Chapter 26

“Looks like Sleeping Beauty finally woke up,” Gabriel commented as I descended, still mesmerized by the hundreds of lilies surrounding me.

“How long have you been waiting?” I mumbled, my eyes still scanning the scene. This was straight out of a fairytale. It felt like I was still dreaming.

“A little over an hour,” he replied, his gaze fixed on me.

“All of this…” I finally tore my eyes from the flowers as I reached the table. Looking at him, I said, “You did this?”

“Who else, freckles?” A faint smile played on his lips. “Well, I paid for it. The workers did the actual work, but…” he shrugged.

“Gabriel… this is… you didn’t have to…” I fumbled for words.

“Your note clearly stated you’re not as low-maintenance as ‘five’ roses,” he said, clearing his throat. “They were fifteen, by the way. And I had no idea you disliked roses. Is this high-maintenance enough for you?”

My smile reached my ears as I sat at the table. “More than enough.”

“Good. Consider this my thanks for meeting me halfway.” His smile was smaller than mine, but genuine. “And I took the day off work.”

“To spend it with me?” My eyes widened.

“Yes. I figured I’d make it up to you for bailing on you last time I promised to get to know you.”

I knitted my eyebrows in confusion.

“At your grandfather’s, last weekend.”

“Ah,” I clicked my tongue. “When you got jealous of Sam and ran off. Then you hid yourself in work for the rest of the week.”

He frowned. “I don’t get jealous.”

“Totally jealous,” I teased. He shook his head as I poured myself juice and then started on breakfast. I was just teasing; I doubted he was jealous of my history with Sam, but I liked the idea of him caring enough to be.

After a few minutes of silence, I said softly, “Gabriel? What will happen to all these lilies?”

“I asked the gardener to use some…gardening voodoo to make them last longer.”

I laughed. “Gardening voodoo? You mean preservatives?”

“Whatever,” he rolled his eyes. “But when they start wilting, and you get bored of them, and decide lilies aren’t your favorite anymore, I’ll call the cleaners to take care of them.”

My eyes widened slightly. “You’ll just throw them away?”

“Unless you want to dry-press them and make those…lame paintings,” he paused. “Yeah, I was planning on throwing them away.”

Chapter 26 (continued)

“No, Gabriel, I don’t want to make those ‘lame’ paintings. And they’re not lame, by the way!” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “I was thinking we could donate them to a hospital. I saw a children’s hospital a few streets away last week.”

Gabriel stopped eating, looking surprised. “Yeah, sure, we can do that.”

“Can we visit, too?” I asked, pouring a little too much maple syrup on my pancakes. When he didn't respond, I had to look at him and give him my best puppy-dog eyes.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “I took the day off to get to know you, and you want to spend it at a hospital?”

I pouted. “You said you wanted to know more about me and my life. You can do that anywhere.”

“Okay,” he shrugged. “Whatever you want.”

I smiled, digging into my breakfast. More than once, I caught him stealing glances, which I pretended to ignore, knowing I wouldn’t be able to for long if he kept making me weak in the knees.

“Favorite musician?”

“Travis.”

“Scott?” I asked.

Gabriel gave me a strange look. “The rock band.”

“So you like early 2000s music?”

“I like rock. What about you?”

“I like slow music,” I smiled cheekily. “And hip-hop.”

“Shocker,” he teased.

I shrugged. “Favorite movie?”

“Anything horror,” he replied, eyes on the road as we drove to the hospital. “And I mean scary stuff. With gore.”

“Ew,” I scrunched my nose. “That comforts you?”

“It does,” he replied. “Let me guess. Yours is something basic. The Notebook?”

“Mean Girls, I mumbled under my breath with a small pout.

Gabriel laughed.

“At least I amuse you.”

“Oh, Freckles, you have no idea.”

I frowned, changing the subject. “What did you want to be as a kid?”

“An astronaut. You?”

“Me too!” I playfully slapped his arm. “I remember thinking I’d fly up and get a few stars to keep in a jar on my nightstand.”

Chapter 26 (continued)

“Damn. You went from loving astronomy—the most fascinating subject ever—to choosing mathematics. What happened?”

“Life,” I laughed. It was true. Gabriel shook his head as silence fell between us. “You know,” I added after a pause, “the person you are now is so different from the man I married.”

“The man you married thought you married him for money,” he answered without hesitation.

“I kind of did,” I pointed out.

“For your grandfather,” he corrected. “The man you married didn’t know you worked two jobs before, even though my grandparents had already offered you the position. You only accepted because Jim had to get out of retirement to support his treatment.”

I controlled the urge to smile. “Why did you agree to marry me?”

“My grandfather made inheriting the Whitlock company conditional on marrying a girl of his choice—which happened to be you.”

That was new information. “When do you inherit the company?”

“Six months after the marriage,” Gabriel’s voice was monotonous, his eyes on the road. “Six months after our marriage. When the divorce is finalized.”

Suddenly, I didn’t feel like smiling anymore.