Chapter 13

I hope everyone's holidays have gone and are continuing to go well! This chapter's kind of filler, so stick with me please!










I walked back into my office after lunch with Patrick and dropped my stuff on a chair. I double checked to make sure I didn’t have an appointment coming up. I didn’t and I knew that Paige had a free period. I picked up the phone and called her, telling her to come down to my office.

“Want to talk about Saturday night?” she asked with a wink and a smile. I really didn’t, having other things on my mind, but I obliged. “How did it go?”

“It was a disaster,” I told her truthfully. Her smile faded and she sat down. I took a seat across from her, mostly because I didn’t know if my legs could hold me up any longer.

“What did you do?” she questioned accusingly.

“I don’t drink so I felt ostracized, and I didn’t know anyone. Getting to know people was basically impossible with as loud as it was in there, and then I got really sick and bailed without telling Patrick, but he came to check on me and then watched me throw up,” I explained. She looked stunned.

“Have you talked to him since then?”

“Yeah, I made him breakfast the next morning, and he called me-"

“You made him breakfast?” she asked cutting me off. I nodded. “He came back?”

“No, he was still there for breakfast,” I told her. Her eyes went wide.

“He slept on the couch?”

“No.”

“You cleaned off the futon in the studio for him?”

“No.”

“You made him sleep on the floor?”

“No.”

“You slut!” I sighed and cringed all at once.

“Nothing happened! He stayed because I was sick and I was too delirious to know what was going on,” I defended myself.

“You didn’t even kiss?”

“I’d just thrown up. Not exactly the ideal lead in to a kiss, Paige.” She looked disappointed. “The kiss came later,” I added quietly.

“What?!” she squealed. “During breakfast?” I shook my head and took a deep breath.

“Today, during lunch,” I confessed. The smile was back on her face.

“Tell me all about it,” she demanded.

“He called today and asked me to lunch because they are headed out of town on a road trip. I went, we talked and laughed, then we went outside to say goodbye. I told him to have a safe flight, turned to walk away and then he grabbed my arm to stop me, and kissed me. Then without a word he just smiled and walked away,” I told her.

“What kind of kiss?” I looked at her like she was crazy.

“Uh, normal?” She rolled her eyes at me.

“Was there tongue?” It was my turn to roll my eyes.

“No, there was no tongue. We were in the middle of the sidewalk.” She thought for a moment and then smiled.

“It left you wanting more, didn’t it?” Well, she was dead on there and I told her that. “He did it on purpose. He wanted to give you enough that you enjoyed it, but not so much that you were satisfied. He wanted you to spend the whole road trip thinking about that kiss and what it could lead to.”

“I think you’re giving him too much credit,” I argued. She shook her head.

“No way. Harding told me he used to do that to me on purpose so I’d be thrilled to see him when he got home from a business trip. It was definitely on purpose.” I thought about that for a minute.

“If he did that, then it would mean he’s really interested,” I concluded. She grinned and nodded.

“He saw you puking, stayed overnight to make sure you were okay, and then gave you that kind of kiss? Oh yeah, he’s interested.”

Paige left a little while later and I leaned back in my chair thinking about the kiss. I couldn’t contain the goofy smile on my face every time I thought about it. I felt a strange fluttery feeling in my stomach that I’d never felt before when I replayed it in my mind. In fact, I had that feeling every time I even thought of Patrick. This must be what people mean when they talk about butterflies.

Patrick called me that night like he said he would. Neither of us brought up the kiss. A couple of days passed of more of the same. I went to work like usual and at some point in the evening Patrick would call and we’d talk until we ran out of things to say. When they had a game I’d sit down and watch and smile every time they showed Patrick or mentioned his name.

Soon it was the day he’d be flying home. They’d be getting in late after their game so I wouldn’t see him today, but I hoped maybe I’d see him tomorrow. It was a strange feeling, getting giddy and excited to see a guy, but there I was wasting time in my office thinking about him. I left my office for lunch and returned early to get some work done.

“Aw, someone sent you flowers,” I commented to Kristen, my secretary, as I noticed the bouquet of purple roses on her desk.

“No, actually, these are for you,” she returned. I froze mid-step and looked at her in surprise.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” She laughed and stood up, carrying the roses into my office.

“I said they were for you,” she repeated.

“Who sent them?” She shrugged.

“There’s a card,” she told me. I found it and opened the envelope.

I saw all the purple at your place and thought maybe it was a favorite color. Dinner at my place tomorrow? Patrick

I felt my cheeks flush as a smile crossed my face at the card. Kristen made some comment about having a boyfriend that I didn’t really hear. I leaned over and inhaled the scent of the roses. He’d been observant and right about the purple in my apartment. It was my favorite color.

