The Fate Date (Glengarry Curse #1)

34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Sabrina

S abrina paced in the space between the rows of chairs, the asynchronous beeps in the background increasing her agitation. The paramedics were kind enough to let her ride along with them to the hospital, but she’d been corralled to the waiting room until Gavin’s family was notified. Gabe strode through the sliding glass doors in his paramedic uniform, scanning the waiting room until his eyes landed on her. From what she’d been able to piece together through some not-so-subtle eavesdropping, he’d already been at the hospital on offload delay.

His brows came crashing down as he marched over. “What happened?”

She’d never seen Gabe like this. He was the soft-spoken Glengarry brother, always unflappable —even Véro’s vomit-filled, thesis-worthy defense of magical penises had failed to rouse more than a polite smile.

“Is Gavin OK?” she asked, blinking hard.

“He came to a few minutes ago, insisting they let him leave. The doc is checking him out now. I told the nurse I’d buy the unit a two-four if they sedated him afterwards to give his poor body a rest. Did you two reconcile? Is that why you’re here?”

“N-no. I…we were at his work. He had a coughing fit and collapsed.”

Gabe scrubbed a hand over his face.

“What’s going on? Is Gavin ill?”

Gabe’s lips thinned in a straight line, and though his face was rounder, he had still mastered the Glengarry stare .

“Oh no, I’m not dealing with another cagey Glengarry. Out with it. Now.”

“Honesty isn’t my challenge. Keeping everyone safe is.”

“What are you talking about?”

He rubbed his jaw and neck, like Gavin did when he was anxious. “Did Gavin ever tell you about our family curse?”

“Yeah, with the kelpie and the whole ‘opposites attract’ thing. Each of you has a different obstacle to overcome to get your happily ever after. To be honest, it sounds more like a rom-com plot than an actual curse.”

He rubbed his neck again.

That was the crux of it. “There’s something else isn’t there?”

“When my dad collapsed, I was the only one home. He…before he went unconscious, he told me that there was another verse to the curse. One he always left out. They were his last words to me.”

Gabe’s Pisces stellium was on full display, that of a soul far too old for someone so young. What a burdensome memory to carry. “What was the last verse?” she whispered.

“Their true love will reveal what they must learn

To escape a cursed fate.

Their partner must see the growth within thee

Before it is too late.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I didn’t either. I mean, we all thought the curse was some bedtime story. We never thought…” He looked straight at her. His eyes were lighter than Gavin’s, an ethereal blue that gave her all sorts of heebie-jeebies right now.

“So why tell me?”

“Because you’re his curse girl.”

“Gabe, I don’t think—”

He let out a laugh on an exhale. “Trust me, when Gilbert and I saw you two at the bar, nothing could have been more obvious. ”

“What was obvious?”

“That he was in love with you.”

Her heart thudded in a double-crossing rhythm. “Did he say that?”

“No, he argued tooth and nail that he wasn’t, which only convinced us more.”

“How’s that?”

Gabe smirked. “Gavin’s default reaction in life is eying everyone with disdain like they’re some sort of vermin on his perfectly shined shoe. When he gets worked up about something, shows any emotion, that’s his tell. You can see when he cares.”

“But…no, that’s not true. He gets worked up about lots of things.” She knew the exact look Gabe was talking about. She’d seen it countless times. But she’d also seen him happy—like when he’d kissed her during capture the flag. And scared, when he thought she’d been injured in her joyriding accident. Jealous, the night Duncan had shown up at the bar. All those instances involved her.

She didn’t want to investigate what that meant. It wasn’t her fault that, whether it be his own stupid decisions or a family curse, he was driving himself to an early grave. She should leave now. A walk in the blustering winter air was what she needed to tamp down the voices in her head pleading with her to talk to him.

“What does the last line mean?” she asked Gabe.

“What?”

“In the curse. Before it’s too late? Ominously vague, isn’t it?”

“I’m not sure. Since Gavin’s been sick, I did a little digging. We’d been told about Uncle Greg as a cautionary tale—my dad’s younger brother. Apparently, he messed things up with his partner, and not long afterwards he was diagnosed with cancer and died within the year. Looking at some other branches of the family tree I saw similarities—the single children all died suddenly of different ailments, usually in their late twenties or thirties. Believe me, I know it’s unscientific. It's probably a coincidence.” He shrugged and looked away, but his shoulders were still tense.

“Does Gavin know about this verse?” Sabrina asked.

Gabe shook his head. “I never told anyone. I don’t even think Mom knows.”

She nodded. “Is the doctor finished?”

“She should be done by now,” Gabe confirmed. “Want me to sneak you in?”

“Can you do that?”

He gave her a little wink. “The nurses love me.” He turned towards the sliding glass doors but didn’t move. “What are you going to say to him?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. She couldn’t think straight with the scent of antibacterial cleaner burning her nostrils.

Gabe looked at her and sighed. “Stick close, we’ll need to move quick.”

He charged through the sliding glass doors, and she trotted to keep up with his long stride. Bays were set up in a circle, separated by curtains, all around the nurses’ station in the middle. Gabe gave them a nod as he walked past and Sabrina avoided eye contact, causing her to nearly collide with the young ER doctor as she came out from behind one of the curtains.

