Chapter 17

I stood back as Patrick checked our bags and printed out our boarding passes. I stood stiffly and warily as I looked around at all the people surrounding us. I’m claustrophobic and I felt like walls were closing in on me, like I needed clean air. Patrick glanced at me over his shoulder and gave me a smile. I smiled back at him. At least I thought I did.

When he was done he took my hand and led me through the maze of people to security and customs. I followed his lead on everything, having my passport out ahead of time. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d been on a plane. I knew I’d flown before, when I was young, but I didn’t remember it. I couldn't even remember where I'd gone.

Once we were through everything he took my hand again and I followed him to our gate. Most of the seats already contained people, so we found an empty spot against the wall and sat on the floor. I pulled my knees up to my chest and reminded myself to keep slow, steady breaths. Patrick placed a hand on my knee and nudged me with his shoulder.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

No, I wasn’t. I was so far from being okay. I was using every ounce of my energy to fight off a panic attack. I wasn’t sure what was causing the fear and anxiety. It could have been the impending plane ride. It could have been meeting Patrick’s family. It could have been spending the holidays with a family for the first time since I’d lost mine. It could have been the fact that I felt like I was falling for Patrick more and more every time I saw him. It could have been a combination of any or all of those things.

“Just nervous. I haven’t flown since I was a child,” I told him.

I couldn’t tell him the truth. I couldn’t let him know that I was crazy. I couldn’t tell him that there was a bottle of Ativan that I hadn’t brought because I didn’t want him to know about it that I desperately wished I had with me. I couldn’t tell him that I wished I had something much stronger than Ativan. I couldn’t tell him that I hadn’t had the craving for something like that in seven years, but now I had twice since I’d met him.

“It’ll be okay. I promise,” he tried to assure me as he put an arm around my shoulders. I nodded and forced a smile onto my face to try to hide what I was really feeling.

We boarded the plane for Thunder Bay a while later and I strapped in between Patrick and the window. We talked off and on through the night flight. I felt like he was trying to keep my mind off of the fact that I was in the air, and it was sweet. A little misguided, but sweet. I clung to his hand as the plane touched down, and he placed a kiss on my forehead once we were taxiing to the gate.

“See, I promised that you’d be safe,” he whispered. I wasn’t safe. I’d never be safe around him.

We walked off of the plane and I felt the tightening in my chest when I realized that it was way too late to turn back now. I stopped walking, took a few deep breaths, and then caught up to Patrick who had stopped to turn back to me. Once again, he mistook my nervousness for something else.

“My family will love you. I promise.” I wanted to tell him to stop promising things. Promises could never be kept.

He took my hand again and led me through the airport, which was considerably smaller and less full than the Chicago airport had been. That helped. We reached baggage claim and I saw a guy standing there with the same eyes as Patrick. We headed straight for him and Patrick let go of my hand to give him a hug. I hung back as they greeted each other.

“This is my girlfriend, Gabrielle. Gabby, this is my brother, Chris,” Patrick introduced us.

I hesitated a moment, surprised by what Patrick had said. The word ‘girlfriend’ had never come up between us before. When had that happened? When had we gone from just dating to me being a girlfriend? Finally I stepped forward, put a smile on my face, and shook his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Chris. Patrick talks about you all the time. Let me assure you it’s not all good,” I joked with a wink. It even amazed me at how quickly I managed to shift from anxiety to good humor.

“Somehow, I’m not surprised. It’s nice to meet you, too. Come on, I’m sure you guys are tired. I’ll get you home,” he returned.

I insisted on sitting in the back seat of the car so that the two of them could talk and catch up. I kept an ear on the conversation so I could respond when necessary, but my mind was elsewhere. I hadn’t been with people for Christmas in nine years. Even when Olivia had taken me in and given me a home for a while, I’d spent Christmas alone. She’d gone to be with her family, and despite her insistence, I’d always refused to join. Now I was heading into a family Christmas with an apparent ‘boyfriend’ I still didn’t know all that well. Talk about jumping in head on.

Chris pulled into the driveway of a house with a porch light on in front and a light on in a room inside. He got out and helped with the luggage. When I noticed that there were no other cars in the driveway and no one came out to greet us I assumed this was Patrick’s house in the off season. Chris and Patrick carried the luggage inside and I followed them in.

“Okay, I have to get back to Faith. I guess we’ll see you for breakfast at Mom and Dad’s at 9?”

