Forever Love (Love Collection)

by Natalie Ann

They’d agreed no work unless it was an emergency while they were gone. Neither of them could just shut off from it completely, so each morning before they left the hotel, they checked in with emails or messages and did the same each night before bed. Nothing more.

  Just the two of them having a great time, building memories.

  Things he’d hoped he could carry with him when she left him in two months because for the moment he still had no clue what was going on with her.

  Though they still got along great, and they still enjoyed each other’s bodies as often as they could, he felt her pulling away.

  What was he supposed to do, tell her not to?

  They weren’t fighting, they were still acting like a couple in love out in public, but in private it wasn’t like it was before they went to Italy.

  He was waiting for the change to happen in public soon too to lead up to their final end date.

  “Gabe.” He turned when his mother walked into his office.

  “Hi, Mom. What are you doing here?” It was never a good thing when his mother came to his office.

  “I’d like to throw you and Leah a one-year anniversary party.”

  “Mom, that’s ridiculous. You can’t throw us a party whenever you want.” Plus he didn’t think Leah would be too fond of it.

  “But it’s your one-year anniversary,” his mother said. “You deprived me of the wedding.”

  “And you got to throw a reception after the fact. This is Leah’s busiest time of year. I’m sure it wouldn’t work for her anyway.”

  “Please, Gabe. She could work out a few hours for a dinner party. She has an assistant now.”

  “She does, but there are some things she won’t hand over to her assistant. I appreciate the offer, Mom, but I think I want to do something private with Leah between just the two of us.”

  “What do you have planned?” his mother asked. “Anything I can help you with?”

  “I’ve got it covered,” he said. He had no plans and was still trying to figure out how to hold onto Leah...celebrating their anniversary was the last thing on his mind.

  “Fine. I’ll let it go. You’ve managed to do well on your own as it is.”

  “Thanks,” he said and watched her walk out. If he was doing so well, he wouldn’t have found himself in this situation to begin with.

  ***

  A few weeks later, Leah said, “I probably shouldn’t go to your event tomorrow.”

  “Why?” Gabe asked.

  “Because our time is getting close and it won’t make sense if it’s out of the blue. Maybe if I don’t show up for this people will look back and think the signs were there.”

  “I don’t care what people think,” he said, “and you shouldn’t either.”

  “I’m not really.” Which was a lie. She’d been worrying for months how this was all going to turn out. At the root of it, Gabe and she got along so well, she wasn’t sure how to act that they weren’t. How to put on a show they were divorcing when it was the last thing she wanted. But she couldn’t very well tell him that…they had a legally binding contract.

  “I saw your brochures on the counter,” he said suddenly.

  Their one-year anniversary was in two days and she knew the time was just flying by and one of the things she was going to have to do would be to figure out living arrangements.

  “I’m just looking. I shouldn’t wait until the last minute and I don’t want to be stuck somewhere because I did.”

  “There’s no rush, Leah,” he said quietly.

  She’d put those brochures there on purpose hoping he’d notice them and say something. It’d been days and she wondered why he was bringing it up now.

  On top of that, she couldn’t figure out his tone of voice.

  “I don’t want to be in breach of contract,” she said matter of factly.

  “I wouldn’t hold you to it,” he said, his tone firm.

  “I don’t think your lawyer will feel that way.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. Guess they were going to have a fight after all. “It’s not up to Michael; it’s up to me. I’m saying you don’t need to be in a rush to leave.”

  “There is no talking to you about this,” she said, turning. “I honor commitments and agreements I enter.” She marched out of his office where she’d interrupted him. She should have just left well enough alone.

  She went up to their room and showered and changed, then climbed in bed and turned the TV on. She must have fallen asleep because she couldn’t remember the ending of her show and the room was dark now. When she reached her hand over, Gabe’s side of the bed was ice cold. The clock said almost one. Either he was still working, or in another room.

  Didn’t he say he’d never do that? Then he must be avoiding her. So much for not going to bed angry with each other.

  She shut her eyes, trying to block the tears from falling.

  When she woke up the next morning, Gabe was nowhere to be found. His side of the bed was half made, showing he did sleep there last night, but he never let her know he was in bed.

  She got up and showered, then changed, went to the kitchen hoping to see if he was there, but he’d left for the day.

  It was for the best.

  Time to focus on her future. The one where she’d be a divorcee and know that what she had with Gabe was wonderful and she should be thankful it lasted for a year.

  She was getting a lot out of it. Her business had grown by association alone and the financial payment she’d get in two months would help even more.

  She had great memories of her and Gabe and she just hoped that when the time came that she wouldn’t be even more sour on relationships after this because, even though she thought she was before, knowing now she had fallen in love and it was out of reach was enough to make her steer clear of men ever again.

  On His Own

  Their one-year anniversary came and went. They didn’t celebrate it and when his mother asked, he lied through his teeth.

