Page 30 of Forever & Always You
It’s becoming apparent that my life has very quickly spiraled into counting down the days until I next see Austin, and I was never one to be obsessed with a man. It’s a tiny bit terrifying and a tiny bit thrilling, but spending my weekends with Austin is now the highlight of every week.
As I make my now usual drive to Wilmington, my head spinning with my plans for the shelter’s adoption event this afternoon, I experience, for the first time, a moment of crystal-clear awareness.
As I sing along to my playlist with the August sunshine warming my face through my windshield, I realize I’m happy.
Not fireworks exploding kind of happy, but a calm and content and okay kind of happy.
And that’s a hell of a lot more than I’ve felt in a while.
I may still be working in a dive bar, but I’ve dropped the ego.
Buck is actually a pretty great boss when you work hard for him, and we have settled on the agreement that I cover all weekday shifts as long as I get the weekends free to spend with Austin here in Wilmington, and Carly may be slow at pouring her drinks, but she’s always got my back.
My apartment still sucks, and that won’t change no matter how many throw pillows I attempt to decorate with, but it’s only temporary until I start school.
I’ve decided I want to apply for on-campus accommodation again, and this time around, I’ll make an effort to form genuine friendships that go beyond getting wasted together at frat parties.
It’s nice to feel like I’m moving forward again. I’ve spent far too long treading water and, as it turned out, it was time to sink or swim.
And God, I’m really glad I chose to swim, because otherwise I wouldn’t have this goofy smile on my face as I drive. Even when someone cuts me off, I don’t lay on my horn for five solid seconds like I usually would. I’m happy, and I’ll be even happier if Teddy gets adopted later.
In an effort not to take credit for today’s event, I may have told a white lie or two to Austin.
He has no idea I’m already on the road, because I need to help with the event set-up first and assist with transporting the dogs over to the park I’ve hired.
Fiona and some of the other staff have managed to rope in a handful of volunteers too, so we have enough hands on deck to ensure the event runs smoothly.
I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a massive knot of nerves in my stomach, and it only tightens further as I navigate through downtown Wilmington. I pull up at the park and take a deep breath. Today is going to be one hell of a busy day, but I’m determined to make it a success.
“Fiona!” I call across the park when I spot her, dashing over. “This all looks great! Thank you so much for overseeing everything.”
Fiona pulls me into a brief hug. We’ve been in non-stop contact the past few weeks. “No problem at all! We really appreciate you funding all of this, and we’ve had such a great response to the advertising that I think we’ll get a great turnout.”
“Has the photographer arrived yet?”
“She’s in the gazebo!”
I head past the bounce houses currently being inflated and the arcade game stalls being erected and over to the gazebo that is way bigger than I thought it would be.
Inside, I find some men assembling individual pens for the dogs.
It’s too hot to have them outside without the shade, and there are cooling fans on rotation and gallons of water stacked in the corner.
I’ve organized everything from afar while Fiona has been on the ground setting my plans in motion, and between the two of us, I think we have most bases covered.
I find the photographer, run through exactly what I want from her, and then spend an entire hour writing out info cards with cute doodles about each dog and attaching them to the pens.
When the catering company shows up, they set up their grills and promise me they’ll serve the best cheeseburgers in North Carolina.
I don’t believe them, of course, but I like their confidence and enthusiasm.
Thirty minutes before the event is due to start, Fiona and I hop into her van and head back to the shelter for the first of many trips back and forth. En route, I call Austin to tell another white lie.
“Hey, I’m running late. Weekend traffic, ugh,” I say, casting a grin at Fiona. “Just head over to the park without me and I’ll meet you there.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind waiting for you.”
“I’m sure. Bye!”
At the shelter, Fiona and I load dogs into the crates inside the van, eight at a time, and dart back and forth to the park.
We unload them into their pens and by the time we have every dog transported over, I’m sweating and need a five-minute break on the grass under one of the fans in the gazebo to cool down.
Just as the public begin to arrive, I whip round all of the dogs and attach adorable little “Adopt Me!” bandanas to their collars.
“Good luck,” I whisper into Teddy’s ear as I scratch the top of his head.
I head outside the gazebo, and Fiona and I exchange nods of approval.
All set and good to go. She carries a clipboard with a stack of application forms, and this is the point where I decide to discreetly blend into the thickening crowd.