“We’ll see you then,” Patrick confirmed. Chris gave a final wave before walking back out the front door.

“Nice place,” I told Patrick when he shut the door behind Chris. He smiled over at me and pulled me into a hug.

“I kind of sprang the ‘girlfriend’ thing on you back there,” he said. I looked up at him in surprise. How had he known? As if reading my mind again, he gave a small laugh. “You were quieter than normal the entire trip back from the airport.”

“I’m sorry. I was just caught off-guard,” I replied truthfully.

“I hope it was okay.”

“It was.” I could hear the tremor in my own voice, so I tried to hide it with a smile.

“Gabrielle, whatever’s making you tense about me, about being here, I just want you to know that I can help. Let me save you,” he whispered. His words stunned me. They hit me harder than I would have liked them too, because God, I wanted to be saved. I just hadn’t realized that it had been so obvious that I’d been holding back and hiding things.

“I never asked you to save me.”

“I know.”

He said those two words very pointedly, his eyes boring into mine. He wasn’t just telling me that he was aware I didn’t ask him to, he was telling me he was willing and wanted to. I didn’t even know how to respond to that, short of just breaking down, and I wasn’t going to do that. All I knew was that my heart was surging and fluttering and my stomach was doing somersaults. How was it that he could make something so awful seem so tolerable?

“Why don’t I give you the tour?” he asked, obviously sensing I wasn’t sure what to say and wanting to change the subject.

“The tour can wait.” He looked over at me in surprise. I shrugged. Two simple words had made me need him again. “The house will still be here later.” He laughed and lifted me easily in his arms.

“Why don’t I show you the bedroom first?”

I felt a stab of fear when the alarm sounded the following morning. This was it. What had I gotten myself into? We took turns showering and then got into a car he leaves there when he goes to Chicago for the season and headed over to his parents’ house. Patrick gave me more assurance that his family would love me before he opened the front door and we walked in.

“Sweetie! How was your trip?” a woman I assumed was his mother exclaimed, immediately coming down the hallway and hugging Patrick. An older man came around a corner with a smile on his face, followed by Chris and his very pregnant wife.

“It was, fine. No problems. Hi, Dad.”

“And you must be Gabrielle,” the woman said, turning her attention towards me. I smiled and started to stick my hand out to shake her hand. “Oh, we don’t shake hands in this family.” She wrapped me up in a hug that took me by surprise. When she pulled away, I saw Patrick holding back a laugh as his eyes met mine.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Mrs. Sharp.”

“Nonsense. We don’t do formal here either. It makes me feel old. Call me Elise and this is my husband, Ian. I believe you met Chris last night, and this is his wife, Faith,” she said, introducing me to everyone.

After the introductions were over I followed the family back into the kitchen where the table was set for all of us and food was already on the table. There was more food sitting out than I thought was possible for just six people to eat. Apparently I underestimated the Sharp family. Hardly anything was left after the meal.

The conversation had been light and amusing. I heard stories about Patrick and Chris as they were growing up, some of which they’d probably wished had never been brought up again. I spent more time laughing than I would have liked. There was a comfort in feeling uneasy about being in a family setting. Enjoying it meant I was enjoying being around a family, which meant I was growing to like them, which meant that it was going to hurt even worse when they were torn away from me.

“Let me help you clean up,” I offered to Elise. She brushed my offer away with a wave of her hand.

“We don’t put guests to work in this house. The boys will help me clean. Go on out and enjoy your coffee with Faith and Ian.” I gave her a smile and nodded at the dismissal.

We sat around a truly charming and inviting living room finishing off the coffee and letting the breakfast feast digest before I was informed it was time to find the Christmas tree. Usually the whole family went along, but Faith stayed back because of her 8 months of pregnancy and Elise stayed to keep an eye on her. The rest of us bundled up against the Thunder Bay cold and walked out into the woods.

“This one looks good,” Ian suggested, pointing to a tree nearby.

“I think it’ll work,” Chris agreed. Patrick turned to me.

“What do you think?” he asked. I wasn’t sure what to say. I’d never gone out searching for a Christmas tree before. What were the requirements of a good tree?

“It looks good to me,” I said, agreeing with the first two. I wasn’t about to know any better than they were.

They got to work chopping the tree down as I sat back and shivered. I’d never experienced a cold like this cold before. I didn’t know it was humanly possible for someone to get this cold and still survive. I couldn’t feel my toes or my fingers and they were under layers and layers of socks and gloves.