“Gabby, do you want to grab coffee after…..whoa. From Patrick?” Paige asked walking into my office. I turned to her with a grin on my face.

“He wants to have dinner tomorrow,” I told her.

“You are saying yes, right?” she wondered.

“Of course I am.”

“Maybe you can finish that kiss.” I laughed along with her.

“I guess we’ll see.”

“It’s good to see you happy, Gabrielle,” she said seriously.

My smile faltered for a minute. I’d never thought I’d given off the vibe of being unhappy. I always thought I’d done a pretty good job of hiding that, but I guess not. As I thought about it I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been truly happy. This was probably the first time since I was a child.

“I am happy,” I replied, returning the smile to my face.

“So you realize that purple roses mean love at first sight and magic, right?” she asked, lightening the subject. I handed over the card for her to read so she could see the reason behind the color choice. “Nice cover story.” I laughed along with her as I began to anticipate tomorrow night.

Chapter 12

I could feel the headache and the uneasy stomach even before I opened my eyes the next morning. At first I groaned inwardly at getting the flu or something now, but then the events from the night before hit me. I’d panicked myself into nausea. I groaned inwardly again, but this time at my inability to handle tough and uncomfortable situations.

Then I felt something tighten around my midsection. Fear sent a lump into my throat and caused my stomach to clench. Were those arms? Those were definitely arms. Oh shit. Oooooh shit, who was that? As I fought back a new wave of panicked nausea more memories from the night before filtered into my brain. Patrick.

My memories from after getting home were pretty much a blur. My panic attack had made sure of that, but I vaguely remembered Patrick coming to check on me. Then it was him in bed with me, right? I wasn’t forgetting something else, right? I felt the person holding me shift again and realized they were waking up.

“Gabby?” I heard him ask. The nausea disappeared all at once when I heard for sure that it was Patrick.

“I’m up,” I responded as I turned over.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, concern laced his voice. I gave a small shrug.

“I still have a headache, but better than last night.” He gave me a small smile.

“Good. I’ve gotta say, I was worried. You just disappeared saying you didn’t feel well so I came to check on you and you didn’t look good.”

“Yeah, it just kind of hit me,” I said. “I’m sorry I just left like that. I just had no idea how long I was going to be able to hold off on getting sick.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m just glad you’re okay.” I smiled back at him.

“I think I just really need a hot shower and I’ll be back to normal,” I told him.

“Go take that shower and I’ll try to cook some breakfast.”

I nodded and got out of bed. He did the same and when I looked between the two of us I couldn’t help but start laughing. He was still in his suit pants and shirt and I was still fully dressed in the clothes I’d worn to the game last night. He caught on to what I was laughing at and laughed too. I just shook my head and made my way into the bathroom.

It didn’t occur to me until I was already under the hot spray of the shower that maybe I should have been a little more concerned about being naked in the same apartment as a guy I barely knew. I waited for the oncoming panic attack to hit at that realization. I stood frozen in place in the shower ready to combat it, but it never came.

I finished my shower and toweled off wondering the whole time why it hadn’t. I’m not saying I was upset or disappointed about not having to try to fight off a panic attack, I was just confused. Lesser things had brought them on before, so why not this? I shrugged and got dressed before walking out into the kitchen.

The unpleasant smell of burnt eggs and bacon hit me the second I turned the corner. I paused in my position to watch Patrick scurry around trying to salvage the breakfast. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight. And then it hit me full on. I liked this guy. I really liked this guy. I’d been interested before, but now I was done for. He’d swept into my life like a hurricane and had hit me before I’d even seen him coming.

“Need help?” I asked, making the rest of the way into the kitchen. He looked at me sheepishly.

“I told you I was a terrible cook,” he responded. I laughed and took the skillet he was holding out of his hand.

“If you could take Loxley out, I’ll cook,” I offered. He happily obliged and I got to work.

Patrick took Loxley out and then came back in and sat at a stool at the island to watch me work. Even after feeling so sick last night, I found that I was hungry, so I made a large breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and home fries covered two plates when I was done.

“This is probably the best breakfast I’ve ever had,” he told me appreciatively as he ate. I grinned and thanked him. We ate mostly in silence, but it wasn’t at all uncomfortable. “I should probably get back to my place. Dudley is probably going crazy right now.”

“Of course, the poor guy. I’ll talk to you later.” He got up and grabbed his stuff and I walked him to the door. “Thank you for coming back last night. It was really sweet of you.”

“You’re welcome.” He gave me one of his dazzling smiles before turning and walking out the door. I closed it behind him and leaned back against the door and sighed with a smile on my face.

