Love Is Overdue (12 page)

My
insides flipped at the thought. “Hmmm....maybe, Ben,” I admitted,
laughing along with him. “I’m actually well known for
my...
multiple
ovulations.”

Ben sucked his teeth at
that, still laughing. “You have a terrible sense of
humour.”

I sighed. “Well, as long as
you’re calling me out on stuff, may as well keep
going...”

“
It’s kinda cute,
though...”

“
What
is?”

“
Your bad jokes,”
he admitted.

“
I see.” I
thought. “So you just laugh out of politeness then?”

He sighed. “I’m a nice
guy.”

“
Ohhh...” I made
a face. “I’m not really into nice guys,” I teased, needing to get
him back.

“
That’s too bad,”
he shot back easily. “What kinda guys you into, Gabriela?” That
smooth, sexy voice was just too much for me...

I took a breath, thinking.
“Well...tall...dark...ripped...the kinda guy who pretends to be
nice just so he can get a girl into bed...total bad-ass.” I sighed,
laughing to myself.

“
Hmmm...” Ben
didn’t say anything.

I took a chance. “You’re not
that guy, are you?”

“
Not even
close.”

Chapter
Six

Tony’s birthday was that
weekend, and since it was already a complete no-brainer that I
would be ditching him on Saturday, I couldn’t say no to a little
club-hop he had planned for Friday night.

My mom had been having an
amazing week – feeling better and stronger than she had in months,
and so she all but forced me out the door on Friday night, saying I
could ditch the eleven o’clock curfew and she would call if she
needed me. I didn’t feel good about it, but she knew I needed to be
there for Tony – she’d always had a soft spot for him, ever since
we were kids.

We were meeting at a tapas
bar on Davie Street and I decided to duck into Shopper’s Drug Mart
on the way there to grab a lipstick and a pack of
smokes.

As I browsed the aisles I
started to think about Ben and how I would be seeing him the next
day – him, his house, and watching him shoot one of his videos – it
couldn’t get any better. But I missed him. Our phone conversations
weren’t enough anymore. I need to see him in the flesh.

I tried to cast away my
daydreams as I tried to focus on the task at hand – scouring the
make-up aisle – when I spotted her.

It was Ben’s ex-girlfriend.
Again. How was it even possible? She was standing a ways down the
aisle from me, carrying a shopping basket and looking every bit as
good as she had the previous week. I knew I should have bolted
before she saw me but I was just too curious.

She was wearing those killer
skinny jeans again and a pair of knee-high pointy-toed flat boots
and an oversized t-shirt, belted at the waist. It was the same look
I tried to pull off all the time, but for some reason it just
seemed to look better on her. And she was so pretty – with that
silky straight red hair, deep-set green eyes and porcelain skin.
When she turned and glanced in my direction I was still
staring.

I quickly averted my eyes
and again tried to busy myself with the lipsticks I was supposed to
be focusing on, but it was too late. Within a few seconds, she was
right next to me.

“
Hey.”

I had no choice but to turn
and face her.

“
H&M?” she
said simply, apparently trying to jog my memory, which definitely
did not need any nudging.

“
Oh. Hi.” I had
to play along. “I’m...like I said...I’m really sorry about
that.”

She shook her head,
dismissing it. “Don’t worry about it.” She looked to be thinking
about what to do. “I’m Angela,” she said then, extending her
hand.

This was too much. “Umm...”
I wished I could have just bolted in another direction. “Gabriela,”
I said instead and we shook hands awkwardly.

“
Your...ummm...friend...scared the shit out of me,” she
admitted.

“
I know.
He’s...kinda nuts sometimes, it was just a real messed up
misunderstanding.” Fuck, how many times did I have to say the same
thing?

“
Do you...” She
paused for a moment. “Do you know who I am?”

My heart was beating
furiously. “No,” I lied. “I mean, your boyfriend, or – the guy you
were with -” I corrected myself quickly, “just looks exactly
like...”

“
Ben.” She
finished my sentence for me. “I know. Ivan is Ben’s brother,” she
said then, as if I didn’t know.

I nodded slowly. “Yeah...it
makes sense now. I just can’t believe how much they look
alike.”

There was a hint of a smile
on her face. “Yeah. You and me both.”

I looked at her. All I could
think about what how Ben used to fuck her. He used to love her. She
was the girl he wanted to marry. He cheated on her. She dumped him.
And now she was fucking another guy who looked just like
him.

“
So you and
Ben...are you, like...together?” She didn’t waste any time getting
to the point.

“
No. I mean,
we’re friends,” I said pathetically.

She looked at me like she
didn’t believe a word I was saying.

“
I know. I mean,
I’m sorry, but the way your friend stepped up to us, it just seemed
like...” Her voice trailed off.

“
Yeah, I know.”
It was pointless trying to deny it.

“
I think Ivan was
about to knock him out. Seriously. It’s been a while since I seen
him get that heated.”

Really. So Ben’s brother had
a temper. Well, Tony did kind of have it coming...

“
You know, Ivan
and Ben...they don’t really talk anymore. They used to be best
friends but...” Her voice trailed off again. “Ben and I...well,
he’s my ex-boyfriend.”

I nodded slowly, unsure what
to say to that.

“
Anyway...I’m
sorry. You probably don’t know about any of this,
but...”

I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“I do,” I said suddenly, partially because I was just too
frustrated to keep listening to her ramble in circles. “He told me,
so...yes, I know who you are.”

Her eyes went wide. “He told
you?” She looked to be racking her brain for a good number of
seconds. “I know this is gonna sound crazy but...you wouldn’t wanna
go grab a coffee or something, would you?”

My eyes went wide.
“I...”

