let’s get out of here.”
Ryan nodded her thanks to Austin and followed Gabriella out of the station. Once they were safely in her Jeep, Ryan turned to her. “Thank you. I’m honestly shocked, but appreciative.”
Gabriella nodded. She hadn’t turned on the ignition yet, and the car was quiet. The morning sunshine hit the dash. “Not that you deserved it. You actually hit a guy?”
Ryan scrubbed her face. “He was coming at us, and I was several drinks in after running into you living your fairy-tale ice-cream life and I”—she shook her head—“snapped.”
Gabriella faced her fully. “Well, you can’t do that. You can’t just snap. Something could have happened to you, and what am I going to do then?” She said it with such conviction that it tugged at Ryan’s heart. It meant she still cared. Really cared. Gabriella’s eyes searched Ryan’s. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you have to get it together. Do you hear me?”
She bit her lip. “Easier said than done these days.”
“No,” Gabriella said, emphatically. “That’s such a cop-out, and I’m tired of your cop-outs.”
“What does that even mean?” Ryan heard the frustration in her own voice. After the events of the night before, no sleep, and no food, her coping skills were nonexistent.
“When something is hard, you decide it’s unattainable.” She hit one hand perpendicular against the other to emphasize her point.
“You’re talking about us.” Ryan shook her head, emphatic. “Which is so untrue.”
“Damn right I am,” Gabriella said. “What? You don’t think so?”
“I was trying to do the right thing and get out of the way. You’re the one who went and fell for someone else. That’s not something I can control.”
“Are you insane?” Gabriella asked. Her eyes brimmed with tears, and Ryan’s lips parted in surprise.
“Well, am I wrong?” she asked meekly. She couldn’t stand to see Gabriella sad, and it took a lot not to pull her in and not let her go.
“You don’t get it. You still don’t.” Gabriella touched her chest, her heart, and took a moment to gather her words. Her voice was slow and unsteady. “The only person I’ve fallen for is sitting right here in this Jeep. She went to jail last night for being a hothead, and she broke my heart when she deserted me in every sense possible. So there.”
Ryan was speechless. No. That couldn’t possibly be true. All this time she’d imagined an amazing love story between Gabriella and Madison, and relegated herself to being merely the roadblock that got in their way. How was it possible that she had been more than that? She rejected the idea. “I admit that I wasn’t there when I needed to be. But in the end, I didn’t leave you. It was the other way around.” The reply was weak at best.
“Oh, Ryan.” Gabriella shook her head. “You don’t have a clue, do you? How very unfortunate.” Gabriella started the Jeep and drove them out of the parking lot in melancholy silence, each lost in their own thoughts. But Gabriella didn’t take the farm road that would take them to Ryan’s lake house. She also skipped over the shortcut to the Scoot for Ryan’s truck. Instead, she drove them straight through the center of town to the drive-through window of the Bacon and Biscuit Café. Ryan watched in surprise as she ordered four bacon and butter biscuits and two large coffees.
“What are we doing?” Ryan asked, as they waited on their order.
Gabriella looked agitated. “You’re bound to be starving. I’m not sending you home exhausted and hungry. It’s against everything I stand for.”
“You’re angry at me, and you’re buying me breakfast?” With the window down, the amazing aroma of freshly baked biscuits wafted through the car and almost brought Ryan to grateful tears.
“Yes, I am. Dammit.” Gabriella squeezed the steering wheel. “Because that’s who I am. An angry feeder.”
“Not going to argue.”
“Good.”
They retrieved the warm bag from Clem, who smiled and waved at Ryan through the window. “You okay?” she asked. Clearly Clementine had not missed out on the newly minted gossip, but then the Biddies were likely present in that very building, dishing over coffee and sass.
“Yeah. Long night, but I’m good now.”
Clem glanced at Gabriella and smiled as if to indicate all was right with the world, seeing the two of them. “I can see that. You guys enjoy the morning.”
“It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” Gabriella said and pulled away from the window with a wave. They drove in silence to