“If Gab has any weird cravings, tell her to come over. Given our stash, we can probably take care of it. They can share notes.”
“I’ll do that. She hasn’t had any that she’s told me about, though.”
“What has she decided about school?”
A pang hit him in the chest. More than anything, he wanted her to go back to Dallas if that was what she wanted. Knowing he wouldn’t be seeing her every day, watching her belly grow… “She’s not giving up, so…we’ll work it out. I’ll do everything I can for her.”
Brian tilted his head back in contemplation for a moment. “Are you planning on going back?”
He’d thought he might have some time before he had to get into this part of things with Brian, but that had been wishful thinking. It stood to reason his boss would wonder about his plans. Quitting a job you hated was one thing. Quitting a job you liked… That sucked. Sighing, he rubbed a hand over his hair. “Not in the very near future,” he said carefully, “but eventually, yes. Sorry, man. Again, I never thought anything like this could happen.”
“Yeah. I hear you. Well, we love having you, but you know…long distance will be tough. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to go through it.” Ian cast his gaze downward and reserved comment. Brian went on. “Don’t feel like you have to stay if you don’t want to. It was pretty rough before you got here, but we survived. I’m sure we’ll survive again.”
Why couldn’t Ian have had a family like this growing up? Brian was willing to sacrifice a little of his sanity at work for his sister’s happiness. He would almost think the guy was up to something, but no. That was only his suspicious mind at work. He’d had to grow up that way—questioning whether every nice gesture from someone was going to end with a fist upside his head. If not from his stepfather, then the kids on his street or the kids at his school. He’d grown up fighting. He still was wary and mistrustful of a world where it appeared he didn’t have to.
It was sad, and he was fucking tired of it.
“I’m cool with being here awhile longer. I keep thinking she’ll get to Dallas and decide she doesn’t want me there after all.” Yeah, who was the pessimist now?
“One thing about Gabriella,” Brian said, and Ian thought it was the first time he’d ever heard him say her full name. “If she doesn’t think you’re worth her time, you’ll know it. But if you are, then she’ll do anything for you. I’ve never known her to screw anyone over. She’s usually the one who gets screwed. Which is another reason for the way I acted yesterday.”
“I’m not out to do that,” Ian said, thinking he had that in common with her. “I couldn’t imagine hurting her.”
“Well, whatever you decide to do, keep me in the loop.” Brian fiddled with a pen he picked up from the desktop, then finally sighed and tapped it against the polished wood a couple of times with finality. “All right. As long as we’re cool.”
“We’re cool.” Both of them stood and shook on it.
Thank God that was done.
Walking up to her parents’ front door that afternoon, Gabby wondered if she should knock. Now, with the light of day hitting her between the eyes, she regretted her words to her mother last night and wondered if she was even welcome any longer. Gabby would be a mother herself in a few months, and she damn sure didn’t want karma coming around to bite her in the ass once her kids were grown and making their own (sometimes idiotic) choices.
But that was crazy. She’d never knocked to enter her parents’ house before, even when she came in for visits. She’d always just barged in and announced her presence.
Before she could reach for the knob, though, the door swung open, and her mother stood there with purse in hand and determination on her face. “How do you feel?”
“Fine?” Gabby said tentatively, so confused right now that it came out a question.
“Good. You and I are going shopping,” Gianna declared.
Gabby glanced down at her budding pregnancy uniform—cami and yoga pants. Her hair was still in its unkempt bun. “Okaaay.”
“You look fine. Let’s go.”
“Mom—”
“Shh. I’m not letting you go back to Dallas without a few things for when you start to show.”
“But I’ll get all that when—”
“No, because then I won’t be a part of all this. And no matter what you think, I want to be.”
Breathing a sigh of absolute relief, Gabby followed her to the car. A little retail therapy never hurt anything, and thank God her mother was on board with this. Because it was happening, whether any of them liked it or not.
“You didn’t call Evan,” her mom said conversationally as she turned out of the driveway and headed for downtown.
“And you know this because…?”
“I did.”
“Oh. Great. What did he say?”
“What’s there to say? He’s like the rest of us, hoping the best for you.”
Gabby snickered, wondering how Kelsey played it off when Evan told her about the pregnancy. Did she fess up that she’d already known? Or had she played dumb? Knowing Kelsey, she hadn’t been able to lie to him, and besides, with the way she and Gabby had run off to the beach for a few days, he would probably figure it out on his own.
Their first stop was a maternity store, where Gabriella walked around mostly with her upper lip curled. “It’s really way too early for this,” she said, holding out a top that looked like it would swallow her twice. “I mean, I can’t even…”
“If you’re already two months, you’ll be showing before you know it.”
“Wonderful.” She picked out a few things she could live with to placate her mother, and their next stop was a children’s clothing store.
“Okay, now it’s way too early for this,” Gabby said, looking around at the wonderland of frilly dresses, onesies, cribs and toys.
“It’s been a long time since I was able to do this. Humor me.”
She’d already been doing that. Looking around, it all seemed so surreal. Gabby had loved shopping for baby Alex, but the thought of shopping for her own…
“We don’t even know yet if it’s a boy or a girl.”
“So you buy neutral colors. Really, you can never have enough. Best to start now so you’ll be ready later.”
“Mom…” She stopped at a rack of adorable little-boy outfits and leafed absently through them. “I’m sorry about last night.”
“It’s all right.” Gianna didn’t look at her.
“You’re still mad, which is why we’re shopping right now.”
“I only hope you’ll think things through before you do anything rash.”
“Like what? The only rash thing I could do at this point is get married. After the last fiasco, you’d better believe there’s no hope of that happening.”
Her mom looked at her in surprise. “Really? Never?”
Gabby had to stop and reassess her own feelings. She’d sworn it so many times that it was almost a reflex answer. “I don’t know.”
“Thought he might’ve changed your mind.”
If anyone could persuade her, she decided, it was Ian. Never could she imagine him doing to her what Mark had. Never could she imagine him even asking her to go through it again if he wasn’t 100 percent sure of his own feelings. She could try to pretend she’d known Mark all she liked—he still had left her with niggling doubts at times. She’d admitted it to herself many, many times.
“Maybe he will,” she said. “Someday. I really think you’d like him if you’d get to know him.”
“Honey, you don’t know him.”
So. Here it came. Her mother had gotten her to a place where Gabby couldn’t run away from her, cornered her, and now she was going to hear her exact thoughts on the matter. Great. Gabby sighed. “Say what you gotta.”