“Gabe,” the woman said, “who’s this?”

“My…uhhh…sister. She’s going to sit with Gavin, our brother.”

God, Gabe was a worse liar than she was. The doctor looked skeptically between the two of them .

“The boys got all the height in the family.” Sabrina attempted a smile.

The doctor’s dark hair whipped around as she peered behind the curtain. “Looks like he’s resting. We’re going to monitor him for another couple of hours. His condition is getting worse despite the steroid puffer we gave him.”

Gabe nodded. “I’ll talk to him, Dr. Demir. He’s still working on the house…”

Sabrina pulled back the curtain to see Gavin lying corpse-like on the bed. The background conversation became muddled, replaced with the sound of her heartbeat in her ears. She tiptoed forwards, afraid any sudden movement might disturb the scene.

Though it was irrational, she felt furious with him. Why was he still working on the house, if he was ill? Why had his family let him? She dashed away the wetness at her eyes, which made the anger worse. Gavin had some nerve, filling her with fear and dread and worry that she couldn’t express or explain. It was rude really.

The last time she’d been somewhere like this had been at her mother’s side at hospice. She was haunted by the same beeping sounds, confusing numbers displayed on complex machines. She felt like she needed to keep her voice down, like any display of joy might jinx the situation.

She began rage-folding the pile of Gavin’s rumpled clothes to busy her hands. When she got to his pants, she removed his wallet from the back pocket and noticed a square box in the other—a tarot deck—the original Rider–Waite–Smith. She spluttered in horror to see the worn edges of the carton. Why would he keep them in his back pocket? The poor things. She tucked the deck into her purse and added a stern lecture on spiritual hygiene to her list of grievances with the man.

She forced herself to look at Gavin again, hating the ensuing pain in her chest. She could leave right now. Avoid the discussion that might result in her heart turning into the Three of Swords—i.e. stabbed right through like Swiss cheese. But what if he had changed? Maybe finding out was an act of courage, not capitulation.

Unfortunately, he had the audacity to continue sleeping. She stood over his supine body, and she ran her hand through his dark waves, slinking her fingers through the strands and massaging his scalp. No reaction .

“Gavin,” she whispered.

She brought her hands lower to stroke across his face, her thumb catching on his lower lip. There was a hint of stubble on his chin that made her fingertips tingle. Still nothing.

“Gavin,” she said, a little louder this time.

Should she be worried? Sabrina peered around the privacy of the curtains, but she didn’t see any staff around.

She returned to his side and shook his shoulder. “Gavin.”

He lay there, brow furrowed even in repose.

“Gavin,” she found herself shouting now, panic seeping through her. Why wasn’t he getting up? She squeezed his shoulder so hard it should have been painful—still nothing.

Hot tears started leaking from her, one of them splashing on his cheek, right next to his lip. “Gavin?” she whispered. She pressed little kisses to the tear-stained spot on his face, murmuring his name. She took his lips in a deep kiss, needing to feel something from him.

But then the lips were moving. When she tried to pull away, there was a hand at the back of her head, cupping her, keeping her close. This. She’d missed this. It felt so right, like his lips were whispering sweet nothings to hers: Hey, remember me? Remember how good this was? Gavin groaned, opening his mouth to deepen the kiss, sliding his tongue against hers. Remember how I made you feel?

It was that thought that had her pull away. Yes, he’d made her feel like she was being sling-shotted through the galaxy, drinking in the stars, mesmerized by their sparkle. But he’d also made her feel like she’d been plunged into a black hole, unable to figure out how to claw herself out.

He launched into another coughing fit. “Sorry.” He gave a couple more coughs. “It’s worse when I lie down.” He pulled himself upwards, rearranging the IV drip taped to the back of his hand. “I asked Gabe to give you a lift home,” he said. The softness was gone, instead she was face-to-face with Granite Gavin .

“I wasn’t going to leave you here.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m heading home now anyways.” He reached for his IV drip. Dear Lord, the man was a terrible patient.

“No, you’re not.” She put her hand on his.

He stopped struggling. His fingers twitched underneath her. “You stayed?”

She pulled her hand away. “I wanted to talk.”

“I’d really like that.”

“But only if you stop trying to leave.”

He nodded.

Confrontation jitters buzzed inside her. Her breathing came faster. Her cold armpit sweat insisted she was being naive. But after his speech in front of the board this afternoon, she really wanted to believe Gavin loved her as Gabe said.

But where should she even start this conversation? How had things gone so wrong, when it had all felt so right? When did the truth become so distorted?

“If you could go back in time, what would you do differently?” she asked him.

He looked pained for a silent moment. “Can I tell you the truth?”

She nodded. That’s all she’d ever wanted.

