‘Why? It’s still early,’ she said, suddenly annoyed on his behalf, and at herself too.
‘Ines will just call me again in half an hour and ask me where he is. Trust me, it’s better if we just get him home.’
‘But he’s having so much fun.’
As if on cue, Javi stood in his seat and clapped enthusiastically at one of the sea lions who’d caught another huge fish in its mouth. A kid in the front had thrown it.
‘Papa, can we get a sea lion?’ Javi called back to them.
‘Sure.’ Gabriel smirked. ‘And let’s just see how your dog reacts to that the next time he’s with us.’
They continued to watch in silence. When he drove her home, she couldn’t help feeling he was embarrassed at having shared so much with her. He didn’t accept her offer to come inside with Javi, after he’d helped her back into her wheelchair with just as much care as he’d carried her up the stairs and laid her down on his bed last night.
‘Are you sure? I have some great tea,’ she teased, before she could remind herself not to.
His face remained expressionless as he turned back to the car, its engine still running. He was so distracted and probably still thinking about rushing back to Ines, who to all intents and purposes was in full control of Javi’s and his lives.
‘Better not,’ he said, predictably.
‘OK. Well, thank you for a great day. I had fun,’ she said, looking up at his distant expression.
‘So did I.’ Gabriel seemed to be looking anywhere but into her eyes, and she could feel the connection severing right in front of her. ‘I should get back to...’
‘Yes, you should probably go.’
It was for the best, she thought as she closed the door after him and listened to the car drive away. They’d both been confused and on a high after last night, and this was reality roaring back in to remind her not to get carried away. Gabriel—her friend Gabriel—had no space for her in his personal life; his hands were completely tied. He just didn’t know how to say it after that one incredible night of passion they’d shared. Well, in that case, she would take the task off his hands and spare him the need. There was no way she was going to suggest any other close encounters, not even a cup of tea at her house, she decided.
Ana found herself staring unseeingly at the TV for the rest of the evening, knowing she should be doing something else, but completely unable to focus on anything. She had spent all her life keeping everyone—including him—at arm’s length. Despite her growing real feelings for him all those years ago, she’d always just treated him platonically until she’d lost him altogether. Now, he had no space for her at all, no more than she had for him, realistically. Why then, if neither of them had the time or the space for this, did she feel as if something monumentally huge had just come crashing down around her? It would be better for her heart and whirring brain if she just stayed as far away from him as possible now, she decided. Except for at work—ugh. She could hardly avoid him there. She should step up her search for another locum.
The afternoon’s rain only seemed to intensify the mood in the clinic’s colourful consultation room as Ana passed Gabriel a file in preparation for their next patient. If only there was a way that he could ease this awful awkward atmosphere that had been hanging like a storm cloud over them all week.
‘Who have we got next?’ he asked as their fingers brushed across the papers.
‘A kitchen victim,’ she replied, moving away too quickly and making a thing out of straightening the pen holder on her desk, looking out at the rain pattering against the windows. ‘He came in with his fiancé.’
Gabriel nodded, looking over the file. This weirdness between them was a living creature whispering from his shoulder whenever their sleeves or fingers met by accident, which happened a lot; how could it not in a place this size? She’d been looking for another locum since he’d started at the clinic, but so far there wasn’t one with time to spare, and he knew despite this awkwardness that she still needed him. They were practically under each other’s feet. He or she would make a concerted effort to pull away too fast whenever an accidental brush occurred, and look the other way, and it was getting kind of ridiculous now.
If only he hadn’t said all that when they were watching the sea lions about Ines and his fears about her asking for full custody. Poor Ana had enough going on in her life just now—no wonder she’d backed away completely since then. They’d agreed their friendship wouldn’t suffer but he couldn’t help thinking it had been ruined even more now by his over-sharing. She probably thought he was a fool too, for bending over backwards for Ines and her demands, but what could he do? One foot wrong, and she might have another reason to get her lawyer involved in deciding where Javi lived permanently. That was something he couldn’t compromise on, not for anything.
‘Hello?’ Maria opened the door slowly, peeking inside before, with a smile, sending their male patient in. His fiancé was close behind and the height difference in the two men made Gabriel bite back a smile despite himself.
