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“Cappuccino for the lady.” He hands me a cup.
“You’d have a future as a barista, you know, in case you ever needed a career change.”
“I did work at a bar once.”
I have a difficult time picturing him working for minimum wage.
“How? When?”
“My summer in Europe. I ended up being short on money, didn’t want to ask Dad for more, so I took up a few gigs.”
I roll my eyes. “Of course your need for employment would be related to something as fancy as a summer in Europe. By the way, I didn’t know the Starbucks across the street made deliveries.”
Gabriel steals a berry from my plate. “They don’t.”
“Then how—” I stop mid-sentence. “I don’t want to know, do I?”
“Let’s just say I’m a very persuasive man.”
“Yeah, I noticed.”
“Hey, I forgot to ask.” Gabriel frowns. “How is your friend?”
Oh, gosh. My conversation last night with Marissa comes back to me and I cringe.
“That bad?” Gabriel asks.
“Worse.” I take another sip of cappuccino. “I told you she’s decided to have a baby alone, right?”
“Yes?”
“Well, she’s started her first hormone cycle, and yesterday she had a visit with the gynecologist and, guess what?”
Gabriel looks at me like he has no clue.
“The doctor turned out to be her ex-boyfriend from high school, who she hasn’t seen in sixteen years, but still hates.”
Gabriel low whistles. “Couldn’t she ask for another doctor?”
“You’d think, right? But no, he was the only one on duty yesterday, and if she wanted to continue the cycle, she had to take the transvaginal ultrasound on that day for insurance reasons. Otherwise, she’d have had to give up the entire thing. So she had no other choice than to let her ex get all cozy in her buh-gina.” I flinch again. “Can you imagine if I had to let Justin rummage around in my lady parts?”
Gabriel winces. “Please never mention Justin and your lady parts in the same sentence again.”
His jaw tenses and I’m not sure he’s being all banter right now.
“Yeah. I have no intention to.”
“So what now? She’s still going to go to the same clinic?”
“Yeah, but they’re going to make sure none of her other appointments are with her ex again, so she should be fine.”
“Do you want babies?” Gabriel asks out of the blue and gets rewarded with a spray of coffee out of my mouth and on his fancy robe.
I cough and sputter some more.
Gabriel, composed as ever, hands me a napkin and uses one to clean himself.
I wipe my mouth. And when I’m finally done choking on my coffee, I ask, “Excuse me?”
