The truth, of course. She wasn’t a good liar. She knew that. After she had put the flowers in a generic vase, kept under the sink for just such occasions, she returned to her window. Her coworker Betsy excitedly asked, “What did you say?”
Misty decided to play it cool. “About what?”
“Don’t play dumb. We saw the fire truck—and the banner.”
Adam appeared to be checking the flyers on the wall advertising the other bank products. He might as well have been wearing a sign that saidI’m eavesdropping.
Misty shrugged. “I said I’d think about it.”
Adam let out a deep breath in a whoosh.
“Think about it?” Betsy exclaimed. “What’s to think about? He’s gorgeous, a firefighter—a real-life hero—and he loves you. A lot! Obviously.”
Misty wished it was as obvious to her as it seemed to be to everyone else. Maybe Gabe had had a change of heart with all his “thinking.” But was that what she really wanted? A change of heart? She would’ve preferred his heart be in it all along—with hers.
What was it he’d said? “I’m not doing the right thing.” That could be taken a couple of ways. Either he meant he was doing this because he wanted to, not because he had to, or maybe he just thought it wasn’t the right thing, but he was doing it anyway.Oh, man. This is going to drive me crazy.
Until she was sure exactly how he felt, she really couldn’t make a decision. She wouldn’t be pitied. And even though there might come a time in the future when she would need to be taken care of, there were professionals for that. She didn’t need to force a man into marriage for the part about “in sickness and in health.”
The baby was another matter. She would welcome his financial help in order to give the child a better life. As long as they both put the child’s needs first, that part would work out…somehow.
She could picture Gabriella wanting to have both her and the baby under her roof. But she didn’t know how Antonio would feel about that. She had heard that he wanted to move to the Caribbean for his retirement. And he certainly deserved to do that, if they wanted to. He had been with the fire service for many years and retired long ago. Suddenly, she wondered how old he was. Was that also part of the family secret?
Misty had to get her head in the game. A customer stepped up to her window with a few different transactions, and she had to concentrate on more than just her own complicated life.
Adam gave her some kind of hand signal from behind the customer.
She glanced over at him and frowned. “Did you want to say something?”
He cleared his throat and stepped a little closer. “Stop by my office later. I have a favor to ask.”
“Sure.”Oh my freakin’ God. What kind of favor could my jealous boss want?
* * *
“What? Do I need to get down on my freaking knee?” Gabe was trying to keep his voice down as he spoke to his brother on the phone.
“No, I just figured she would’ve said yes.” Dante pitched his voice high and silly as he mimicked, “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!”
If Gabe could’ve punched him through the phone, he would have. Actually, he should’ve punched Jayce for telling everyone about his proposal. Without knowing her answer, it was getting a bit sticky.
“Look, Gabe, I know you guys have had a bit of a weird history—”
“Weird? What do you mean by weird?” Gabe kicked at the chunk of ice beside the fire station wall. The weather was starting to get to him. Long winters didn’t bother him when he was a kid, but now it must be a sign of his actually getting older.Twenty-six. Almost twenty-seven. Since when is that getting old?
“Well, from what I understand, your being with Misty put your relationship with Parker in the toilet. He asked you to look after her because he thought you were his best friend, most trusted man on the planet.”
“Yeah, yeah… So, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying, Bro, that she still loves her brother, and now he hates you. That’s gotta be tough for her. Have you even asked howtheyare doing?”
Gabe rubbed his forehead as he paced. “No. I figured it was none of my business. I’d just wait until Parker wanted to talk to me, and then we’d talk.”
Dante made a sound that conveyed his disappointment.Well, tough.Gabe didn’t know what else to do. In truth, he’d expected the same thing. Misty would jump into his arms, and they would have that blissful moment of acceptance and mutual agreement.
Now he not only didn’t feel accepted by his best friend, but it didn’t even seem like the person he most wanted to be accepted by was interested in him any longer. “Maybe she’s just getting back at me for being such a jerk in the first place. I didn’t know what I wanted, and during that time, I may have made her feel like she wasn’t that special.”
“Damn. If that’s the case, you’ve got some backpedaling to do.”
