Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 101662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Based on Henry’s vision for the new home, we’d easily be hosting hundreds at our parties. I worried living in such a large house would lead to a cold, lonely feeling when the parties weren’t taking place, but Henry didn’t much care about my thoughts on that. I’d tried to convince him that bigger didn’t always mean better, but he’d told me I didn’t have much say on the subject because he had a vision.
His vision was of building the largest high-tech smart home known to mankind. He’d worked on finding the right architect for the build, and lo and behold he’d found Gabriel.
My Gabriel.
My once-upon-a-time Gabriel, that was.
All through dinner, I’d forced myself to not stare too long at Gabriel, looking his way just enough to make it seem as if I wasn’t completely avoiding eye contact. It was hands down the most uncomfortable dinner party of my life, and I’d once had dinner with a group of surgeons who loved to tell gruesome stories over a casserole.
After dinner, the crowd would converse for a few more hours over music. Henry had hired a jazz musician for after-dinner entertainment, and I was almost certain there would be a fireworks display. There were always fireworks at Henry Hughes parties.
I hated fireworks. They always made my skin crawl.
The house was ringing with laughter, yet I felt so thrown off and sad.
So achingly sad.
After one too many surface-level conversations, I excused myself to take a walk outside. I was in desperate need of fresh air to clear my clogged thoughts. There was such a big part of me that had left Gabriel Sinclair in my past. I’d buried him away in my mind after his mother forbade me to ever see him again.
And now here he was.
The late-spring air brushed against my skin as I stood outside, breathing in the scents of the trees surrounding me. The sun had set a few hours prior, and the only light was streaming from the house. The louder the laughter grew in the distance, the more bourbon was being poured. Henry was probably wasted by now and about to start playing the piano. I was sure he’d delivered one of his speeches, too—a speech that usually went on too long.
I liked the stillness of the land whenever I explored it alone. I liked the calmness of it all after living in the city for so long. There was something so peaceful about the quietness of the earth when no one else was around. I liked waking up and enjoying my coffee as the sun was just beginning to yawn awake, and the birds quietly sang their morning songs.
Henry joked that we lived on so much land that if we screamed, no one would hear us. I believed that to be true.
“You’re currently standing in the kitchen,” a voice boomed, shaking me from my stillness. I turned around to find Gabriel standing there. He smiled a little and gestured to the ground. “And if you take a few steps to the left, that will be the butler’s pantry.”
My confused heartbeat began to slow slightly. I stepped to my left. “Here?”
He walked over, placed his hands against my shoulders, and moved me two more steps to my left. “Here.”
I smiled. “It’s very nice butler’s pantry.”
“Very nice indeed.” He slipped off his suit jacket and placed it over my shoulders. The breeze was chilly for the late-spring night, and he must’ve noticed my slight shiver.
He then rolled up the sleeves on his button-down shirt. That wasn’t surprising. Gabriel always ran hot-blooded. I swore he could go outside in the middle of a blizzard and complain that the snow felt warm.
He brushed a finger against his nose before pointing out into the distance. “Right there will be the primary bedroom with his-and-hers closets.”
“I won’t tell on you if you make my closet a little bigger than his,” I joked.
He leaned in toward me and whispered, “It’s already bigger.”
“I knew I liked you.”
He smiled, that dimple returning, and my body tingled all over. Gosh, I’d missed his smiles. I didn’t know how much I’d missed them until they returned to me that evening. Gabriel’s smiles were warm and lazy at the same time. As if smiles were just something he so easily crafted. His smiles felt like stable, expected love—so sure and effortless.
Though his proximity did bring me a whirl of emotions. Our closeness only made me want to lean in toward him more. I wanted to feel the warmth that radiated from his mere existence. He seemed so…happy. Confident too. That pleased me, because the last time I saw him, it was the opposite of that. Gabriel had grown into his own happiness. I couldn’t think of a soul who deserved that more.
Who did he share that joy with? Who currently received the ghost of my past love?