Josh called off his wedding to Caroline after finding out it was Gabi who had made him the blanket and that Caroline had forgotten his birthday altogether. She didn't even know the most basic things about him while Gabi spent a significant amount of time and effort doing the most loving thing anyone had ever done for him. But what did it mean? Did she have real feelings for him? He wondered, while sitting on his terrace drinking and watching the rain fall.
He couldn't stop thinking about Gabi and the obvious connection they shared. He felt dumb for not seeing it before. Remembering all the times he would find himself staring at her, how he would feel jealous when there were other guys interested in her. All the while he was engaged to another woman, how did he not realize he had feelings for Gabi.
Yolanda returned after work to check on him, knowing that he had called Caroline over for a talk.
"How'd it go with Caroline?" she asked, already suspecting she knew the answer to that question.
"We broke up" he said emotionlessly.
"Yeah I figured" she said sitting down next to him and refilling his drink and pouring one of her own, much fuller.
"I don't know what I was even doing with Caroline, I'm not even sad, how messed up is that?"
"I think we both know the reason for that" she smiled knowingly.
Josh smiled back, knowing Yolanda could always see right through him.
"She's amazing"
"Yeah, she's something special that girl" she agreed.
"So the question is what are you going to do about it?" she asked looking at him pointedly.
"I need to see her, I don't know what I'm going to say, hopefully it will come to me when I see her face" he said getting up to leave.
"Is this stupid? you'd tell me if it was right?" he asked.
"I've been rooting for you two from the start" she smiled lovingly, opening the door for him. He hugged her before leaving.
"Thanks Yolanda"
"Just let me be the one to tell Elliott. This is going to kill him" she laughed.
He picked up a dozen roses on the way and climbed her fire escape in the grand romantic gesture way she swooned over like in her favorite movies.
When he looked in the window he saw her kissing Cooper, who had returned unexpectedly. His heart sank, now he felt the sadness he thought he should have felt over his called off wedding.
He left without being seen. Gabi didn't know the wedding was off until the next day when she got to work.
Josh prompted her to tell them about Cooper returning and she seemed happy about it. Yolanda encouraged him to still tell her how he feels because she knew she had feelings for him.
Gabi went home and talked to Sofia about it.
"Josh called off his wedding and I think it might be because of me" she said, smiling and flopping on the couch. "What should I do? Should I tell him I have feelings for him or wait for him to tell me he has feelings? He was planning to get married today, how long is an acceptable time to wait? I just want to grab him and kiss him and then make out until our lips get chapped" she rambled on.
"Whoa slow down, did Josh say he broke it off because of you?" Sofia asked.
"Well no but he said he was excited to marry the girl that made the blanket because she knows his heart and that's me!" she said excitedly.
"Gabi, you're all over the place, you were just so happy that Cooper was back and you guys are back together, now you're back to crushing on Josh?" she asked, throwing her hands up in frustration.
"I wouldn't say back together, sure we talked and kissed and he stayed here but he lives in China now, we both know that it cant go anywhere"
"And yet he came all the way here to see your face when he gave you a gift, Gabi he's the one that has feelings for you. Josh may act all jealous with you but has he ever told you he has feelings for you? Or done anything…"
Gabi raised her finger and started to interject but Sofia cut her off.
"Other than drunkenly having sex with you that he doesn't remember"
"No" Gabi admitted with a frown.
Cooper arrived and Gabi told him about the wedding being canceled. He promptly asked her to come to China with him so they could spend time together.
"I'd say that's a pretty clear sign" Sofia gloated.
"Yeah" Gabi nodded. "Now I just need one from Josh" she said hopping up and running out the door.
She went to Josh's. He was talking to Yolanda in the living room.
"Hey Josh, can I talk to you?" she asked.
He led her to the office. "What's up?" he asked nervously fidgeting with his hands before noticing and crossing his arms across his abdomen.
"Are you doing okay?" she asked.
"Yeah. I'm good. How are you?"
"Um I'm okay, I just want to tell you I'm sorry if the blanket was a factor in ending your relationship with Caroline. That was definitely not the intent."
"Gabi, stop. I should be thanking you. You did me a favor, Caroline isn't the girl for me" he said truthfully.
She stared at him.
"Was that it?" he asked.
