now? I made my bed and now I have to lie in it. I have to marry her. It’s the responsible thing to do.”
Nic felt the color drain from her face. She was beginning to hate the word responsible.
She moved to the doorway, where she could see him. Gabe sat on the stairs, his shoulders slumped, his expression stark. Anguish and anger vibrated in his voice as he stared down at the wedding ring he still wore on his left hand. “No, Pam, of course not. I don’t love her. I love your sister. I’ll always love your sister. She was my soul mate. Nicole and I … we just … we had sex and now we have to deal with the consequences.”
A little mewl of pain escaped Nic’s throat as he added, “Oh, Pam. Don’t say that. Not after all we’ve been through. Please, I can’t lose you. I’ll have nothing. Let me—”
He let the receiver fall away from his ear and she could hear the dial tone. He muttered a vicious curse and banged his fist against the wall.
Nausea churned, threatened to erupt. She clapped a hand over her mouth and he looked up. Their gazes met and he repeated the curse. She dashed for the powder room beneath the stairs and lost her breakfast.
By the time she emerged, he was gone.
Nic insisted they complete their birthday surprise for Celeste. Wonderful friends that they were, Sage and Sarah added a few succinct bananagram messages for Gabe, which they left with his painting supplies upstairs.
Nine days later at the courthouse in Gunnison, with Sage Anderson, Sarah Reese, and Celeste Blessing in attendance, John Gabriel Callahan married Dr. Nicole Sullivan. He dressed in a suit. She wore jeans and a baggy brown sweater and accepted the rings he offered with a silent nod.
She hadn’t brought a wedding band for him. Nor had she appeared to notice that he’d finally removed Jennifer’s ring from his left hand. It had taken him half a bottle of scotch to work up the nerve to do so, and now he felt naked without it.
Until the moment Nic said “I do,” he’d expected her to call it off. She’d thrown up on the way into the building. He’d stumbled over her name when introducing her to the judge. Following lunch at the women’s favorite Mexican restaurant, where Sarah continued to give him the evil eye and privately threatened to take a rusty knife to his nuts if he didn’t treat his new wife right, Nic had hugged her friends and thanked them for coming as they climbed into Sage’s car and waved good-bye. He’d pretended not to see the tear that slipped from her eye to trail down her face as she joined Gabe for the two-hour drive home.
Gabe swallowed a sigh, then glanced at Nic. “If you need to stop, just let me know.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Whoa, three whole words. Almost a record.
After she’d overheard his phone call to Pam, all sense of ease between them had disappeared. Their relationship headed downhill. On skis. On lightning-fast skis on fresh powder. Now she avoided him, seldom met his gaze, and spoke to him primarily in monosyllables. Her smiles never reached her eyes. It made him feel like a heel.
He’d attempted to talk to her, to explain about his relationship with Pam and her family, but that had been a big fat fail. Really, what could he say? What excuses could he give? She’d heard what she’d heard—and it had been the truth.
Frustration nipped at him. And it wasn’t as if he hadn’t warned her. He’d been totally straight with her. Now he was the villain her girlfriends wanted to castrate, and he felt like he’d kicked a puppy.
The woman had lost her spirit, and he knew it was his fault. She wasn’t the same Nic who had stood up to him in her kitchen or danced with him at the school gym. He’d bet that if he listened hard enough, he could hear her heart breaking.
He stole a glance at his new wife and noted her stoic expression. His hand tightened on the steering wheel. He’d given her a set of wedding rings at the courthouse earlier. He’d spent a pretty penny on the stones. She’d accepted the rings with a tepid smile, thanked him politely, but never looked at them once he’d slipped them onto her finger. Nic was suffering some real buyer’s remorse about this marriage while he enjoyed one more round of guilt.