  There was no reason to do otherwise. When he showed up solo at the work event that caused his and Leah’s disagreement and everyone wanted to know where Leah was, he said she got held up at work. Since she didn’t come home until after he’d left for the dinner, it really wasn’t a lie.

  The two of them weren’t as close as they had been before she stalked off in a huff. He wouldn’t consider it a fight by any means, but it was a conflict for sure.

  It was probably for the best. She seemed set to go her own way in a little over a month so he should get used to being on his own again.

  “Gabe, wait up.”

  He turned to see his secretary chasing him down the hall. “What?” he said, trying not to snap back but he must have because she looked a bit shocked.

  “I need your signature on a few things. I’ve been asking you for days and you keep walking out without doing it.”

  “I’ve been busy,” he said. “Can’t it wait?”

  “I’ve got the board calling me asking if they’re signed yet. Something about vendor contracts. You know I don’t really look it all over. The lawyers dropped them off days ago.”

  He let out a breath. “Fine. I’ll take care of them when I get back from my meeting.” She looked at him skeptically and this time he did snap, “I will.”

  Shaking his head, he walked into the director of HR’s office to see him on the phone. Craig waved him to the seat quick and winced, then started to move his hand like he wanted the person on the phone to shut up.

  A few minutes went by and Gabe was getting ready to get up and go back to his office. He didn’t have time for this. “I’m off,” Craig said. “My God, I didn’t think she’d ever shut up.”

  He didn’t care about it, or who was on the other end. “What’s so important that you needed me to come down here today?” he asked. Every time he turned around lately there was a fire he had to put out.

  “There’s some grumbling on the floor that with the longer contracts the guys think they should get raise
s.”

  “Seriously? I think we are pretty generous as it is considering health care costs are on the rise and I didn’t pass that cost onto them at the beginning of the year. That in itself should be considered a raise.”

  “I did point that out to the foreman they sent up here to be their spokesman.”

  “And he obviously didn’t care in the least?”

  “You know how it is, Gabe. The guys hear you have more money and they think they should get a part of it. I still think you should have passed the health care costs to them. If you did that, then a raise would seem great to them.”

  “Not if the raise wasn’t enough to cover the rise in the costs,” he argued.

  “It was a rough year for health care. We haven’t seen a rate hike like that in a long time. Speaking of that, we’re going to have to talk about new plans and options next year too. Maybe give some of the employees a choice on their plans to save money for them and us.”

  He knew that was going to have to happen at some point and had been hoping to push it off.

  “Fine. When the time comes, give me what you’ve come up with. In the meantime, send me the numbers of what the rate increase was for all benefits the first of the year. I’m going to send out a memo to all staff that they may not appreciate.”

  “Oh no, what are you going to do?” Craig asked, looking pained. “You need to be tactful. You’ve been so good for over a year and now I’ve got this horrible feeling I’m going to be shoveling out piles of shit you’re going to leave in your wake.”

  Gabe snorted. “Not likely. I’m just going to point out the costs that the company absorbed and how I went against the board to do it. It’s more than the average percentage raise they’ve gotten and helps because it won’t be compounded. I’ll kindly point out that going forward it may not happen again.”

  “Just think before you hit send, please.”

  “I always do,” Gabe said, then stalked back out of the office to see his secretary standing in front of his door with files in her hand. “Hand them over,” he said, taking them and not even saying thanks, then shutting the door in her face and reaching for some antacids. Damn heartburn.

  He wasn’t even trying and was giving everyone enough food for the gossip mill on his mood. But he seriously was miserable right now.

  Later that night, he pulled into his garage and noticed Leah’s car there. She was in the kitchen cooking dinner. Something she hadn’t done in over a week.

  “Hey,” he said, wanting to walk forward and give her a hug. They’d stopped doing that too. Sure, they had sex last week, but it was just that...sex. It wasn’t what it was before.

  There was a physical relief for both of them, but then they rolled over and went to sleep. The teasing was gone. The little innocent touches were gone.

  His happy mood was slowly fading away.

  “I didn’t expect you to be home this early,” he said. It was just after six.

  “I had everything under control.” She opened the oven and peeked inside. “If you’ve got time, can we talk?”

  He wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. “Sure. What’s up?”

  “I found an apartment.”

  Yep, not what he wanted to hear. “That’s good,” he said straight-faced. “Did you put a deposit on it yet?”

  “No. I didn’t want to for fear it’d get out that I was looking. I probably should wait until we agreed.”

  He nodded his head. “Will they hold it for you?” he asked.

  “I’m hoping they do. I played a little hardball and said I’d let them know in a few weeks. That would be close enough, I’m guessing.”

  “If it’s what you want,” he said. “I’m going to take a shower now. When will dinner be done?”

  “In about thirty minutes. Plenty of time.”

  He walked out of the room before he did something stupid...like begged her not to go. Her mind was made up, he could see. He’d only make a fool out of himself if he tried to fight this.

  When he came back downstairs, she was setting the table and paused, then just looked at him. He couldn’t make out what was going through her head. “What?” he asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “It’s something. Just tell me. We’ve been honest with each other all along, why wouldn’t you be now?”

