How Will I Know
Chapter Seven
"Damn, girl, what is this? Christmas in July? You're all lit up like a freaking Christmas tree." Shay smirked as the blush crept into Gabby's cheeks. "Oh come on, don't be embarrassed."
"What are you doing here?" Gabby asked. Since Matt was off today, she knew Shay was too.
"You're changing the subject but I'm gonna let it slide. I'm here to have lunch with Kendra."
"And here I thought you were here to see me," Gabby quipped. She handed off a patient's chart to another nurse and walked around the counter of the nurse's station. "I think Kendra's assisting in a surgery. Wanna walk with me to get some coffee while you wait?"
Shay smirked, "and how many cups does that make for you today?"
"You're relentless, you know that?"
"It's what I do best."
"So I've figured out." Gabby could feel someone's eyes on her and looked up to see Hallie glaring as she passed by with another doctor. "That makes glare number four today."
Shay's eyes caught Hallie's gaze. "I see her attitude hasn't changed," she mumbled to Gabby.
"You know Dr. Thomas? I have no idea what I did to her but she has been nothing but cold to me these past two weeks."
"You don't know?"
"Know what?"
"She's Matt's ex fiancé."
"Oh," Gabby whispered. "Well I guess that explains it."
Shay shook her head, "that doesn't give her a right to be bitch to you, though. Want me to talk to her?"
"No, no." Gabby shook her head, "that'll just make things worse."
Gabby was in the beginning stages of preparing dinner when her phone started to ring. She reached up and grabbed the box of macaroni before hurrying to the kitchen table to get her phone. Not recognizing the number, Gabby sat her phone back down and let it ring. If it was something important, whoever was on the other line would leave a message. Her phone beeped, signaling the missed call and without another second passing it started ringing again. This went on the three times before Gabby decided to answer it. "Hello?" Silence. "Hello?" There was some shuffling in the background before the line went dead.
Gabby rolled her eyes and sat her phone aside. "Whatever," she mumbled. She'd been waiting for Antonio to call and whoever was calling her was tying up her chances to talk to Eli.
With still a few days until Eli was back home, Gabby cherished the daily phone calls she got with Eli. She missed him so much; his witty banter, his constant questions about anything and everything. She knew Gus missed him, too. Even if he was too young to voice it.
Finally, Antonio's name flashed across her screen and Gabby was answering before the first ring even had a chance to finish. "Hello?"
Antonio chuckled, "well that was quick."
Gabby rolled her eyes. "I miss my baby boy. Hey, did you try calling earlier?"
"No, why?"
"I kept getting this unknown number calling me and after the third time I finally answered; I heard breathing but nothing else."
"Huh. You said it was an unknown number?"
"Yeah." Gabby shrugged, "they haven't called back so maybe they realized I wasn't who they were trying to get a hold of."
"Yeah, maybe." Antonio sighed, "let me know if you keep getting the calls, though, ok?"
Gabby rolled her eyes. "Yeah, ok. Can I talk to my baby boy, now?"
There was some shuffling and finally Gabby heard Eli's voice. "Guess what I did today, mama?"
Gabby secured her phone between her shoulder and chin, leaving both hands free to make dinner. "Hmmm, I don't know. I hope it was something fun." After receiving over a dozen pictures from her father earlier in the day, she had a bit of an idea what Eli was going to say but wasn't going to spoil his excitement.
"It was! Abuelo took me and Diego to go swimming with dolphins!"
"Oh, wow! That's really cool, buddy. Did you have fun?"
"Yep! There were two of them! Their names were Hector and Erasmo! I think Erasmo liked me better than Diego. He kept laughing at me."
Gabby laughed. "I'm glad you're having fun there. Did you do anything else today?"
"Well, we went to the beach but we do that every day." There was a pause followed by a soft sigh, "I miss you, mommy. And I miss Gus even if he's always trying to take my toys."
"I miss you, too, Elijah. And I know Gus misses you too. But just remember, you'll be back in Chicago soon so just make sure you have lots of fun, ok?"
