He paused, fingers frozen above the keyboard, as the next set of images began to form. He continued to type, describing how she stretched, her muscles stiff and unfamiliar after so long, how she wobbled to her feet like a new-born foal. But as she’d raised herself to full height, something had happened. Strength came, filling her with purpose. She turned and looked at a dark and difficult path that led between the trees. She was about to go somewhere. She was about to leave her sleepy woodland glade.
Brody took his hands from the keyboard and pushed himself back from the desk. The sentence he’d been writing was only half completed, but he found he didn’t want to scoot the chair forwards again to finish it. He didn’t want to know where this woman who wasn’t an elf was going to go.
He spun his chair around and stood up. Time to take a tea break. There was no point pushing himself so hard he just locked up again. Besides, it was always good to leave a chapter or a scene half done. That way he wasn’t starting from nothing the next time he sat down to write. It had been a technique he’d used many a time when this had been his career. Nothing wrong with that. Tomorrow, he could just pick up the threads and carry on.
He made it look casual, even to himself, but he took great care not to make eye contact with the little wooden woman on the other side of the room as he turned and left the study.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
‘SORRY, BUT THE person you’ve called isn’t available at the moment…’
Anna tapped at her phone screen to end the call. That was the sixth time she’d gone straight through to Gabi’s voicemail since getting home from work. It was most frustrating. Did Gabi have a job she didn’t know about? It wasn’t unusual for her to get last-minute bookings, but she wasn’t usually incommunicado for forty-eight hours. Anna hadn’t talked to her since just before her ‘big night’ with Lee on Saturday, and now it was Monday evening. She was starting to get worried.
Unlike Gabi, Anna hadn’t been hopeful that Lee was about to propose, but that didn’t mean it was all doom and gloom, either. He might have wanted to ask her to go on a fantastic holiday, or move in with him, but as time crept on, Anna was beginning to think this was less and less probable.
Or maybe she was just being paranoid? Lee and Gabi could be snuggled up somewhere in a newly engaged bubble of love, having forgotten the rest of the world existed.
She put her phone down on the sofa cushion and stood up, thinking it was about time she started the jambalaya she intended to cook for herself that night.
However, she was only two steps away when her phone rang, and she stopped and twisted to check the caller ID. Gabi! She dived for her phone and brought it up to her ear. ‘Hey there!’ she said a little breathlessly. ‘What’s the news?’
The only reply she got was a sniff. Was Gabi actually crying with joy? It was possible. Gabi was definitely a crier when anything seriously good or seriously bad happened. Spencer had teased her about it mercilessly.
Anna gave her a few moments to collect herself, but when she heard another sniff, she frowned. ‘Gabi?’
‘A-Anna…’
Anna went cold. Those were no tears of joy. Gabi sobbed, and it made Anna’s chest ache. She almost started crying too. ‘What is it? What happened? Is everyone okay?’
‘No, everybody is not okay!’ Gabi said, and Anna was slightly relieved to hear anger slicing through the sadness. ‘Leedidwant to talk about our relationship, but not to get more serious. The bastard said he wants to see other people!’
‘Where are you?’ Anna said, looking for her shoes. If Gabi needed her, she was going to be there for her.
There was another sniff. ‘I’m standing on your front porch.’
Anna ran into her hallway, threw her front door open and enveloped Gabi in a hug. Gabi began to cry noisily. Still holding onto her, Anna led her into the house, kicking the door shut with her foot, then guided her to sit down on one of the chairs around her kitchen table.
‘What happened?’ Anna asked when the crying subsided. She left one arm over Gabi’s shoulder and studied her friend’s face as she tried to hold back a fresh round of tears. Oh, how her heart ached for Gabi. She knew just how it felt to have all your hopes and dreams for the future snatched away from you and trampled into the dirt.
‘I’m making you hot chocolate,’ she told Gabi as she reached for a saucepan and dashed milk into it. ‘And when you’re ready, I’m here to listen.’
Gabi nodded, her hands clasped together in front of her. She said nothing for a few minutes, but then her eyes became fierce and determined. ‘It was all going so well,’ she began. ‘After all, he took me to Caprice – delicious French food, silly prices…’
‘Bastard,’ Anna said emphatically, which made the corner of Gabi’s mouth lift just a little. Anna meant it, though. Lee had known what he was going to say to Gabi. Saying it in pretty surroundings didn’t make it any better. It smacked of guilt. And cowardice. Anna shook her head gently, more to herself than to Gabi. She’d had a feeling about the guy, hadn’t she? She should have seen this coming. She should have been able to protect Gabi from this.
‘We ate our meal and were going to share a tiramisu when he said we needed to talk about our relationship.’ Gabi pressed her lips together and shook her head, warding off more tears. ‘I put my spoon down and smiled. I tried not to get carried away, like you said, Anna, but I could not stop hoping he was going to pull a little box from his pocket. Then he reached out. He stroked my hand. And he said we should not let things get stagnant…’
Gabi carried on speaking, head down, directing her words towards the table. ‘I was so set on what I thought he was going to say, that nothing he said made sense to me. So I had this big, stupid grin on my face… And then, one by one, the words made sense. It was like he poured a bucket of ice water all over me.’
Anna left the milk heating on the hob and sat down in the chair opposite Gabi. ‘And what exactly did he say?’
Gabi met her gaze. ‘He likes me, and that he thinks I’m great fun, but…’
‘But?’
Gabi’s bottom lip quivered. ‘But apparently, I’m not enough fun on my own…’
‘So he doesn’t want to break up?’ Anna asked, just to make sure she was understanding this right.