"No, uh, I wanted to ask since you didn't get married…"
"Yes?" he asked
"And you're not going on your honeymoon"
He leaned closer in his chair.
"Uh huh"
"Well Cooper asked me to go to China with him" she said.
Josh felt like he had been punched in the gut.
"Unless you want me to stay here, with you, because you didn't get married" she asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.
He stood back up. "No, go. You should go" he said. "In fact take this" he said tossing her the blanket. "It gets cold".
Gabi sat there stunned, she looked at his face searching for a sign of feelings but didn't find any. She left quickly because she could feel the hot prickles of tears forming and she definitely didn't Josh to see her crying over him.
She went home and immediately poured herself a glass of wine and drank it immediately.
"Oooof it didn't go well?" Sofia asked.
"Nope, not only did he tell me to go to China he practically threw the blanket at me and told me to take it, I guess it didn't mean that much to him after all, or at least it didn't mean as much coming from me" she frowned.
"I'm sorry Gabi, but hey you've still got Cooper and he does want to be with you."
"You're right, I'm going to go on this trip and enjoy it and him and forget about my pathetic feelings for Josh" she said.
"Thank you for your sometimes brutal honesty Sofia" Gabi said hugging her goodbye.
"Ugh, real life sucks" Sofia frowned. "I would have loved for Josh to show up confessing his love for you"
Gabi bit her lip, trying to prevent tears. "But he didn't"
She sucked in a shaky breath. "You know what, no more of this, I'm going to have an amazing trip with a great guy who actually wants to be with me" she smiled.
Sofia smiled "Have the best time, I'll miss you" she said hugging her again.
"Me too. Enjoy your bra-less cleaning" she teased.
"You know I will!" she said excitedly.
Sofia went to the fire escape to see them off. She noticed a glove out there.
She called to Cooper saying he forgot it.
"I've got mine" he said holding up his mitten covered hands.
Sofia cringed "Oh. Okay" she said shaking her head.
She turned the glove over and noticed the monogram JXK.
"Oh my God, Josh…..something weird.. Kaminski"
She ran inside and grabbed her phone to call Josh but he didn't pick up.
She called Elliott "Elliott, what is Josh's middle name?" she asked as soon as he said hello.
"Xander, why? Also weird way to greet someone"
"I knew it!" she said too loudly. "Where is he right now?"
"Here, ruining my date with his whining" he said snarkily.
"Where is here? I need to see him right now" she said frantically.
"Yes please come get him he's being a real cock block" Elliott said, having had several drinks while Josh occupied his date with his dumb Gabi drama.
Elliott gave her the name of the bar and she was on her way.
"Josh!" she called to him, running over, out of breath.
"Sofia, what are you doing here?"
"Returning this" she said, handing him the glove.
"I've been looking all over for this, wait, why do you have it?' he asked, taking it.
"I just found it on our fire escape" she said staring him down.
"Nope this ones not mine, thanks anyway Sofia" he said dropping it.
"Josh cut the crap its got your initials on it"
"He's lying, it is his. He was there in the pouring rain with roses like Pretty Woman" Andre gushed.
"So you did come over. Why?" Sofia asked.
"Because he loves her" Andre said excitedly
"I don't know if its love. I just needed to see her but I was too late" Josh said sadly.
"You weren't too late, she's only getting on that plane with Cooper because I told her if you had feelings for her you would have come over last night, and you did" she smiled slightly.
"Wait, are you saying she has feelings for me?" Josh asked with a big grin on his face.
"Come on Josh, she's crazy about you" Sofia smiled. "She was hoping you would tell her you wanted her to stay with you when she asked about going to China" she told him.
"I don't believe this, I gotta call her" he said, reaching for his phone.
"No, go to her, its more dramatic!" Elliott said, secretly wanting to get rid of him so he could have Andre's attention to himself.
"I guess I'm going to the airport to stop Gabi from getting on that plane" he said downing his drink.
Elliott wished him good luck as he and Sofia hurried out the door.
They raced to the airport and ran inside. The ticket agent couldn't give out any info on Gabi and it was too late to buy a ticket so he couldn't get to the gate.
"Josh , plane leaving, China! call her now!" Sofia said urgently.
"Ugh Voicemail, what do I say?" he asked panicked.
