“I thought your flight wasn’t arriving until ten o’clock tonight.”
“I moved my appointments around. I wanted to be here for the opening of Brooke’s store.”
“I’m heading there, too. Does Natalie know you’re here?”
Gabe shook his head. “It’s a surprise.” So were the two bottles of champagne sitting on his back seat. He grabbed one of them before locking the truck. “Did you get your project finished?”
Caleb’s smile disappeared. “Not yet. Something’s not working and I can’t figure out what’s wrong. Instead of staring at a blank computer screen, I thought I’d get out of the house and support Brooke. How was the Big Apple?”
“Busy, noisy, and productive. My book’s scheduled to be released in early December.”
“You’ll be hitting the Christmas market. Well done. Did they give you a pay raise?”
Gabe rubbed his leg. Caleb’s grin took the sting out of the cramp making him limp. “You’ve been talking to Natalie’s mom.”
“I saw them on Wednesday. Kathleen couldn’t stop raving about your book. But don’t worry, she didn’t give anything away.”
“It doesn’t matter. It will be in the stores soon enough.”
They turned the corner. Gabe stared at the number of people standing on the street. “All these people can’t be waiting to go into Brooke’s store.”
“You wanna bet? The local paper ran an article about the store on Monday. Since then, social media has been going crazy. Mabel has been adding Facebook updates all week. She even snapped a picture of Natalie and her mom helping to wrap candy. I’m telling you, Brooke’s onto something.”
Gabe wasn’t surprised. Her candy already sold well. The store would make even more people life-long lovers of her candy.
Considering the number of people in the line, he was surprised at how quickly they made it into the store. He looked over everyone’s head, trying to find Natalie.
“She’s beside the water cooler on the far side of the room. Kathleen is with Brooke, behind the counter.”
Gabe’s gaze zeroed in on the beautiful brunette standing beside Mabel. Natalie had pulled her hair into a fancy knot, leaving loose tendrils slipping over her shoulders.
She smiled at something Mabel said, and his heart squeezed tight.
He’d missed her more than he ever thought possible. The phone calls to Sapphire Bay hadn’t helped ease the loneliness that settled in his stomach whenever he thought about her. Even his noisy, boisterous, family hadn’t managed to fill the void in his life.
He’d never felt like this before. Never imagined he’d find a woman who filled his world with so much laughter and love. His brother had told him he was on the slippery slope to everlasting love. Gabe wasn’t sure about the slippery slope. It felt more like free-falling over a two-hundred-foot cliff.
Caleb nudged his shoulder. “If you stare at her like that, you’ll get arrested. Go and say hello before someone else does.”
For the first time in a long while, the heat of a blush hit Gabe’s face. He handed Caleb the bottle of champagne. “Hold this and come with me. You can distract Mabel while I find somewhere to talk to Natalie.”
“I knew there was a reason I came here,” Caleb said dryly. “But you owe me. Mabel wants me to coordinate a laser light show. I’ve been dodging her phone calls for the last two weeks.”
“Just tell her you can’t do it.”
“Yeah, right,” Caleb muttered as they maneuvered across the room. “Have you ever tried saying no to Mabel?”
Caleb had a point. “Tell her you’ll think about it.”
“That’s really going to work.”
Natalie looked across the store.
The air rushed out of Gabe’s lungs. God, she was stunning. As she walked toward him, everything in the store became background noise and movement. The edge of the cliff was fast approaching and he was ready to jump.
He frowned when he saw the sling around her arm.
Caleb slapped him on the shoulder. “Looks like I won’t need to run interference for you. Good luck.”
Natalie said hello to Caleb before turning her sparkling blue eyes on him.
“Is your arm all right?” He could have kicked himself. Of all the things he might have said, that was the least romantic thing he could have come up with.
Natalie smiled. “My arm is fine. The sling helps to stop people from bumping into me. Why are you here?” Color stained her cheeks. “Not that it isn’t great to see you, because it is. It’s just that you weren’t—”
Gabe leaned forward and kissed her. God, he’d missed having her close. Her arm wrapped around his shoulder, messing with his hair. He could have stood here for hours, kissing her senseless.
