Page 53 of Yours, For Now

The night was the perfect temperature; the park was mostly empty, the sky almost fully dark. A few people walked nearby, and in my head, I imagined we all enjoyed the calm evening.

"I wanted to talk to you." He closed his lips around the lemon-flavored dessert, the sight distracting me a little. "Didn't think texting was as good. Or a phone call."

I slowed down. Gabe seemed like the kind of man who would never break up over an email, and who would try to sweeten the moment with ice cream, to lessen the sting.

A flutter of nerves rolled through my guts, anchored in anticipatory grief. "Are we breaking up early?"

He frowned. "What? Why? No, we still have a few weeks left, right?"

"That's what I thought!" I licked the lavender treat, coating my tongue and my relief with its soothing taste.

"Okay, good. I mean, it's probably a good idea to continue with this for a little longer. A couple of weeks after we hear from the principal project lead, right? And after the contract is signed."

"Right. That's what we agreed to."

"Right." His tongue darted out again. "Good. Anyway, I didn't invite you out to break up with you, but…"

A cyclist rang behind us and Gabe stepped closer to me. Another ring reached us, and he put an arm around me to walk side-by-side for a few seconds, while a kid in a lot of purple and rainbow fringe passed us by. Once the riders were far enough ahead, he released me but walked closer to me than he had before.

He seemed to study the reduced space between us; while I felt a tingling awareness in my chest, he laughed.

"I invited you out to make it more serious between us, actually." He grinned. "To the outside witnesses, anyway."

Even if I knew it was all fake, the tingles electrifying my heart went from a hum to a strong current.

"Do you want to sit for a bit?" he asked, pointing to a bench nearby.

I nodded and we sat next to each other, an old, glorious tree hugging the space.

"So, how are we moving our relationship forward?" I cast a glance at him.

"My family has a lake house a couple of hours outside of the city. We go there as a family every once in a while, to take a break together." His lips kissed the ice cream again. Or so it seemed, to my infatuated eyes. "My dad wants to go there after we hear from the project lead about the shortlist, regardless of the results. And, well… he told me to invite you."

I frowned as I savored lavender once more. "What exactly does he think is going on between us?"

"I'm not sure." He stared at my lips on the ice cream, and the cold dessert suddenly felt tasteless. The gentle flavor disappeared, because my brain was more interested in learning what was going on through his mind. Wondering how his lips might feel on mine. Would I taste lemon on his tongue? It would mix perfectly with my lavender. "I didn't ask. But he assumes something is going on, and he'd like to get to know you better."

"Know me better, huh?"

His eyes lifted to mine. "Yeah. Because something is going on between us. I think he's surprised; he hasn't seen me with anyone since Essie."

I nodded. "Do you want him to see us together, though? Give him more reason to think we're a couple?"

"I don't know." He shrugged and took a big bite of his waffle cone. "He'd think it'd be weird if I don't at least invite you. But I could say you're busy."

Did I want to be busy? No, not at all. This was an amazing opportunity to see this family up close. Were they as amazing as I thought they were? Or would Sonia and Vi do the cooking and all the cleaning while the guys lounged around and took a nap?

"What's the place like? Are we thinking tight quarters, roughing it a bit?"

"Please." Gabe scoffed. "It's our second home. It's nice. It even has a helipad, though we rarely use it."

I laughed. "I truly didn't know what to expect. You all seem so unassuming."

"There are several rooms and a big shared living space with a view of the lake. We rarely run out of room but, because my parents will adopt every friend I have, we have sofa beds as well. My parents dream of a day when they can convert a room to bunk beds, if you can guess why that is."

I chuckled. "But no pressure from your parents, I'm sure."

"Exactly. They'd be just as happy if one of my friends had children and brought them over, as long as they get a bit of that sweet grandparent experience, apparently. Sadly, we're all forever single."