Chapter Eleven
Becca
After our fight in my home, it was a week before I saw Gideon again. I came back to City Hall early after a day of checking on various projects in the South End and noticed him leaving through the side door.
"Gideon, wait!"
He turned around and his expression hardened. I slowed down as the guilt from pushing him out of my home sank into my belly. I couldn't help but think he was avoiding me. There was no other reason for his not showing up at work when he was usually there every day.
Gideon looked at his watch as I finally caught up to him.
"Are you in a rush?" I asked.
"I have a meeting to get to."
"Oh? Is it something I should be at?"
"It has nothing to do with the South End. You know I was only here for my licensing hours. I finished those months ago."
I winced from the angry force his words carried. He closed his eyes and shook his head before letting out a long sigh.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I…"
His eyes locked onto mine and my breath caught in my throat. He was going to say something big. I knew him well enough to tell, I just didn't know what he was going to say.
"What? Tell me," I said. "What is it?"
I searched his eyes. He was going to say something about that first night together on New Year's Eve. I knew it, I could tell. He was going to say something about us.
His eyes filled with pain before he turned away.
"I miss my friend," he said.
That wasn't what he was going to say.
He turned back towards the door but stopped as I reached out for his arm.
"You left this," I said, his ring in my hand. "You know, on New Year's Eve."
He nodded as he plucked the ring from my hand and slipped it on his finger. Without another word, he stepped out the door.
"I'm sorry," I called out.
He turned back towards me with a huge grin. Despite his smile, his eyes looked sad.
"Sorry for what, beautiful? It was just another good time for Gideon Kohl. We both had fun and now we can go back to being friends, just like you always wanted."
He leaned close but instead of kissing my cheek quickly like he used to, he inhaled before his lips touched my skin. As he backed away from me, he still had the same big smile, but his eyes kept telling me a different story.
He's lying,I thought.
* * *
Another week had gone by with Gideon hardly showing up at City Hall. He had been so involved with the revitalization that I expected him to always be there. But my feelings had nothing to do with work. I missed having him around.
As I walked down the long empty hall towards my office, a woman's footsteps quickly approached from behind. I turned around to find Janice Oliver, the mayor's assistant, smiling as she caught up to me.
Janice was short, under five feet tall easily. She always smelled like cinnamon, and I never saw her with anything but a smile on her face. She wore her brown and grey hair in a braid twisted around the crown of her head.