The next Monday morning I was sitting at my desk in my office. Patrick and I had talked again after he’d left my apartment Saturday morning and the conversation had been easy and funny. It didn’t seem like he was at all bothered by my strange behavior and sickness on Friday night. I smiled as I thought about him until my phone rang.

“Gabrielle Tunney,” I answered, figuring it was one of the staff at the school.

“Hey, Gabby,” Patrick’s voice greeted me cheerfully.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked in surprise.

“Well, we’re flying out this afternoon for a road trip this afternoon and I was hoping maybe you could grab lunch with me today before I go.” I couldn’t help the smile that came over my face. I agreed and we set a time and location. I then counted down the minutes until it was time.

When it finally was I grabbed my jacket and purse and headed out to my car. I found a place to park near the restaurant and walked in to find Patrick already there and waiting for me. We were led to a table where we spent the next 40 minutes laughing and talking. After the bill was paid we walked outside to say goodbye.

“I’ll give you a call when I get to Phoenix,” Patrick told me.

“Sounds good. Have a safe flight,” I returned.

I started to take a step to walk away when Patrick reached out and grabbed my arm. I turned back to him. He didn’t say anything, just lowered his face and pressed his lips to mine. My breath caught in my throat in shock even as I kissed him back. He pulled back too quickly and gave me a mischievous smile before turning and walking away. I just stood there on the sidewalk staring after his form even after it disappeared around a corner. Holy shit.










Patrick knew he wanted to see Gabrielle before he left for Phoenix that afternoon so he was hoping that she’d be able to get away for lunch. He was really starting to develop feelings for her. He smiled when she agreed to meet him and he had a smile on his face the entire practice that morning.

“Sharpie, you’re starting to make me sick every time I see you,” Burs complained as they headed into the locker room after the practice.

“Shove it,” he responded.

Unfortunately Burish’s comment had egged on the rest of the locker room who then proceeded to give it to him pretty good over Gabrielle. Most of it was fine, but a few of the guys weren’t really sure about her. Keith had called her “uppity.” What the hell did that mean?

“So you don’t like her because she doesn’t drink?” Patrick asked him.

“It’s not that. She just acted like she was above being around us at the bar, like we should be privileged to have her in our presence,” Duncan responded.

“I don’t think she was like that at all. I think she was just overwhelmed being around a bunch of people she didn’t know in a scene she’s obviously not completely comfortable in. Not to mention she got pretty sick that night from the flu or something,” Patrick defended her.

“Yeah, well, I guess we’ll see, won’t we,” Duncan said.

“If it helps, I liked her,” Tazer threw in.

“You’re just saying that because Sharpie hasn’t gotten you back for that stunt you pulled on Gabrielle yet and you’re afraid,” Burish joked. The guys in the locker room laughed and the subject changed.

Patrick left the rink and drove to the restaurant he and Gabrielle had agreed to meet at. He was only there for a few minutes when she walked in looking as beautiful as usual in that not really trying way. He’d never known a girl who could make professional attire look so sexy. They sat at a table and laughed their way through lunch.

Unfortunately they had only a short time before she had to get back to school, but at least it was something before they hit the road. As they talked he kept focusing on her mouth and wondering what it would be like to kiss her. When they’d gone outside to head their separate ways he couldn’t help himself.

Gabrielle turned to leave and he grabbed her arm. She turned back to him in confusion and he just went for it. She was surprised at first, but she only hesitated for a second before kissing him back. They were in the middle of the sidewalk, so he knew it had to just be a short kiss, but he wanted it that way. He was hoping if he kept it short he’d leave her wanting more. When he pulled away he thought he read disappointment flash through her eyes. He gave her a small smile before turning and walking away without a word.

His lips had tingled the entire walk back to his car and he didn’t mind a bit. He got in, started the car and turned down the street where the restaurant was to head home. He spotted Gabrielle sitting down on a short rock wall only feet from where he’d left her holding a hand to her mouth. Oh yeah, he was pretty sure he had her.

Chapter 11

Patrick gave himself one last once-over in the mirror before exiting his place and heading over to Gabrielle’s. In their last conversation he’d insisted on picking her up to go to dinner tonight. She’d finally given in when she realized he was unrelenting. He wasn’t sure what had more to do with insisting; the chivalry of driving her, or the curiosity of seeing her place.

He got into his car and followed his GPS to her apartment building. It looked like a nice place in a decent area not too far from where he lived. He found a place to park on the street and walked to the front door. She had told him to call her when he got there so he pulled out his phone and did just that.

“Hey,” she answered after six rings.

