Page 53 of Every Broken Piece

Chapter forty-nine

Tess

T owering red cliffs rise up against a pristine blue sky that is so breathtaking it almost hurts my eyes. I never knew such a stunning place existed.

How will I ever return to my mundane existence after experiencing this? It’s like God said let me toss some very large rocks around, paint them red, set them close to ginormous, blue and gray snow-capped mountains on a backdrop of brilliant blue skies.

Perfect.

“I don’t get out here much.” Gabe is standing next to me; his head tilted to the sky. “I should make more of an effort.”

“If this were in my back yard, I’d be here every day.” A line of horses with riders pick their way down a path a few hundred yards away. Maybe I could ride a horse one day through these majestic rocks.

“Should we buy you a t-shirt to commemorate this?” He smiles down at me and playfully flicks the end of my ponytail.

“No. The t-shirts are for places I’ve never been.”

“So you’ll retire them once you visit the city?”

“I doubt I’ll get to any of those cities.”

He pauses, his eyes flashing something fierce and determined. “I’ll make sure you go to every city you have a t-shirt for.”

I so badly wish that were true, but let’s be honest. Gabe lives an entirely different existence than normal people. It’s easy for a billionaire to pick up and travel all over the world. Not so easy for a struggling PA with massive mommy issues.

The future scares me. He makes me scared of the future by the way he so casually throws things out like he’s going to take me to every city I’ve ever wanted to visit. I can’t let myself dream of such things. If...when...Sandra finds me I’ll need to move on.

“You hungry?” Thankfully his question dismantles my spiraling thoughts. All I want to do is step away from the past for one day to create a memory I can relive when real life returns.

“I could eat.”

“Let’s head back to the car and have lunch.”

We’re about a quarter of a mile from the car when a flash of white high up on a boulder catches my eye. I grab Gabe’s arm and point. “Look.”

Standing on top of a tall rock formation is a woman in a white bridal gown, the wind teasing the ends of her hair and the hem of her dress. She’s facing a man in a dark suit who’s smiling down at her. Another man holding a book speaks to them.

“This is a popular place to get married,” Gabe says.

Besides those of us who stopped to watch, there are no other witnesses. No family or friends. Just the man and the woman, the officiant and, nature. It’s beautifully simplistic and it makes me yearn for things I long since gave up on.

The new husband leans forward and cups the back of his bride’s head to kiss her softly.

When they break away, she presses her forehead to his.

He turns into her to whisper in her ear.

She nods, then smiles. They pull away and hand in hand walk down a path, making it look like they’re walking into the sun.

When I look up at Gabe there’s something soft and vulnerable in his expression.

“What a beautiful way to start a new life. Just them and their love against the gorgeous backdrop of mountains and red rocks.” I want that all-consuming feeling.

I want that person who’s my person. And like I always do when these yearnings get to be too much, I push them down deep inside.

That isn’t the life for me and never will be. Yearning won’t make it any different.

When we reach the parking lot, Gabe opens the back hatch of his SUV. He drives the same kind of car he rented in Cincinnati, however, I discovered he has other cars too. A sleek Bugatti and, to my surprise, a beat up pickup. “Because every Coloradan needs a pickup,” he told me.

He helps me up into the the back of the SUV, then hops in beside me to pull food out of the cooler, handing me a turkey sandwich so large it could feed three people. There’s no way I can eat all of it but I’m hungry enough to give it a go.

“You made these?” The thick slices of bread are definitely not store bought. The turkey is thinly sliced layered with a fancy cheese and some sort of spread that tastes like nothing I’ve ever had before.

“My housekeeper made them. It's outside my chicken parm and egg repertoire.”

“Well it’s delicious and thank you for bringing it.”

We eat in silence, but I can’t get the bride and groom out of my mind.

“You’re deep in thought over there,” Gabe says as he finishes off his sandwich. I’ve only made it through a quarter of mine and already I’m full.

