"Wow." It came out in a sigh, just barely audible. Gabriel looked as though the wind had been knocked from his sails. And hadn't it? He had just been with her, not two days ago. How could that happen?
He thought about asking her why, thought about getting angry, throwing a fit. But all he could really feel was sad and... disappointed. He turned and walked away, too upset to turn back. He was too shaken to even look back into those eyes in which just two days ago he had found himself entranced.
"Gabriel?" Her voice was much too soft for him to hear. She wondered why she hadn't called out again; more loudly. Maybe it was because she knew he was too good for her. He was a dream come true and she was a nightmare. Princes rescued princesses- not wenches.
She watched as he turned the corner, vanishing the way dreams do once you've been awake too long.
~*~*~*~
She curled up into an even tighter ball, pressing herself deeper into the couch.
"And he just walked away, looking like I'd run over his cat. I swear, I don't know what to do. I'm such an idiot."
"You're not an idiot. You're human. It was a mistake." The sound of Ben's voice came in through the phone, soothing her tears. She had always been able to rely on him. He was the only one who never left, never gave up.
Her parents had given up. They gave up, and tried to start all over again- like a vicious cycle that would never end. They had been separated more times than Carrie and Big, but in the end, they just weren't meant to be.
"Zo, listen. Briar is a con artist. It's what he does. He takes advantage of people with kind hearts and good intentions. People like you. People like me."
Zoey thought back to the night Briar left her. It was an unceremonious affair, really. They went to dinner, where he seemed completely distracted by his thoughts. He refused to talk to her about what was bothering him, so she asked him straight out.
She must have seemed blind to him, but she wasn't. The girls at the shop had begun looking at him with unbridled lust. And they looked at her like she was the biggest idiot ever born.
By the time she had gotten up the nerve to try to forgive him, he was calling to break things off.
"Zo, I've gotta get back to work. You sure you don't want me to take the rest of the day off? I can swing by and take you for ice cream?"
"Don't bother. I gave in and bought some. One pint down, two to go." She sighed. "Thanks big brother. You're the best." They hung up, and Zoey tried to find a way to pull herself off the couch. She had heard that depression could make you feel like your whole body was in pain.. But right now it was her heart. It was like it had stopped beating, and the rest of her just stopped too. A single tear left her eye before she decided to just stay on the couch.
~*~*~*~
She thought sleeping it off would make her feel better, but it did nothing. She has been in the same spot on that couch for half a day, and still wouldn't move. She had thought of ways to explain herself to Gabriel, but there simply was no good way to do it.
"He made me do it, I was weak!"
"Well, what did you expect Gabe? I'm a woman, after all!!" She winced at that one.
"I'm sorry. OK?"
She tried to imagine how she would feel if the tables were turned. What if Gabriel had sex with
his
ex? Would she be able to look past that? After she had just surrendered herself to him in her bed?
But he didn't surrender himself. He was charming, handsome, feeling her up... But he didn't put himself in a difficult position with her. Did he?
~*~*~*~
Gabriel tried, again, to find reason in the confusion. One minute, she's looking into his eyes making him feel like the most powerful man in the world, the next, she's stomping on his heart.
"I slept with Briar."
Was that it? No apology? No nothing? Sure, she looked remorseful, but that could just as easily have been the understanding that he might not want her anymore. How many guys would still be interested in a girl who has no idea of her own worth?
But he was. It didn't make sense, but he found himself that much more pulled to her. He wanted to wrap her up in his arms and tell her it was alright. To forgive her, despite everything in his brain that told him to steer clear. As hard as it was for his brain to comprehend, his heart had completely lost itself to her.
Night had fallen, and despite the fact that it was completely unlike him, he decided to go out and have a nice dinner. He figured it might clear his head, and fill his belly. Both were important, as he hadn't eaten since he realized what was in the prescription bag.
A short drive later, he found himself sitting at a quiet table near the window at his favorite place. He finished his risotto and was waiting for the main course when a flash of light brown legs caught his attention. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but he did a double take either way. When he came into eye contact with Deanna, his heart stopped.
"Oh my god.. if it isn't Gabriel "Godsend" Keegan. How are you?" Her dark stare contradicted her smile.
"I'm well, thanks." He wasn't sure what else to say... What was there to say to someone who left you the night before your wedding and never saw you again??
"You can afford a place like this? Wow, I mean after what I'd last heard of you, I was sure you'd move back home with your folks and die of embarrassment." Her smile grew even bigger now, and he could tell that she was really taking delight in the moment.
It wasn't enough to break a man's heart and turn him into the laughing stock of town... She needed to laugh at him too. And in his face, no less.
Gabriel lifted his hand to signal the waiter. "I'll take the rest of my meal boxed, and the check. Please."
"Oh, don't let me ruin your meal..." She grabbed the waiter's arm before he could get away, her almost black eyes digging into him. "Actually, I'll be joining him. Bring his food, and I'll take a Moroccan salad, dressing on the side." The waiter looked back to Gabriel, who now was looking out the window. "Now, little man, or I'll have your job."
She sat across from the man she once loved, now completely uncertain of how she felt. There was a time when she would give the world to him. But she realized that no man was worth that. And that realization took her to dark, new, wonderful places.
"What could you possibly want from me, Deanna? You've already seen me hurt, heard of my financial problems, what could possibly be left?"