"Ok. Te amo, mommy. I'm gonna give the phone back to Tio."
"Te amo, sweetie." As Gabby moved across the kitchen, she could hear the shuffling of the phone from one person to another. She glanced over her shoulder, making sure Gus was still content with the handful of goldfish she'd sat on his tray.
"Hey, Gabs."
"Hey. Is he really doing ok? He's listening to you?"
"He's doing fine," Antonio reassured his sister. "He misses you guys. We all do."
Gabby took a shaky breath, going so long without seeing Elijah was really getting to her. "I miss him, too."
"And what about me?" Antonio asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Meh, I could go a few more weeks without you," Gabby joked.
"Ouch."
"Kidding."
Gus smacked his hands against the water and giggled in delight as it splashed everywhere. He wasn't used to having the tub all to himself during bath time. Gabby put one hand on Gus' forehead, blocking the shampoo from sneaking into his eyes and used the other to rinse the shampoo from his hair. He started to squirm, not happy with being constrained.
"I'm almost done," Gabby said to her youngest son.
She dropped the extendable shower head once she was finished and let Gus play in the tub another fifteen minutes before pulling the plug on the drain and letting the water slip down the drain. She smiled at Gus' reaction as he clapped his hands, for some reason his favorite part of bath time was watching the water run away from him and down the drain.
"Come on, Gus." She wrapped the pale yellow towel around his body and scooped him up out of the tub. "It's pajama time."
It was a fight to even get a diaper back on him but once she did, she sat him down on the floor in his bedroom and started to dig through the dresser looking for a clean pair of pajamas. Apparently she needed to do laundry. Again. She settled on a faded Bears tee that used to be Eli's and was about to grab a pair of shorts when she saw Gus start to take off out of the corner of her eye.
"Oh no you don't," she hurried over and stopped him just as he was about to crawl out into the hallway.
"Baba!"
"Jammies first, baby." She faintly heard the knock on her apartment door and sighed. "I guess clothes are gonna have to wait. Come on, let's go see who that is."
Gabby stood on her toes and glanced through the peep-hole, a small smile appeared on her face and she stepped back to open the door. "Hey."
"Hey." Matt held up his tool box, "I'm here to fix your bathroom door."
"Oh, right!" Gabby moved over to let him in, "I completely forgot." She silently berated herself for forgetting he was coming over. She would have attempted to clean the place up a little bit. Not to mention, make herself look a bit more presentable.
Gus grinned when he saw Matt, his legs kicking in excitement. "Hey, buddy! You're not giving your mom too hard of a time, are you?"
"He's making up for Eli's absence." Gabby shut the door and carried Gus over to the couch so she could sit down and put his pajamas on. She suddenly felt nervous and unsure of what to say. They'd exchanged a few text messages over the past few days but hadn't had a major conversation. There biggest conversation being last night when he'd sent her a text asking if her bathroom door still needed to be fixed.
Matt could feel Gabby's anxiety radiating off of her and he was quick to start a conversation. He pointed to the Bears tee that Gus was now wearing. "Bears, huh?"
"Hometown pride."
"I hear that." He sat his toolbox down and took a seat next to Gabby. "Have you ever been to a game?"
"Are you kidding me? Before Antonio became a detective, he worked security for the stadium to make extra money and taking me to the games with him was his way of babysitting. Although, if I'm honest, I usually ended up going off on my own."
Matt raised a brow, "why do I get the feeling you were a bit of a rebel as a child?"
"Ha, I'm not sure rebel is the right word. More like bratty teenager who did whatever she could to annoy her big brother."
Matt laughed, "I'll have to ask Antonio for some stories next time I see him."
"Oh God, please don't. He gets even more annoying when he's telling embarrassing stories about me."
"Ok, ok, I'll try not to ask." Matt grinned, "But if you're interested, I've got a buddy who has season tickets and he usually sells half of them...so maybe we could go to a game?"
Gabby nodded, not breaking eye contact with Matt. "Maybe." She held onto Gus as he stood up in her lap and reached for Matt's face.
