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“What, then?” he asks, frowning slightly. “Just wanted to say hi? Gabriella, shouldn’t you be heading for the airport right about now?”
“I’ve canceled my flight,” Gabby says. “For now, anyway.”
“You mean, rescheduled?” Dean asks.
“Canceled,” she repeats firmly. “Dad, I’m not coming home just yet. I don’t know if I’m coming home at all.”
“Why not?” he asks, frowning. I can see he doesn’t get it. He doesn’t get any of it, not yet.
I can see it crumbling in front of me. My dream. My future. But I’m not going to let it. I’m going to grab it with both hands and hold it together with everything I’ve got.
“I’m staying with Oz,” Gabby says simply, reaching for my hand.
The simple gesture sends my heart rate skyrocketing. I know he must be slowly starting to see it. Still in denial, but slowly starting to see us.
“The thing is, Dean, I’m in love with Gabby,” I say, needing to cut to the point of the matter. “I’m in love with her, and she’s going to stay with me.”
There’s a long pause.
A very, very long pause.
So long, in fact, that I wonder if Dean’s connection has cut out, if he’s frozen on the screen. But then he moves and I realize he’s not frozen. He’s just staring at us with an uncomprehending frown.
And then it happens.
His expression clears, he brightens and straightens up – and he starts to laugh.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Gabby
When I hear my dad start to laugh, it’s like a jolt to my system. I actually flinch slightly, it’s such a shock.
I can only blink at him as he laughs uproariously, even slapping his thigh.
“You really got me for a second,” he says. “So, what? Is the flight delayed or something?”
“No, Dad,” I say, feeling sick to my stomach. Does he really think we would joke about something like this? “We’re serious. I’m in love with Oz, and he’s in love with me. We’re together.”
Dad’s laughing slows down a little, trailing off. “No, you aren’t,” he says. “It’s a good effort, but I’m not falling for it. You’re trying to play a trick on an old man. Not fair, by the way. It’s the middle of the night here, and I’m not as on as I should be.”
“Dad, I’m serious,” I insist, knowing that the only way he’ll see is if I keep pressing forward. No – the only way he’ll see is if I show him. I pause, gathering my courage to do this. I look at Oz.
Then I lean forward and kiss him, full on the lips, and make it long and lingering. The kind of kiss that you couldn’t fake, not even for a prank. The kind of kiss that leaves no doubts as to whether it’s real or not.
The kind of kiss, apparently, that makes my father go bright red in the face.
“What the hell,” he growls. “Oz…?”
“I know this is going to be hard to accept,” Oz says, his words coming out in a rush like he thinks he needs to get it all out before my dad interrupts again. “I know it’s a lot. But please, just know this isn’t the kind of thing I take lightly. I’m serious about this – extremely serious. Gabby means everything to me. And, yes, it’s fast – but it’s real.”
“Fast?” Dad barks. “Fast? You’ve… she’s been there a week! What in the hell has been happening between you two?”
We exchange a look.
I don’t think he wants to hear the honest answer to that.
“We didn’t plan this,” I say. “It just… it came out of nowhere. And it surprised both of us. But it did happen. It was an instant connection – like the two of us meeting now, at this time in our lives, it was just right.”
As the words come out of my mouth, I know I’m right. It’s like everything in the world clicked into place and was suddenly exactly where it needed to be. Like we were where we needed to be. “I couldn’t stop thinking about her,” Oz says. “After that first dinner, I didn’t want to not ever see her again.”
“But it was me that reached out,” I add quickly. “It was me that initiated everything. He didn’t… take advantage of me or anything like that. I swear, Dad.”
“And then it was just impossible to stop,” Oz says. He grasps my hand tightly, bringing it up between us to cover it with his other hand as well, looking at me lovingly. “From the moment I realized my feelings weren’t one-sided, I couldn’t hold myself back. She’s so perfect. I called my assistant and canceled all of my meetings, took the whole week off work. I feel like I want to take the year off. I don’t want to look at anyone else, talk to anyone else, spend time with anyone else.”
