Peter thought about that. “Not for sure, no.”
“He could be anyone.”
“He could be. But knowing my luck, he’s her boyfriend or her husband, and now I’ll have to endure having a drink with her while trying not to think about how she belongs to some other guy.”
“Jeez, what’s wrong with you? You only spent a couple of moments talking to this woman and yet you’re already convinced you can’t have her.”
“I saw the look on the guy’s face who was waiting in that car for her. He wasn’t happy that she was talking to me.”
“But she did say she’d have a drink with you, right?”
“Well yeah. Like I said, she was in a rush to leave and said she’d get in touch to arrange something. Maybe I’ll never hear from her again.”
“What’s with this worst-case scenario stuff, Peter? You’re never downbeat like this. Look, do you want my opinion?”
“If I say no, will it matter?”
Brad ignored him. “Forget about whether the guy in the car is or isn’t her boyfriend or her husband or whatever. She said she’d have a drink with you and when you get together with her, you’ll find out one way or another if she’s already involved with someone else. At worst, you meet up with an old flame and remember some old times together and then go your separate ways again. At best, it turns out she isn’t involved with the guy in the car or with anyone else and she decides she’d like to see you again.”
He couldn’t fault his brother’s optimism. “I think she said she’s only here for a few weeks to visit her aunt.”
“So? Maybe while she’s here she’d like some company. Nothing wrong with that.”
Peter said nothing. His reaction to seeing Gaby this morning was so overwhelming that he could imagine an awful lot that might be wrong with spending time with her when she’d already said she was only here for a few weeks.
But his brother was right. He was overthinking this, which was something he never did. Where women and relationships were concerned, he was always easy-going and relaxed and happy to take things in his stride.
Yet after barely a minute in Gaby’s presence, she’d somehow scattered every coherent thought inside his head.
“Come on, cheer up,” Brad said. “Look on the bright side. She could’ve pretended not to recognise you when you bumped into each other and decided to run a mile in the opposite direction, but she didn’t. That’s something, right?”
His brother’s dumb grin made Peter smile. “It’s a low bar, Brad, but you’re right. She didn’t pretend not to recognise me and she didn’t run a mile. I’m a lucky, lucky guy.”
Brad laughed. “Okay, if you’re quite finished dissecting this encounter with your old flame, will you make yourself useful and help me get this gaming station into position so it’s ready for when my sons get home. That’s the whole reason you’re here, in case you’d forgotten.”
Peter was pleased they were back to their usual banter and more than happy to stop talking about running into Gaby Leonard. He wasn’t a negative person and never looked automatically for the downside of a situation, but where she was concerned he couldn’t seem to help it.
They’d exchanged an all-too-brief moment of conversation and casually agreed to catch up over a drink. Nothing more and nothing less. Only inside his own scrambled head was he whipping it all up into something much bigger than it actually was.
And the reason he was doing that was because the bolt of pure attraction he’d felt for her when they met outside the café was like nothing he’d felt since that summer they’d spent together. Acknowledging that truth wasn’t easy.
Peter shut off his train of thought and helped his brother shift the gaming station into place. The new piece of furniture looked great and his nephews would love it, especially once they’d set up their consoles and gaming figurines and the other stuff they loved having around them while they played.
Seeing the pride on Brad’s face at a task done well made Peter smile. Brad was a great father. Both his brothers and his sister were terrific parents. When Peter had kids of his own, he hoped he’d be as great at this parenting stuff as they were.
Whenhe had kids? More likeifhe had kids at this rate.
Yeah, add that gloomy thought to the other gloomy thoughts he’d let run through his brain for the last hour. What was wrong with him, for God’s sake?
The encounter with Gaby Leonard—that’s what was wrong with him. Running into an old girlfriend he’d known when he was an eighteen-year-old kid should’ve been a sweet thing to happen.
Instead, it had left him agitated and doubtful and far too melancholy for his own good.
From the other side of the house, he heard the front door open followed by the chaos of Brad’s sons barrelling inside.
“The boys are home!” Brad said, excitement lighting up his face as he gathered the power drill and toolbox. “We finished just in time. Wait till they see what’s waiting for them in here. They’ll go crazy.”
Brad’s eyes flashed as he hurried out of the den to find his sons. Peter followed in his brother’s wake, just as excited as Brad was to see the boys’ reaction to the fun surprise they were coming home to. Their boundless joy, and inevitable insistence on playing a game on their console to test out the new gaming station, would be a handy distraction from Peter’s frustrating and helpless thoughts about Gaby.