Finally the tree fell and I was appointed the very top to carry. The four of us trekked through snow that was up to my knees as we carried the tree back to the house. Elise opened the door for us when she saw us coming and we tried our best to shake the snow off of us before entering the house. I saw with gratitude that she had hot cocoa waiting for our arrival.

The next couple of hours were spent decorating the tree with a variety of ornaments. Some were fancier, some were goofier, and some were homemade. I laughed at the stories they told of how some of the ornaments were made by the boys when in grade school. I laughed harder at a picture of Patrick from when he was 8 years old stuffed into a ratty old tuna can with glitter and fake snow.

Despite all the laughter as we finished decorating the tree, I was overcome with a feeling of sadness. With my family there’d never been a family search for the perfect tree, there was no family decorating, and I couldn’t recall ever making a homemade ornament. Even if I had, I doubted it would have ever been allowed on the tree.

Later that night, long after dinner had ended, Patrick and I returned to his house. We fell right into bed, both exhausted from a long day. The only difference between us is that he fell asleep with a smile on his face, while I struggled to keep him from waking up to see my tears. His family was perfect, and made me long for a family of my own. I didn’t want to feel this anymore, yet it had only been the first day of four here. I wasn’t sure how I’d make it through the rest.

Chapter 16

A week had passed since the night I’d taken Nathan to the game. Patrick and I had only been able to see each other once that week because of his schedule. It was getting to the point that I was realizing that I was going to have to get used to a distant relationship with him. We just weren’t going to be able to see each other as much as other couples might.

I thought about it even as I painted a scene that didn’t reflect my feelings on that at all. I’d woken up this Saturday morning feeling hopeful and a little dreamy. I couldn’t explain where that feeling had come from, but I also couldn’t say I hated it. As I worked on the painting I heard my phone ring. I noticed it was the number that would come up if someone was downstairs calling from the lobby directory.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me.” I smiled at the unexpected sound of Patrick’s voice. “Dudley and I are downstairs and were wondering if we could come up.”

“Of course! I’ll buzz you in.” I hit the button on the phone necessary to unlock the door and then made my way to my apartment door to open it for them.

We hadn’t had any plans for today so I was caught a little off-guard. I glanced down at the paint stained sweats and t-shirt I was wearing as I self-consciously put a hand to my ponytail. There wasn’t time to change, so Patrick was just going to have to live with seeing me look like a mess. A moment later I heard him and Dudley walk through the door.

“Hey,” I greeted him when he walked around the corner, led by Dudley.

“Hi.” He walked immediately over to me and kissed me lightly. “I didn’t know you wore glasses.” I put a hand up to my face, touching the frame, suddenly remembering I was still wearing those, too.

“I don’t often. Usually I have my contacts in, but I just hadn’t gotten around to that yet today.”

“I think they look good on you.” I smiled into the second kiss he gave me.

“Not that I mind, but what are you doing here?” I asked.

“I got home after practice and realized that I’d have much more fun spending the day with you than spending it alone. I hope it’s okay that I just came over.”

“It is. I’m just sorry you had to walk in on me looking like this,” I told him, grabbing onto my t-shirt and glancing down at myself. He laughed.

“I really don’t mind,” he assured me.

“I was just painting, so I didn’t want to wear anything nice, you know?” He nodded in understanding.

“Can I see what you were working on?” he asked.

I smiled at his interest and led him back to my studio. I pointed at the painting that was maybe only half complete and waited to hear what he had to say. I was never nervous about showing anyone what I had painted. I held no delusions that I was the next Rembrandt or Picasso and I was very aware that people had differing tastes in art as well. Patrick looked at it for a while before he spoke.

“There are no people on the beach,” he commented.

“I know. It’s on purpose,” I told him.

“You don’t like painting people, or you didn’t want there to be people?” he asked.

“I didn’t want there to be people, or hotels, or tourist traps,” I explained.

“Why not?”

“Because that right there is paradise.”










Patrick glanced over at Gabrielle when she said that. He could tell by the tone of her voice that there was more to her calling it paradise than it being just a peaceful beach. Her gaze had changed as well, like she’d gone into the painting for a moment. He stayed quiet as he watched the faraway look in her eyes and wondered what had happened to her.

He had a feeling there was more to her strange silence about her past than just losing her family, but he’d never been sure before. Now he believed it even more as he watched her disappear from the moment. Her idea of paradise was away from people, away from everything. He knew losing family could be traumatic, but there just had to be more to her story than that.

