Tanya Michaels - Mistletoe Hero

Relationships, familial or romantic, were messy, often painful, but extraordinarily worth the effort. Maybe Gabe just hadn’t had anyone in his life to demonstrate how rewarding they could be. Arianne had taken a front-row look at her parents’ long marriage and her brothers’ relationships. David and Rachel had struggled for several years with infertility and one miscarriage before beautiful Bailey had been born, and Arianne had watched them cope with the stress on their marriage. It took special people to weather the bad times together instead of distancing themselves from the problems and from each other.

Sometimes you just needed help bridging the distance.

Gabe stood suddenly, his unfinished ice cream melting into a tricolor mess. “If you don’t mind, I think I’m going to grab a shower.”

She tried not to feel wounded by his abruptness. The man had been working outside all morning, been at the hospital this afternoon and had given her the best sex of her life less than an hour ago. He deserved the comfort of a hot shower. But she couldn’t ignore the sense that he was once again retreating. Getting to her feet, she took the bowl from his hand.

“You go ahead,” she told him. “I’ll clean up out here.”

“Thanks.” His gaze lingered, softened for just a moment, but then he disappeared down the hall without another word. Soon she heard the pipes creak to life behind the walls as the water started. Trying not to fantasize about what it would have been like if Gabe had invited her to join him in the shower, she carried the bowls to the kitchen and rinsed them out.

She had just turned off the sink when she realized that his phone was ringing. Nicole, again? She tried not to feel cranky about that possibility.

But it was a different female voice that came through the answering machine. “Gabriel? This is Mindy Nelson. I probably shouldn’t have called-you might be sleeping. But I was just so worried when I heard-”

Arianne decided that Gabe wouldn’t mind her fielding this one. “Hello? Mrs. Nelson? This is Arianne Waide.”

“Oh, hi, Arianne.” Mindy sounded confused but pleased that someone had answered. “Are you at Gabe’s house?”

“Yes, ma’am. I was with him this afternoon when he got hit on the head and drove him to the E.R.”

“I heard all about it. Fawne Harris makes it sound as if he appeared out of nowhere and saved her son’s life.”

“Well, he did catch Ben and keep him from injury,” Arianne admitted proudly.

She’d thought Gabe was a hero long before then-when he’d volunteered to help despite not having kids at Whiteberry and not being sure he wanted to, when he’d stood up to Shane on her behalf and when he’d offered today to manufacture a way to keep Ben and Toby out of trouble. If only they’d realized sooner how necessary that would be!

Mindy clucked her tongue. “What a blessing that Gabe was there-I think Fawne’s ordering him roses. I heard about it at dinner tonight and got concerned about Gabe. I almost didn’t call, what with it being after nine by the time I got home, but…well, I was afraid he didn’t have anyone else to check in on him.”

Arianne ached, wondering how many good and bad moments he hadn’t been able to share with someone. “No need to worry, ma’am. I’m here.”

“I’m glad. He’s such a good man. Do you know, when he was building the deck for my yard, I was trying to teach my oldest how to drive so that he could get his license? We were struggling with the parallel parking, making each other tense, and Gabe took it over for me one afternoon. My son passed his test the following week.”

“Gabe volunteered to teach your kid to parallel park? Gabriel Sloan?”

“I told you, he’s a good guy. Speaking of which, will you let him know that I spoke to my brother-in-law? I really talked up Gabe, so if he wants to call and ask about job opportunities, the way has been paved.”

Arianne scowled. Yet another woman was trying to help Gabe get out of Mistletoe. Why wasn’t anyone trying to help him stay? “I’ll pass that message along.”

Once they hung up, Arianne realized that it had been hours since she’d looked at her phone. She probably should have checked in with Lilah and Tanner long ago. Sure enough, when she retrieved her cell from her purse, she saw that she had three voice mail messages, all from Lilah’s number.

Instead of taking the time to listen to them, she called her sister-in-law.

“There you are!” Lilah sounded equal parts exasperated and excited. “I’ve been trying to reach you. How’s Gabe?”

“Doctor said it was a concussion. He seems all right now, slept for hours. He took some more acetaminophen and is in the shower. I’m supposed to stay so that there’s someone to monitor him until tomorrow.”

Lilah was silent.

“What?” Arianne asked defensively.

“Nothing. I was just thinking about you needing to stay the night. With Gabriel Sloan.”

“Don’t say it like that. It’s so I can wake him up periodically, check his pupil size, make sure he’s not throwing up. That kind of thing,” Arianne said, trying for virtuous.

“Uh-huh. Well, if you’re not comfortable staying out there, I can send Tanner over. He could sleep on the couch. He can sleep anywhere. Just ask him about the one-and-only time we saw a ballet together.”

For all Arianne knew, she’d be bunking on the sofa. Judging by his tension when he’d left the room, Gabe was no longer under the thrall of what they’d shared earlier.

“I’m good here,” she said. “But could you pick me up in the morning? My car’s still at the festival site.”

“Actually, Tanner moved it with our spare key just a little while ago. That’s one of the reasons I was trying to get in touch with you, to let you know it’s at our house.”

Arianne laughed. “Because it wasn’t safe overnight in downtown Mistletoe?”

“I know ,” Lilah agreed, a teasing lilt in her voice. “Talk to your brother. I guess he lived in the city too long. Call us in the morning when you’re ready to go.”

Arianne promised that she would and ignored the cheerful innuendo in her sister-in-law’s voice when she advised Arianne to have a good night. They disconnected, and Arianne paused for a moment, listening. Gabe was still in the shower. Since she had nothing to do, she decided to go ahead and give free rein to her curiosity.

There was nothing of major interest to see in the kitchen, so she returned to the living room, scrutinizing the entertainment center. As far as she could tell, it was the only TV in the house, a nice, large flat-screen. She grinned when she noticed that he owned a video game system, although she only saw one controller.

Against the far wall of the converted barn was the old loft. A set of painted wooden stairs with no railing led up to a carpeted, only partially enclosed loft with a skylight in the slanted roof. He’d made it a library of sorts. His computer sat on a desk in the corner, but the rest of the narrow space was eaten up by a large bookshelf. The man either loved to read or a hundred books had been included in the purchase when he bought this place. His tastes were varied, from lots of nonfiction and do-it-yourself books to Zane Grey’s Westerns, some of which were yellowed with age, to futuristic cop stories by J. D. Robb to a collection of comic essays by Dave Barry.

Suddenly the water switched off, and Arianne scrambled down the staircase, not wanting to look like the snoop she was. By the time Gabe reappeared-shirtless in a pair of low-slung running pants-she was resituated on the couch.

She cleared her throat, trying to break her gaze away from his chest. “I was thinking about it and, if you’d rather, I can sleep on the sofa. If that would make you more comfortable,” she offered, but she-or someone else of his choosing-was staying the night. That part was nonnegotiable.