“Hi, I’m downstairs,” he told her.

“Oh, God, you’re on time,” she groaned. He smiled to himself.

“Is that a problem?” he asked.

“Uh, no. I’ll buzz you in, apartment 523, the door will be unlocked so just come on in. Lox is going to bark at you but he won’t bite. This may sound weird but just say ‘Mama said relax’ and he’ll stop.”

The call was disconnected a second later before he had time to respond. Another second later he heard a buzzing sound that indicated she’d unlocked the front door for him. He walked into a nice lobby and got on the elevator, hitting the button for the 5th floor. When it stopped he followed the numbers next to the doors until he reached 523. He cautiously opened the door and was greeted by a black and white, approximately 40 pound dog barking at him.

“Mama said relax,” he said, repeating what Gabrielle had told him to say.

He felt a little silly saying it, but it seemed to work. Loxley stopped barking and moved to sniff the hand that Patrick held out. Once he seemed to have enough he began to wag his tail and gave the outstretched hand a lick. Taking that as a good sign, Patrick began to pet Loxley, who more than willingly let him.

“Hey, I’ll be out in a minute! Feel free to grab yourself a drink!” Gabrielle called from around a corner.

“Thanks!” he called back.

He made his way to the kitchen area as he looked around the part of the apartment he could see. The colors on the walls and of the furniture were neutral, but there were splashes of color everywhere. At first glance it seemed random, but the more you looked at it, the more it worked. Paintings lined the walls of the living and dining areas that he could see.

The kitchen was decently sized and full of stainless steel appliances that stood out against the dark color of the cabinets. The counter was a black marble that seemed to work perfectly with everything else. Another thing he noticed was how clean and organized everything seemed. He almost felt shamed as he thought about the piles of dishes and food sitting on his own countertops.

He opened the refrigerator and looked over his options, intending on grabbing whatever beer she may have had. He double and triple checked over the neatly lined shelves and didn’t see any beer. He grabbed a bottle of water and noticed that he didn’t see any of those sugary girly malt drinks either. In fact, as he gave the kitchen another glance he noticed that something else was different from his kitchen. Unless they were tucked away in a cupboard somewhere, there was absolutely no alcohol in this kitchen anywhere.

“I am so sorry to keep you waiting,” he heard Gabrielle say as he studied a painting on the wall. “I was painting and then I lost track of time. I feel awful because I’m never late. I hate being late.”

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” he assured her. Gabrielle grabbed a jacket from a closet and then followed Patrick out into the hallway, locking the door behind her. “So you paint?”

“Oh yeah, just for fun,” she told him. He remembered back to her saying that Loxley had knocked over some paint and then run through the house.

“I’d assumed you were painting your apartment’s walls when you said Loxley knocked over some paint, but that wasn’t the case, was it?” he asked. She laughed and shook her head.

“No, not at all.” Knowing that she was artistic gave him a little more insight into her and made all the color splashes throughout her apartment make a little more sense.

“Do you think I could see some of your work sometime?” He held the door open for her to get into his car as he asked. She waited to respond until he’d gotten into the car himself.

“You already did. You were looking at one when I came out tonight,” she replied. He lifted his eyebrows in surprise. The painting had been good. Really good.

“You’re talented,” he told her. He glanced over at her and watched her blush a bit at the compliment.

“Thank you. Are you artistic at all?” she asked him. He laughed.

“Not in the least. I can’t even draw a squiggly line,” he joked. She laughed too. So far so good on this non-date.










I walked into the arena with Paige by my side the following night. It was the second game Nathan wasn’t allowed at, but Patrick had asked if I’d wanted to go at dinner the night before. I’d agreed and Paige was more than happy to play her part in hooking Patrick and I up. I hadn’t talked to her about dinner the night before yet, but I knew as soon as we were sitting, she was going to ask.

I was proven right when it was the first thing she brought up once we were in our seats. I told her about him coming over to pick me up and driving me himself. I told her about the smooth conversation and how we spent half of dinner talking about our dogs. Then I told her about how he dropped me off and placed a kiss on my hand before I got out of the car.

“You mean you haven’t kissed him yet?” she questioned. I shook my head.

“We’re just taking things slow and getting to know each other,” I told her.

We settled in to watch the game. The first period didn’t go so well with the Blues going up on the Hawks 3-1. The Hawks came back through the next two periods and tied the game to send it into overtime. Unfortunately the Blues scored in the extra session to win the game. As Paige and I went downstairs, I wasn’t sure what to do or say after the loss. Did he like to talk about it or not? I decided to just not bring it up unless he did.

