Page 2 of Where She Belongs (A Different Kind of Love #3)

“You look like you’re enjoying this way too much.

” Despite my tone, I’m grateful for their relationship—that my daughter feels comfortable enough to order him around.

She was seventeen when they met, back when I used to host monthly meetings on integrative medicine and they discovered their mutual passion for soccer.

Gabe was twenty-five then, the youngest resident to do his community health rotation in my clinic. Something about his enthusiasm for community medicine resonated with the spirit of Salud Integrada and we found common ground in our shared mission to serve the underserved.

“Andie, you do realize you can’t avoid him forever, right?” Gabe says as he casts me a knowing glance. “He’s her stepfather.”

And there it is.

“I know.” I sigh, continuing, “and it’s not like we agreed to go without plus-ones.”

Gabe’s eyebrows shoot up. “He’s not bringing Kitty?”

Katherine Woodbridge-Allen or simply Kitty, Simon’s former grad student, current girlfriend, and his mistress for the last two years of our marriage.

If I hadn’t come home a day early from that conference and found them in our bed, who knows how long their affair would have continued before he’d have the guts to ask for a divorce?

But then, he didn’t have to. Seeing them go at it like bunnies on our bed was all the motivation I needed to call a divorce lawyer the moment I walked out of the house.

“He said with everyone coming from all over, he didn’t want to take attention away from Tristy and Tyler.”

“That’s awfully noble of him,” Gabe says, his voice dripping sarcasm. “Who knew Simon Gaines had an ounce of honor left in his cheating heart?”

“Can you imagine bringing your mistress—who just happens to be younger than your stepdaughter—to the wedding?”

Two years he kept Kitty in an apartment across town. Two years of lying to my face that he loved me as I introduced him to people who could further his television career as a news commentator.

It’s been six months since our divorce became final and even after all the therapy, it still grates whenever I think about it.

Gabe takes my hand between both of his. “Look, I get it. Four days with the man who hurt you isn’t exactly paradise, but think of Tristy. Think how happy she’ll be to have you there. You’re her mother, and she adores you.”

“Then why is he walking her down the aisle?” The words burst out as I pull my hand away to smooth my wrinkled linen pants. I should’ve known better than to wear linen. “Why not me? I raised her—well, with her grandparents until Simon came along.”

Gabe shrugs. “Maybe she just wants to stick to tradition.”

“More like he guilt-tripped her when she initially picked me,” I say. “Though knowing Simon, it’s because Tyler’s sponsors are filming the whole thing and he wants the exposure.”

“The sponsors are covering everything?” Gabe asks, surprised.

“E-very-thing.” I don’t have to tell him about my future son-in-law, Tyler Wilde also known as TurboTy, who is a top-ranked gamer with millions of social media followers. “We’ll have to sign releases when we land. Different colored wristbands to show whether we consent to being filmed.”

“Now that you mentioned it, Tristy did say that when she confirmed I was coming solo,” Gabe says, nodding. “She was expecting me to bring along my latest ‘flavor of the month.’ Her words, not mine.”

“So why didn’t you?”

“Because I never bring dates to weddings,” he replies, grimacing. “What if she caught the bouquet? Talk about pressure.”

I laugh dryly. “Not as bad as being on the same island as your ex-husband for four days though. Wedding photos, dinners… everything.”

“You can always stand on the opposite side of wherever he’s at,” Gabe says. “Problem solved.”

“You’re right,” I say. “I do have choices. Sometimes I forget I do.”

“Look, Andie, I know the divorce is still raw for you.” His arm slides around my shoulders. “But blaming yourself for Simon’s shitty choices isn’t helping you heal. Remember, you’re not the one who had the affair. You’re not the one who gave up. You tried everything to save that marriage.”

“Everything except begging,” I add, my voice cracking. “Maybe I should have done that?—”

“No begging,” Gabe says as he turns to face me, suddenly serious. “That man isn’t worth the ground you walk on.”

I let his words sink in, absorbing the fierce loyalty he always shows me. Rain, sleet, or snow, Gabe Vasquez always stands by me. “What would I do without you?”

“Come here.” He pulls me into a full embrace as I fight back the tears that threaten to spill over, knowing that once they start, they’ll be hard to stop. “Everything will be fine, I promise. I got you.”

“I don’t get why you’re not married yet,” I say a few minutes later. “You’d make an amazing husband and a great father—judging by how wonderful you are with kids.”

“That’s different,” Gabe says, stepping back but keeping his hands on my shoulders. His expression shifts to something more guarded. “Being there for other people’s kids is easy. You can spoil them, love them, then send them home at the end of the day.”

I study his face, catching something vulnerable beneath his usual charm. “You’re afraid of failing them.”

“More like knowing my limitations.” He drops his hands and picks up my carry-on. “Come on, you’re going to miss check-in.”

“Gabe.” I grab his wrist, stopping him. “You’re nothing like your father.

” The words come out before I can stop them, but I’ve heard enough stories over late-night conversations at my kitchen table, seen his love-hate relationship with the man who, by all accounts, loves his mother yet has another family somewhere else.

Gabe has never really told me exactly where they are, except that he had them with “that white woman,” as he heard his mother yell at his father one night when they thought they were alone.

His jaw tightens. “That’s exactly why I can’t—” He breaks off, running a hand through his hair. “What if I turn out just like him after I settle down?”

“So you don’t plan on ever settling down?” Suddenly the thought of Gabe Vasquez never settling down, never having little Gabriels and Gabrielas running around town somehow leaves me sad. He’s wonderful around children. Or as Tristy would say, “my ovaries just exploded” type of man… or daddy.

He shrugs. “It has to be right, Andie. Really right. Not just the lifestyle compatibility, but—” He gestures vaguely, struggling to explain.

“The heart part,” I finish for him.

“I want the same thing Daniel had with his late wife. The same thing Dax found with Harlow, Sawyer with Alma, Benny and Sarah… the list goes on,” he says quietly.

“That kind of certainty that will never let you stray like my father did. I mean he had three kids with her, for crying out loud. If that doesn’t tell you he wasn’t happy with my mother—with us—I don’t know what will. ”

“Is that why you keep walking away the moment someone wants more?” I think of Courtney who told him to pack his bags and leave Tenerife after Gabe refused to say the three words she’d wanted from him.

Or Stefanie, the realtor who gave him an ultimatum to commit to an exclusive relationship or she’d walk away.

“Half of Taos would marry you tomorrow if you’d let them. ”

“And they’ll only be disappointed when they find out I can never be faithful to one woman.

” He lets out a soft breath, his eyes meeting mine with unexpected vulnerability.

“I don’t know, Andie. Maybe I’m just looking for the impossible.

Maybe I’m just waiting for something that feels as real as—” He stops, then busies himself with adjusting the strap of my carry-on.

“Come on, mi amor. Tristy will have both our heads if we miss this flight.”

The way he deflects makes me wonder what he was about to say, but I let it go.

We all have our reasons for guarding our hearts and Gabe Vasquez is no exception.