As he watched her he saw light slowly come back into her eyes. He knew she was coming back from wherever she’d gone and just waited her out, not wanting to rush her. Finally she turned and looked at him, a smile forming on her face. He couldn’t help but smile back at her.

“I’m really glad you came over,” she said to him. He reached out and pulled her into him.

“I am too.”

They walked out of the studio and sat on the couch in the living room. They watched Dudley and Loxley run around playing with each other while they talked. After a while they decided to take the dogs for a walk in a nearby park. It felt surprisingly warm for a late afternoon in December, but Patrick wasn’t complaining.

They held hands as they walked. He was struck by how nice it was to be holding hands with someone as they walked their dogs. He’d never had that feeling with anyone before. It felt amazing and unsettling at the same time. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to fall for Gabrielle. He was already on his way. He’d be more than happy to willingly let it happen if it wasn’t for that secret of hers. He just wanted to know what it was before he let himself fall completely.

“I’m hungry. Do you want dinner?” she asked, as they walked back into her apartment.

“Yeah, dinner sounds great. What are you in the mood for?” he returned. She shrugged and then opened her refrigerator.

“Not sure. What about you?” He watched as she moved things around and opened drawers, before opening the freezer to do the same.

“Are you planning on cooking dinner?”

“You need a home cooked meal once in a while,” she told him, turning to look at him over her shoulder and raising an eyebrow. It was adorable.

“Well, thank you. Anything you want to make would be fine,” he assured her.

She got to work taking things out and placing them on the counter. He sat down at a stool at the island in the kitchen and watched her work. For someone who was not a cook like he was, he was amazed at her. She never measured a single thing. Just over an hour later when a plate of fantastic looking lasagna that Gabrielle had made from scratch was placed in front of him, he forgot about wanting to hold off on falling for her.

“This is amazing,” he complimented her.

She beamed over at him. He was telling the truth. He’d been to Italian restaurants run by real Italians that couldn’t cook lasagna half as well as she had. When they were done he grabbed her plate and took it to the sink, where he got to work doing dishes. It was the least he could do for a meal like that.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Doing the dishes,” he responded.

“I can see that. Why are you doing my dishes?”

“Because you cooked me dinner, so I should do the cleaning.” She smiled, sat back, and didn’t argue. When he was done, he walked over to where she was playing with the dogs. She turned to him, put her arms around his neck, and kissed him.

“Thank you for doing the dishes.”

“I’ll keep doing them too, if that’s the thanks I get.” She grinned up at him and kissed him again.










I don’t know where I got the balls to just walk up and kiss Patrick the way I did. I’d never been that kind of person. Somehow he just brought it out of me. Now as we stood there in the middle of my living room, kissing like the world would end if we stopped, I wondered why I’d spent so long avoiding guys. Then again, I somehow had the suspicion that no other guy would have made me feel like Patrick did.

His hands had been planted on my hips, but now he was running them slowly up my sides. I shivered at the touch, and pulled myself as close to him as I could get. The kiss became more and more desperate as we clung to each other and I was struck by a feeling I’d never felt in my life. I wanted him. I really wanted him.

Never before had I felt this need to be with someone before. It was a little unnerving and so right at the same time. I’m not sure who initiated the movement, but I soon realized that we were heading in the direction of my bedroom, our lips still connected. Part of me wanted to stop him, and the other part of me was making sure we made it there safely.

Once in the bedroom Patrick broke the kiss to trail his lips over my jaw and down my neck. I felt like everywhere he touched me was on fire, and I let out an involuntary moan. His hands trailed back down my sides and grabbed the hem of my shirt. They hesitated there for a moment, but once he realized I wasn’t going to stop him, he lifted my shirt over my head. I couldn’t have stopped him if I wanted to. He pulled away from me and looked into my eyes.

“If you don’t want to do this, tell me now. If we go any farther, I don’t know that I’ll be able to stop.”

I took in what he said and only hesitated for a second. Not trusting my words, I instead used my lips to kiss him long and hard. I realized I didn’t just want this, I felt like I needed it. It felt right and I had to know that my past experiences with this weren’t the real thing. I wasn’t at all let down. There were feelings, touches, emotions, I’d never experienced before. As we lay there cuddled up afterward I was struck by the feeling of being safe, satisfied, and happy. If I had been an emotional person, I might have cried.

“What happened to your arms?” Patrick asked me, running a hand over them. I took in a sharp breath as I looked down at them. I’d completely forgotten about the scars on my forearms. I’d never before forgotten about them. Now I covered them self-consciously.

