Cart Before The Horse (5 page)

“Chandra, this is Holly.”

“Nice to meet you.” She reached her damp hand over the bar and shook Holly’s then quickly pulled it back and poured another drink. “Get this guy out of my bar, would you?”

He turned back to Holly.
“What are you hungry for?”

“I’m not really hungry.” She put her hand to her stomach, and he could see the color drain from her face as a waitress passed by with a tray of food. “I have a hard time keeping an
ything down.”

Knowing Chandra was straining to hear every word, he mouthed, “Morning sickness?”

“Sure. And all day.”

He led her away from the bar. “My sister Mallory was sick from conception until birth.
All day long. And that was her third so she had two other little ones she was always caring for.

Andrew is still paying for making her so sick.”

Her eyes widened and glazed over with fear.

He shook his head. “It’s not always like that. Don’t panic.”

“I’ve been panicked since I gathered my clothes off the floor of the hotel room,” she said.

He wanted to touch her face again. He wanted to pull her into his arms and just hold her, but not here. Not yet.

“I’m going to take you upstairs and get you settled, then I’ll come down and get us a couple bowls of soup.
Does that sound okay?”

Holly’s lips turned up into smile and she nodded. “I might be able to try some soup.”

The apartment above the restaurant wasn’t as shabby as Holly had imagined.
It was as big as her condo. The walls were painted in warm browns, and the window coverings were heavy drapes, obviously to keep the light out when he slept during the day. The couch was a rich, dark leather that matched a battered recliner that had seen better days.

Gabe turned on the gas fireplace and it lit the living room up in an orange glow, casting shadows on the ornate wood
coffee table.

“I’m not sure what’s on TV this time at night, except for sports.”
He pushed the buttons on the remote until the TV turned on and then handed it to her. “Find anything you’d like. There are water bottles in the fridge. Bathroom is down the hall.” He turned back to the door. “Make yourself comfortable and I’ll be back up in a few minutes.”

Holly nodded as he walked away.
She flipped through the channels, which were only local, and settled on something just for the noise. She shrugged out of her coat and laid it on the couch. Without even leaving the room, she decided she could learn a lot about the man who was now her partner in life.

There was a bookcase full of mystery novels and even a few

romances.
That made her chuckle. There were a few trophies for baseball and one for bowling.

Above the fireplace were framed pictures. The largest frame stood in the center of the mantel. Gabe, his parents, his sisters, and their families were thrown into an impromptu hu
ddle, smiling broadly. Everyone in the photo resembled Gabe and each other, so she assumed they were his family. She would have known his father anywhere. They were a match, though he had his mother’s eyes.

The smiles on the faces of the two boys he held in his arms tugged at her heart.
They were as different as night and day, but almost the same age. They each had their tiny arms wrapped around Gabe’s neck and their cheeks pressed to his. She’d never seen a man so happy.

The other frames were of ski trips and people crowded around the bar with friends.
There was a picture of Gabe with an older man behind the bar in the restaurant downstairs. His uncle, perhaps. A picture of Gabe and his mother had her wondering what her reaction was when he told her about the baby. She’d been too cowardly to even think about calling her mother. She’d have to, but she wasn’t ready.

Holly wandered around the room, picking up things and setting them down. Off to the side, a frame stood on a table by itself.
She walked over and picked it up.

Gabe stood behind a woman, leaning over her shoulder so they were cheek to cheek.
His arms were wrapped around her waist and their bodies were pressed to each other’s. Wherever they were, it was cold—their cheeks and noses were red, but their smiles warmed even Holly, who only looked down at the

memory on paper.
This woman couldn’t be a sister or even a cousin. This woman meant something far more to Gabe.

She lifted the frame closer.
His hands rested on the woman’s stomach, and she’d placed hers atop his.

When she noticed the big, shiny diamond on the woman’s left hand, a lump lodged itself in her throat, and she bit her lip

to stop it from quivering.
She looked even closer and noticed that Gabe had a band of gold on his left hand.

The bastard was married.

Chapter Three

H
olly tossed the frame onto a chair and grabbed her coat from the couch. She swiftly moved through the apartment, trying to pull on her coat as she swung open the door and bolted out into the hallway—where Gabe stood holding a tray of food. She fell right into him, pushing him into the adjacent wall and catching her balance just before she would have tripped down the first step. The soups spilled over and the tray crashed to the floor. Glasses of water and mugs of tea splattered against the walls as the glass shattered.

“What are you doing?” He reached for her as she stepped away from the stairs.
“Are you all right? Is everything okay?” He looked her over as if she were injured or sick.

“I’m leaving.”
She shoved past him and hurried to the stairs.

“Whoa.”
He grabbed hold of her arm and stopped her. “You’re not leaving until you tell me what’s wrong with you.”