“Hey, Romeo,” Caleb hissed. “You’re creating a stir amongst the moms waiting to buy their candy.”
Gabe’s lips froze against Natalie’s mouth. He felt the curve of her smile, the movement of air as she laughed against his lips. He sighed. “We’ve done it again, haven’t we?”
She stepped away from him and grinned. “You could say that.”
The opening of Brooke’s candy store had been a huge success. By the time the doors closed at five o’clock, the shelves were empty and Brooke was stressing about making more candy for Monday.
Natalie couldn’t stop smiling as she sat beside Gabe. They were driving back to the cottage, catching up on four days of not seeing each other. She turned sideways, soaking in everything that was special about him. “Did I tell you that mom is moving back to Sapphire Bay?”
He nodded. “You did. Do you think she’ll be able to find a job?”
“She already has. Brooke was so impressed with how quickly she learned to make fudge, that she’s offered her a job in her kitchen. She starts in four weeks.”
“Wow. That was fast.”
“That’s mom for you. When she makes up her mind about something, nothing stops her.”
Gabe laughed. “That sounds like someone else I know.”
“I guess I’m definitely a chip off the old block.” As they turned onto Bluewater Road, Natalie sighed. She loved the cottage, the sense of peace she felt when she arrived home.
“Are you getting more sleep?” Gabe asked.
She knew he was worried about her. It was bad enough trying to sleep with a sore arm. It was worse when the person who’d shot her kept haunting her dreams. “More than I was before you left. I don’t know whether it’s the lavender oil that mom sprinkled in my room or the chamomile tea I’ve been drinking, but something’s working. What about you?”
“I slept for five hours last night without sleeping tablets.”
“That’s fantastic.” After she’d been shot, Gabe’s doctor had prescribed sleeping tablets to help manage his PTSD. He hated taking them, but at least he was able to think clearly when he was awake.
She looked through the windshield and frowned. “Where are we going?” Gabe had driven past the cottage and was heading toward the trees at the back of the property.
“Have you been back to the hideout since you were shot?”
Natalie swallowed the knot of fear in her throat. “No.”
“Do you want to go there now?”
Gabe stopped the truck and goose bumps crawled along her skin. She took a deep breath and thought about her granddad. About the sculpture that had saved her life more than fifty years after he’d made it.
She searched Gabe’s face. He knew how difficult it was for her, how much she wanted to move on with her life. “Okay.”
“Are you sure?”
She opened the door and stepped onto the dry grass. “No, I’m not sure, but I need to do this at some point. It might as well be today. How do you feel about going back?”
Gabe wrapped his hand around hers. “As uncertain as you are. We can do this together.”
Stepping into the forest had never been more difficult. Natalie’s feet moved in time with Gabe’s. The scent of pine filled her lungs as t
hey walked beyond the first few feet of trees. Drawing strength from his silence made the first part of the journey bearable. By the time they’d found the sculpture she was a nervous wreck.
“My granddad made this when he was about twenty-five years old.”
Gabe touched the gnarled wood, the holes where the knots had crumbled over time. “Why did he place it here?”
“It used to be in grandma’s garden, but they moved it when I was about six years old.” She took a deep breath, allowing her memories to soothe the chaos. “Granddad would go to his hideout most afternoons. Sometimes he was late getting home for dinner, so grandma and I would go into the forest to find him.” She ran her hand along the sculpture’s long, skinny beak. “As long as we followed the direction of the hummingbird’s beak, we wouldn’t get lost.”
“And that’s what you did when Chapman was chasing you?”
She nodded, half-listening for the sound of footsteps behind her. “I didn’t know where to go. When I saw the sculpture, I knew.”
Gabe’s hand tightened on hers. “What did you do next?”
