Mending (11 page)

She had grabbed her mail on the way upstairs to her apartment. 
Putting it under her arm,
she fumbled for the keys to unlock the door
.  She squeezed through the small opening hoping not to drop everything
and kicked the door shut with her heel.  She tossed the letters across the counter and plopped down on her couch.  She had not had
time to check her email all day.  She had meant to do it at the library but she was just ready to get home.  Anxiously, she
pul
led her computer onto her lap remembering
that Bradley had said he was going to email her information on the therapist
when she had been on her way back to
school.

Gabby had been listening to music on the co
mputer the night before and
had fo
rgotten to turn the volume down.  S
o as soon as she opened the computer, the
loud
ping of new mail startled her.  She grinned hoping that one of them would be from him.   She had never been so excited for email in all of her life.

Sure enough, there was not only one email
from him
, but two.  

***

To:  Gabby
Gerhart

From:  Bradley Banks

Subject:  Therapist Information

Time:  08/09/
2011
  8:39am

The therapist is Dr. Katina Harrison.  She’s in Columbia.  I didn’t know what your sche
dule was like so I told them you’d call
to schedule your appointment. 
If you have any issues, please let me know.

I hope you have a great first day back to school.

Yours
,
Bradley

***

Yours
, she thought smiling.  She liked the way that sounded.  He had not signed the email the night before like that.  She clicked the next email because she thought if there was a response even required, she could do it in one email.  Besides, she was thinking she would probably call him back. 

Gabby’s
fa
ce gleamed
.

***

To:  Gabby
Gerhart

From:  Bradley Banks

Subject:  Running Shoes
?

Time:  08/09/
2011  2:44
pm

Are you sure you weren’t fooling me?  Did you really have your running shoes on earlier?  You’re killing me.

Thomson, GA is halfway.  There are plenty of things to do there.  I’m sure we could find a nice place to have dinner Wednesday night. 

b

***

Gabby shook her head grinning like a fool, clicking the reply button.

***

To:  Bradley Banks

From:  Gabby
Gerhart

Subject:  RE:  Running Shoes

Time:  08/09/
2011  4:12pm

mr
.
banks,
i
told you
i
had to get some stuff from the lib
rary. 
no
running shoes for me
today
. 
;)
tell
me where to meet you
wednesday
and a time. 
i
have class until 3.

-g

***

She paused before she hit the send button.  While she had been torn about meeting him, there was a very large part of her that knew waiting until Wednesday would be torture.  Just the mere thought of seeing him made her heart flutter. 
His voice made her body feel like
jello
. 
Thinking of him moving a stray piece of hair behind her ear or the way he would look at
her with his eyes hooded with that sideways smirk caused f
ar more than a flutter.  She felt like her body was sitting far too close to a furnace
with those thoughts.  Yes, it was those thought of his touch,
his sexy looks
, and his mere voice that put her over the edge on meeting him.  S
he tapped the send button.

She got up from her computer and went into the small kitchen that was really just a few steps from her living room.  The apartment was very open.  There was a small bar that had two black bar stools.  There couldn’t be enough room in the actual area between the bar and the dark
cabinets for more than two people.  Even then, she and Sam had nearly bumped into each other frequently.   The apartment had been recently updated, so the appliances were all black and new.  For what she had to pay in rent, the apartment was really quite nice.  She opened the fridge and grabbed the clear pitcher of filtered water and poured herself a glass
.  As she placed it back,
she
pondered
what she wanted to eat for a snack.  She finally decided on pepperoni, cheese, and crackers.  As she was preparing them, she heard the ping of her email.  She hurried back to the computer as if she were a child in a candy store, far too eager.

***

To:  Gabby
Gerhart

From:  Bradley Banks

Subject:  Re:  Running Shoes?

Time:  08/09/
2011  4:20
pm

Meet me off of exit 172 on I-20.  That’s the Thomson/Washing
ton exit.  There is a Steak &
Shake
to the left of the interstate from the direction you’ll be driving
.  Hope you like greasy cheeseburgers and milkshakes.  Seven sound good to you? 

By the way, t
hat’s about halfway, so maybe two hours of drive time for you.

b

***

Oh she liked greasy cheeseburgers and milkshakes way too much.  That’s
partly why she loved that she was a runner
.  She could get away with eating junk like that and then run a couple of miles to burn the calories before they became a huge problem.  She smiled at the thought of sharing a milkshake with him.  She loved Steak & Shake. 

