“I have no idea what that means, but let’s go before you fly Jesse off to the North Pole. We need him here,” Gabriel says.
“I was going to ship Matthew to the South Pole and see if true love could draw them back together,” I comment, and Gabriel playfully whacks the back of my head with some papers he’s holding.
“You are not Cupid. You are the little red devil on the shoulder. Let’s go.”
“Fine, fine, my sweets,” I say as he parades me out, leaving the two of them to hopefully stand there awkwardly. Thinking about them avoiding eye contact makes me feel some glee.
“Why do you pester those two so much? Maybe they’re not ready to date.”
“Gabriel, my sweets, my love. How else will I get my kicks?”
“You don’t need to get your kicks by being difficult.”
“It makes me feel alive. I am a wingman.”
“Are you?”
“Yes, I sure am,” I say, giving him a huge smile which seems to convince him that I’m right. Before I get too far, Matthew comes jogging out the door.
“Chris and I are heading to the zoo too.”
“Sounds horrible,” I state.
“It’s very much not,” he says as he nudges me. “I feel like I’m getting somewhere with Jesse. I think your bullying is somehow making us closer.”
“Bullying? I’m being a wingman, not a bully.”
“Ah, sorry, right, right,” Matthew teases.
“If Liam is bothering either of you with his nonsense, please tell him to stop. Or tell me to tell him.”
“Nah, we both know he’s just harassing us because it’s the only enjoyment he gets out of work. Jesse finds it funny. I promise we’d let him know if he was bothering us.”
“Good,” Gabriel says as he pats me like I’m a dog that did an adequate job of harassing the other dogs at the dog park. But I don’t care. I got Gabriel’s touch and that’s all that matters.
SEVEN
Liam
Gabriel and I drive separately from Chris and Matthew, in case someone has to head off anywhere, but they arrive around the same time. Pat is waiting for us at the gate, looking just as anxious as she was yesterday, but the moment we arrive, she runs up and wraps her arms around me.
My entire body stiffens and I look at Gabriel for help while Matthew tries to stifle a chuckle and Chris looks quite pleased over my distress. He actually looks damn near giddy. Like what is this woman doing to me? Does she wonder what it’d feel like to embrace Death? Because doing this to me is the closest she’s going to get to it.
I eye Gabriel in a very clear “Get it off” way and Gabriel just gives me a shrug.
A.
Shrug.
Does he not love me enough to spare me from this torture?
“I just… I can’t thank you enough for finding Nadine. I feel just sick knowing she was out there, so scared and alone andhurt and… thank you. You are such a wonderful person to have been so concerned that you thought of such a thing in the dead of night.”
Wonderful person?
Obviously, this woman has me mixed up with someone else.
“Just… doing my job,” I choke out, hoping that puts an end to this harassment, but what does the woman do? She squeezes me tighter and then looks up at me with her leaky eyes.
