Gabi reached over, took her hand. “Then why are you here?”
She offered a sad smile. “For you . . . for Alliance. This is where I live.”
“But your heart is somewhere else.” Sam was as wise as she was beautiful.
“I’m trying to stop thinking about him. Long-distance relationships don’t work.”
Sam laughed. “Blake is in Europe right now. Won’t be home for two weeks.”
“You’re married, it’s different.”
The air in the room thickened and the attention moved off the expectant mom to Meg. “You won’t know if Val is marriage material if you don’t spend more time together,” Judy said.
Only Meg did know he was the right material. She loved the man, but was afraid to tell him. Sadly, she fell into the group of women that wanted to hear the words come from him first. Maybe then she would believe they could do this long distance . . . or make a different arrangement.
Gabi squeezed her hand. “You’ve given me plenty of sound advice I needed to hear from the moment we met, so let me give you some. My brother loves you.”
Meg scoffed.
“And you love him.”
She snorted, tried to deny it. The women in the room shook their heads, rolled their eyes.
“Nothing else matters.”
“You matter. My job.”
Gabi’s sad smile made Meg pause. “I’m OK, Meg. I appreciate your desire to help me survive the summer, but how do you think it would make me feel to know I destroyed your chance of holding on to love?”
Oh, God . . . she was right.
“As for your job . . . Eliza has successfully found clients and helped manage the business from Sacramento. Gwen continues to scout clients when we’re in Europe and during social events.”
Karen tipped back her spiked punch. “I managed the phones and assisted clients the entire time you were in Florida.”
“The point is,” Sam said, “Alliance might have a home base here, but we’re everywhere. A second office in the Keys sounds good to me. I love that part of the country.”
Judy nudged Meg’s arm. “So, do you have another excuse or hurdle to jump over, or should I call the airlines?”
Her fingers tingled, her heart knocked a few times in her chest. “I-I need to pack.”
Gwen sat back, crossed her legs as if she’d just signed a multimillion-dollar deal. “Not really. Lingerie maybe.”
“And condoms . . . unless you want this.” Eliza patted her stomach.
Meg stood, felt doubt creep in. “What if it’s a mistake?”
“What if it is? You won’t know if you don’t try. Since when are you a quitter?” Judy’s challenging tone made Meg’s feet move.
Twenty minutes later, Eliza’s driver was tossing her suitcase into the back of a limousine and she hugged her friends good-bye.
Gabi watched Meg leave and was the last to return inside the house.
Her new friends gathered to help Eliza unwrap her gifts and eat cake. They laughed, shared stories, and gave Gabi advice about the neighborhood. More importantly, over the last few hours, she didn’t think of Alonzo once.
They were cleaning dishes when a knock sounded on the front door.
Gabi heard the door open and someone say, “Oh, my.”
“Sorry to interrupt.”
Gabi dropped the soapy dish and grabbed a towel. She rounded the corner and smiled. “Val!”
The women started to laugh.
Gabi opened her arms and hugged her brother, his movements hampered by the roses he held in his hand. “You look lovely, tesoro.” He kissed both her cheeks.
“What are you doing here?” As if she didn’t know.
He looked over her head and frowned. “Looking for Margaret.”
Judy started laughing first, then the infectious sound spread until the room filled with joy.
“Stop,” Eliza giggled. “You’re going to make me pee.”
They laughed harder.
Sam glanced out the front window. “Is that your cab?”
“Yeah.”
“You might want to stop them,” Gwen told him.
Judy pushed past the crush of people standing at the front door and outside to hail the cab.
“What’s going on? Where’s Margaret?”
“En route to you, actually,” Sam said.
“Excuse me?”
Gabi glanced at the clock on the wall. “Her flight leaves in an hour. You might make it in time if you leave now.”
Judy stepped back into the house, patted Val on the back. “You know, Romeo, you might try calling before flying in. This is becoming a habit.”
Val slapped the flowers against his leg, turned around to leave. “Nice to meet you all.”
When the door shut, Sam said, “That’s your brother?”
“Yes.”
Eliza lifted one brow. “Go, Meg!”
The last-minute flight was delayed. Still, Meg couldn’t stop smiling. She probably looked like she was on drugs, but she couldn’t help it. She picked up her cell phone and considered calling Val to tell him she was coming.
Her screen blinked with a text she didn’t hear ring in.
Don’t get on the plane. The text was from Val.
“Now boarding, flight fifteen sixty-eight to Miami.”
Meg glanced at the hordes of people lining up with their boarding passes in hand.
Her hands shook. How do you know I’m at the airport?
Gabi told me.
She swallowed, hard. You don’t want me to come? Her heart started to crumble.
No, bella. I want you to walk out of the terminal so I can hold you right now.