Finding Isadora(95)

I grinned. “Hey, kids are selfish. That’s their nature. But you’re not a kid anymore. You’re a man, having dinner with his father. The two of you get to create whatever relationship you want.”

“Scary.”

“Relationships are. But they can be so rewarding.”

I heard someone speaking to Richard. He said, “Pull out the file and I’ll be right there.” Then, “Sorry, Iz, I have a meeting. But thanks. For calling, for talking. I think you’re right, about us being friends.”

Tears of relief, of joy, filled my eyes. “I’m so glad. Talk to you soon.”

After we hung up, I let the tears spill over. We’d made some big steps in that one phone call, and it looked like I wasn’t going to lose Richard from my life.

Then I buried my face in my hands. But what about Gabriel? What on earth was I going to do about Gabriel?





Chapter 14


I could always count on the clinic to restore my sense of balance. The company of great colleagues, lots of animal problems to solve, and concerned humans to reassure. I was so absorbed that, for eight hours, there was little time to worry about Gabriel or Richard.

Though when I left work, I did wonder where they were eating and how their dinner was going.

As for my own evening, I had a lot to look forward to. My pace quickened as I anticipated a warm welcome and tantalizing cooking aromas. When I opened my apartment door, I called, “Honey, I’m home.”

Pogo of course came to greet me. So did Janice, wearing navy Juicy Couture sweats, her hair tied up in a high ponytail, laughing. “Izzie, it’s me, not Richard.”

I gave her a quick hug. “Girlfriend, you are so out of date.”

She pulled back and stared at me. “You look wasted. What’s wrong?”

“Pour me some wine and I’ll tell you.”

In the kitchen, she sloshed wine from an open bottle of sauvignon blanc into a glass and handed it to me. Topping up the glass she’d been drinking from, she said, “Dinner’ll be fifteen minutes. Let’s go sit.”

When we were both seated, me in my favorite chair and her cross-legged on the floor, I said, “Richard and I broke up.”

“No! Oh, my god! When? Why?” She reached out to grab my hands. “Are you okay?”

“Getting there. I was the one who initiated it.” I explained my reasons—everything but the Gabriel ones—told her about Richard’s reaction, and finished by saying, “We talked on the phone this morning and I think we’re making steps toward a solid friendship.”

Her mouth had been hanging open for a couple of minutes. A timer went off in the kitchen, and she snapped her lips together and rushed away to deal with it.

I followed, to see her remove a casserole dish from the oven.

“I can’t believe it,” she said. “And this happened Wednesday? Izzie, you should have told me what was going on. I’d have canceled my plans for last night.”

“It’s okay. Actually, last night proved to be, uh, quite interesting.”

“Interesting?” She cocked a brow. “If I didn’t know you better, I’d say you’d met another man. But knowing you, that’ll take months and months, if not years.”

“Maybe you don’t know me so well after all. Maybe I have met somebody.”

“No!” She almost dropped the casserole she’d been carrying over to my teeny kitchen table. Once she had it settled safely, she turned to me. “Who’s this maybe guy?”

A maybe guy. Yes, that was a good way of putting it. I took a hefty slug of wine. “Richard’s father.”

“Richard’s…” Her voice squeaked high on a note of disbelief. “Gabriel? The hot one?”

“Oh, yeah.”

It wasn’t often Janice was rendered speechless, but I’d managed to do it. She gaped at me like a puffer fish, then said, very slowly, “Holy shit.”

I nodded.

And then, over spinach ricotta cannelloni and more wine, I told her about last night. I said we walked on the beach and talked. I didn’t tell her about his parents, of course, or his father’s death. I couldn’t resist mentioning how he’d brushed sand from my feet and warmed them. Then I got to the kiss.

“You kissed him!” Her expression combined shock and delight. “You kissed Gabriel? How was it?”

“Seriously hot. It was … Honestly, Jan, I’ve never experienced such a sexy kiss in my entire life.”

She studied me consideringly. “But you didn’t have sex with him.”

I shook my head.

“So what now?”

“That’s the million dollar question. We want to see each other, but we figure we can’t sleep together because it would hurt Richard.”

“But you can’t see each other without wanting to leap into bed.”

I closed my eyes, pictured Gabriel, and shivered. “Oh, yeah.”

“Hmm.” Her face took on the expression I always think of as Janice’s scientist look. Eyes narrowed, slightly crossed. Brow furrowed.

“Well?”

“I’m thinking.”

“I can see that.”

“About Martin.”

“What? Martin? How did he get into the picture?”