Saviour (Saviour #1)(61)
I go up to the study, Gabe’s written down the password to the desk top for me and I go straight to his pictures. I scroll through, I don't want to be nosey, okay I do, but I resist, it's the ones of Ava I want. I print off various pictures of Ava, and of Ava and Gabriel together, everything from baby pics to more recent ones and then I get down on the floor and start cutting around them. I make a collage of the pair of them, pictures taken all around the world by the looks of things, Disney Land, New York, Thailand, Bali and London, Sydney, Queensland, Melbourne and some taken at the snow but that could be anywhere. She's a lucky girl and from what I can see from the pictures, she is the image of her dad. I fix the pics into the Perspex frame we bought yesterday and seal the two halves together. Next I go online and down load pictures of 1 Direction, then Photoshop pictures of Ava in with them and print them off in sizes to fit the rest of the frames. I take all of these down to Ava's room; I hang the big frame above her bed and scatter the others around her chest of drawers and bedside table and in little groups on the walls. I put on the new doona covers that I washed and dried last night so they are nice and soft and smell good. I set up the iPod doc and her lamp and scatter her new cushions around. The last thing is a little pink bar fridge, which I fill with Coke, lemonade, Pepsi and water, all sugar free I might add and leaving on just the lava lamp I close the door. Shit I hope she likes it, my stomach is churning. By the time I'm done its 1.30 and when I get upstairs I realise I've left my phone on silent. I have twelve missed calls and three texts from Gabe.
Pick up Lauren Lauren, wtf r u doin pick up FFS PICK UP THE FUCKIN FONE
Shit, I call him back straight away.
“Lauren, thank f*ck”
“Sorry, sorry, sorry I've been busy, I forgot my phone was on silent from last night”
“As long as you’re alright, I was gonna send Jemma over to check on you, I've been ringing your old phone and the landline, you must have heard that”
“Yeah, sorry, the old mobi is on silent too and I didn’t like to pick up the landline. I'm fine tho, sorry, how was your meeting”
“Lauren, when the home phone rings, pick it up please, it’s your home too remember, and the meeting was pretty shit actually; the company is based in South Australia and we are bidding to build a hospital but they're really trying to screw us down on the price but we'll get there. I'm just pulling up at Nina's now so we'll be home soon. I've missed you today”
“I’ve missed you too”
My stomach flips when I think about how much and there's something that's bothering me and I have to say it. “Gabe”
“Yes babe?”
“Do you have to go in?”
“Go in where?”
“Go into Nina’s, you’re wearing your suit, and you look so f*cking hot. I just don't want… I don't want you in there, near her?” He laughs into the phone.
“Lauren, Nina is married to someone else and is about eight months pregnant with her third child and even if she wasn't, she holds absolutely no interest for me, it’s only you now baby, only you”
“It’s not you I'm worried about Gabe, I trust you, its other women I don't trust”
“Ha, thanks for the compliment but there's still no need to worry, let’s just say Nina isn’t my biggest fan, right, let me go get these girls so I can get back home to you, Ciao baby, see ya after”
He hangs up. That's another Aussie term I've never got my head around 'See ya after'. After what I always wonder?
I shower and straighten my hair and put on just a little bit of makeup. My bruises have faded to a yellowish colour and are now barely visible. I put on a pair of hammer style yoga pants, a vest and a skinny cardigan, all in black, I spray on some perfume and look in the mirror. All the years of dieting and who knew, all I had to do was leave my husband to drop a few K's. I look okay, I don't want to look frumpy but I don't want to look like I'm trying too hard either. I go out to the family room to wait. I put on some music and pour myself a drink just as I hear the gates and the garage door opening. Ed Sheeran is singing about a Lego house as I sip my wine, cooling my sweaty palms on either side of the glass. The internal door opens and all I can hear is chatter. Gabe comes up the stairs first, his eyes lock straight onto mine, and I flush instantly, burn even, everywhere. He's carrying his lap top bag and briefcase, his jacket is off and he's holding it over one shoulder, the sleeves of his crisp white city shirt are rolled up. He lets out such a deep breath it makes his hair move. He gives me such a beautiful smile I almost cry.
“Get me a beer please, now and ear plugs, cotton wool, anything”
I smile and pass him a beer, as I do we hear an almighty scream from downstairs, Gabe’s gone, taking the stairs two and three at a time, I follow. He goes down the hallway into Ava's room and I enter just in time to see her throw herself at him saying “OMG Daddy, Love, love, love this, it is so, so cool. O.M.G. O.M.G. O.M.G, just look at all these photos, how did you do this, and the lamp is so like, totes adorbs and the fridge, I just love it all. Thank you, thank you so, so much, this is better than my bedroom at mums”
Gabe is still holding her as he looks around the room, her friend, Sophie, I assume, is sitting on the bed, and stroking the face of Harry from 1D. Gabriel turns and looks at me. He's beaming as he beckons me in.