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“Fiona, I’ll keep this brief. Because of what you were able to accomplish, I’ve managed to salvage things with the investors.”
Fiona smiled, and with a tone of exuberance in her voice, she replied, “That’s wonderful to hear, Gabe. That makes me so happy and…”
I raised my hand. “Hear me out. You may not be so happy after I’m finished.”
As soon as the words tumbled from my lips, Fiona’s look of excitement melted into an anxious grimace. She slumped in her chair and looked at me as if I were about to send her to the electric chair.
I spent the next several minutes explaining everything that had happened, and how I’d managed to convince them all to return to St. Barth’s. Once we all gathered there again, she’d be doing the presentation as we planned it all along. I’m not sure what she was expecting me to tell her, but to my surprise, Fiona didn’t seem upset about the news.
Her reaction confused me, so naturally I asked her about it.
“Well, Gabe, the reason I was anxious about it before was because the data was incorrect. Don’t you remember? Now that it’s fixed and we know it’s correct, I’m more than ready to do it as I promised.”
I smiled as I looked at her. She really had come a long way. Not only was she willing to go back to the islands and do the presentation but she was doing it with enthusiasm.
And, as if that weren’t enough, it seemed things between us were better than they’d ever been before. It felt as if she might finally be trusting me. I couldn’t explain it, but things just seemed different somehow. As I saw her out of my office and closed the door behind her, I paused for a moment.
Never in my life could I recall going to such lengths for a woman.
None of them ever held my interest for this long, and no matter how hard I tried to understand why, the answer eluded me. Something about her made me want to be by her side. It was a feeling I’d never experienced, a new sensation, and I had no idea where it would go next.
FIONA
It seemed as if things were at last going my way.
Starting with the breakthrough we had with the Link Protocol and Gabe’s subsequent successful efforts to rekindle interest from the investors, I had the sense business success was inevitable.
At the same time, I had my doubts about what was happening between Gabe and me. I had no question about my own feelings for him. I was in love with him. There was zero doubt in my mind about it.
Yet, I couldn’t say the same thing about Gabe—not even close. Yes, he’d been much more kind to me, much more affectionate towards me, and in general, acting the way you would expect when you care for someone.
However, he’d never told me how he truly felt. The very last thing I wanted to do at this point in my life was set myself up for a big fall. I didn’t think he was using me—that’s not the kind of doubt I had inside.
In fact, in spite of his inability to communicate it to me, I had the inkling he did love me. The emotion of love had always been a source of pain in my life. After all, everyone I’d ever loved died.
Of course, when it came to men, my experience with romantic love was nonexistent. Knowing Gabe like I did, I had little doubt he would use our next trip to the islands for more than just business. But in the weeks leading up to, and even after, my grandmother’s death, I’d grown weary of the cat and mouse nature of our relationship.
What I needed now more than ever was some clarity about the situation. I was too close to it. Everything about my life involved Gabe in one way or another. I’d been so buried in work I hadn’t spoken to any of my friends since my grandmother’s funeral. And even though I was uncertain as to what might come of it, I reluctantly decided to ask them for some advice about him.
And so, about a week or so before we were scheduled to return to St. Barth’s, I joined all of my friends at the same restaurant where Gabe and I met months ago. After ordering a round of drinks and taking a couple of healthy gulps, I decided to just get it over with and more or less told them everything that had happened between us.
Afterward, I spent the next hour or so answering a seemingly endless string of questions. Most of them revolved around why I would want to be with someone like him. I’d confided not only his kinder, gentler side, but also the side of him that was more irrational and unpredictable. Far more experienced than myself when it came to matters of dealing with men like Gabe, the girls issued stern warnings to me about him.
Suddenly on the defensive, I tried to convince them my feelings were not purely emotional. Yes, things started off rocky between us, but in recent times, especially the past couple of weeks, our relationship was entirely different.
