6. Be Off Limits
BE OFF LIMITS
“Justine, he’s a widower.”
“Seriously,” her sister-in-law said, bringing her a cup of coffee. Only her second one of the day and it’d be her last. An afternoon treat.
She’d crashed into bed last night at nine thirty, thrilled that there were no calls for her to respond to and didn’t wake until ten this morning now that she had ten days off.
Had she told Luca he could reach out if he had a question on anything today? Sure. She had. It was the professional, polite thing to do.
Not that she wanted to talk to him some more. That’s what she was lying to herself about.
Nope. She’d spent over an hour digging online after she’d found out more about him.
“Yeah. You met him. He’s really nice. Funny. We laughed a lot. You know how much I’d hate having to spend the day with some stuffy, stuck-up person.”
Justine laughed. “That was me before I met your brother.”
“No way,” she said. “I don’t buy it. You were just shy. That’s different.”
“True. Tell me more about Luca.”
Gabriela wrapped her other hand around the outside of the mug, warming her fingers some. She should be home getting ready for trick or treating tomorrow, but she really needed to talk to someone.
Her first year on the island for it and couldn’t wait to hand out the candy.
“I’m putting him late thirties, I think. I could see right away he’d had a ring on his finger not that long ago, and I thought maybe he’d gotten divorced or something.”
“So it had to have happened recently?” Justine asked.
“Two years ago. I was surprised to hear that. It just told me how hard it had to have been on him.”
“That’s sad. I can’t even imagine how I’d feel. What happened to her, do you know?”
“I was bad and spent a few hours looking him up. I knew where he was from. He said she’d died in a fire while he was at work one night.”
“That’s terrible. They didn’t have smoke alarms or anything?”
“That’s the thing. They did. There was no power, so they weren’t working.
I’m assuming they didn’t have a backup, I don’t know.
I don’t think of those things. It said that she had candles lit and had taken a migraine pill and was sleeping.
One of the candles she’d had lit must have caught fire.
The article said she’d died from smoke inhalation. ”
Gabriela wasn’t sure they’d post anything else if that wasn’t the case.
“That’s even worse,” Justine said. “I’m assuming they didn’t have children? I hope you aren’t going to say anyone else died in the fire.”
“No kids listed and he said he came here alone.”
She saw a picture of Zoe Brewer. Cute, petite, thin and muscular. She’d owned a yoga studio.
Made her wonder if Luca did yoga. He didn’t seem the type to her, but what did she really know about him?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing more than how he handled his job on the first day.
Or that he laughed at her antics.
Not even antics, just her personality.
He seemed to get her when few others did.
Could be why she got nosier and asked things she rarely did.
And what did she get for her inquisitive nature?
Sadness.
So that meant he’d be off limits.
Not that she thought there could be more, but hey, stranger things could happen.
He’d appeared single. She was.
But the fact that it took him two years to remove a wedding band said he might still be grieving.
She couldn’t get involved in something like that. She had enough drama in her life when it came to men.
“That’s really sad,” Justine said. “How did he seem after he told you?”
“I don’t know. I was too busy hoping that I wasn’t going to choke on my dinner and then say something insensitive or crack a joke.”
“You’d never do that.”
“Not on purpose,” she said emphatically.
But good intentions didn’t always get followed through either.
“It won’t affect him doing a great job,” Justine said. “How was he with the patients?”
“Wonderful. He used humor like me. He related with the boys well with sports. I think we are going to be similar with how we practice.”
She noticed he had some funky bright colored socks on but didn’t want to stare. It was only when he sat before her in the cafeteria.
So he tried to have something bright or funny in his life.
“That’s always a good thing.”
“It’s not as if we will work together, but we are colleagues. And Hudson was thrilled because Luca can work in the ER. So on the weekends when he’s working, he has an extra set of hands, not just me or Jessie there filling in with children.”
“Sounds like it’s going to work out then. Is he living on the island or in Boston?”
