He started to panic, wondering if Terri had in the meantime told her the truth, but she just wasn’t saying anything, expecting him to guess why she was cheesed off, like women often did.
He glanced at her hand for the diamond, but thankfully it was still there. Okay, that wasn’t the problem. Nice one. At least he didn’t have to face all that shite now too.
Rachel came back over and started making shooing motions. “Come on, come on. What are you waiting for?”
She herded him through the door to the kitchen and then out back. When he reached the exit, he turned around and tried to summon his most charming grin. “Don’t I get a goodbye kiss?”
“Gary, you stink. Just go and maybe I’ll talk to you later.” She pushed him out the door and closed it behind him.
Alone in the back alley, he sniffed his armpits. She was right; he did smell rank. He didn’t like this, having Rachel mad at him. Usually, she was so happy to be around him. Should he try to make it up to her? Buy her flowers or something?
Walking around the front of the building, he peered in the window to where she bustled among the tables, getting ready for business. He waited for her to look in his direction, but she didn’t; it was as if she was purposely ignoring him.
But if Rachel was this annoyed at finding him passed out on the table, what would she be like if Terri told her about the blasted ring?
Chapter 35
Rachel could sense Gary’s gaze on her from the other side of the window.
She knew he was looking in, but she’d already decided that there was no way she was acknowledging him. She felt as if she were holding her breath, waiting for him to leave. She had never spoken to him that way before, had never cajoled or been angry with him. It was a completely new departure.
She felt a little off-kilter today, presumably because she’d walked in to find her errant fiancé passed out after a drunken night.
But regardless of how much she tried to convince herself of that, a little voice in the back of her mind was telling her something else.
She’d felt differently toward Gary today for some reason, and the scary thing was that it might have something to do with last night’s dinner with Ethan.
He was so different, so warm and easy to talk to. Last night, they’d stayed on after dinner and talked for ages over coffee.
She still couldn’t believe she’d opened up to him like that about her desire for a real family and to create real traditions. She was sure he’d thought she was some kind of loon, but no, actually he seemed to understand perfectly what she meant.
After all, he was hoping for the very same thing with his soon-to-be fiancée.
Despite herself, Rachel couldn’t help wondering what his girlfriend was like. No doubt intelligent, stylish, and definitely beautiful, since Ethan himself was incredibly suave and handsome. And wonderfully gentle, with impeccable English manners, insisting after their meal that he saw her safely off in the taxi.
Taking a wet rag, she wiped down the table upon which Gary had been drooling all night.
She sighed and went through to the kitchen to start on making bread and pastries for their breakfast offerings, which immediately reminded her of the subject matter of Ethan’s book.
Damn it, no matter what she did this morning, her thoughts kept drifting back to him. What was wrong with her?
For some reason, she felt uneasy. Last night was the first time in a long time that a man had sat down and showed a real interest in her and her life.
Ethan had asked questions and listened patiently to the answers. He wanted to know everything about her life and business, her hopes and dreams even, and for once, she had no problem sharing.
It wasn’t as if she didn’t share things with Gary; it was just…different.
Their relationship was one of extremes. He made her laugh, even when he was being ridiculous, and normally she loved the fact that she never really knew what he was going to say or do.
But she thought again about what Ethan had said last night about sharing those hopes and dreams with Gary and realized that she had never actually done that.
Probably because he was a man’s man and had no real interest in all that kind of malarkey. And for the most part, she understood that.
Still, when she thought about some of the sacrifices she’d made and the little oddities that she’d brushed off—things like Gary’s reluctance to eat in some of her favorite restaurants, “too fancy, and they never give you a decent feed,” the fact that he rarely noticed or complimented her on her appearance or things she did for him—suddenly seemed to come sharply into focus.
Rachel felt almost surprised by the realization. Was Gary…inconsiderate?
Her head said no, but deep down her heart seemed to argue the opposite. No, he was mostly just clueless, really.
