Chapter 40
LAILA
It was now Friday – our last full day at the hotel – and Gabriel had just left our table at the Love Hotel’s restaurant to go to the toilet.
Yesterday was a busy and much more enjoyable day. After wasting the whole of the previous day in a slump and ruining Gabriel’s day too, all because of something that happened over two decades ago, I was determined to make the most of the time I had left in the South of France.
I still couldn’t believe what a sweetheart Gabriel had been. The way that he held me and took care of me when I was feeling so low that I could barely speak let alone move, then ran me a bath, set up an audiobook, washed and oiled me before putting me to bed was just incredible.
I didn’t have the words to express my gratitude. But I was going to try to show it, so I’d ordered breakfast, brought it back to the villa and sat outside on the patio.
Determined to enjoy our last day together, we’d taken the Ferrari, which as Ricky had assumed was Gabriel’s car (still couldn’t get my head around the fact that he had money) and he’d driven me to a gorgeous ancient village.
Once we returned in the evening, we’d eaten dinner under the stars on our patio, then went to bed where we made love.
As corny as making love sounded, it was an accurate description. Somehow last night was different to all of the other times. It was slow and sensual and deep.
When he was inside me, it didn’t feel like a man I was just hooking up with.
It felt like more.
And that was because that was exactly what it was.
More.
Hook-ups didn’t hold your braids back and take care of you whilst you were throwing up.
They didn’t plan extravagant celebrations to make up for the pathetic way you marked your milestone birthday the previous year.
Flings didn’t hold you whilst you cried over the abandonment of your parents or wash you in the bath when you were too weak and sad to do it yourself.
No. As much as I’d tried to avoid it, I’d fallen head over heels for Gabriel.
How could I not? He really was the total package.
Saying goodbye tomorrow was going to be harder than I’d ever imagined. But despite the pain that I knew was coming, I still wouldn’t change my decision to be with him this past week for the world.
‘What time will we be leaving tonight?’ Gabriel asked as he returned to the table.
‘I think around six, but I need to double-check with Jasmine.’
‘You sure you don’t want me to drive or organise anything?’
‘Nope! You’ve already done so much for me during this trip, so this is my chance to do something for you.’
‘D’accord. But if you change your mind…’
‘I won’t. Actually, now we’ve finished lunch, I should find Jasmine to check on a few things. I’ll let you know when I’ve finished so we can go for a walk on the beach.’
‘Bien. A toute à l’heure.’ He leant forward and kissed me softly on the lips. As soon as our mouths met, I instantly wished I could just stay here and continue our kiss but I needed to leave to make sure everything was on track for tonight.
I headed to Jasmine’s office and knocked on the door.
‘Come in!’
‘Hi!’ I said as I entered. ‘How are you?’
‘I’m great! I just got off the phone with Stella – my friend who got engaged at the opening night party.’
‘Yes! That was so romantic. I’m really happy for them.’
‘Me too. They were made for each other. They’re thinking about having the wedding in our resort in Santorini that’s opening soon, which would be amazing.’
‘Wow. I’ve always wanted to go there,’ I said.
‘It’s gorgeous,’ Jasmine added. ‘Who knows, like I said on stage, maybe you’ll have a wedding there in the future.’ A cheeky smile touched her lips.
‘I’m pretty sure you and your partner will be walking down the aisle a lot sooner than me. I’m not even in a relationship.’
‘No?’ Jasmine’s face creased. ‘But you and Gabriel are perfect together.’
‘He’s amazing, but I’m going back to London tomorrow and he’ll be in Paris, so…’
‘I’m sure you can make it work. We have lots of couples from different countries who do.
Like Sammie and Romeo, for example. He was from Italy and she was from London and they found a way.
A great man is hard to find, so when you fall in love with one, like you have with Gabriel, don’t let him slip through your fingers. ’
‘Love?’ My voice went up several octaves. ‘I care for him a lot, but people can’t fall in love in two weeks!’
Now that I thought about it, I wasn’t even sure I’d ever been in love. What I had with Ricky’s dad was just a teenage infatuation that fizzled out long before Ricky was born. And the relationships I’d had since then were lacklustre at most.
This fortnight with Gabriel was on a whole different level, but just because he’d swept me off my feet it didn’t mean that it was love.
Surely it took months to have those feelings.
‘You’d be surprised!’ Jasmine said. ‘It happens all the time at our hotels. Some people joke that there’s some kind of magic love dust floating in the air that speeds up the process, but really I think it’s because two weeks here is probably the equivalent to a few months in the real world.
Think about it. When you first date someone, you might see them once or twice a week.
So in a month, you’ve maybe seen them half a dozen times.
Here, you’re with them all day, every day for a week and then you live together for another week. It speeds up the whole process.’
‘Makes sense,’ I nodded. ‘And the fancy surroundings must help.’
‘Definitely,’ Jasmine grinned. ‘All I’m saying is, don’t rule anything out.
Instead of seeing challenges, barriers and obstacles, think about the opportunities and what you stand to lose.
Take it from someone who almost missed the chance to be with the love of my life because I was worried about a stupid age gap. ’
I remembered that Sammie had mentioned something about that before.
‘Does it really not cause any issues for you?’
‘Not at all. In many ways, Alejandro is more mature than me sometimes!’ She laughed.
‘Gabriel’s very wise too. He’s a lot smarter and responsible than men I know who are much older.’
‘Exactly.’
‘It’s more than just the age in terms of maturity though. It’s about life stage. If he wants to go clubbing every night or start a family, that’s not going to work. Those days are over for me. It’s also complicated because his mum is my best friend and I know she won’t be happy if we got together.’
But the thing was, for some reason, I cared a lot less than I did before.
Yes, she paid for me to come here, so in some ways, ironically, I wouldn’t have started falling for Gabriel if it wasn’t for her, so I’d always be grateful. But Gabriel and I had a connection. He was special so, like Jasmine said, I didn’t want to let him slip through my fingers.
Plus, for some reason, Gabriel had implied several times that Juliette wasn’t as perfect as I’d always believed. I had no idea what she’d done to upset him, but he seemed to suggest that it meant that she wouldn’t have the right to question us getting involved.
‘I know it sounds selfish,’ Jasmine added, ‘but sometimes you have to do what’s best for you.
Sometimes we can’t help who we fall in love with.
And you’re not doing anything wrong. You’re both consenting adults and it’s your lives, not your friend’s.
If she really cares about you, she’ll be happy for you. ’
‘True.’
‘And as for the other stuff about partying and having kids, speak to Gabriel, see what he says.’
‘I will,’ I said, thinking it would be a difficult conversation, but one that we needed to have.
There was no point thinking about whether we could find a way to make this work if our future goals weren’t even aligned.
Yep.
Tonight we had to have a serious talk and decide where we went from here.
This time tomorrow would I be saying goodbye to Gabriel temporarily until we visited each other again, or forever?