Chapter 10
TEN
HALLIE
When I wake up, it takes me a moment to realize I’m not in my own bed. Although the new mattress out in the guesthouse is comfortable enough, it has nothing on this one.
I allow myself an extra minute under the covers before I slip out of bed, leaving the warmth behind. Thankfully, Gabe’s side is empty. I’m not sure what I would have done if I had to face him like this. It’s bad enough that he found me in such a vulnerable position last night.
It’s not a secret to my friends that the wind scares me. But I try to keep the extent of my fear to myself. I’ve been relatively successful—until last night.
Last night, Gabe learned more than I ever wanted him to know. Now I need to figure out how to forget about it so the next time I see him, I can act somewhat normally.
I tiptoe across the floor and into the bathroom. Shutting the door as quietly as possible, I wince when the hinges give a slight whine. I avoid the mirror entirely, not wanting to know how bad the bags under my eyes are. My guess is they’re pretty big.
As much as it pains me to part with it, I pull Gabe’s shirt off and toss it in the hamper in the corner.
Then I grab my shirt and tug it over my head.
It’s a little stiff from air drying, but I don’t plan to be wearing it for long.
I only need to get downstairs and out the back door without being seen.
Perhaps I haven’t exactly left my cowardly ways behind.
After I switch out Gabe’s sweats for my pajama pants, I creep out of the bathroom and into the hallway.
I go slowly past Abbie’s bedroom. The door is still closed, so I’m assuming she is still asleep.
The last thing I need is her finding me sneaking out of her dad’s bedroom.
That would lead to questions. Ones I don’t have good answers to.
I cringe each time the stairs creak beneath my feet. Peering down into the foyer, I see no sign of Gabe, which means I may be able to make a clean getaway after all.
I hit the bottom of the stairs and silently head down the back hallway. Just as I reach my shoes, a voice stops me in my tracks.
“Sneaking out on me, Foster?”
Damn it .
I turn on my heel to face Gabe. He’s leaning against the archway into the kitchen, tattooed arms crossed over his chest. The sight makes my brain short-circuit for a second. How can one man look that good? Even slightly rumpled from sleep. Especially slightly rumpled from sleep.
I shrug and then cross my own arms, still very aware that I’m not wearing a bra. “Just wasn’t sure what the morning after protocol was. I’ve never spent the night in your bed before.”
He hums. “Consider it a practice run, then.”
Now my brain truly does short-circuit. Because that sounds a lot like flirting—like something the Gabe from ten years ago would say, just to see the blush coat my cheeks. If he’s up to his old ways, it sure as hell is working. I can feel the heat rush to my face…and other places.
Friends . We’re friends. We agreed. Besides, I was the one who ran away last time. I doubt Gabe has been waiting all this time for me.
I flounder for something to say, but he thankfully beats me to it. “C’mon,” he says, turning back to the kitchen. “I made you breakfast.”
I glance over my shoulder at the door to the backyard. So close . I was so close to making my escape. And now my body is betraying me by listening to his command yet again. I follow him and sit on one of the stools at the island while he crosses to the stove.
I watch the muscles in Gabe’s back move as he grabs a plate and starts to arrange whatever food he made.
“Oh,” I say, when I see what he’s plating. “Bacon. I don’t?—”
“You don’t eat meat. I remember.” He turns from the stove and slides the plate toward me. “It’s veggie bacon.”
My jaw drops. “How did you get that? I asked Gordon if he could order some for the store and he said no.”
Dealing with the crotchety manager of the only grocery store on the island is one thing I did not miss while I was gone. When I was a teenager, working for Gordon was horrid. Safe to say he’s only gotten worse, if that situation with the Alpha-getti is anything to go by.
Gabe shakes his head. “He said the same thing to me. So I asked my mom to grab some when she was on the mainland a couple days ago.”
My heart squeezes inside my chest, and tears threaten to prick at my eyes. Kindness like this was familiar to me at one point in my life. I’ve been without it—been without Gabe and the rest of the Bowmans—for so long, it feels foreign now. Strange. Like it’s too good to be true.
“You can’t do nice things like that, Gabriel.”
Amusement dances in his eyes. “Why not?”
“Because.”
“Because why?”
Because you’ll make me fall in love with you all over again .
I shake my head as I bite into a piece of veggie bacon, taking out my frustration. It has the audacity to taste good, too. “Thank you,” I say after I’ve finished chewing.
He chuckles. “You’re welcome.” After grabbing his own plate, he comes to sit down beside me at the island. “How did you sleep?”
My cheeks heat again. The best in a long time , I want to say. “Good. I’m, uh, sorry about all that last night.”
Gabe pins me with a stern look. “Don’t apologize. I was only asking because I’ve been thinking about something, and I want to talk to you about it.”
