Roses Manor, Weston Chapter 23
Gabriella knew it had been a mistake to tell Elliot why she was off of work today. He had texted her a little before noon as she had been getting back from a walk around her neighborhood and she’d blurted out the whole story. He’d been horrified, and she wasn’t sure if his responses were actually angry or if she was still reading them through the confused lens of their last conversation at headquarters. But the conversation didn’t last very long anyway.
So she had to admit that it was a sweet surprise when he showed up at her apartment with a cartoonishly large container of chicken soup and a loaf of sourdough bread. And after he said he’d just drop it off and leave, she’d told him to come inside.
“I’ve eaten so much bread lately,” she said with a laugh a little while later as she took even more and buttered it. “My teammate Graham, his sister has a farm and she keeps sending him home with food.”
They were sitting at her tiny kitchen table, both on stools she knew were horrible for their backs. Elliot was wearing a soft flannel shirt and his hair stuck up slightly from the hat he’d taken off as he came inside.
Elliot ate a spoonful of soup. “I did some landscaping work for a farm up by my house yesterday and they sent me home with all of this.”
“You’re still working for your dad too?”
“Yeah, just part-time around the Foundation,” he said. “I need the money, but can’t get extra hours at Hillsborough. Saskia got in trouble for scheduling me an extra two hours last month. We have enough people on staff that apparently we don’t need any overtime.”
North Worcester County survived on overtime. But more importantly, Gabriella still had a hard time picturing quiet, mortified Saskia as a team captain. The previous captain had hated Gabriella and attacked her in her mother’s backyard after his team had been taken off a case. Saskia had been scared to go against him or do anything for herself. She always looked for someone with more authority. And now, not even a year later, she was the captain.
What a mess. But Gabriella could relate, more strongly than she’d like to.
“And she’s good?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Elliot said as he poured them both more soup. “I think what happened with the last guy really pushed her to do better.”
Gabriella nodded silently, her appetite dampened by the mention of Patrick. But Elliot smiled at her, motioning for her to have more soup, so she let the discomfort pass.
They spent the evening like that, eating soup and talking. Gabriella meant to have him leave at some point, but must have fallen asleep while they were watching a movie on her bed. (Not her smartest move, she knew. But it was better than the couch) The next thing she realized, it was the middle of the night and Elliot was asleep beside her, his arm slung over her stomach.
He was warm, but the rest of her was freezing. “Hey,” she whispered, nudging him.
Elliot opened his eyes and smiled, then shot up straight as he woke up completely. “I’m sorry!” he exclaimed. “I swear, I didn’t mean to stay so late.”
“No, I just woke up,” Gabriella said as she found the blankets pushed to the bottom of the bed. “Stay.”
“You’re sure?”
Was she? Probably not, but whatever. At the rate everything was going, she’d never be sure of anything in her life ever again. “It’s too cold out and it’s midnight. When are you working tomorrow?”
“Nine.”
“Eight for me. Stay. You don’t have to drive home right now.”
He was clearly about to protest again, but also just as clearly didn’t want to actually leave. She motioned for him to lay back down, noticing her own hand shaking. This was silly, they’d done this so many times in the months they dated. But they weren’t dating anymore for very good reasons.
But she also didn’t want him to leave.
They laid back down, and she pulled the blankets over them. After a hesitant second, Elliot’s arm went around her and, finally warm, she settled in to sleep.