“There was an accident,” I started, hesitating slightly. “The glass.” I let my voice trail off, not finishing the sentence.

I felt awful about the answer, and now was not the time to talk about it. Patrick’s only response was to take both of my arms and kiss his way down one and then up the other. The chills that ran through me were unexplainable. I’d always gone out of my way to keep the small scars covered, but now I resisted the urge to do that and cuddled back up to Patrick.

“What are your plans for Christmas?” he asked after a long silence. I turned my head at the unexpected question.

“Probably spending it here with Loxley like I usually do,” I told him. He didn’t say anything in response and I nestled back into the spot I’d been in.

“Come home with me,” he said a moment later. I bolted upright, bringing the sheets up with me, and putting some distance between us.

“I’m sorry, what?” He couldn’t have just said what I thought he did.

“Come home with me for Christmas,” he repeated. I shook my head vehemently.

“Patrick, I can’t…..it wouldn’t…..I just…..” He sat up as I stammered over my words.

“No one should spend Christmas alone. I want you to come with me. I want to spend Christmas with you.”

As I looked into his eyes I thought of a million reasons why I couldn’t possibly go home with him for Christmas. I continued to keep a small distance between us and shake my head no. Even as I did all of those things I heard myself tentatively agreeing. He smiled and pulled me back to him, placing a kiss on my forehead as he did so. I settled back down next to him, but my brain was going a mile a minute. I hadn’t spent a single Christmas with anyone for the last nine years because it had been too hard. What had I gotten myself into?

Chapter 15

I watched Gia walk out of my office sadly. She was lost and I had yet to figure out how to help her. I’d asked her to bring in some of her photography to show me, and she had. I thought maybe it would help spark conversation between us, but it had done the opposite. I didn’t know much about photography, but I knew that when I looked at her photos I felt overwhelmingly sad. She remained as tight lipped as ever, and I became even more worried about her.

I spent the next little while making notes on Gia and brainstorming possible ways to get her to open up and let me in. I added my notes to her file and packed them away just in time for my next appointment. Nathan walked in just on time, with a smile on his face. He greeted me cheerfully and plopped down on the couch.

“How’s school going this week?” I asked him. I knew most of the answer to that already, but I wanted to hear what he had to say.

“I just came from biology. I got a B on my last test,” he announced proudly. I grinned back at him.

“That’s great, Nathan. I’m really glad to hear that. How about on that English essay?” He shrugged.

“We haven’t gotten them back yet.”

We talked a little more about how things in school were going and then he segued into other subjects. I didn’t really care what we talked about as long as we were talking. In the last few weeks since Nathan had gotten into trouble, he’d been doing really well. He hadn’t missed any school, he’d been getting better grades, and as far as I knew he hadn’t gotten into any trouble. Of course, he knew this as well.

“So, the Hawks are at home Sunday evening,” he started hopefully. I glanced down at the calendar in front of me, where I’d written down all the games.

“They are, but it’s a 6:00 game. Pretty late with school the next day,” I replied. His smile turned into a pout.

“But Miss Tunney, it’s the last chance I’ll have to see a game until after Christmas! I’ve been doing really good lately!” he protested.

“Doing really well,” I corrected. He rolled his eyes at me and I refrained from laughing. “Okay, if you did better than a C on that English essay we’ll go.” He jumped up off the couch with a yell of excitement. I couldn’t help but laugh at his reaction.

He thanked me repeatedly before his session was over and he headed back to classes. I placed a call to his teacher and asked her to let me know what his grade was when she’d finished grading the papers. I wasn’t about to have Nathan pull a fast one over on me. I hoped for his sake that he’d done well. He was a smart kid and just needed a little push and some guidance to be successful.

Patrick and I had dinner that Thursday night, with it being his only available night that week because of games. I told him about my arrangement with Nathan and he promised to just leave the tickets, because he said he had faith in Nathan as well. We spent the majority of the dinner talking about students at school, anonymously of course. It was even more endearing to me that he seemed to care about them too.

The following day I received a phone call from Nathan’s English teacher informing me of the grade he’d gotten. I’d barely hung up the phone before Nathan burst through my office door. He ran in waving a stapled bundle of papers together. He thrust it in my face with a laugh.

“I got a B-!” he exclaimed. I took the paper from his hands and glanced down at the score written across the top.

“Yes, you did. Nice work.”