I eye him warily. “Okay…”
He sets his fork down, swivelling on his stool to face me. “I don’t want you to live in the guesthouse.”
My whole body deflates at his words. “ Oh .” I push my eggs around on my plate, my appetite suddenly vanished. I knew this was a bad idea, that Clara and Maggie were too pushy. “That’s okay. I’ll figure it out. I can go back to Clara’s until?—”
“No. Shit .” Gabe runs a hand down his face as he lets out an exasperated breath. “I’m sorry, Foster, that’s not what I meant. I’m not kicking you out.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“I want you to move in here.”
My jaw drops. “What about fixing up the guesthouse?” I ask. “I’ll really be fine out there, Gabe. Last night was a one-time thing.”
“But what if it’s not? The guesthouse still needs a lot of work. I wanted you to have your own space, but after last night…” His eyes turn pleading. “Please, Hallie. I can’t stand the thought of you being out there, alone and scared.”
My breath catches. I was so worried I would come back to Kip Island and find indifference in Gabe.
That he had written me off all those years ago and wouldn’t care anymore.
It’s less about me thinking the worst of him than it is my brain preparing me for every reality, even the hard ones.
But he has proven me wrong at every turn.
I twist my fork, round and round, between my fingers. “This is really important to you?”
“It is. The room beside Abbie’s is a blank slate, so you can move in there and decorate it however you like.”
“Will you still let me help you with the guesthouse?”
He nods. “Yeah, we can still work on it. I really have been meaning to fix it up.”
“And I’m paying more rent,” I add. It’s one thing to sleep on Clara’s couch for a couple weeks, but we’re talking about a longer term situation here. I’d be living inside his house .
He frowns. “We’ll talk about it.”
I take a moment to think. Can I really do this? Staying in Gabe’s backyard has been hard enough, but living just down the hall? I’m not so sure I’ll survive it. I can’t exactly say no, though. The guesthouse belongs to him, and if he doesn’t want me out there, I have no grounds to argue.
“Alright,” I relent. “I’ll move inside.”
He smiles in relief. “Thank you.”
We continue eating, settling into silence. For once, it isn’t uncomfortable. Maybe things are starting to go back to normal. Like before. Which should be a good thing, but I can’t help the small seed of disappointment that sprouts from the thought.
I’ve just gotten off my stool to wash my plate when Abbie bounds into the kitchen. She’s still wearing her pajamas, and some of her hair is sticking out of her braid.
“Morning, Abbs,” Gabe says.
She beams. “Morning!”
I’ve never met a kid who likes mornings as much as she does. I wake up because I have to, not because I want to.
She sets herself up in her chair at the kitchen table. Gabe leaves his plate on the island and joins her. “I’ve got something to tell you. Hallie is going to live inside the house for a while. That okay with you?”
She looks up at her dad. “She’s moving in with us?”
“Yes, she’s moving in with us.”
She shrugs as she kicks her legs beneath the table. “Okay.”
After Gabe gets Abbie some breakfast and she finishes eating, he offers to help me bring my stuff inside. Thankfully, I haven’t fully unpacked yet. I wanted to finish more of the projects we have planned before I truly settled in.
Quickly, I get dressed and ready for the day, throwing my hair into a bun. Then Gabe and I haul our first load up the stairs. When we get to the guest room, which is at the opposite end of the hallway to Gabe’s bedroom, he flicks on the light.
The room truly is a blank slate. The walls are a shade of white a real estate agent would salivate over, and the bed doesn’t have any sheets on it. It looks to be the same size as the one out in the guesthouse, though, so my comforter should fit perfectly.
“Clara is the only person who’s ever stayed in here,” Gabe explains. “I wouldn’t put it past her to have left some clothes behind, but it should be empty otherwise.”
I set my box on the end of the bed. “Thank you. You really don’t have to do any of this for me.”
“I want to, Hallie.” He pulls something from his pocket. A key, I realize. To his house . “For you.”
I reach for it, but my stomach does a little dip when I notice the colour. “It’s purple.” The metal feels cool against my skin. “When did you get this? You didn’t just have this lying around as a spare.”
“I had it cut last week.”
My eyes search his. “What? Why?”
He doesn’t look away. “I wanted you to know that I’d always be here, if you needed me. And I didn’t want anything to stand in your way, even something as simple as a lock.”
The admission leaves me breathless. I feel like that girl who stood on the beach and let her fears override her heart. She couldn’t speak when words mattered most, so I don’t have a hope in hell of recovering now.
“You can start unpacking,” Gabe says. “I’ll grab the rest of your stuff.”
I’m still clutching the key when he leaves the room. The grooves in the metal have left small indents in my palm.
I am officially in way over my head .