out.”
“Thanks,” Ricky and I say at the same time.
The rest of the day passes in a blur of faces. “Jeez,” Patty says, wiping her last table down. “I don’t think we’ve had a Sunday that busy since I started.”
Ms. Daisy walks by with the cash drawer, headed to the office to close out for the day. “It was just like old times, wasn’t it, Gabby?”
I smile as I fill the sugar containers on the counter in front of me. “Yes, it was.”
I finish my side work and help Patty with hers. “How’d you do?” she asks.
“I haven’t counted, but judging from how full my pocket is, I’d say I may have added enough to savings to get the garage door fixed.”
She giggles. “Any more trash-tastrophies?”
“No, thankfully. I’ve managed to keep the critters from knocking the cans over by duct taping the lids down.”
Ricky must overhear me from the kitchen because he busts out laughing. “You taped the lids onto your trash cans? I bet the trash guys love that.”
Patty’s giggles turn into a full belly laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Ms. Daisy asks, walking back to the front of the store.
“Gabby’s garage door isn’t working, and she’s taping the lids of her trash cans down to keep the critters out,” Patty says between laughs.
Ms. Daisy chuckles. “You should ask Heath to take a look for you. He’s always been handy with stuff like that.” Ms. Daisy shoots me a pointed look.
“I couldn’t,” I argue. “He’s busy enough with work and his mom. He doesn’t need to be worried about me, too.”
Ms. Daisy shakes her head. “If you don’t believe that boy worries about you day and night, you’re not as smart as I thought, young lady.”
Patty stops laughing and looks between Ms. Daisy and me like she’s watching a pickleball tournament. “Is that why he always sits where he can see you?” she asks. “I wondered if there was something there.”
“Nope,” I say, grabbing my purse off the counter. “Just friends.”
“Mm-hmm.” Ms. Daisy shakes her head. “And my apple pie is just okay.”
Needing to escape before this becomes any more awkward, I head to the front doors. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I push my way outside and head for the car. I turn my cell phone back on and wait for it to boot up. After I got another text from Heath at work today, I chickened out and turned the whole phone off. When the phone finishes doing its thing, I see I have three missed texts and a missed call.
I open the call history first. Spam. Of course.
Then I switch to the text app. Three messages. All from Heath.
Heath: Thank you for unblocking me.
That was the one he sent before leaving my house this morning.
Heath: I’ve started the book. You always did pick the best books.
My heart flutters. He started the book? Already? Something about that feels intimate. Books are my love language. After Heath and I broke up, I stopped reading romance and switched to Fantasy and Cozy Mystery. My heart couldn’t take someone else getting their “happily ever after” when mine had gone up in flames.
Heath: Would you like to go to the Fall Festival with me next month? As friends?
I put the phone back into my purse. I can’t sit in the parking lot all night staring at my phone. That would be weird. I pull out of the lot just as Ricky, Ms. Daisy, and Patty step out of the diner.
I pull into my driveway and groan. The trash bandits have struck again. Maybe asking Heath for help wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Especially since I’ve been saving up and can pay him.
I spend the next thirty minutes picking up and rebagging the trash from the yard. I don’t bother taping the lids. Apparently, the little buggers have figured out how to outmaneuver me.
Once the yard is clean, I head inside for a hot shower. What a day. I remember Heath’s texts while I’m getting into my pajamas. I head to the kitchen and make myself a snack of milk and cookies before grabbing my phone and settling onto the couch.
Gabby:I’m glad you like the book. I wasn’t sure if you still read thrillers.
There, I responded. Setting the phone down, I dunk a cookie into the milk and count to five. Any longer, and the cookie breaks, but any sooner, and it’s still crunchy. Tonight calls for soggy cookies.
My phone dings with an incoming text. I swipe it open.
Heath:I haven’t had a lot of time to read lately, but I’m happy to say I do still like thrillers.
Not sure what else to say, I set the phone down on the arm rest and dunk another cookie.
Heath:Did you want to think about the Fall Festival?
The cookie I’m eating goes down the wrong way and I sputter. When I’m sure I’m not going to choke to death, I take a sip of the milk to soothe my now-raw throat.
Gabby:I don’t know. Just the two of us feels like too much pressure.
Now I wait. I can’t risk being more than friends with him. No matter how much I want to. I can’t take getting hurt again. Going to the festival, even as friends, feels too much like a date.
Heath:Noted. I understand. Goodnight, Gabby.
I dunk another cookie. Being just friends is turning out to be harder than I expected.