The ‘kitchen victim’ was at least a foot shorter than his partner. He offered them both a slightly sheepish smile, cradling his burned hand against his chest as Ana introduced herself. His name was Davit and he spoke in English with an accent as he explained how grateful he was that they could see him at such short notice. He was Dutch, it emerged, the same as his tall, red-headed fiancé, Berend.
‘Tell us what happened, Davit,’ Gabriel said.
Davit flushed with embarrassment as he recounted the tale. ‘I was trying to make a special lunch for Berend in the hostel kitchen—we’re on vacation here. I was sautéing some vegetables and the pan just slipped from my hand. I tried to catch it, but...’
‘But he forgot that hot pans are so hot,’ Berend finished for him, pressing his hand to his fiancé’s arm in sympathy, whilst also smiling ruefully at Ana.
Ana nodded sympathetically. ‘Sometimes the most romantic gestures just don’t work,’ she said softly, reaching for Davit’s arm at the same time as Gabriel. He caught her eye, as well as the double entendre, and almost tripped on her wheel. She spun away quickly, throwing him a look that was nothing short of annoyance, which he returned, before resuming his professional demeanour. Was everything going to be this difficult now? He would rather have his friend back than endure this weirdness between them.
‘It’s a second-degree burn with intact blistering,’ Ana told Davit. ‘Must be pretty painful, but nothing that won’t heal up nicely as long as you don’t get it wet.’
‘And stay out of the kitchen,’ Berend added, to which his partner play-slapped him and laughed, just before wincing in pain again.
Gabriel watched Ana work, as she wrapped the gauze carefully around the wound, her eyes devoid of the sparkle they’d held just last week, before their night together. It should’ve been obvious that working with her would be like this, though this was the first time she’d directed a slight his way. She must really regret that they’d put their friendship on the line...and annoyed that he’d had no time to stay behind after his shifts to try and talk to her properly.
That was his fault, he supposed. He’d been so intent on rushing to Javi, now that it was his week with him, and to relieve his parents of their grandparent duties once he was done with work. It seemed as if Ana had more on her mind than just him, anyway. But of course she did: she’d only recently opened her clinic!
There was also Ines to contend with. He was even more aware of having to keep things sweet with her than before, after she’d told him last weekend he’d returned Javi from the wildlife park later than she’d been expecting...even though he’d texted her! She’d been distracted lately, so maybe she’d forgotten. He still thought it was unusual that Pedro hadn’t left the study to see Javi and him off that day either, or when he’d brought the little boy back, but it wasn’t his place to pry with personal questions.
Gabriel watched as Ana saw the bandaged-up Davit and Berend out of the room after handing over a prescription for painkillers, and felt her eyes on him as she wheeled past, feeling the weight of his earlier mistake—clumsily impeding her wheelchair. Why did it suddenly feel as if he couldn’t do anything right? Or maybe Ines was getting to him more than he realised.
He also still had his mother’s invitation floating around in his head. Mama wanted Ana and her parents to come over to their place for dinner tonight. The menu was already all planned out. She was convinced it would be a fun reunion for them all now that Ana was back and the clinic was running smoothly. He hadn’t quite managed to ask Ana to attend yet and time was running out. Maybe he should stop getting all up in his head about everything and just ask her, he thought. Their families were friends, after all, and what had happened between them shouldn’t get in the way of that.
CHAPTER TEN
THE FLUORESCENT LIGHTS buzzed overhead as Gabriel ushered his mother Rosa, whom Ana had always called Mama Romero like everyone else, onto the examination table.
‘Mama, what’s happening?’ he enquired in his most concerned tone, and Ana’s heart flapped in her chest at the panic in his eyes. He probably hadn’t expected his own mother to show up unannounced at the clinic—she had only called a few minutes ago when Gabriel had been seeing to Mr Acosta regarding the heart medication she’d prescribed for him.
‘Thankfully you had a free appointment, and your father told me not to wait any longer,’ the petite woman told him, clutching at her abdomen near her navel, the source of her discomfort.
‘Your hernia again?’ Ana heard him say.
‘You did the right thing, Mama Romero, coming straight here,’ Ana said reassuringly. Rosa’s cheeks were flushed and her greying hair was damp from the rain outside.
As Gabriel offered her his arm for support, Ana felt a pang of guilt for being so cold with him lately, mostly out of self-preservation. She already regretted that snarky comment earlier today about romantic gestures going wrong. They had both made a mistake, blurring the lines of their friendship.