“So we can go to the game on Sunday?” I handed him back his paper and smiled.

“I’ll pick you up here at 4:30.” He let out a shout of glee before yelling another thanks to me and leaving to make it to his next class on time.

I did just that on Sunday. Nathan was waiting for me and got into the car when I pulled up. He talked away the entire trip there, and it was hard to keep the smile off of my face. Nothing made me happier than seeing one of my kids happy. We got our tickets and passes at will call and then settled in for what turned out to be a blowout. Chicago beat Phoenix 7-1 and Patrick had a goal and an assist.

Happy to see Patrick play well, I led Nathan downstairs with a smile on my face. We took up our usual position in the hallway to wait for Patrick to come out. I hadn’t thought about it until I was down here, but now I felt a little awkward. I’d met some of these girls a while back when I’d gone out with them, but it had been an off night for me and I couldn’t even remember who was there or what their names were.

“Gabrielle, right?” a pretty girl asked, walking up to me a moment later. Oh, great, here we go.

“Yeah,” I replied, trying to figure out if this girl had been out that night or not.

“I’m Julia. I saw you out the other night with Patrick after the game, but I didn’t get to say hi,” she introduced herself. I forced a smile onto my face as I shook her hand. I didn’t miss the questioning look I got from Nathan.

“Yeah, it was a pretty chaotic night,” I returned.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s never easy to talk in clubs like that.” My stomach churned a little more at her statement as Nathan took in the interaction. Julia then turned to him. “Hi, I’m Julia.”

“Nathan,” he replied, shaking her hand as well. She looked like she was trying to make sense of my relationship to Nathan. He was obviously too old to be my son, but too young to be a brother.

“Nathan is a student at the school I work at. He’s a big Hawks fan and comes to some of the games with me,” I explained. She nodded and smiled.

“Why don’t you two come into the room? I’ll introduce you around and there’s plenty of food and drinks if you want some.”

We followed Julia into the family room. Nathan immediately made a beeline for the food that was set out on a buffet table, while I hung next to Julia. I looked around and saw that the room was really nice, with TVs set up around the room tuned into the channel that had the game on. Couches were set up so that you could easily see any TV and still talk to the others in the room.

There were many different options as far as food was concerned on the buffet table. I noticed that Nathan skipped past anything that looked remotely healthy and went straight for the pizza. He walked back over a moment later and handed me a bottle of water he had grabbed out of the cooler.

Julia did as she said she would and introduced or reacquainted me with the rest of the girls. As we talked a bit while we waited for the guys to come in after the game I realized that they weren’t quite as bad as I’d feared the night we’d gone out. They were all sweet and welcoming. They also didn’t have a problem including Nathan in the conversation and I could tell he was loving it.

“Patrick!” I heard Nathan exclaim. I turned around to see him walk into the room with a smile on his face. His eyes locked with mine for a moment and his smile grew before he turned his attention to Nathan.

I stayed back and continued to talk to Julia and let Nathan and Patrick talk a bit about the game. Even while I talked with her I had a hard time keeping my eyes off of the interaction between the two of them. Just watching Patrick really listen to Nathan and not have a problem standing there talking to him made my heart flutter. I’m not sure if he knew the impact he was having on Nathan, but I did, and I didn’t know that I’d ever be able to thank Patrick for it.

“It’s pretty late. I should be getting Nathan home since there’s school tomorrow,” I finally cut in.

“Well thanks for coming. I’m glad you got to see a good game,” Patrick said more to Nathan than to me. The three of us walked out of the arena together.

“I’ll see you guys later,” Patrick told us as we continued on towards my car. We called back our goodbyes and finished the walk in silence.

“Are you and Patrick dating?” Nathan asked as we got in the car.

“What? Why would you ask that?” I returned, not really sure what to say. I had the rule of keeping students out of my personal life for a reason.

“I heard the other girls talking about you being out with him after a game, you had fresh flowers on your desk last week, and I saw the way he kept looking at you,” he explained. I was so busted.

“You know, I don’t really think it’s appropriate to discuss my private life with a student,” I told him. He just smiled at me and laughed before settling back into his seat.

“Whatever you say, Miss Tunney.” I continued to drive Nathan home when my cell phone lit up. I glanced down at the text and couldn’t keep the smile off of my face.

You looked beautiful tonight. It took every ounce of strength in me not to kiss you in front of Nathan.

“Is that from Patrick?” Nathan asked. I quickly closed out of the text and put my phone down.

