Page 35 of Mr. Infuriating (Mister #1)

Gretchen

Once my students left for the day on Friday, I congratulated myself for making it through the week without breaking down at school.

The nights, on the other hand… those had been tough.

Things were the worst after I’d put Jake to bed and would have time to sit and think about my time with Gabe.

Eventually “thinking” gave way to “stewing”.

I preferred stewing. My righteous anger kept me from crying, and I’d done enough of that in the beginning of the week when I lay in bed and hugged the pillow he’d used.

Not my proudest moment.

But tonight, I was doing laundry and washing away any trace of Gabe Mitchell.

That was the plan anyway.

But when I got home, after I put Jake to bed, I found myself coming up with other things that “needed” to get done first.

Like organize my sock drawer.

My phone rang as I sorted my knee-high from my anklets, and I glanced at the screen.

Laura.

I answered with a cheery, “Hey, gorgeous, what’s up?”

“My beautiful friend! What are you doing?”

“Just some stuff around the house; what about you?”

“You should get a sitter and come out with me!”

“Um, it’s eight-thirty on a Friday night. I don’t think you understand how getting a sitter works. ”

“I know, I forget you can’t be spontaneous when you’re a mom.”

“My days of spontaneity are behind me. At least until Jake doesn’t need a babysitter. And that’s probably when you’ll be having kids, so I think our Thelma and Louise era will have to wait until our sixties.”

“Come on, I’m not waiting until Jake’s old enough to not need a babysitter before I have kids. I’m two—three years tops, away from procreating.”

“Don’t you need a partner to do that?”

“Eh, I’ve got a little bit more time to have fun before I have to think about settling down. Which is why I was calling you! I thought we could go see what’s shaking at Flannigan’s tonight. Maybe we could get you an encore with Gabe.”

“Yeaaaah, that’s not going to happen.”

“What? Why not? Was he a bad lay?”

“No, just the opposite, actually. Hands down the best sex I’ve ever had. He spent the night, and we ended up spending Saturday night together, too.”

“Oh, wow! Quite the contrast from his brother. Derrick gave me five minutes of pillow talk before he put on his pants and was out the door.”

“You’re kidding. Ugh, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, don’t be. I was glad I didn’t have to kick him out.”

I shook my head even though she couldn’t see me. That sounded awful.

“I am so not cut out for dating in today’s world.”

“You just need practice compartmentalizing. Sex can just be about the physical act. Feelings don’t have to be involved. But if you and Gabe spent the weekend together, it sounds like that wasn’t the problem, so why won’t there be an encore?”

“Well, for starters, he doesn’t want more kids.”

“Okay, so he’s not Mr. Right. Why not let him be Mr. Right Now? Keep enjoying the great sex until Mr. Right does come along.”

“I’m not wired that way. There will always be feelings involved for me when it comes to having sex.”

“Maybe he’ll change his mind about kids?”

“That’s not gonna happen. My parents brought Jake home while he and Derrick were here delivering the kitchen cabinets, and he took one look at him and practically ran to his truck. I haven’t heard from him since.”

“Ouch.” There was a brief pause before she said, “Wait. Derrick was at your house? Delivering cabinets? The cabinets you weren’t going to get?”

“Gabe said he was going to talk to his brother, Maverick, about letting me make payments. I’m guessing since he had someone else deliver the last of the cabinets on Monday, that’s probably off the table.”

“And Derrick was there?”

“Yeah, on Sunday—and Saturday. He helped Gabe unload them.”

“Did he ask about me?”

“He asked how you were doing.”

“Aw, that was nice of him.”

“Do you think there’s something there between you two?”

“No. But he was good in bed, so I wouldn’t mind the occasional hookup. But not anytime soon. That sets a bad precedent. ”

“I’m so not equipped to date,” I reiterated under my breath.

“Anyway, back to you and Gabe.”

“There is no Gabe and me.”

Saying it out loud made my chest hurt.

Why was that?

Maybe it was because he’d rejected me, and my pride was hurt.

But it felt like more than pride that kept me from getting rid of the last remnants of my weekend with him.

I continued, “It was only for the weekend. We were upfront about that from the start, so even if he hadn’t freaked out and ghosted me, I knew where we stood.”

“We need a girls’ night in,” Laura declared. “I’ll be over in thirty minutes with wine, snacks, and ice cream.”

I haphazardly tossed the socks I was supposed to be organizing back into the drawer.

“See you then.”

I knew if we were drinking wine, my BFF would spend the night, and since I didn’t have a guest room set up—I’d given Troy the guest room furniture—I knew she’d be sleeping with me.

And that was the catalyst I needed to change the sheets.

I may have tucked the pillowcase Gabe used in a drawer, though.

Obviously, I had issues. Or I really was a masochist.

*** *

Gabe

“You want to tell me what is going on with you?” my oldest brother asked when he came by the shop two weeks after the “therapy session” with my brothers.

I didn’t look up from where I was sanding the wood for an entertainment center.

“Not a damn thing.”

“Bullshit. In the four years since we’ve been in business, there’s never been one complaint about your work. Not one. But in the last ten days, we’ve had two pieces sent back for repairs because they weren’t up to the quality we promise—and charge for.”

One of those returned pieces was the entertainment center I was currently working on.

I didn’t say anything, so Maverick continued, “And your staff is so worried you’re going to bite their heads off, they’re calling me for direction on how to handle bringing the furniture back to get fixed.

” He paused a beat then said quietly, “This is about that woman, Gretchen, isn’t it? The one with the kid.”

I stood up straight and threw the sandpaper to the ground in disgust.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You’re not on your A-game, Gabe, and that’s not like you. Considering the timing, the only thing that makes sense is you’re still upset about how you fucked things up with her.”

“What is that supposed to mean? You assholes were the ones who said to stay clear of her.”

“Because you fucked things up.”

I scoffed, “Whatever. ”

My older brother didn’t let me off the hook.

“I’m sorry, how would you describe getting in your truck and driving away with hardly a word once her kid showed up? And never calling her again?”

I let out a long breath as I ran my fingers through my hair.

“You’re right, I didn’t handle it well, and I regret that. But that has nothing to do with my work.”

That was such a lie, I half-expected my nose to start growing or my pants to catch on fire.

The whole way I’d left things with Gretchen had been eating at me, to the point I was hardly sleeping and was ready to bite anyone’s head off who spoke to me.

“Gabe, you need to fix things with her.”

“I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Then you need to find someone else and get over her already.”

“Yeah, you know, ’cuz it’s that easy. I’m sure if Olivia left you, you’d just need to find someone new to get over her.”

Mav cocked his head.

“Are you comparing how you feel about Gretchen to how I feel about my wife?”

“No! Don’t be silly. I was just trying to make a point.”

“I think the point you made was you care about her.”

“I’ll admit, I owe her an apology. But I think I’ve let too much time go by.”

My brother shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”

“You make it sound so easy. Sure, I could apologize, and then what? It’s not like we have any possibility of a future together.”

“It might make you feel better anyway. ”

Yeah, there was that. Or I could just try taking sleeping pills at night and not being an asshole at the shop during the day.

It was worth a shot.