“I ran. I ran so hard that I thought my lungs would explode.” She pulled Gabe toward the overgrown trail that would take them to the hideout. “Chapman was yelling the whole time, telling me about the women he’d killed. I tried to block out his voice, but I couldn’t.”
“If it’s any consolation, you left an easy trail for Sherlock to follow. As soon as he sniffed one of your T-shirts, he knew where you were.”
“I prayed so hard that he’d find me. When I was in the treehouse and heard Sherlock bark, I thought Chapman would go away. But he didn’t. He kept telling me how he was going to kill me, how good it would feel to hear me scream.”
She took a deep breath, tried to control her pounding heart. When they arrived at a small clearing she studied the forest floor. Specks of yellow fluorescent paint were attached to some of the leaves. “This is where I hurt my leg.”
“The paint will be from the crime scene investigation.”
She nodded, then looked farther along the trail. “The hideout isn’t far from here.”
No matter how hard she tried, her legs wouldn’t move.
“It’s okay. There’s no rush.”
She studied Gabe’s face, the beads of sweat covering his forehead. It was bad enough reliving the time she’d spent in the forest. For Gabe, it was worse. His memories of the day were connected with what had happened to Michelle. Except Michelle had died. She hadn’t.
Her family had shown her what it meant to be courageous. It was time to pull herself together and help Gabe. Jaydon Chapman would never be coming back and from today, she didn’t want him in her dreams, either.
She squeezed Gabe’s hand. “We can do this together.”
He took a deep breath and stepped forward.
A few minutes later, they were standing below her granddad’s great big tree, each lost in their own memories.
“The ladder is still caught in the canopy,” she whispered.
“It wasn’t safe to use. We strung some rope around the branches and lifted you off in a stretcher.”
She frowned. “Detective Jameson said you climbed the tree to see if I was okay. I thought he meant you used the ladder.” Her eyes widened. “He meant you really climbed the tree.”
Gabe looked into her stunned face. “I used to climb trees all the time when I was younger.”
“You’re nearly forty.”
“That’s not old,” he grumbled. “I might have stretched one or two muscles, but I found you.”
“That’s why you had blisters on your hands.” She studied the tree, then looked at Gabe. “It’s an enormous tree to climb. Are you sure you’re not related to Tarzan?”
The smile on Gabe’s face was good to see. “Would that make you Jane?”
“It depends on whether you want to swing from the branches again.”
Gabe looked up at the tree and shook his head. “Not today.”
Natalie kissed his cheek. “That’s good because I wasn’t going to let you.” She looked at the leaves and pine needles scattered across the ground. Apart from more fluorescent paint, there was no sign of what had happened. “I thought there would be blood everywhere.”
“There was when Chapman was shot. Someone must have cleaned the site.”
She looked at Gabe to see if he was joking. He wasn’t.
They stood below the hideout for a while, each lost in their own thoughts.
When the time felt right, Natalie closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the forest. Somewhere close by, a bird was singing. The trees rustled in the breeze and warm air moved across her damp skin.
“What are you doing?” Gabe whispered.
“Listening. Try it.”
She opened her eyes and smiled at him. “Go on. I won’t tell anyone.”
He lifted one brow before closing his eyes.
“Take a deep breath,” Natalie said softly. “In and out. What do you hear?”
“The forest.” Gabe opened his eyes. “Was that a trick question?”
“No.” She picked up a leaf and held it close to her chest. “The forest has healed itself. All the violence, the anger, and the fear have gone. The birds are singing and the air smells as pure and fresh as it always has. We need to heal, too.”
Gabe looked above them, into the canopy of trees. When his gaze returned to Natalie, there were tears in his eyes. “When I saw you in the tree, I thought you were dead. My heart broke in two.”
Natalie wrapped her arm around his waist and held on tight.
“But you weren’t dead. You’d used everything inside of you to stay strong, to fight for your life. You were courageous, and brave, and I love you.”
Tears stung Natalie’s eyes. “I love you, too.”
Gabe’s hand brushed away her tears. “While I was in New York, I realized my life isn’t the same without you. Would you like to go on that first date we talked about?”
