Hmm.
“But in the end,” he went on, “none of them was the one. But each of them brought me closer to knowing who is the one.”
Uh-oh.
My lungs ceased working.
Because he said “is.”
Not “would be.”
On that, he stood, and I realized this was not only not going to plan, but also, I was in trouble.
“The one is going to have to have the grit to fight and scratch and hold on with all she has to keep what she’s got and get what she wants, even if life kicks her in the teeth, which it’s gonna do. Repeatedly.”
Oh boy.
“And she’s gonna know that because she’s gonna have experienced it, fought through it and got to the other side.”
Oh boy!
“She’s gonna need to be sharp and smart and have a passion and a hard work ethic, because that’ll mean she’ll bring that passion into her relationship, and she’ll work hard at keeping it strong.”
Oh boy!
“But she’ll be soft with me, like, I don’t know, surprising me with cupcakes she makes specially for me, ones she knows I’ll like. Or, say, noticing I like beer, and making sure there’s a good stock of it in the fridge. And she’ll be kind, like holding her friend’s hand when emotion is overwhelming her.”
That cupcake was totally a mistake. I knew it as I made it.
Ditto with the beer.
But I’d never regret holding a friend’s hand.
“And she’ll get the world she lives in and be passionate about that too, her place in it, how it should be, and have the guts to work at making it better, again, I don’t know, maybe like becoming a vigilante with all her best buds.”
Eek!
“And it doesn’t hurt that her cute dresses turn me on, the curve of her legs makes my dick get hard, and if I concentrate on it too long, the swell of her ass makes me bead.”
I sucked in my lips, because at his words, I was the female version of beading standing right there.
Then suddenly, everything in my universe changed, because the look on Gabe’s face changed.
And his voice was soft and deadly when he said, “Five months ago, when Harlow shouted my name, and I hoofed it to the rear of The Surf Club only for you and her to be in the back of a car racing out of the parking lot, a car where the assholes in it were shooting at me and Tex, I knew. If we got you back from those motherfuckers, and I managed not to hunt them down and put the hurt on them to the point I got incarcerated, I knew I had to give you time. But after I gave you that time, I was going to be right here. Right here, Willow. I’ve been waiting five months to be right here. Because five months ago, I knew I’d found her. And since then, not one thing has changed.”
With this last speech, so much was going on in my head (and I couldn’t deny, my heart), I didn’t move or speak.
Gabe did.
“Do you understand me?”
Oh, I understood him.
I loved every word out of his mouth.
Loved it with every fiber of my being.
And it terrified me.