“You wouldn’t care.
You’re a lying bastard and I don’t want to be here with you and I don’t want to share this
baby with you.”

“You’re sharing that baby with me no matter what you think of me personally.
Now go back inside and tell me what the hell is wrong with you.”

“I’m not going back in there.”

“Then tell me here.”

She lifted her hand to smack him across the face, but he caught her wrist.
She let out a huff and stomped her foot like a child having a tantrum, but she was beyond caring what he

thought of her. “You’re married. You’re leading me on thinking that you want to have this baby with me, and you’re married.”

Gabe’s eyes flew open and his jaw dropped.
It was all the proof she needed.

She pulled her arm from his grip and turned to walk away.

“Holly, it’s not what you think.” His voice was too calm. He wasn’t shouting. Excuses weren’t the first thing he’d rattled off his tongue.

“Really?
You just display pictures of yourself and some random woman in intimate poses? Not to mention the huge rock on her finger.” Her voice echoed in the stairwell. She wanted to run down the stairs, but something about his reaction stopped her.

He closed his eyes and let out a loud breath.
“Don’t move,” he said, opening his eyes and giving her a stern look. “I’m not kidding. Don’t move.” He walked back into the apartment.

She stayed. She needed to know.

When he emerged, he had the picture in his hand.
“This one?”

Holly looked down at it and then looked away. She didn’t want to see his betrayal staring up at her.

“Is this what set you off?”

“I’m not stupid, Gabe.” Her heart twisted.
“Yes, this is the picture, and I know what it means.”

“Holly, you’re right.” He swallowed, and his Adam’s apple bobbed.
“This is Jasmine, my wife.”

She should walk away. But the pain in his voice kept her feet rooted to the floor.

Gabe looked down at the picture and ran his fingers across it. “This picture was taken twelve years ago in Maine.” He smiled. “I was twenty-six. It seems a lifetime ago.”

He ran his fingers through his hair and then pinched the bridge of his nose.
“We were married in Hawaii, on the beach. I met her in college and proposed to her the next week. She

didn’t take me seriously at first, but eventually she gave
into my charm.”

The heat in the stairwell rose and she wanted to lash out.
Most men would at least have tried to soften the blow. No, Gabe Maguire was going to stand before her starry eyed, looking down at the picture of his wife, and continue his story. She should have pushed him down the stairs, but she needed to know every awful detail about this man who was the father of her child. “Where is she now? She didn’t move with you to Denver? She didn’t want to watch you working with the perky-titted girls who rake in the money for you?”

He shook his head.
“We were married for three years. This was our last vacation together. We were driving back to Boston, where we lived, and a truck crossed the center line of the highway.” He wiped at his eye, and his breath shook as he drew in air.

There was no need to tell her something had gone terribly wrong, she felt it wrench in her gut and stab at her heart as she watched him relive it in his mind.

His eyebrows drew together and his lips pursed. “I broke my leg. Didn’t even know it at first. It was just a pinch. I climbed out of the car and ran around the other side to get her out. She was driving, and in the confusion of the moment all I could see was a cloud of dust from the airbag under the truck’s head lights.” The first tear dropped, and it ripped Holly’s heart in half. “It had killed her instantly.”

Holly covered her mouth as tears fell freely from her eyes. No matter what her eyes had told her, she’d been so wrong in her assumptions about him. “Gabe, I’m so sorry.”

He nodded and kept his eyes on the picture. “I was devastated. I did what I could to piece my life together back in Boston, and I thought I had a good grasp on it. Then when my uncle said he wanted out of the restaurant business, I realized it was my calling. I came out here two years ago and started learning the ropes. When he moved back east a few months ago, I
 

figured we’d see how it went.” He gave in to a chuckle.
“I met you shortly after that. I guess it was fate saying move on.”

“I’m sorry I accused you.” She rested her hand on his arm.

“In my mind Jasmine will always be my wife, and she’ll always be in my heart. That doesn’t mean I can’t move on and love again.” He looked up at her. “Or have a family
with a friend.”

She caught her breath again, and then looked at the mess she’d caused in the hallway.
“I’m sorry I ran you over. I’ll clean it up and get home.”

“How about we do it together and I’ll go get us some more.
You need to eat.”

Together they loaded the broken pieces of glass onto the tray.
Gabe walked back down stairs as Holly wiped away the last of the tomato bisque from the wall.

She went back into the apartment, rinsed out the rag, and set it in the sink.
When she turned her head she noticed the picture on the table.

She walked across the room and picked it up.
Gabe looked happy. She was envious. There had never been anything so special in her life like the love that Gabe shared with his wife.

Holly laid her hand on her stomach.
She had that opportunity to have that something special now. All she had to do was embrace it.