“Hey guys,” he greeted us when he came out of the locker room a little while later. “It’s nice to see you again, Paige.”

“Same to you,” she told him. Before the conversation could continue someone called out to Patrick.

“Sharpie, are you in?” the guy yelled over. Patrick held a finger up to him and turned back to us.

“A bunch of us are going out. Would you two like to join us?” he asked. Go out, like to a bar? Not really my scene. I didn't go to bars, clubs, etc.

“Sounds like fun,” Paie replied with a smile. I groaned inwardly as Patrick and Paige both turned to look at me. I begrudgingly agreed.

“We’re in!” Patrick called back to the same guy. Paige and I followed Patrick out of the arena and we veered off to head towards her car.

“Oh, sorry I’m going to have to bail. I just got a text from Harding and he’s going out of town early tomorrow morning so I’m going to spend some time with him before he goes. Can you drive Gabby?” I glared over at her. She was lying and she smirked at my glare. This was going to be worse than I thought.

“Yeah, no problem,” Patrick responded.

Paige gave a small wave as I followed Patrick over to his car and got in. He drove to a bar not too far away and parked in a lot. Then he led me into a loud club, getting us right past the line and through the door. We headed to a sectioned off portion where there was already a group of guys and girls I recognized from the rink.

“Hey guys!” someone said, coming up to us. I turned to see Patrick Kane walk over to us. “Can I get you something to drink?” he offered.

“A water is fine,” I told him over the deafening music. He leaned closer to me.

“A vodka water you said?” he asked.

“No, just a water,” I corrected. He gave me an odd look but bought a beer for himself and Patrick and a bottle of water for me.

We made our way over to a group sitting around a table and Patrick introduced me to everyone. The music was so loud, and there were so many people in the group that I couldn’t remember a single name out of the ones that I did hear. We sat down and I struggled to listen and join in to the conversation going on around me.

“Do you want a shot?” one of the girls offered, grabbing one off of an offered tray.

“No thanks. I don’t drink,” I declined. She looked at me like I was crazy.

It was a situation that was repeated many more times through the night as someone new offered me a drink. Eventually I was sick of feeling ostracized for not drinking and got up to go to the bathroom. I liked Patrick, but this was just not me. I started thinking of an excuse to get out of there as soon as possible. I walked through the door of the tiny bathroom and came face to face with two girls who looked shocked to see me.

“I thought you locked the door,” one of them said.

“I guess it’s broken,” the other said.

They tried to block what they were doing as they glared at me, but it was too late. I’d already seen the white powder traced neatly into a thin line. I mumbled out an apology before backing out quickly. I felt my heart start to race and I needed to get out of there. Out of the bathroom, and out of the club.

“Hey, you okay?” Adam Burish asked me as I rushed towards the exit.

“Please tell Patrick I’m sorry, but I’m not feeling well,” I told him before running out the door and hailing a cab.










Patrick took a swig of his beer and looked around. Gabrielle had gotten up to use the bathroom, but she’d been gone for a while. He wondered what was taking so long and got up to go look for her. On his way he ran into Burs.

“Oh, hey, you’re girl told me to tell you she wasn’t feeling well and was going home. She wasn't looking too good. She must have had too much to drink,” he told him. Patrick immediately knew something was wrong.

“Gabrielle didn’t drink,” he replied. Burs shrugged his shoulders before turning to the bar.

Patrick put down his beer and grabbed his suit jacket off of the seat he’d been using. Then he made his way out of the club and to his car wondering what had happened. He drove out to Gabrielle’s apartment, found a place to park and made his way to the front door.

He pulled out his phone to call her when someone walked outside from the building. He caught the door and went inside, taking the elevator up to her apartment. He tried the door and found that it was unlocked. He walked in and found Gabrielle sitting curled up on her couch.

“Gabby, are you okay?” he asked as he made his way over to her.

She didn’t respond and kept her gaze fixed on one spot on the carpet. Her eyes were red-rimmed like she’d been crying, but there weren’t any tears now. Once he’d reached her he noticed that she was shaking. He grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around her.

He held her for a few minutes before she suddenly jumped up and bolted out of the room. A second later he heard the sounds of her getting sick. He got up and grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and carried it in to her. She took it from him and rinsed out her mouth before standing up. She was still shaking and he was worried.

“Let’s get you to bed,” he suggested.

She let him guide her out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. He pulled back the blankets and helped her into bed. She continued to shake so he took of his suit jacket and shoes before crawling into bed beside her. He pulled her into him and held her until she eventually stopped shaking and fell asleep. Not wanting to risk waking her, he settled himself in to spend the night wondering how she'd gotten so sick so quickly.