  She laughed. “Maybe because you’ve been moody lately and I don’t want to tick you off. We’ve got so little time together and I just thought that maybe we could make the best of it.”

  “Sex, you mean?” he asked.

  She cringed and he wanted to take it back, but then figured if he was going to be miserable, she could be too.

  “No. I know that I was a little short with you a few weeks ago and I regret that. Since then we haven’t been the same. I started to tell myself it was fine, as our time was coming to an end, but the truth is...”

  He held his breath. Would she ask to stay? Would she tell him she felt something for him like he’d been feeling for her? “Go on,” he said.

  “The truth is that I really like you as a person. As a friend. We agreed to be friends after this for the public’s sake and, well, I’m sorry for acting cold lately. I guess I’m just trying to prepare myself for the change is all.”

  “I get it. I guess. I told you there was no rush, but you like to plan things out and you have to do what works for you.”

  “I think it’s better this way.”

  “Whatever works for you,” he said. He wasn’t going to give her anything else at this point. His pride wouldn’t allow it.

  “Can we go back to the way we were, at least in private?”

  “What if we slip in public?” he asked.

  She nodded. “I didn’t think of that. You’re right. Dinner’s ready. Let’s eat and then maybe we could watch some TV together?”

  “I’ve got work to do tonight,” he said.

  He knew his tone was cold, but he had to end this conversation. He didn’t have it in him to play these games anymore. Her mind was made up and there was no changing it, so no reason to pretend otherwise behind closed doors. Why? For a few more weeks? No. It was time to move on if she was already one foot out the door.

  “That’s fine,” she said quietly, then went about getting dinner on the table.

  When she went to bed that night, she went alone, and every night after.

  He never went back to his room once, taking up residence in the spare. When she tried to talk to him about it, he changed the subject. No reason to hash it out when the clock was ticking.

  Look Miserable

  Leah was looking over the apartment a second time before she got ready to put a deposit down on it. In one week she’d have to pack her stuff up from Gabe’s and get her furniture out of storage to move here.

  It was a nice place. Better than her last apartment, but nothing at all like the estate she’d been living in. Not that she’d ever be able to afford a place like that anyway.

  She had wanted to move out a few weeks ago once she realized Gabe had switched bedrooms. It was his house, if anyone should make the change it should be her, but when she brought it up, he pulled his phone out and said he had a call to take.

  His phone never rang and she got the hint.

  They were like two strangers living under the same roof and she felt like she was intruding on his space. But when she mentioned moving out sooner, he held the contract to her. Figured. He wasn’t doing it before, but now all of a sudden he was going to be an ass.

  Definitely not Prince Charming in her eyes now. She’d been looking for something all along that would never be hers. Would she ever learn? Probably not.

  That was why this all hurt as much as it did. Why the hell did she have to fall in love with her temporary husband, knowing he’d never be hers?

  Why did he have to be so nice? So sweet. So…everything that every woman would want in a man?

  “There are a lot of amenities,” the property manager explained again. “There’s a gym and swimm
ing pool, plus space for barbeques and such.”

  “That’s nice,” she said, not really interested. She barely had time to use the gym or pool at Gabe’s, and the last time she was in the pool the two of them were skinny-dipping. There was no way she was thinking of swimming any time soon to erase a memory she wanted to hold onto.

  “So you need half down today and then one month on top of that?” she asked, prepared to go sign the paperwork.

  “Yes. It’s a one-year lease, minimum. If you decide to change your mind before you actually move in you lose the deposit but can get out of the lease. If you move in and change your mind, you owe us a year’s worth of rent.”

  A lot of money, but in a few weeks, money wouldn’t be an issue. And honestly, it’s not like she had a lot of other options. This place was available and it was nice. It suited her needs.

  If her needs were to stay with her husband, well, that was just tough luck because he wasn’t even talking to her right now, making her wonder how they were going to be civil out in public.

  Then she reminded herself that though she catered to people in his social circle, they’d never run into each other before.

  There was a greater chance of it now, but they were both mature adults and could handle it.

  When she was in the business office, she looked over all the paperwork one more time and signed her name. On her way to her car her phone rang, so she answered it, not recognizing the number.

  “Leah.”

  “Yes?” she said. “Who is this?”

  “It’s Michael Connors. They just rushed Gabe to the hospital.”

  “What? Where? What happened?”

  “He was in my office and having chest pains. He tried to brush it off, but then he went white and just collapsed. Meet us at St. Peter’s.”

  “I’m on my way.” How could this be happening? Gabe was in excellent shape. He was only thirty-six years old. He couldn’t be having a heart attack.

  Oh my God, was he going to die? She’d never have a chance to tell him how she felt. Should she even tell him though?

  She broke a few traffic laws getting to the hospital, then parked and ran toward the ER. “I’m Leah Richards. My husband, Gabe, was just brought in.”