“I was remembering our first date.” I have to speak quick or else he’ll walk away. “You brought me to a batting cage just like this one. You were terrible.” Crap. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.
Gabriel pulls his hat lower over his face, but I can see his lips curl up on the ends.
“You’re right. I was trying to impress you. I didn’t know any other way.” He shakes his head. “Lots of good that did.” He bends down to collect his bag and opens the gate to the batting cage and heads to his car. “It’s all yours.”
“Gabe, wait.” I charge after him.
Gabriel turns around. “What do you want, Kat? Haven’t you done enough?” His face is hard and cold, not the sweet Gabriel I know.
“I’m sorry. I am so sorry for everything,” I plead. “I let other people and other voices get in my head. I know now there was nothing going on between you and Becca. I was so terribly wrong.”
His fist is clenched around his bag. The other points in my face. His body is radiating with tension. “You threw away ten years of happiness, five years of marriage!”
“I know. I’m sorry.” What’s the use? It’s over. I might as well just bare it all. “I felt so lost for a while. You were off every day, working this fancy job, and lately, you’ve been staying later and later.”
“You think I like my job? I do it for you and Jack.” He throws his arms up in the air. “I hate my fucking job! I hate every client, every deposition, every amendment and appeal. I hate it all.” His eyes are on fire. “But I do it for you. I do it to give you the life you deserve.” He spits on the ground. “Or at least the life I thought you deserved.”
“I don’t want this life, Gabe! I never asked for it.” How dare he blame me? “I hate it out here. I don’t fit in. This isn’t us. It never was.” I don’t even remember how we made our way out here. That’s when we lost each other. “If you’re not happy, Gabe, quit. I’d rather have a husband who’s happy and home than a miserable one.”
He balks at my response. “Because I’m miserable? Is that why you went to bed with the first man who gave you the time of day?”
“How dare you?” Now it was my turn to be angry. “At least he wanted to touch me. At least he wasn’t too tired to return my advances.” My words were like a slap to his face.
“You are a whore. It is all sex with you.”
“You know that’s a lie. Take it back!”
He doesn’t say a word.
Taking a deep breath, I hug my denim jacket to me and walk toward Gabriel’s car. I lean my head against the door and concede. “You’re right. You’re right,” I repeat.
His body stills. I think I see his shoulders relax a bit. We stand in silence. I want to say something, but I’m afraid if I breathe too loudly, he’ll move. After an eternity, he finally speaks.
“How’s this for a cherry on top? Oswald Thompson is blackmailing me. Can you believe it? That fucking criminal is blackmailing me?” Gabriel hisses through his teeth, shaking his bead in disbelief. “I’ve been trying to get out of the case, but he said if I do, he’ll release those photos to the media.”
I turn into Gabriel, exasperated by what he’s telling me. “You don’t owe me anything.”
“I know I don’t.” His words are calm, yet they hit me like a slap in the face. “I owe it to Jack to not have his mother smeared across the tabloids.”
I close my eyes and breathe in deeply. I have made a mess of everything, yet Gabriel is still trying to protect our family. How could I have doubted him? It’s no surprise Malory is obsessed with him. He had to have known.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Malory?”
His mouth nearly drops at the mention of her name. “What did she tell you?”
“Basically that she’s in love with you and she fucked with my entire life to get her hands on you.” I can’t believe I was so blind.
“Kat, listen, there is something I have to tell you about that.” He places his hands on his head and squeezes his cap a little. “Damn, I was hoping I’d never have to tell you. I guess it doesn’t matter now.”
My interest is piqued. “What doesn’t matter?”
“I dated her when I first moved to the city.”
I blink back at his words. My Gabriel dated Malory? We were together when he moved to the city. He sees my concerned look and continues.
“You were still in school then, and I was young and dumb… One night at a bar, I was missing you so badly, and there she was. I was so stupid.”
My mouth goes dry. Despite what I have done, it hurts to think he betrayed me at a time when we were still drunk in-love. “How stupid were you?”
Gabriel is quick to answer; his hand rests on my arms in reassurance. “Nothing happened. It was just dinner. I broke it off after a few dates. She started harassing me after that. Always making comments and telling me she was available if you and I ever broke up. And for some reason I can’t figure out, you started working with her. What are the odds?” He takes a breath, relieved to be unloading this information.
“I was so happy when you stopped working with her. I didn’t think it mattered anymore. Then you got this job, and I was hesitant at first, but you were so happy. I never had a problem with you returning to work. I was afraid of what would happen with you working with Malory again…” He trails. He removes his hand from my arm and takes a step back. “Who knew the bitch would actually drive us apart?”
There is an awkward pause. I don’t want to say anything. I’m lucky he’s talking to me this much.
His head is bowed, looking at the ground. I assume he pictures me on the same level as the dirt. He’s standing so close, yet he feels miles away. How is someone I was closer to than anyone in my entire life now my most distant acquaintance? It doesn’t feel natural. This isn’t the Gabe I know. Then again, I’m no longer his Kat.
Gabriel’s eyes start to redden. “It doesn’t feel like it really happened. Like the last few days were just a dream.”
“I wish they were just a dream. If I could take it all back…”
“No, Kat. You cheated on me. Don’t you get it? You broke our vows. Everyone waits for the husband to screw up. It’s the women you have to watch out for.” He turns his back and heads toward the car. He pauses just before opening the door. “You know, if I didn’t see it, I would have never have believed it. I just never thought you would do that to me.”
I never thought I would either. Just a few weeks ago, I was devastated when I heard my cousin’s wife had an affair. I was the wreck, and it was Gabriel who seemed so nonchalant about the whole thing.
“What about those couples you were telling me about? The ones who moved on? You said it yourself. Couples get back together… These things happen…” I try to bring back some of his own words from that conversation not too long ago.
“Not to us, Kat!” His words nearly spit at me. “Don’t you dare try to throw my words back in my face. Shit happens to other couples, but not to us. We’re better than this.” His jaw tightens as he calms himself down. “I thought we were better than this.”
I take a step toward him as he lowers himself into the front seat, and ask, “Where do we go from here?”
He takes a deep breath before answering my question. “I’m going to see my lawyer in the morning.” He closes the door. He turns the ignition and lowers the window. “I’ll be at The Inn until I find a place.”
I regret my decision for going to this damn gala. Even though I know I should stay away, I feel like I need the closure. I started this project, and I have to see it through.
I step out of the bathroom, and Gwen beams at me like I’m going to the prom. Her one-week stay has turned into two. Believe it or not, I still don’t want her to leave.
“Kathryn, you look…” Words fail her. “Oh, honey, after everything you’ve gone through, you deserve to see this event in all its glory. You worked so hard. I am very proud of you.”
I give her my best Grayson smile. “Thank you, Mom. For everything.” We embrace and she holds me, really holds me, for the first time since I was a little girl.