“The island,” she said. “We talked little more other than he was surprised he found a place but realized he couldn’t be fussy either. He’s been here less than a week and finally unpacked.”
“That’s a lot of conversation to have in a day,” Justine said, grinning at her.
“We were together for sixteen hours. Most of it was spent with patients. Well, at least in the office. In the hospital we weren’t as busy.
He ended up leaving around seven. I told him there was no reason for him to stay.
There were only two kids on the unit by then and he’d be working on his own for the next five days. This weekend in the ER on top of it.”
“So getting thrown right to it,” Justine said.
Her shoulders lifted. “It’s how the rotation fell.”
“Okay, tell me about that dating thing you did last week. That is why I thought you were coming over.”
She shivered. “I’m trying to push it from my mind. It was almost gone until you just asked me. Now I’m going to have nightmares again.”
Justine giggled. “I want to say it’s not that bad, but having been single not that many years ago, I know exactly how bad it is. Especially when you’re a woman in a male-dominated field. I got sick of men looking down on me like I’m some angel or ditzy blonde.”
“You are an angel. Not ditzy though,” she said. “You held your own with me.”
“I’ll never forget the first time we met when you showed up while I was working.”
Her eyebrows wiggled. “I was only protecting my brother. He’d had it rough with women in his past. He’s a softie.”
“He is and I love every minute of it, but he’d be insulted if you called him that.”
“I’ve called him soft before. We know he likes to avoid those heavy conversations.” Or to worry about conflict, but Garrett did it when he had to.
Gabriela, she never worried about conflict.
Didn’t have a problem telling anyone the way it was.
Even parents, but she was more tactful on the job.
Her personal life was another story.
“I’m not much different from your brother, but we’ve made it work.”
“Maybe someday I’ll find someone to make it work with,” she said, letting out an exaggerated sigh.
“But it’s not going to be at one of those things.
Not unless I’m open to nose pickers, multiple children with different baby mamas, or one-night stands.
Oh wait, I totally forgot about the guy with a hole in his shirt.
That was the first one. All I could think of was he didn’t even look in the mirror before he left. ”
“Are those really some of the guys you talked to?” Justine asked, cringing.
“Not all. There was one with a dead tooth front and center.”
Her sister-in-law was shaking her head. “You would have struggled there too.”
“I did.” She sipped her coffee again. “To be fair, that was only a handful. There were just as many that were average. They had jobs, or I assumed they did. I don’t normally ask that, and if they bring it up, it’s a flag to me. I don’t volunteer what I do.”
“As you shouldn’t,” Justine said. “And you’re right, if they say what they do and ask, it means they are judging on that.”
“It’s why I hate those things. I want to get to know someone’s personality. I don’t even mind if they come up with something quirky as a question.”
“You’d appreciate that more.”
“I would. It’d tell me they had a sense of humor.
But I get the freaky off-limits ones that make me need to bathe after talking to them, or are so boring they almost put me to sleep.
I don’t want to find out what kind of music or movies someone watches.
That’s boring. Be more original in your ten minutes to suss out information. ”
“Not everyone thinks like that.”
“Nope, and that is why they were perfectly fine men, but just not my man.”
If she ever found hers.
It wasn’t going to be doing all that crap so it was time to stick to her guns.
Time to focus on her. What she liked to do. What she found fun in.
Like handing out candy to trick or treaters that she’d missed for years having been working.
“If I’ve learned one thing, it’s that when you least expect to find something, that’s when it lands right in front of your face. Doing something different tends to be a distraction at least.”
“You mean like moving here for a new job?” she asked. “You did and found Garrett.”
“I think your brother found me,” Justine said. “And every single day I’m thankful for it.”
She reached over and rubbed her hand on Justine’s arm. “I’m thankful for it too. I got the sister I never thought I wanted.”
Justine laughed. “I think that’s a compliment.”
“Totally,” she said. “See, you get me.”
“And you’ll find the guy who does someday too.”
“Here’s hoping.”