“
I’m sorry. I’m
not crazy, I promise you...I just...I’ve seen what kinda toll it’s
taken on the two of them...they used to be so close and I would do
anything to fix it...” Her voice trailed off and that’s when I
noticed what I had missed this whole time. Guilt. Her eyes. Her
face. She was swimming in it.

I took a deep breath, trying
to figure out what to do. “I...” I was stumbling again. “I
understand what you’re saying but...I really don’t know what you
want from me, to be honest...I mean, I just met Ben and I certainly
don’t know anything about his history with you or with his
brother.”

She sighed, looking somewhat
disappointed. “I guess that’s true.”

I watched her for another
moment, unable to help wondering what it was like to be the woman
that had that kind of effect over a man like Ben. What did she have
that could cause him to disown his own brother because of her? I
desperately wanted to know what she was like, how she thought, how
she acted, how she fucked, how she could make him fall in love with
her... I wanted to know absolutely everything about this
woman.

But then my rational senses
took over again and I snapped myself right out of all my ridiculous
thoughts. I definitely wasn’t crazy enough to have coffee with this
woman, no matter how curious I was about her.

“
Sorry.” I found
my voice again. I took a deep breath. “I think we’d all agree that
to forgive and forget is a great motto to live by, but
unfortunately it’s not a decision you can make for someone
else...at least...in my opinion.”

She shook her head. “It’s
not right. I mean, those two...they’re not really the same without
each other. I can’t imagine them taking this shit to their
graves...it’s not worth it.”

I
thought about that.
Then maybe
you need to back the fuck off and get out of both of their
lives.
My evil little
subconscious was attempting to put in her two cents.

I needed to get out of
there. And then, like magic, my cell phone rang.

“
Where the hell
are you, Gabby?” Tony sounded frantic, but then he was always
worked up about something.

It was all the excuse I
needed, though, and I bolted my ass straight out of there,
promising Tony I was only minutes away.

I decided to text Ben the
minute I got out onto the street.

<
I’m sorry and you were
right. I should have copped a feel in the car the other day, I was
just afraid I’d get too carried away and you know how easy it is to
get busted on public lewdness in broad daylight – especially in my
ghetto hood.>

His reply came about ten
minutes, just before I got to the tapas bar to meet Tony and the
rest of his crew.

<
Funny. You drunk
already? Make sure you tell ya boy Tony to take care of my girl
tonight.>

I smiled to myself and lit a
cigarette, enjoying the cool breeze that seemed to soothe me all
over. Tony could wait a few minutes.

Ω

The
address Ben had given me didn’t really mean much to me until I
realized that a place on Spruce and West 6
^th
Avenue
meant that he lived in a semi-detached condo overlooking False
Creek. Obviously, I knew that owning a restaurant as popular
as
The Rock
meant that he had to be somewhat financially stable,
but I still didn’t seem prepared for exactly how comfortable he
must have been.

Because the condo was
situated on a hill, the front door opened to the second level. Lena
opened the door for me a few moments after I rung the
buzzer.

“
Hey, what’s up,
come on in...” She greeted me and stepped aside for me to enter.
“Ben told me you were on your way, he just had to step out for a
minute.”

I smiled and then glanced
around, taking in my surroundings. The upper level of the condo
consisted of a foyer and a couple bedrooms and a bathroom, but the
doors to the rooms were closed. I noticed right away a few more of
his mother’s black and white photographs framed on the walls in the
foyer along with a picture of Ben and his daughter on the beach.
The lower level of the condo was visible over a railing from the
foyer, as the whole place had an open concept that overlooked huge
windows with a magnificent view of the harbour.

Lena led me down the stairs
to the large kitchen and living room that had a balcony off the
eating area. I noticed the camera equipment already set up in the
kitchen, which was ultra-modern. Granite counter-tops with an
under-mounted double sink, stainless steel appliances, a state of
the art cooking range and an island with a few bar stools. It
definitely served as the perfect set up for a cooking
show.

I was floored. He actually
fucking lived here?

Lena seemed to notice the
look on my face as I took in my surroundings. “Nice, huh?” She
seemed to read my mind. “Ben bought this place through a
foreclosure about...six months ago? I still can’t believe his luck,
I tell him all the time...”

“
Yeah...” I
caught my breath as I stopped to take in the view from the harbour.
The Vancouver sky-line was always one of the most breathtaking
vistas, in my mind.

“
Check out the
herb garden,” she said, leading me onto the balcony.

It was surprisingly large.
Not only did Ben have enough room for a modest herb garden, but he
also had a monstrously large stainless steel BBQ grill and beside
it an ancient-looking charcoal smoker, and enough room for a decent
sized patio table and chairs.

“
Fuck. Ben...” I
was beyond impressed, and Lena laughed along with me.

“
You’re telling
me...lucky bastard,” she muttered under her breath, collapsing down
onto one of the patio chairs and lighting up a
cigarette.

It was all the temptation I
could handle, so I decided to sit down and join her, gazing out
over the water. “So where is everybody?” I wondered.

“
Well...Adam and
Patrick went on a beer run and Ben had to go pick up some stuff
from the market and check on things at the restaurant. This shit
never runs on schedule, just so you know...”

I kind of laughed. “That’s
okay. I was told I’m only observing.”

Her phone went off all of a
sudden. She glanced at the screen and then picked up. “Hey, what’s
up?” Slight pause. “No, it’s all good, everything ready to
go...yeah, they’ll probably be back in a few minutes...I don’t
know, I was gonna ask you the same thing...” Another slight pause
and then she laughed. “Yeah, she’s right here, you wanna talk to
her?” My ears perked up. “Oh, okay...cool, see you soon.” She
clicked off her phone and turned to me. “That was Ben...apparently
he’s on his way.”