Even better, she had someone who understood the special opportunity at hand, and he wanted to be part of it.

She took the picture and set it on the mantel, right in the middle.

Gabe dumped the broken bowls and glasses into the trash and wiped down the tray.

“Things not good with your date?” Juan, a line cook, teased.

“And what would make you think that?” He smiled wide, hoping they’d assume he was a klutz and not read more into it.

He filled two more bowls of soup and two more glasses with iced tea. Another loaf of bread and a few pats of butter were added to the tray and this time he added a slice of pie and stuck two forks in it. That would calm her down.

When he opened the door to the apartment he found her seated at the table with his grocery list and a pen.

“Are you going shopping?” he asked as he set the
tray down.

She gave a little chuckle.
“Eventually. But I was just brainstorming some things I need to think about.”

He took a bowl of soup from the tray and set it in front of her.
“What’s on your list so far?”

“I’m going to have to find a new doctor.
Decide on a hospital. Buy a crib. Things like that.”

“Good idea.”
He finished unloading the tray and noticed that she smiled at the slice of pie with two forks. “Nine months goes extremely fast.”

Gabe pulled two spoons from a drawer and handed her one before sitting across from her.
“Do you have brothers or
sisters?”

“No.”
She took the napkin he’d brought up and set it on her lap. “Only child.”

“Do you have anyone close to you
who’s had a baby recently and could give you some good referrals?”

She shook her head.
“Nope. Pretty sad, huh?”

“No, I didn’t mean that.”
He stirred his soup around. “I’ll call my sister Maggie tomorrow. She’s in New York, but she can give us some ideas on what we should look for. Her youngest is only six months old. She’ll have the most recent information.”

“Your family really embraces anything you do?”

“One hundred percent.” He looked up from his bowl. “Yours doesn’t?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.
It’s just my life has always been a little backward, and this is no different. My mother tends to

cluck her tongue and shake her head at me when I tell her
new things.”

He lifted a spoon full of soup to his lips and blew on it.
“Why is that?”

“Well, I was a bit of a prodigy.”

He shifted his eyes to her as he bent over his bowl of soup. “A prodigy?”

She nodded as she stirred her soup.
“I was born two months early. I walked by nine months. I could read by three years old. I knew algebra at seven and graduated high school at fifteen.”

Gabe lowered his spoon.
Was this going to be a genetic thing she passed on to their baby? “Wow. I had no idea.”

“I graduated top of my class in college when I was
nineteen.”

“Associate’s degree?”

“Double major in business and design.”

“You double majored in college in…” He did the math in his head.
“Three years?”

“Yep.
Not much of a social life when you’re three years younger than your peers.” She sipped her soup off the spoon. “This is really good.”

“My mother’s recipe.
My uncle made it a staple on the menu.” Seated across from a prodigy who’d complimented his soup, he was suddenly at a loss for better words. Was she going to expect him to know great art? A foreign language? What if she wanted to look at his bookwork and check his math? The thoughts of her smartness and his—well, he didn’t think he was stupid, but at the moment he wasn’t feeling very adequate—buzzed in his head, and he took a long drink of tea to wet his dry mouth. “So, what did you do after college?”

“I went right into textile design with Tracy when she opened her company.”

“So you’ve done everything years before anyone normally would have.”

“Yep, I’ve put the cart before the horse my whole life. And now here I am pregnant and not married.”

“It is a little backward, but backward seems to have worked for you.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I won’t deny it. I’m successful and have a lot to show for it, but I missed out on so
many things.”

“Normality?” That sounded bad.
He wanted to take it back, but she was laughing.

“Exactly.”
She took another bite of soup then leaned forward on her arms. “My best friend was my next-door neighbor. She was my age but never invited me to any slumber parties because I didn’t know any of the other girls our age, since I was grades ahead of them in school.”

“That must have been hard.”

“I didn’t know any different.” She picked up the glass of tea and took a sip. “I never went to prom or a frat party. I’ve never TP’d anyone’s house or snuck out in the middle
of the night.”

He laughed, though he hadn’t meant to.
“Sorry. I did all of those things and got busted each time.” He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. What would she think if he were to tell her stories of his life? Would she think he was a troublemaker? She’d probably been friends with the principal, but he was sure Mrs. Houston would remember him for a much different reason. He sat back up and ripped a piece of the bread loaf off. “So nothing was normal for you?”

“Not like you probably had.
But don’t get me wrong, I had a good home life.”

“Then we make a promise right here right now.
We will give our children a normal life.”

“Child,” she corrected him, and he felt the pang of sorrow in her statement.

“Child,” he acknowledged. “We will make sure he or she has sleepovers and overdoses on candy once in a while. My dad