Perfect Together (Canyon Cove Book 5) (12 page)

Great, now I have to let her down.

"I'm really not sure yet," I said. "I'm really busy and have a lot going on right now."

"Okay, okay, I know I can be pushy. Just promise me you'll think about it. He's never asked one of his blind dates out for a second date."

"I promise I'll think about it," I said as my nose scrunched from the lie. Luckily she didn't know my tell like Gideon did. "How was your weekend?"

Gideon. Somehow everything led back to him. It didn't matter what I thought about, I now had the ability to connect everything to him.

As Janice babbled about tending the tomatoes in her garden, I nodded to pretend I was listening.

Tomatoes. Tomatoes are used to make ketchup. Gideon puts ketchup on everything.

Sigh. Pathetic.

I missed him. I missed everything about him. I was stupid to think we could see each other every day and just stay friends. And when I thought about his texts and the things he said over the past several months, I realized I was an idiot for ignoring it all.

Our friendship was over because of me. I never wanted that to happen at all. I needed to talk to him. We needed to talk about everything that happened, and it needed to happen face to face. No hiding behind texts or a phone.

"Janice, do you know if Gideon has any meetings here this week?" I asked.
 

"Oh dear," she said with a worried look. "I thought he would've told you. He's not coming back. He finished his hours a while back and had been donating his time to us. He called me over the weekend and he said he's taking some time off. I believe he's heading to his friend's shore house in New Jersey. After that, he said some other developments occurred in his personal project so he was going to be traveling for that. He said he wasn't sure when he'd be back in Canyon Cove."

The news punched me in the gut. Had our friendship deteriorated that much that he couldn't tell me he was leaving? Or had I hurt him so badly that he needed to get away from me?

As Janice left, my phone vibrated with a text. I rushed to get it, hoping it was Gideon.
 

Taylor:
I know you said you'd think about dinner, but what about lunch? I've been thinking a lot about our date Friday night and I'd really like to talk.
 

I pushed the phone away. Dating was the last thing I wanted to think about.
 

Taylor:
No strings, I promise. I won't even tell my mother lol!

I laughed at his second text. We did have a good time Friday night, even if I felt like all I did was talk about Gideon. Maybe lunch with Taylor would help get Gideon off my mind. Why should I sit around when he couldn't even text me that he was leaving?

Becca:
I think lunch is just what the doctor ordered. How's noon at Mirabella's?

Taylor:
Great choice! I'll see you then.

Chapter Fifteen

Gideon

When Navarro and I arrived at his mother's New Jersey shore home, it was already dark. The house faced the ocean and had a wide wraparound porch with several white rocking chairs. The cold air whipped through us as we climbed the steps to the front door.

"Remember I'm Grayson here," Navarro said. "Mom hates when you call me by my last name."

"I know, I remember the death stare," I said.

As Navarro looked in his luggage for the house key, I watched the white crests of the waves beat against the sand. The loud aggressive bark of a dog came from inside the house.

"Where's your key?" Annalise Navarro said as she opened the door. "You scared the crap out of me."

Annalise pulled Grayson into a hug as we entered the house. The source of the barking pushed past them and charged towards me. Benny was a one-hundred-pound, black, long-haired mutt that Annalise loved as much as her sons. Sometimes she joked that she loved the dog more.

Benny barked at me, baring his teeth viciously. I knew Benny since he was a puppy, but that didn't matter to him. He was very protective of his home.

He eyed me as he stepped closer, a low growl coming from deep within his barrel chest. Once he was inches from me, he shoved his head against my thigh.

"There are nicer ways to get your head scratched, Benny," I said, petting him.

"That dog has no manners," Grayson said.

"He has better manners than you and your brothers," Annalise said. "He's a sweetheart, he's just misunderstood. Kind of like Gideon here."

Annalise was in her early fifties but looked younger. She was curvy and soft with dark wavy hair that reached the middle of her back. Strands of silver randomly ran through her hair with a larger clump just above her right almond-shaped eye.

Her eyes were always what drew me to her. They were a strange light-brown color and they spoke volumes. Annalise could give a look and everyone understood what she was thinking.

She reached out her arms and pulled me into a hug. With her just over five feet tall, I had to lean down to hug her. I held onto her for a moment and felt myself relax as I let out a long breath.

"You've got a lot of stress in you, Gideon," she said. "You're too young for that."

"That's why I brought him along," Grayson said. "I told him he needed to get away."

"Who is she?" Annalise asked, then quickly put her hands up. "Wait, don't tell me. Let me guess. It's that friend of yours, isn't it? The one you swear there's nothing else there. What's her name again?"

"Becca," Grayson said.

"That's right, Becca with the freckles. It happened, didn't it? Just like I said it would, right? You saw her one day and she looked different to you."

Annalise led us into the large kitchen where a rectangular wood table took up most of a corner of the room. A fresh pot of coffee was already brewing on the counter.

Benny quietly followed us, keeping himself close to Annalise. As I sat down, Benny sat on the floor next to me and rested his large block head on my lap. He looked up at me with his expressive brown eyes until I started petting him.