Minimizing her email, she pulled up Google and put in the exit number and her address for directions.  Sure, she had time before she got directions, but she was just curious where that was.  She had never heard of Thomson, Georgia.  Seconds later there was a map on her screen showing a blue line to the exit from Columbia and she wasn’t surprised that it did appear to be a perfect halfway
spot.  Driving directions on Google showed that the time would be a little less than two hours and 98 miles.  She was curious how long it would take him to get there.  She took her address out and changed it to Atlanta.  It was a little over two hours for him and 118 miles.  She raised her eyebrows and just sat there grinning.  He had seriously thought about where the best place to meet would be and he made it an exit that would mean she was travelling less time than he
was to get there.  The gesture
was not lost on her.

She maximized her email and clicked the reply button to his last email.

***

To:  Bradley Banks

From:  Gabby
Gerhart

Subject:  With Bells On

Time:  08/09/
2011  4:34pm

looks
like it’s the perfect halfway spot. 
i’ll
see you at
seven on
w
ednesday
with bells on
mr.
banks.

-g

***

Within one minute there was a reply.

***

To:  Gabby
Gerhart

From:  Bradley Banks

Subject:  RE:  With Bells On

Time:  08/09/
2011  4:25pm

Hmm, bells on, huh?  You
not only torture me with your adorableness, Miss
Gerhart
, but you’ll jingle for me, too?

See you then, Gabby Girl.

b

***

Gabby giggled as she covered her mouth.  Gabby Girl?  She had been called a lot of things, but Gabby Girl was never one of them.  She loved the cute nickname and the playfulness of his email.  He’d been mostly stuffy over email all day and she felt like she was arranging a job interview rather than a date with him.  She clicked reply.

***

To:  Bradley Banks

From:  Gabby
Gerhart

Subject:  Jingly emotions

Time:  08/09/
2011  4:26pm

what
can
i
say? 
you
bring out all kinds of jitter
y jingly emotions,
most of
wh
ich scare the heck out of me. 
b
ut
,
i
think
i
promised to try. 

gabby
girl? 
cute
. 
where
did you come up with that one?

trying
,

-g

***

Gabby was surprised when there wasn’t a quick reply.  He had been responding so quickly that she was sure he was online.  She was frustrated because it was the first email of the day where she had really shown any kind of emotion and it was going unanswered.  She tried not to sulk, but she couldn’t help it.  She realized that she had already fallen much harder than she had even realized.  She not only longed for his touch, his smiles, his seductive looks, but she also longed for his attention.  She longed to know she was on his mind and that no matter how busy he was that he had time for her.

She grabbed her cell phone and called to make an appointment for as soon as possible with Dr. Harrison.  She knew that if she didn’t start therapy soon she may very well end up far more heartbroken than she could handle if things didn’t work out between the two of them. 

As soon as she had hung up from scheduling that appointment for a couple of weeks out she called John.  She and John had remained friends despite the Ian and Lindsey debacle.  In fact, he was her best friend asi
de from Sam.  He had gone to The University of South Carolina
in Columbia and so he was nearby
.  He was like the big brother she had never had and she knew that she could tell him anything.  More than that, she knew he would help her sort out all of these emotions.  She needed to hear what he thought of Bradley.  Not just because he was her best friend, but because he was a guy.  A guy’s perspective was always welcomed when it came to dating.  She stopped herself for a moment and realized what she had just thought.
Dating.
  Not friendship, s
he had referenced her relationship with
Bradley as dating
. 

She dialed John’s number
and he answered pretty quickly,
“Hey
Gabby
.  H
ow was your weekend with Sam?”

“He
y.” Gabby paused
trying to figure out where to start and how to classify the weekend.
“Too much to tell you over the phone.
  You
wanna
order a pizza or something?”

“Yeah, your place or mine?”

“Mine, please.” Gabby giggled.  “I definitely don’t want all
of your roommates listening to our
conversation.”

“Hmm, somehow I don’t think this weekend was all about you and Sam.”

“No, very little about Sam, actually.”

“Ah, I’m curious now
.  I will be over in about twenty minutes.  Go ahead and order the pizza
.  I’ll pick it up on my way
.”

“K
.  Thank
you, John.”

“For what baby girl?”

“For being a good friend.”

“Don’t get sappy on me, Gabby
.  I am still a guy.”

Gabby laughed.
“Okay
okay
.  See you soon.”

Gabby hung up and ordered their favorite pizza, The Works from Papa Johns.  She sat down and started to read
The Notebook
while she waited for John to get there.  She k
new as soon as she started, she’d have to put it away.  She didn’t care, though.  A
t least that would give her time to get past the beginning boring part of the book. 

Sure enough, twenty minu
tes later John was there.  She was surprised how she
immediately felt better about her situation.  They got plates out and Gabby put a sli
ce of pizza on each of them
.  She opened the garlic dipping sauce and put it in the midd
le of the bar.  “Do you want a Diet C
oke?”
She asked him as she went to the fridge.