“The one where we aren’t going rock climbing?”
Gabe smiled. “You remembered.”
“I also remember you saying our first date would be creative. How does visiting the latest exhibition at the Polson Art Gallery sound?”
“Would you be upset if I told you I’d sooner climb the tree again?”
Natalie laughed. “No. I’d say you were being honest.” She touched the side of Gabe’s face and sighed. “I’ll always love you, no matter where we go or what we do.”
He kissed her gently. “I’ve always wanted to fly to Paris.”
She wrapped her arm around him and grinned. “Now that’s a first date I’d always remember.”
THREE MONTHS LATER
Natalie smiled at a woman wearing a bright orange dress and the sparkliest pair of high heels she’d ever seen. It was the opening night of her exhibition in Venice and everyone was dressed in beautiful gowns and suits.
For most of the day she’d been at the gallery, talking to reporters, and meeting some of Lorenzo’s high-profile clients. After a quick dinner and an even faster change of clothes, she’d raced back to the gallery for the official opening night celebrations.
Somewhere in the gallery, a champagne cork popped. A string quartet was playing in the atrium, and every now and then, she heard the voice of a gondolier singing to his passengers.
“There you are.” Lorenzo smiled proudly at her. “It is a night to remember, is it not?”
Natalie nodded. “It’s a wonderful night. Thank you for everything you’ve done.”
Lorenzo lifted his broad shoulders in a very Italian shrug. “It is nothing. For you, I would give the world.”
A waiter stopped beside them, holding a tray of Prosecco.
Lorenzo took two of the wine glasses and handed one to Natalie. “Signora Romano is very excited with your portrait. Are you sure you do not want to sell it?”
She’d met Sofia Romano earlier in the day. Her family was one of the wealthiest in Southern Italy. “I’m
sure. I’m giving the painting to Gabe.”
“I hope this Gabe knows how lucky he is.”
“The value of the canvas won’t impress him.”
Lorenzo looked at her with solemn brown eyes. “That is not what I mean. My Natalie is in love. It shines through in your painting as bright as the sun. You bring him to me. I will make sure he is worthy of your love.”
She smiled and kissed Lorenzo’s cheek. “You’re a good man, and so is Gabe. As soon as he arrives with mom, I’ll introduce you.”
“I look forward to it.” His gaze settled on a man wearing a black tuxedo. “Paolo looks a little lost. I will be back soon.”
She watched Lorenzo move through the guests with the ease of someone born to entertain. Most of the people in the gallery wouldn’t realize he came from humble beginnings. He’d built his business with a lot of hard work, determination, and an innate gift for spotting up-and-coming artists.
Leaving her glass on a table, she walked toward the huge wooden doors that opened onto the Canale delle Galeazze. Gabe and her mom would be arriving any minute. From what her mom had said, they’d spent most of the day hopping on and off gondolas, exploring the markets and churches, and eating gelato. It wouldn’t surprise her if they took another gondola to the gallery.
Natalie looked over her shoulder, then quickly slipped off her shoes. She sighed as the cool tiles worked their magic on her sore feet.
“Are you practicing your Cinderella moves,” Gabe whispered from behind her.
Natalie jumped, then stared, open-mouthed, at him. His black dinner jacket clung to his shoulders and made him look even more handsome than usual. “Wow. You look amazing.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I thought I’d better dress to impress. And talking about impressive, may I introduce the beautiful Kathleen Armstrong.”
Her mom swatted Gabe’s arm. “That’s enough of that sweet talking. You’ve made me blush.”
Natalie smiled at her mom. “You look amazing. Is that a new dress?”
Kathleen spun in a slow circle. “I bought it today.”
“It’s gorgeous.” The pale rose fabric was perfect against her mom’s complexion. With a pleated chiffon skirt and a sheer jacket over a satin bodice, it was stunning. “You should wear that color more often. It suits you.”
Falling For You (Sapphire Bay Book 1) Page 21