Page 40 of Derivation

Gabi finished her drink and asked, “Relationships?”

“Yes, I’m a relationship person; not into the whole casual thing that Arlowe pretends that she likes.”

“You think she’s pretending?”

“I think she hasn’t gotten over a girl she dated for five months eleven years ago and avoids a real relationship because of that, so yeah, she’s pretending.”

“When was your last relationship?”

“About two years ago,” she answered before she finished her own drink. “Eight months. I had a few before that.”

“Yeah?”

“One in college. My first real girlfriend. We ended before I went to Amsterdam. Together for about a year and a half before that, though. One right after college, but it only lasted a few months. One was a couple of years later. That one was close to a year.”

“And?”

“And one night, she got really drunk and proposed.”

“What?” Gabi chuckled.

“She had a ring and everything. I was sober, though, so I told her that she should do that again in the future, when she was, too. She took that hard, and well, when we talked about it the next day, she told me that she was ready to get married and settle down. I told her that I wasn’t and that it had come out of the blue because we hadn’t talked at all about taking that step. We weren’t even living together. She was upset and broke up with me.”

“She wanted to marry you one day, and the next day, she just ended it?”

“Talk about whiplash; I know,” Sarai said. “I had one more after her – the one that lasted eight months – and she was great, but she didn’t understand why I cared so much about this company and our work. I missed a couple of date nights because of late meetings, and one day, she got fed up and told me that it was over. There hasn’t been anyone since.”

“Hey there,” Jo said, walking over. “I’m off, so here’s the check, but if you want anything else, you can ask Marcus at the bar.”

“Okay. Thanks,” Sarai replied with a smile.

“And I’m off here, but…” Jo continued. “I was thinking about going to Blue if you’re interested.”

“Blue?” Gabi asked.

“It’s a club,” Sarai explained.

“I’ll buy you a drink,” Jo added to Sarai.

“Thanks, Jo, but I think I’m going to pass. I’m here with Gabi, and then, we’re going home.”

“Home?” Jo asked.

“Yeah, home,” Gabi stated, giving Jo a smirk. “Where we live… together.”

Sarai lifted an eyebrow at her, wondering where that had come from, but she kind of liked the sound of it, and she definitely liked the look on Gabi’s face when she’d said it.

“I didn’t know,” Jo replied.

“Know what?” Sarai asked.

“That you were living with someone. I thought–”

“Here you go,” Gabi cut her off, holding up her card with the check. “You can take this.”

“I’m off the clock, but I’ll hand it to Marcus for you. He’ll take care of it.”

“Great. Thanks,” Gabi told her with a fake smile that Sarai thought even a stranger like Jo could see through, and she wanted to laugh but held it in.