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As though it was the most natural thing in the world, Gabe linked his fingers through mine, resting his other hand on Jesse’s shoulder as he guided him through the parking lot. There was a section for school buses, where all the kids got off and crossed the rest of the parking lot together. Jesse stopped behind one of the buses, clearly indicating that this was as far as we were allowed to go.
“Alright, bud, have a good day.”
“I will.’ Jesse looked at me hesitantly for a moment and when I opened my arms, stepped in for a quick hug. “Hope you’re feeling better soon.”
“Thanks, kiddo.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
We both watched as Jesse ran through the school gate and two other boys came up to say hello. Seeing him with a smile on his face, being greeted by friends as he walked into school, made me feel so good. “I’m really happy for him.” I was mainly talking to myself, but still, Gabe turned to me, a soft smile on his lips.
“Yeah. It’s good to see him like that, isn’t it?”
We headed back to the truck, and I definitely did NOT think about how much like playing house it all was. And how great that felt. No, I didn’t!
He pulled away from the curb. “My jobs are all local today, so I can be finished in time to grab Jesse from school. You wanna hang out, or do you want me to drop you off?”
Still not ready to be left on my own, I said, “Hang out, if you don’t mind. But I’d need to change into jeans, and I’d like to dry my hair, if we have time.”
“We have time.”
Back at Gabe’s, just as we were walking down the drive, my phone beeped. I felt icy dread rush through my veins when I pulled it out and saw who it was. “Oh god, it’s my mom.”
Gabe instantly stopped and I reached for him, gripping his shirt in a tight fist for support while I stared at my phone. “Answer it, Allegra.”
It was the nudge I needed. “Hi, Mom.”
She spoke in a mix of English and Italian, and so fast that at first, I couldn’t make out what she was saying. Finally, I got the gist, and relief made my legs turn to jelly, so that Gabe had to slip his arm around my waist to hold me up. I dropped my forehead to his chest, squeezing my eyes shut, listening to my mom chatter on, the relief and joy in her voice obvious. When she’d talked herself out, she said they were at the farm and dad wanted to see me, so I said I’d come straight away. I ended the call, smiling up at Gabe with tears in my eyes. “He’s gonna be okay. They got all of it and the cancer screening tests on the rest of his body are all clear. His doctor is very mad at him for waiting so long to get it checked out, and he’s promised to be on top of it now. He’s very, very lucky.” I couldn’t stop smiling.
“I’m so glad.”
“Thank you.” I wiped at my eyes and, overcome with all the emotions cascading through me, wrapped my arms around his neck. “Thank you so much for everything. I couldn’t have gotten through it without you.”
Hugging me back, he said, “Jesus, have you had a personality transplant or something?”
That made me giggle. It felt so good to laugh. “Just take the compliment, why don’t you?” I stood in the circle of his arms for a long moment, letting myself feel all the overwhelming feelings that I’d held back all weekend. Gabe rubbed my back in soothing circles. “I’m gonna head off. I need to give my dad an enormous hug and a whole steaming pile of shit.”
“Okay.”
I leaned back, not quite wanting to let him go yet. Pushing my fingers into his hair, I pulled his head down so I could kiss him. Heat stirred in my belly and I went up on tiptoes, opening my lips, sighing when our tongues tangled. I’d missed this, even though it had only been a few days. I really did need to go. Forcing myself to step back, I fished my keys out of my purse. “I’ll call you later.”
“Okay.” He opened my car door for me and I smiled at him one last time as I turned the key.
Driving away, I tried not to think about the past few days, and how quickly I had turned to him, started relying on him. And how amazingly he’d delivered. It didn’t mean anything. We were just friends…with benefits. Fuck buddies. That’s all. It took a ridiculous amount of effort to drown out the niggling little voice that said we could be more.But then I remembered what Josh had said.“No one is ever gonna marry a girl like you, Ally. Too loud, too bossy, too showy…Maybe if you learned a bit of class, you could hook a guy like me one day, but not yet.”
Yep, that more than did the trick.
CHAPTER34
Ally
“How much time do we have?” I was already tearing my jacket off, dumping it on the floor right inside the front door.
“Twenty minutes.”
“Guess we’ll have to be quick.”