"Say everything" she encouraged, squeezing his arm.
"Gabi, hey its Josh. You'll never believe where I am right now, the airport actually. I came here to stop you from getting on the plane with Cooper like in one of those romcoms you love so much. I know this might be kind of a surprise to you but I actually climbed up your fire escape last night in the rain with roses too, you are all I could think about after calling off the wedding. I didn't know exactly what I was going to say to you but I needed to see you, but Cooper was there so I didn't get to. But look if you're happy with Cooper just disregard this message but if you think you might be happier with me, call me back. I really hope you call me back" he sighed and ended the call.
Sofia smiled approvingly.
"Now what?" he asked
"Now we wait" she said sitting down.
"Oh sure, let's sit while I have a full blown panic attack" he said, leaning over with his head between his knees.
Every time his phone dinged he held his breath in anticipation but it was never from Gabi.
A little while later her flight showed departed on the flight screen.
"Damn it" Josh said, putting his face in his hands.
"I'm sorry Josh, I don't think she got the message because she would have at least reached out to me if not you" Sofia tried to comfort him.
"Great, so she'll get it when she gets to China with Cooper, that's not awkward at all" he said rubbing his temples.
"If she does and wants to come home you'll go get her" she said, putting her hand on his shoulder.
"I bet in the movies they never show the guy sitting around like a loser when the girl doesn't come back to him" he pouted.
"Lets go, I'll buy you a drink" Sofia said.
"You're going to buy me a drink?" Josh asked, amused.
"Yeah, then you can buy all the other drinks Richie Rich" she teased.
They started to walk out when a voice behind them said "Did you figure out what you wanted to say?"
They both turned quickly at recognizing Gabi's voice. A huge smile crossed Sofia's face and she stepped away, giving them some space but still close enough to hear and see because no way was she missing this.
"Gabi, you're here" Josh said, surprised.
"I got your message. You said you needed to see me. I'm here, what did you want to say?" she asked, her face not giving anything away.
Josh nervously looked at Sofia. She nodded encouragingly.
He stepped closer to Gabi and blew out a breath.
"That I wish Caroline had never come back after that night. I wish I had seen what was right in front of me this whole time, this beautiful, sweet, thoughtful, funny, all around amazing woman that did the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me and expected nothing in return, just to make me happy. Gabi, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you, I'm crazy about you" he grinned, relieved to have finally gotten the words out.
Gabi stared at his face and nodded "That was a pretty good speech. I've wanted to hear something like it for a while" she said leaning up and pulling his face down to hers, kissing him eagerly.
He wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her hungrily like his depended on it.
Their lips slowly separated but their faces stayed close.
She looked into his eyes. "I'm crazy about you too, always have been" she smiled. He smiled back and recaptured her lips.
"Okay you guys I don't think everyone wants to continue to see you two with your tongues shoved down each other's throat, maybe we should get out of here" Sofia suggested.
"Sofia's right, we should definitely go somewhere more private to continue our uh conversation" Gabi smiled.
" I could talk to you all night" Josh grinned.
"Ugh this is going to be gross. I can already tell" Sofia teased. "Also, you definitely owe me those drinks Josh"
He took out his wallet and handed her a credit card. "I definitely do" he agreed. "Thank you for everything Sofia. Get whatever you want"
"Oh my damn!" Sofia said in a Yolanda-esque tone and took off excitedly ready to spend Josh's money.
"That might have been a bad choice" Gabi chuckled, watching her run off.
"I'm rich" he shrugged jokingly.
"Besides she's the one who pushed me to come here tonight and stop you from leaving so I would say I owe her everything"
Gabi smiled and kissed him lovingly.
"And she's had to listen to me talk about you since the day we met"
"I might have to buy her a car" he teased.
"Lets get out of here" she said grabbing his hand.
When they got to his car he walked over to open the door for her but he pressed her against it and kissed her deeply until they were breathless.
"I love kissing you" he said softly stroking her cheek lovingly.
"Well lets go home and see what else you like doing to me" she grinned devilishly.
He grinned, blushing a little.
"Mmmm I like the sound of that" he nodded excitedly before quickly depositing her in the car and running to his side, causing Gabi to giggle uncontrollably.
He pulled off and reached over taking her hand as he drove, needing to touch her now that he could.