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He hadn’t meant to let her in, but she waltzed in anyway. He hadn’t meant to fall in love again, but he’d done it. And now he was paying the price. But even worse, Hope was paying for it.
He walked over to the couch in his office and sank into it, then dropped his head into his hands, fighting the reality that he might need to call the police if he didn’t hear from her soon. A flashback of the two officers showing up at his bar the night of Carrie’s accident invaded his thoughts. Nausea roiled in his gut.
He couldn’t stay here another second. He had to find Hope. Making the split-second decision to go out and look for her again he made a beeline for his office door. The knock on it stopped him.
It was so soft, almost apologetic. He shook his head, incredulously, not sure if what he was hearing was real.
The knock came again. The doorknob turned. The sounds of his bar in full swing roared into his office. His heart slammed into his throat, the past dissolving as she appeared.
Hope.
She slipped into the room and shut the door behind her, shrouding them in silence. He could only stare at her standing there, alive and beautiful in front of him. For a brief moment, he thought she might be a mirage. Then she spoke.
“Gabe, I’m so sorry.”
* * *
Across the room from Hope, Gabe stared back at her like she was a vision he couldn’t trust. The hollow look in his usually vibrant green eyes told her what she’d cost him beginning with one careless moment of not charging her phone. For the millionth time in the last couple of hours, she mentally kicked herself for how the afternoon had unfolded.
She’d finally flagged down a driver and gotten them to call for a tow. Roadside service had changed her tire, and off she went, but the whole process had taken a lot longer than she anticipated. And before she knew, it wasa lotlater than she imagined.
Now she was here, looking into Gabe’s haunted eyes, and a renewed regret bloomed in her chest. She should have tried harder to get a hold of him.
When he dropped down on the couch and hunched over his knees with his face in his hands, Hope rushed to kneel on the floor in front of him. “Gabe,” she said and was met with silence.
His broad shoulders remained rigid, his entire body unmoving.
Tentatively, she reached for him, wrapping her fingers around each wrist. “Look at me,” she pleaded.
Finally, he lifted his face and his green eyes burned into hers. She inhaled a shocked breath at the raw emotion she found there.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered again. “My phone died. Then I had a flat tire. I tried to wave someone down, but it was harder than I thought, and…” She drifted off, the words falling flat even though they were true. She knew it wasn’t her actions that had caused him pain, but the past she had brought back to haunt him. She lifted her shoulders, then let them drop. “I thought if Ruby was safely at your sister’s, that you’d—”
He cocked his eyebrows in the universal look that said,go on.
“She’s okay, Gabe.” Hope reminded him softly.
He jerked back, but she held firm. He could’ve easily moved away from her or pushed her away from him, but he didn’t. She took some reassurance in that.
“You think I was only worried about Ruby?” he finally said, his voice gravel. Lethal. “I knew she was safe.”
Hope swallowed painfully.
Gripping one of her wrists, he pressed her palm to his chest. Beneath the hard ridge of muscle, she could feel his heart pounding wildly. “I didn’t know whereyouwere. I couldn’t findyou.” His voice was deep and steady, but his eyes held a world of anguish. She could see the fear in them too, and it told her the truth.
He’d thought she’d been hurt, maybe even killed. His mind had taken him to the worst-case scenario because it had happened to him before. Heartache sliced through her, and suddenly she felt the weight of his grief as if it were her own. He’d believed he was reliving his nightmare, and she’d as good as let him believe it.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her throat tightening. The impact of how much they were coming to mean to each other settled over her. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” With her free hand, she ran her fingers along his cheek, feeling the coarse stubble along his jaw. Remembering what Lori had divulged to her earlier, she murmured, “The accident wasn’t your fault, Gabe.”
She watched his face harden and his eyes grow cold, but he didn’t pretend to misunderstand her. “How would you know?”
“Lori told me what happened that night,” she said quietly. She wedged herself closer between his splayed knees, needing to be as close to him as possible. To let him know she was there. Right there, with him.
His eyes narrowed. “Did she?”
“Don’t—don’t be—mad,” she stammered, suddenly uncertain.
“What exactly did my sister tell you, Hope?”