“I keep running scenarios in my head, knowing that I should have told you about Alfred’s recording, or been honest about our relationship from the start. The irony is that if I had made different choices, you might not have called me on my bullshit and I would still be running on that hamster wheel of lies. I play that scenario through in my head too—it always ends badly because I never hear the words I needed to hear. You were right from the beginning, Sabrina. You said that my future partner would bring upheaval, that they would be the catalyst for my lies to fall apart and world to turn upside down. I deserved every bit of it.” He sat up straighter. “Selfish as it makes me, changing things might mean losing the good moments too. Seeing your business succeed. Watching your confidence dazzle everyone, and wondering how in the hell I got so lucky that you shone all that empathy, patience and optimism my way. My only regret is that you got hurt in the process.”

Sabrina thought back to the night that they’d first met. Gavin’s haughty remarks, judgmental stares, total ignorance of the thoughts and feelings of others. He’d changed since then—they both had—even if they’d made some mistakes along the way. If she had to find the nugget of truth in their wild scheme, it was that Gavin cared about her. He couldn’t erase the little things: saving her the last pastry, answering her infinite questions with professionalism, defending her magic in front of all his colleagues, the crowdfunding site—even his misguided attempts to protect her from the words she heard on the speaker.

She sat down on the bed. He reached for her hand. She let him take it this time. “Do you know that I still find glitter in my apartment?” he said as he laced his fingers with hers. “Every time I think I’ve made it through even a minute without thinking of you, a tiny little sparkle will catch my eye. No matter how many times I clean or sweep, I still find another piece.” He rubbed his chest with his other hand, like it pained him. “It was like that with us—little moments built up over time until I was just…dazzled. And I never want to stop finding those little reminders. Because being with you, was the most joyful experience of my life.”

Perhaps this wasn’t a decision she could make with logic. Tallies in columns added up to nothing if her heart wasn’t willing to agree.

“I don’t deserve it. And I expect you to say no. But I’d like the chance to prove it to you.” He sat up straighter in bed, his voice resonating deep in her chest like it always did. “You should know that I’m currently unemployed and have ample hours to engage in apology-related activities. I made a list, in fact.” He motioned to his wallet on the stack of clothes she’d neatly folded. “It’s in there. ”

Sabrina crossed to the chair and pulled out his wallet, perfectly organized except for a pink Post-it, filled with his chicken-scratch writing on both sides.

She started reading. “Gavin, half of these are sex acts.”

“Right, forgot about that. If you’ll just pass it here I can summarize the high-level points.” He reached for it, but she held it out of his reach, thanks to his IV.

“Deep clean the shop and apartment,” she read aloud.

“My duster is at the ready.”

“Design and execute a weekly meal plan.”

“Absolutely no fish included, I promise.”

“‘Set up a backlit crystal-display cabinet’, that’s actually really useful.”

His smile stretched widely. “I can use my label maker too.”

She looked back to the list. “Bring her donuts every day.”

“Yeah, that’s basically another sex act.”

“Let her redecorate my apartment.” She dropped her hands to her lap and turned to him. “Trust can’t be bought with home furnishings, Gavin.”

“Of course. I didn’t mean to imply…I’m sorry, these were all terrible ideas.” He tried to reach for the Post-it again, his cheeks finally tinged with a little colour. She took his hand instead.

“The greyscale in your apartment is giving off a serious serial-killer motif.”

“Yeah?” His grip tightened.

“I’m thinking you could shift it to Barbie Girl meets Clueless .”

“Whatever you like.”

“Gavin, you’re supposed to be honest with me, not a doormat.”

“You want honesty?” He dropped her hand and pushed himself up straight, his slate eyes boring into hers. “I don’t give a fuck if you cover the walls in unicorns and rainbows, just as long as you’re there. ”

She was done thinking, through with logic. She was relying solely on intuition. Which was how she found herself climbing on top of him, straddled across his lap. She burrowed her hands into the open back of his hospital gown. His hands came to her waist, and he tugged the IV line out of the way. She brought her lips closer, so his warm breath kissed them. But he didn’t move, like he was waiting for her decision.

“Please, Sabrina—”

At that moment, Dr. Demir entered their curtain cave.

“Mr. Glengarry, I’ve written a new prescription for—” She frowned, and Sabrina scrambled off him. “I thought she was your sister?” The doctor eyed Sabrina.

“Not quite,” Gavin said. “But you can discharge me now Dr. Demir, I’m feeling much—” He started coughing.

The doctor crossed her arms over her clipboard, and Sabrina stepped forwards to take the brunt of her ire. “I’ll take care of him. I’ll make sure he stays in bed.” When she gave Gavin a very serious look, he arched an eyebrow at her and looked down at his lap where his hands were folded.

Dr. Demir gave an audible sigh. “Mr. Glengarry, I can’t stress enough how important it is to let your body rest and to keep your puffer handy until this infection goes away.”

Sabrina put on her most serious scowl. “You’re to spend the next week in bed, do you understand me?”

He nodded, his gaze roving over her like she’d said something dirty.

“I mean it.” She flapped her arms up and down, which only made his smile wider. “I will be checking up on you. But I should go now.”

His face fell. “When can we finish talking?”

“I’ll text you next week.” She had some thinking to do; they both did. But it was a start. And she grabbed the little pink Post-it on her way out, just for good measure.