Matt grinned, "I'm going to hold you to that maybe." He held his hands out for Gus, "can I?" He knew that it was a big step for Gabby, once again letting him around Gus and he really wanted to tread lightly. He grinned as Gus practically launched himself into Matt's arms, clearly recognizing him. "Hey there, big guy. Do you happen to know anything about tools? I could use an assistant."
Matt looked up when he heard Gabby come into the living room. "He asleep?"
"Finally." Gabby sat the baby monitor down and joined Matt on the couch. "He has more energy than he knows what to do with it."
"And here I thought it was my presence that got him hyped up," Matt joked.
"He was happy to see you," Gabby admitted. She took the plastic batman cup from Matt's hand and took a sip of the juice. When she'd offered him a drink while getting Gus' bottle ready for bed, she'd completely forgotten the lack of options her refrigerator carried. Especially adult options. She didn't like drinking alone and with her hardly ever having people over, there was no point in carrying alcohol in the house. "Sorry I didn't have anything else to offer."
Matt smirked and took the cup back, "no worries. I like cranberry juice." He finished off the juice and sat the cup down on the coffee table. "And the bright yellow batman cup gives it an extra touch. I'm happy to see Eli prefers D.C. over Marvel," he half joked.
"You don't even know the half of it, for the last three years, Eli has been batman for Halloween. I can't get him to be anything else. My brother even tried to convince him to dress as a cop last year but Eli insisted he wanted to be batman again. He's a very determined kid."
"I can see where he gets his determination from."
Gabby bit back her smile, not wanting to show Matt how much of an effect his words were having on her. She turned her body sideways so she was facing him and tucked her legs beneath her. "Are you trying to sweet talk me back into bed?"
Matt shrugged and reached his hand out to tuck a few stray locks that had slipped from her ponytail back behind her ear. "Is it working?"
Before she could second guess herself, Gabby slid into Matt's lap; the look on his face let her know she'd succeeded in catching him off guard. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pressed her forehead to his, "maybe." The tips of her fingers danced with the small hairs on the back of Matt's neck. "I mean, I know you start shift an hour earlier than usual tomorrow morning and I wouldn't want you to miss out on getting enough sleep…"
Gabby squealed when Matt suddenly stood up with her in his arms. "That's what coffee is for." He kissed her lips, "Now shh, no squealing. The fun can't start if you wake Gus up."
Matt finished tying his shoes and stood up, heading back into Gabby's bedroom. He smiled at the sight of her sleeping, he'd never seen her look so relaxed before. But then again, being a single mother to two boys wasn't exactly a stress free job. She was curled up in the center of her bed with a sheet draped casually over her. He took a seat at the edge of her bed and ran his fingers through her tangled hair. "Gabby?"
Gabby stirred and leaned into Matt's touch, "hmm?"
"I hate to wake you up but I've got to get going."
"Don't forget to stop for coffee," she mumbled.
Matt smirked, "even half asleep you've still got your sense of humor." He leaned down and kissed her lips, "I didn't want you to wake up to an empty bed."
The sincerity of Matt's words broke through the sleepy fog that Gabby was fighting against, causing Gabby to finally open her eyes and meet Matt's. She swallowed hard, his words really getting to her. She wasn't used to a guy treating her with so much respect and tenderness. In fact, with her last relationship, she'd convinced herself that respect was something she didn't deserve. She'd told herself she wasn't the girl that guys dreamed about; she was just the girl they took to bed. "Thank you," she finally whispered, dropping her gaze from his.
Matt frowned, he hadn't meant for his words to have such an effect on Gabby. "Hey," placed a finger under her chin and tilted her head so she was looking back up at him. "I didn't mean to make you upset."
"You didn't," Gabby insisted.
"Ok," Matt nodded. He kissed her once more, "I'll talk to you later?"
Gabby nodded, "yeah." She watched as Matt stood up and started to leave. "Matt?"
He turned around, "yeah?"
"Be careful."
He smiled, "I will."