Just another member of the public .?.?. Absolutely not the mastermind behind this.
“I thought you were running late,” a voice says as a pair of hands wraps around my waist from behind. Austin brushes his lips over my shoulder, leaving kisses on my warm skin. “How’d you beat me here?”
“Found a shortcut and broke some speed limits,” I lie. I twist in his arms and oh, how lovely it is to see his gorgeous face after another week of dreaming about it. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He cups my jaw and tilts my head up, and there is something so irresistibly sexy about his manly hands on my face as his designer watch glistens in the sunlight. “Are you excited for the dogs to find homes?”
“Let’s go see them,” I say, pressing a quick kiss on his lips to satiate my desire for him (nowhere near enough), and slip my hand into his. I pull him into the gazebo and put on my best act. “Oh, wow! How amazing is this?”
“Oh my God,” Austin says, dropping to his knees on the grass in front of the pens. His laugh is joyful. “They’re wearing bandanas. Don’t cry, Gabby.”
“Why would I cry?”
“I feel like shelter dogs wearing bandanas is the kind of thing you’d cry over.”
I whack his arm as he rises from the ground and we take a stroll through the gazebo, saying hi to all of the dogs we already know. Other people do the exact same. Families with kids looking for a new addition, retirees seeking companions, and .?.?. my mother.
“Mom!” I exclaim, though I shouldn’t be surprised to see her here considering I specifically invited her to come along. I’m just amazed she has shown up, because she is absolutely not in the market for a dog. “You’re here!”
And she is easily the most out-of-place woman in this gazebo.
You’d think it would be common sense not to wear high heels to the park, but my mother would rather die than wear sneakers, and I won’t even start on what a disastrous idea it is to wear a white pant suit .
.?. But I couldn’t host my first charitable event without inviting my family, so I keep my lips sealed, because I’m grateful she’s even here in the first place.
“Are you sure these dogs don’t have fleas, Gabrielle?” she asks, forehead creased with concern as I approach her hiding timidly in the corner of the gazebo.
“They don’t have fleas.”
She bites the inside of her cheek, dubiously eyeing the dogs lapping up all of the attention from the public. “And have they had their shots?”
“Yes, they’ve had their shots.”
“And you’ve seen the paperwork to prove that, have you?”
“Jesus, Mom, they’re just dogs,” I say, rolling my eyes. “You don’t have to go near them, okay? Thank you for coming.”
Mom meets my gaze for the first time and I even get a smile out of her. “You’re welcome, honey. It’s nice to see you again, and I’m glad you’re making good use of your time—”
I abruptly clear my throat to interrupt her before she can spill the beans on my little secret. I reach back for Austin, hovering awkwardly a few feet away, and yank him forward. “Mom, I’d like you to meet Austin. Again.”
Okay, fine—I invited Mom because I wanted her to meet Austin in a casual setting rather than having to sit through a formal dinner, not because I wanted her to praise me for my event management skills.
“How’s it going, Mrs. McKinley?” Austin says politely, digging his elbow not-so-subtly into my ribs. I should have definitely forewarned him about my mother’s attendance, but in the midst of organizing a thousand different things, it slipped my mind.
Mom fiddles with her pearl necklace as she looks Austin up and down, and already I want to smack my head into a wall in frustration because she is just so fixed in her ways.
“Hello .?.?. Austin,” she says, but it’s difficult for her to get his name past her lips without it being delivered with a bow of disapproval.
“And you two are here together, because .?.?.?”
“Because we’re friends again,” I say without hesitation. “Austin still lives here in Wilmington, so we’ve been catching up. He works downtown in finance, remember?”
Something peculiar flashes in Mom’s eyes and her shoulders relax, just a touch, just enough.
A small crack in the walls she has built around her, the ones that keep the grief of losing my father permanently at bay.
“Finance? That’s a great choice. Gabrielle’s father was very successful in finance. He was—”
“Very good at what he did,” Austin finishes, and he and I exchange a knowing glance. Mom will never know just how much my father changed Austin’s life for the better.
“Austin’s really good, too,” I tell Mom. “His firm is up for an award.”
Mom raises an intrigued eyebrow. “Oh? You seem to have done well for yourself then, given your odds.”