Page 131 of See You Next Tuesday

[11:56pm] Text from Gabe Hunt: Anya? Are you there?

[11:56pm] Text from Gabe Hunt: I’m coming to you now, I’ll be there in twenty minutes depending how long it takes to get my car out of the garage

[12:13am] Missed call from Gabe Hunt

[12:13am] Text from Gabe Hunt: I’m downstairs, I don’t want to ring the bell and wake everyone

[12:13am] Text from Gabe Hunt: I’ll be here whenever you see these

Chapter 21

It felt like a dream, him standing in front of her house in jeans and a dark T-shirt, his beard grown in as long as she’d ever seen it, dark circles under his eyes. He looked up as she shot out of the house and ran toward him, and maybe he needed a second before they touched but she didn’t care, she needed to hold him so badly, to know he was really here, to know he wasn’t gone.

“Are you okay?” She was already in tears as she threw herself into his arms, and he was hugging her so tightly she didn’t know if she could really breathe, but it didn’t matter, she didn’t need to breathe, she only needed him. “I was so worried about you. Oh my god, I was so worried.”

“Why were you worried?” His voice was shaking. “I’m okay. It’s okay.”

“No it isn’t.” Anya moved back enough so she could see his face, his wonderful, perfect face that she had been so unbelievably stupid to leave. “Did you have to talk to the police? Did you have to let your staff go? Were you so afraid? Who was taking care of you? It must have been the worst week of your life. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.”

“Anya, it wasn’t the worst week of my life,” he said. “It wasn’t even the worst week of my year.”

“I don’t know how you could tell the difference.” Anya stifled a sob. “Every week since April has been just as bad as the last.”

“God, that’s the truth.” He exhaled heavily, and she leaned into him, pressing her cheek against his chest, listening to the rapid pulse of his heart.

“I’m so sorry, Gabe,” she said. “I’ve never been so sorry for anything in my life.”

“I know, An. I’m sorry too.”

“For what?” She looked up at him. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

He gave her a look. “Besides crush your dreams and work for a criminal?”

“Incredibly, still not worse than what I did,” Anya grumbled, and he hugged her again.

“Is it okay if we sit for a second?” he asked. “I’ve been driving all day. I’m so tired.”

“Oh my god, of course.” She sat down on the lawn and pulled him down next to her. She wanted to crawl into his lap, but she also wanted to see his face, so she settled for pressing her legs against his and threading their fingers together. She glanced up at his SUV; the back was full of boxes. “Did you come straight here from Maryland?”

He nodded. “I packed up yesterday. I had my hotel room booked for the convention, and I knew you guys were here, so I didn’t really think about it. I just drove here.”

“I’m so glad you did.” Anya squeezed his hands. “You should be with us right now.”

“Yeah.” Gabe let himself smile a tiny bit. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too.”

“So what happened?” Anya asked. “Or, we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I’ve just been thinking about you nonstop this week. Not that I wasn’t before.”

“You were, huh?” He smiled a little wider.

“Something new and different for me.” Anya smiled back. She felt so nervous, like they were flirting for the very first time.

“The stuff with Wheeler…” Gabe let out a long sigh. “The consultants kept looking for budget cuts, and they kept sending more and more money to the PAC. It didn’t make sense to me. We were raising so much money, and I couldn’t figure out where it was going. Until I went through the PAC records myself and saw how much money was being funneled toward a multimillion-dollar horse farm—which is also when I realized the entire situation was way above my pay grade. My dad got me a lawyer, and she helped me report what I’d found to the FBI. It turned out they’d already been investigating Wheeler for a year.”

“Gabe,” Anya breathed. “You talked to the FBI?”

“Had to.” Gabe shrugged.

“Because it would sink the campaign if the news broke?” Anya asked.