8 Weeks (Time for Love 1)

“Go on …” Gaby encouraged.

“He gave me the opportunity to stop it, but I didn’t want to. I wanted him so much I could barely stand it. Once we were done, reality sunk back in, and he asked me to let him stay.”

“Did you?” Gaby asked.

I shook my head.

“No, I couldn’t. I know that Cal wants our relationship to be the way it was, and I knew that if I allowed him to stay, I’d just hurt him more in the long run.”

“So, you still plan on going through with the divorce?” Sasha asked, her voice tinged with sadness.

“I can’t forget what he did, Sash. And as much as I miss him, I can’t give him false hope. I still plan to go through with the divorce. Maybe I should put a stop to this eight weeks thing. I don’t know if either of us can handle another month of dates.”

We all sat quietly at the table, lost in thought, until the waiter came back and asked us if we were ready to order.

Once our order was in, I sighed deeply and asked, “Please, can we talk about something else? I need one of you to tell me something that is going to get my mind off of everything that I have going on in my life.”

“Hmmm … I slept with a hot guy I was showing a house to … in the house I was showing him,” Sasha said with a saucy wink, causing me to laugh.

“That’s not news,” I teased her. “That’s a regular day in your world.”

“True,” Sasha conceded.

We both turned to Gaby, who looked at us nervously.

“Wow, you look like you really have something on your mind,” I said to her. “Is everything okay?”

“Scott and I had sex,” Gaby said, shocking me to the core.

“What?” Sasha and I yelled at the same time.

“Shhh,” Gaby said, looking pointedly around the restaurant. “I don’t mean now … I mean in the past. We had sex on prom night.”

“What?” I asked again, totally confused.

“You’re saying that the two of you had sex in high school, and you never said anything?” Sasha asked.

Gaby nodded.

“You didn’t tell us, and there is no way he told Cal or TJ, or we would all know,” I said, working it out. “But why would you keep it a secret? Was it only that one night?”

“You guys had different dates to the prom,” Sasha stated.

“Yes, we did,” Gaby agreed. “And, yes, it was just the one night. We kept it a secret because we didn’t want to mess up our friendship, or our group dynamics.”

“But, how did it happen?” I asked.

The waiter chose that moment to come back to the table with our food. Gaby looked up at him and said, “Can I have a mimosa please?”

“Make that mimosas all around,” Sasha added. When he walked away, Sasha turned back and waved her hand at Gaby, encouraging her to continue.

“I had a crush on Scott from the moment we met the guys junior year. He was my total opposite … The way he was raised, and his plans for his future, but I thought he was the greatest guy I’d ever met. And hot, totally, totally hot,” Gaby explained with a blush.

“You did?” I asked. “How come you never told us?”

“I don’t know,” Gaby admitted. “I guess I thought he was out of my league, and then we started hanging out all of the time because of you and Cal. Then, after a while, we were all inseparable, and he was one of my best friends, I was afraid to ruin it. Plus, when he wasn’t hanging out with us, he was always with some girl. Scott was never lonely, and I didn’t feel like I could compete.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Sasha said angrily. “You’re amazing! Any guy who comes into a five-foot radius of you is ready to fall at your feet. Scott isn’t out of your league. Don’t sell yourself short.”