Finding Isadora(66)

He couldn’t, and my parents couldn’t. Nor, I suddenly realized, could I. It was one of those moments of epiphany, and I knew I wanted to make a change in my life. Not to please my parents or impress Gabriel, but because it was important to me.

I didn’t know what, exactly, I’d do, but I knew that from now on I’d spend less time knitting and watching TV, and more time working for causes I believed in. I’d been so busy trying to be different from my parents that I hadn’t realized the ways in which I was, and wanted to be, similar. Feeling as if one weight had been lifted off my shoulders, I smiled.

We were walking past a Wrap Zone. I gestured toward the window. “This place has good wraps. We could eat while we walk.”

“Good idea.”

Inside, we studied the choices. “How strict a vegetarian are you?” I asked him. “If you like seafood, the salmon, avocado, and sprouts combination is great.”

“Yeah, I eat seafood. I’m kind of surprised you do.”

I shrugged. “I’ve never warmed to cold-blooded creatures, so I don’t mind eating them. I’m sure there’s some kind of moral inconsistency there, but I don’t give a damn.”

He grinned, and we both ordered salmon wraps. As our server began to assemble them, we stepped aside to wait. Gabriel’s smile faded and he said abruptly, “There were two things.”

“Pardon?”

“Two reasons I came to the clinic tonight.” He reached in his pocket and handed me something. A small paper bag.

“What’s this?” I slid the contents onto my palm and saw a cardboard card with a pair of earrings dangling from it. Silver cats, with eyes made of a sparkly purple stone. They were utterly charming.

“Saw those today and they had your name on them. A thank you for last night.”

A young woman in a suit, waiting beside us, must have overheard his words because she subjected Gabriel and I to quick scrutiny, then gave me a wink.

Last night. She must have thought…

I wanted to enlighten her, but she was studying Gabriel with obvious approval. It was flattering that she thought a sexy man like him would pick a woman like me.

She moved away to collect her order and I handed the earrings back. “Thanks, but no.”

“Don’t you like them?” he demanded.

“I love them.” It was true. They captured the essence of cat in a few clever lines. Was it a coincidence that the cats’ eyes were close to the color of my own? I longed to take off the painted-wood dalmatians I was wearing and substitute the cats. “But I can’t let you buy me a gift.”

He tossed them casually back into my hand. “Already bought. And it’s not like they’re expensive. Those aren’t real amethysts.”

“I don’t like gem stones anyway.”

“Except diamonds. Or were those fakes in the ring and earrings?”

Slowly I shook my head. “They’re diamonds. But that was Richard’s idea, not mine. Something traditional, because that’s how we want…”

“Your marriage to be,” he finished for me.

Marriage. To Richard. It was seeming more and more impossible. And yet, Richard was still the same man. But everything had changed. I’d changed. All because I’d met Gabriel DeLuca.

He moved away abruptly. Startled, I stared after him. Then I realized our order number had been called, and he was collecting our wraps. Slowly I walked over to him and he held one of the wrapped packages out to me. Before I could take it, I had to do something with the earrings.

I wanted them. Partly because I loved them and partly for reasons that added to my confusion. Unable to resist, I murmured, “Thank you,” as I tucked them back into the paper bag and put the bag in my purse.

When I looked up, he was grinning. Careful not to brush fingers, I took my wrap from him and said, “Pogo will be getting anxious.”

“Then let’s go.”

Gabriel was a fast walker with a long stride, but so was I, and I matched his pace as we headed for my apartment. The evening sky was overcast and the air cool, but exertion kept me warm. We ate rather than spoke, until Gabriel said, “That was good,” and tossed his take-out wrapper into a trash container. He’d finished his wrap before I was half-way through mine, and now he began to munch on a chocolate chip cookie.

“Do you ever eat regular meals?” I asked.

“Sort of.”

A typical Gabriel answer. Undaunted, I said, “What does that mean?”

He chuckled. “You really need to know? Okay, in the morning Miki picks up coffee and bran muffins or bagels on her way in. She makes sure there’s fruit and juice in the fridge. If I’m there at lunch time she gets something for both of us. As for dinner…” He shrugged. “I grab something when I can. Depends if I’m working late. Sun-Hi, my housekeeper, stocks the fridge and freezer every Monday, so there’s always something at home. I eat out fairly often and I’ve memorized the phone numbers of all the good places that deliver.”

“I get the impression you work late a lot.”

“Each day’s different, but I’m not a workaholic. I hang out with friends, work out at the gym in my apartment building, and usually get a fair night’s sleep.” He muttered something I didn’t catch. It could have been “until recently.”