“Tell me what you have coming up this week in school,” I said, changing the subject. Nathan laughed again, and despite feeling my cheeks turning bright red, I laughed right along with him.

Chapter 14

I leaned against the wall in my bedroom with my arms crossed over my chest and watched as Paige laid out about a dozen different outfits on my bed. She was muttering to herself and switching tops to go with different bottoms. I felt like she’d rearranged everything and then put it back where it was.

“Okay, I can’t decide between these two,” she said, crossing her arms over her own chest. I looked down at the almost identical pairs of jeans and black tops.

“Uh, Paige, it’s the same outfit,” I told her. She whipped her head around to look at me in surprise.

“They’re not even close! It’s a good thing you have me here to help you out. Otherwise you might walk out that door looking like a hot mess.” I rolled my eyes at her but kept quiet and let her decide.

I’d already listened to her debate about the type of bottoms I should wear. No dresses or skirts because I was just going to his house. Leggings were probably out because I didn’t want to look like I was trying too hard. Jeans seemed right, but they had to be dark, and she just wasn’t sure what style. Skinny or wide leg? Eventually she’d chosen skinny since wide leg seemed to be a more professional look and I apparently wanted to look comfortable. It had given me a headache.

If it were up to me I would have grabbed a pair of boot cut jeans and a sweater, but I guess that wasn’t good enough. I don’t know why she insisted on dressing me every time I saw Patrick. Wasn’t he going to figure out eventually that I just didn’t give a shit about trends and style? He’d just have to be happy being around a girl that lived in yoga pants and t-shirts when she wasn’t working if he wanted to be with me.

“I think this one. Go try it on,” Paige ordered. I grabbed the outfit and made my way into my closet to change. I glanced at myself in the full length mirror and decided that it worked perfectly fine.

“How do I look?” I asked when Paige came in to inspect me.

“It’s a winner!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. Then her smile faded. “Shoes. What shoes are you going to wear?”

In complete horror I followed her out of the closet and watched as she dumped a bag of shoes onto my floor. Oh no, we weren’t going to do this with shoes now, were we? I settled back against the same spot on the wall as before as Paige took each pair and held them out to my feet to decide. Finally she settled on a pair of flats. It didn’t matter to me, I was probably going to kick them off as soon as I got there. Not only did I not want to trample dirt around Patrick’s place, but I didn’t like wearing things on my feet. It was too confining.

I humored Paige a little more as I let her do my makeup. She explained the entire time about how to wear makeup that made it look like you weren’t wearing any. I couldn’t see the point, but I let her go. I drew the line at the makeup, however. She wasn’t getting her hands on my hair. I was going in a simple ponytail whether she liked it or not.

“You know, I have to admit, the ponytail actually looks cute on you right now,” she said in surprise.

“See? Less is more,” I replied. I helped her pack up her stuff and we walked out to the parking lot together, Loxley in tow. Patrick had said I could bring him.

“Have fun,” she told me with a wink and a smile before getting in her car. I gave her a wave and got into mine.

The nerves didn’t hit me until I started on my way. The second my GPS started giving me directions to Patrick’s house, I felt like I was going to be sick. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why I was always so nervous to see him. It was ridiculous, really. He obviously liked me if he wanted to keep seeing me, so there was nothing to be nervous about. Only I did know why I was nervous. It had been that kiss.

I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that kiss since it had happened more than a week ago. Add in what Paige had told me about it and it only made me more nervous. If what she had said was true, then that meant there’d probably be another one. Only this time it was going to be at his house. Oh God, was he going to expect more?

Maybe going to his place for dinner wasn’t such a great idea. I was not at all ready to be sleeping with the guy. It had been years, literally, since the last time. Even then it had been awful. What if he tried? Was he going to hate me and kick me out and never want to see me again if I turned him down? Would he be understanding? Whoa, Gabrielle, getting ahead of yourself a little bit. You haven’t even gotten there yet.

I didn’t have much time to think about anything else. My GPS indicated that I had arrived as I pulled into the driveway of a nice house that wasn’t too big or too small. I turned off the car and took a deep breath before getting out and letting Lox out as well. Patrick opened the door before I’d made it all the way up the sidewalk.

“Hey, how was the trip?” he asked with a smile.

“Fine. Easy. My GPS didn’t get me lost,” I joked. He laughed and held the door open for us.

