nearest chair and picked up a magazine. She was so glad Gabe’s life wasn’t in turmoil. He had a few problems, but nothing in comparison to Owen’s—unless that baby ended up being Gabe’s. She realized she was reading an article about breast pumps and dropped the magazine on the seat next to her.
Gabe came out a moment later, looking no less grim than he had when he’d gone back to give his DNA sample.
“Did Owen leave?” he asked. “I wanted to talk to him.”
“He and Caitlyn were having a little argument,” Melanie said with a shrug.
“Owen was arguing?” Gabe asked, turning toward the exit.
“Is that unusual for him?”
“Yeah.” Gabe released a heavy sigh. “I guess I’m not the only one whose life has fallen to pieces.”
Melanie reached up and took his hand. “I don’t think your life is going so bad,” she said. “You are engaged to a pretty hot babe.” She gave him the sexy come-hither look she sometimes practiced in the mirror.
“My one lifeboat in a sea of shit.” He smiled, the light of happiness replacing his troubled gaze. “Let’s go get your automatic dildo washer.”
A nearby woman snorted, and then scrunched down in her chair, as if that would make her invisible.
“Okay,” Melanie said with a scowl, “yeah, thanks for that. Let’s tell the whole world I need one, why don’t we?” But her Gabe was too wonderful to stay cross with for more than a millisecond.
Chapter Thirteen
Gabe sipped his lime margarita and watched the light play with the highlights in Melanie’s hair while she looked over the menu. Their new dishwasher was in the back of the truck, Amanda hadn’t been home when they’d stopped by her house, and they’d made it to the restaurant just in time for their dinner reservation. After such a busy afternoon, it was nice to sit and enjoy Melanie’s company. Hell, just looking at her was a splendid way to spend his evening. It almost allowed him to forget that his life really was a sea of shit at the moment.
“You never told me what Owen and Caitlyn were arguing about,” Gabe said as Melanie debated between the Relleno de Picadillo and Cochinita Pibil. She couldn’t go wrong with either. The food at this restaurant was always top-notch.
“Um . . . I’m not sure he wants you to know that,” she said, flipping the menu over. “Maybe I should close my eyes and point at the menu. Order whatever I land on.” She did just that and opened her eyes to read what her finger had selected. “Enchiladas de Pato. Duck? They have duck enchiladas. Can you believe it?”
“I’m sure they’re delicious,” he said. “Order a couple of things to try. We can always take leftovers home to Nikki.” That comment sent her scouring the menu for dishes Nikki might like, but Gabe hadn’t forgotten that she hadn’t answered his question. “Does Owen and Caitlyn’s disagreement have something to do with Kellen?” He was guessing, but obviously had done a good job, because Melanie went still.
“So you know why Owen’s mad at Kellen?” she asked.
“Of course,” Gabe lied, taking a sip of his margarita because he was a bad liar. “What do you think about their problem?”
“It’s not that big a deal.” Melanie shrugged. “A little unwanted kiss isn’t the end of the world.”
Gabe set his drink down. Hard. “One of them kissed you?”
Melanie’s pretty brow screwed up. “What? No. I’m talking about how Kellen kissed Owen and Owen completely freaked out over it.”
Gabe blinked at her. “Kellen kissed Owen?”
Melanie’s mouth dropped open. “You said you knew. You tricked me.”
“On the mouth?” Gabe asked flatly.
“There are worse places he could have kissed him.” Melanie giggled.
Gabe slapped his forehead. “No wonder Owen flipped the fuck out.”
“Not a big deal.”
“When a grown-ass man kisses you on the mouth, it’s a very big fucking deal,” Gabe said. “If he wanted him to, that’s fine, but . . .” Gabe shook his head, having a hard time grasping that Kellen had the hots for Owen. That was what that kiss had been about, wasn’t it? “What the fuck is happening to my friends? They’ve all lost their damned minds.”
“Are you ready to order?” their server asked.
Of all the bad timing.
“Give us a minute,” Gabe said, perhaps too harshly, because the young man darted away as if the kitchen were on fire.
“At least you’re still sane,” Melanie said, reaching for his hand.
He allowed her to hold it, but didn’t turn his hand over to clasp hers in return. “That’s funny, because I feel like I’m going crazy.”
“Why?”
Probably because his usual release of aggression was to flail a pair of sticks against the skins of his drum kit, and he hadn’t so much as held a drumstick in over a week. “I miss performing. I miss the road. I miss my band. I miss my life.”
Melanie went perfectly still, her face transforming into an emotionless mask. He’d never seen her react that way and wasn’t sure what to make of it. She released his hand and sat back in her chair.
“If that’s what you want, I can go back to Kansas.”
“What?” He shook his head. “That’s not what I meant at all. I don’t want those things to replace you. Don’t you see? I want it all.”
“And if you can’t have it all, will I be enough?”
He blinked at her. Was she really asking him that? “Why shouldn’t I be able to have it all?”
“You should,” she said almost too quietly to hear over the din of the noisy restaurant. “But if your band never gets back together, am I enough to make you happy?”
That was a lot of burden to place on one person. It wasn’t her job to make him happy. He was happy when he was with her, but he would always need more in his life. Everyone needed something to call their own. If it wasn’t his band, at the very least Gabe would need a career he could be proud of.
“I’m unequivocally happy when I’m with you,” he said. “But I’m not Nikki.”
She cocked her head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That you’re used to someone depending solely on you for their every happiness.” Melanie liked Nikki’s dependence on her. He’d seen the two of them together enough to recognize their dynamic.
“But I don’t want that with you,” she said.
“Are you sure? Because it sure seems that way to me.”
Melanie’s hand balled into a fist on the tabletop, and she lifted it to press it against her eye. “Why are we arguing about this?” She shook her head, then dropped her hand and lifted her gaze to meet his.
“I don’t think you recognize what a difficult time I’m having, Mel. My whole world has been turned upside down.”
“And mine hasn’t? I left my family behind, my job, my apartment, and moved a thousand miles to be with you.”
“And with Nikki.”
“Fuck Nikki,” she growled, tossing her hands in the air. “I’m here with you. Are you that jealous of her?”
“No.” Yes, a part of him whispered back. “Do I have a reason to be jealous?”
“Why would you have a reason to be jealous?”
“Because . . . that kiss.” Until that moment, he hadn’t realized seeing Nikki kiss Melanie with more passion than he’d ever seen in his entire life had still been eating at him. He and Melanie had made amends over that incident immediately, but apparently he wasn’t over it.
“That kiss meant nothing to me,” Melanie said.
“But it meant something to her.”
“Do you want me to send her away?”
He shook his head. “No. I want to find my big boy pants and put them on. I just can’t seem to find them right now.”
She smiled and then chuckled. “Sorry for laughing. I’m imagining you with red-striped pants pulled up to your pierced nipples.”
“Yes,” he said. “Those big boy pants. Have you seen them?”