“Just thinking about that couple.”

“It’s a beautiful place to say your vows.”

I hum my agreement, but it was more than the place. It was the look on the groom’s face. It was the delicate way he held her. It was him whispering in her ear and her smile at his secret words and the love that I could see from a distance.

“How’s the apartment and job hunting?” Gabe asks.

My thoughts are ripped from the beauty of that moment to the reality of my jobless, homeless existence. I wrap the rest of my sandwich up and brush the crumbs from my hand. Gabe opens a bougie water and hands it to me, then reaches into the cooler and pulls out a container of strawberries.

“It’s going okay,” I say. “Pax directed me to the best places to live in Denver. Unfortunately, they’re out of my price range so we’ll have to look at second best places.” More likely fourth and fifth best places.

“Did you have any luck with the jobs?”

I twirl a strawberry by its stem, noticing he didn’t comment on the apartment situation. Not that I expect nor want him to offer his home as my permanent residence. I can do this on my own, but I think it’s interesting he hasn’t given me his thoughts.

“I really need a work from home position. It’s just too risky to work in an office if Sandra finds me.

But the only work from home jobs I can find are the sketch kind that offer a million dollars a year for ten hours of work.

I did apply for two receptionist jobs. One at a real estate office and another at a doctor’s office, but I don’t know if I’ll follow through with those. ”

He’s squinting off into the distance, chewing a strawberry but I get the impression his back teeth are gnashing the fruit instead. He swallows then his chest heaves in a lungful of air before he blows it out slowly and turns to face me.

“Come work for me. We’ll bury you so far inside the building that your mother will never find you.”

I grin as I take a bite of the strawberry. “Jacob isn’t working out?”

“He doesn’t send good morning emails and what emails he does send are sorely lacking in smiley faces.”

“Poor Gabriel. Missing those smiley faces, huh?”

He touches the end of my ponytail almost reverently, his eyes following his movements. “He isn’t you, Tess. We made a great team. And I miss you.”

I fiddle with the Velcro on my wrist brace, my throat suddenly thick with dangerous emotions that I have no business contemplating.

If I had all my wishes come true, I’d want to be standing up on those rocks in a white flowing dress and holding Gabe’s hands.

I squeeze my eyes shut and push those traitorous visions away, plaster on a fake smile and playfully knock my shoulder into his.

“You mean after you thawed and stopped being so grumpy we made a great team.”

He huffs out a laugh. “I was a dick, wasn’t I?”

“You were...something.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s forgotten.”

“So come back to me. You could be my west coast PA.”

I shake my head. “I can’t. The non-compete won’t let me.”

“What if there was no noncompete?”

“You can’t just magically make it disappear like that.” I snap my fingers. “But if I’m being honest, I don’t want to work just for you. I had other clients that I was with for years. I like working for different people and I miss them.”

“Can you tell me who they are?”

“I’m not supposed to.” But I trust Gabe and I know my former clients wouldn’t be upset so I name a few.

Gabe settles against the inside wall of the SUV, one leg hiked up on the tailgate, those blue eyes that mirror the sky behind him settling on me. “That’s an impressive client list, but I’m not surprised. You’re really good at what you do.”

His praise makes my cheeks heat. “I’m proud of what I do." More so, I'm proud that I fought my way out of a life of drugs and poverty. Something my mother and sister didn't do.

“I looked forward to your morning emails and when they stopped coming, I missed them. Don’t stop doing what you love, Tess. The world needs your smiley faces and good morning emails.”

“I wish it were that easy, but TaskGenius is a stickler about the non-compete. I don’t know how I’d get around that.

I can’t work as a VA for two years.” I nervously rub my hands down my leggings, the brace snagging on the fabric.

Just thinking about trying to find a job that doesn’t break my non-compete and pays a living wage makes me anxious.

I slide off the edge of the SUV and hold my good hand out to him. “Show me more trails, Cargo Pant Man.”