I walked in and Loxley and I were immediately greeted by his dog, Dudley. Dudley and Lox liked each other immediately and made their way further inside ahead of me. I took a few more steps inside and looked around. It was definitely a bachelor’s house, devoid of much decoration. It was still nice, in a very simple way, and I found myself imagining the little things I could add here and there to really make it inviting.

“I actually just got dinner on the table, so you have great timing,” Patrick told me.

“I do my best.”

He told me I could put my purse down on a table in the hall before leading me back into the kitchen. I spotted a couple of plates set out on a dining room table with some platters of food laid out. I also spotted a pile of dishes in the sink and the kitchen was spotless. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw them.

“What’s funny?” he asked.

“Either you are the cleanest cook in history or you ordered food and then tried to make it look like you cooked it.” I was trying to be funny, but as soon as I’d said it I realized how bitchy it had sounded. Thankfully, Patrick laughed.

“Not fooling you, huh?” he asked. I smiled over at him.

“You did yourself in when you told me you couldn’t cook weeks ago.” He laughed and led me over to the table.

We talked and laughed while we ate and ended up lingering at the table long after we were both full. Lox and Dudley were sitting at our feet impatiently, eyeing the food still on the table. We’d fed them a long time ago, but apparently they still had an appetite. Just when I thought the evening was perfect, Patrick hit me with a bomb I hadn’t seen coming nor was I prepared for.

“Tell me about your family,” he said. My smile faded immediately and my stomach clenched. They were the absolute last topic I ever wanted to discuss with anyone.

“I told you. It’s just me,” I replied quietly. He looked at me sympathetically before continuing.

“I know, for nine years. I was just curious what they were like before.”

“Perfect,” I told him without hesitation. He smiled at me sadly. If only he knew. “My father worked, my mother was a stay at home mom. I had two older sisters, Rachel and Bailey. Rachel followed in dad’s footsteps and was a lawyer. Bailey was going to be a surgeon.”

I stopped talking there. My mind was wandering to a place I didn’t ever let it go. I took a deep breath and pushed those thoughts away. Now was not the time or the place to go there. Patrick seemed to sense how withdrawn I’d gotten and how much I did not want to talk about my family.

“So I usually take Dudley for a walk after dinner. I can wait until later if you’re not interested.” I smiled at him and nearly cried at the change of subject. It was uncanny how well he could read me so well so soon.

“A walk sounds great.”

Patrick and I grabbed both of their leashes and walked out the door together. I walked along with him as he led me through his neighborhood. We were quiet for a lot of the walk, but the silence was far from awkward. It was actually nice to just be sharing a quiet moment at night, walking our dogs. I noticed Loxley stop at a spot to sniff, and Dudley joined him. Patrick and I stopped walking as well to let them sniff.

“I’m not interested in dating anyone else,” Patrick announced out of left field. I whipped my head around from watching the dogs to look at him in shock. He was looking back at me with a curious look on his face.

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked. I wanted to be sure I’d heard him right.

“I really like you, Gabrielle, and I only want to date you. I’m hoping you feel the same way.” I was quiet for a moment, simply because I couldn’t make my vocal chords work. He kept his eyes on mine until I spoke.

“I do. Feel the same way, I mean,” I managed to force out. His grin grew and he lowered his face to mine.

“Good.”

Then his lips were on mine. I felt like they were on fire at the touch, but in the best way possible. My entire body went haywire as jolts of electricity seemed to spread through me. I lost track of all sense of time as we kissed, and I probably could have stood there on the sidewalk kissing him until it was time to die. Loxley jumping up on me jarred me out of that trance.

“Hey!” I yelled in surprise as I looked down at him. Loxley stood there, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, wagging his tail. I heard Patrick laugh next to me.

“I think they got bored,” he said. I laughed too.

“I should probably get going anyway. I have school in the morning,” I told him. He nodded and we walked back to his house.

I grabbed my things and he walked me out to my car. He kissed me again before I left and promised he’d call me tomorrow. I’m not quite sure how I made it home. I don’t think my brain started working again until I was in my apartment, changed, and in bed. I laid there in the dark, staring up at the ceiling, with Loxley curled up in his usual position near my feet.

Tonight had been one of the most amazing nights of my life, and yet there had been a blemish. I was more than overjoyed at the way the relationship between Patrick and I was going. Even so, I had my family clouding over that feeling. He’d asked about them, and he’d probably ask more the closer we got. The thought that in the near future I was either going to have to tell him about them or leave him to avoid the heartbreak of him leaving me had me crying myself to sleep.

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.