Whenever she had good news, Derek was the first person she’d tell. And when something went wrong in her life, he was the one she’d turn to for a shoulder to cry on. She didn’t always do as he suggested, and she recalled his frequent frustration at her single-minded determination to do what she wanted.
But he’d always supported her.
She’d loved him for that.
She’d loved him. Period.
Sharon placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m here if you want to talk.”
Gabrielle smiled. “And I appreciate that so much. Listen, they invited me to stay and have lunch with them. Derek said he’d drive me back later to pick up my car.”
The salesman strode through a set of double doors with a large box in his hands.
“Did you pick that one in a rush? Because I don’t want you to have to come back and return it later,” Gabrielle said.
Sharon unzipped her purse and pulled out her wallet. “I was killing time waiting for you, so I made him earn his commission,” she whispered.
Gabrielle laughed. “You are too much.”
With a shrug, Sharon followed the salesman to the register nearby. While he rang up her sale, she focused on Gabrielle.
“Are you sure spending time with Derek and his daughter is a good idea?”
“I’m sure. Holly invited me and she seems like a great kid. One minute she’s rambling like an eleven-year-old and the next we’re talking about designers,” she said, laughing. “Besides, Derek and I have a lot of catching up to do.”
“Do I need to remind you how badly he hurt you? It might have happened a long time ago, but from the look in your eyes, it might just as well have been yesterday.”
Gabrielle shook her head. “No, you don’t need to remind me.” She remembered it all too well.
The morning after their senior prom, he’d taken her off guard by announcing their relationship was over for good, breaking her heart. “A lot has happened since then. Maybe he’s over the curse thing.” She wondered who she was trying to convince, Sharon or herself.
“I’ll take that to mean I’m right and you aren’t over him.”
“Exactly.” Why argue the point? Her friend knew her too well.
Gabrielle came from a family of females who were academics on the surface but passionate romantics at heart. Even at seventeen, she’d had a deep appreciation for things that made her feel good. Sex and chocolate had been two of those things. Sex with Derek had been even better.
“Oh, sweetie, listen, you can’t let yourself go back there. From what I’ve seen over the years, not much has changed with the Corwin men,” Sharon said as she handed the salesman her charge card.
“Maybe not, but you haven’t kept up with Derek personally, right? He could have decided the curse was nothing more than an old family story. I mean, he did get married.” Much as she hated to think of him with another woman.
She’d been with other people, too, but she hadn’t fallen in love with any of them. She hadn’t had their child. She swallowed over the painful lump in her throat.
“A lot has gone on in his life,” Sharon reminded her as if reading her mind.
“True.” But he still looked at her with that intense expression that said he only had eyes for her. His feelings were still there. Whether he’d allow himself to act on them was the question.
Gabrielle was determined to push him hard enough to find out. “I have to get to know him again. I need to know if there’s hope.”
“Okay,” Sharon said, but her tone implied she clearly didn’t agree with her friend’s choice. “You know where to find me.” She signed the credit-card slip, accepted the receipt and put both it and her wallet back in her handbag.
Then she picked up the large box holding the coffee machine.
“Need help getting it to the car?” Gabrielle asked.
“I’ll be fine. Will you?”
Gabrielle smiled. “Yes. I will. Because this time I know the worst-case scenario ahead of time. I dealt with it once and I survived. Besides, I’m older and wiser now.”