"That's exactly what happened," I said. "It was months ago at the South End fundraiser at the Boone Art Gallery. I saw this beautiful woman standing at the bar with her back towards me and, excuse me for saying this, but I had to have her. I didn't recognize her until she turned around."

Annalise laughed. "That's just sad," she said. "Have you ever thought that maybe you did know it was her? I mean you'd been working together for months at that point and spending time together outside of work too, how could you not recognize her?"

I shook my head. "Maybe you're right, maybe I didn't want to recognize her so that I could see her differently. I don't know," I said. "All I know is that after that, things changed for me. I tried to keep thinking of her as my best friend still, but it didn't change that I wanted more than just her friendship. I let it go for months until that day Navarro and I—" Annalise's eyes squinted at me like an Old West gunslinger. "I mean Grayson and I went out with the guys last month. I think watching them made me realize what I really want."

"And what is that?" she asked.

"My own family."

***

A couple of days later, I was on the phone with Mason Abernathy about a new project for him in Canyon Cove. He heard about my involvement with a small manufacturing company dedicated to creating more environmentally friendly building materials, and he wanted me to use his ranch as a prototype and build a state-of-the-art building dedicated to training horses.

It was a great opportunity for me, but it would take me months before we could break ground. I didn't want to make any promises in regards to materials if I didn't have enough resources. I was excited to get the ball rolling on it but knew it was better if I was patient.

As I hung up with Mason, Grayson joined me on the porch. We rocked in the chairs as we let the ocean hypnotize us. Annalise stepped onto the porch in a heavy sweatshirt and wrapped her arms around herself as she tried to stay warm.

"It's so sunny out, I was hoping to sit out here with you," she said.

Grayson slid to one side of the oversized rocker and patted the seat next to him. As his mother squeezed in beside him, they wrapped their arms around each other instinctively.

That was what I missed about having a mom. It took me years to stop expecting my mother to be something that she wasn't. It didn't matter that most of my memories of her involved her leaving the apartment, I had thought one day that would change. It didn't.

Between being abandoned by my dad before I was even born, to my mother abandoning me too, I didn't think I was family man material. But seeing Becca on that date with Taylor changed that.

I could be the damaged man I believed myself to be, or I could be the man Becca saw me as. She believed in me and supported me from day one. It was because of her that I had the confidence to create my environmental architecture firm. And it's because of her encouragement that I will return.

I realized that no matter what, I would never be like my parents. I had a good role model in Gabriel, who took on the father role despite our close age. I had needed that and I would forever be in debt to him.

But seeing Taylor on that date with Becca made me realize I didn't have my shit together. I imagined that one day, Becca and I would get married and have children. I couldn't do that until things with my company were stable enough that I could support Becca in whatever she wanted to do.

I walked away from Becca so that I could be the man who deserved her. I promised myself the next time we saw each other, I would be that man.

Part II

Chapter Sixteen

Becca

Three Months Later

The bell chimed and I turned around to see who was entering Mirabella's, then turned back to Sandra, who was seated across from me.

Mirabella's was empty except for one other table. While the dark-colored walls helped the place feel cozy, I was so anxious to see Gideon that I jumped every time a new person entered. It wasn't just this restaurant that made me crazy like this, it was everywhere in Canyon Cove.

Sandra's blonde hair was cut in a long bob that she pushed behind her ears. She had heard me mention Mirabella's so many times from my lunches with Cassie and other girls that she wanted to try it herself.

"He's not going to walk in, you know," she said.

I sighed as my shoulders drooped.

"I know," I said. "I guess I just keep hoping I'll see him. It's been months since he left. I can't believe he hasn't even texted me."

"I'm sure it's hard on you. You two were really close."

"And then he just vanished. Sometimes I feel like I made up the entire friendship. Like maybe I missed something and we weren't as close as I thought we were."

"You know that's ridiculous, right?"

"Of course I do," I said. "But that's how I feel."

"Have you tried calling him? Or maybe asking Cassie's husband about him? Isn't Gabriel Gideon's older brother?"

"He is, but I can't pull them into my drama, they have enough going on," I said. "Anything new with Billy?"

"I'm guessing you're putting that in the drama folder?" she said sarcastically.

"No, and don't say stuff like that. You know I don't think of your life as just drama."

"Thanks, Becca, but trust me, for a while it was nothing but drama. I'm just glad that's over."

"Are you sticking to your guns about not getting back together?"

She nodded, but she didn't have the same conviction that she used to.

"It's complicated," she said. "I don't have another word for it. He's still living with me, but nothing is happening between us. Nothing has happened between us in years, and there's no way I'm starting now. He has his own room and he'll be moving next month anyway. It just took him a while to find a plac.”

"How's he doing?"

"Billy's doing great," she said. "He's focused on getting back to work and keeping himself sober. I'm glad he's finally decided to get his life together, but it would take a lot for me to let him come back. I still love him, but I don't know. Love shouldn't be so hard."