Gabi had gone to Switzerland for her culinary apprenticeship, having left on the night that she and Josh were supposed to have their first date.
He was very hurt by her decision, feeling rejected and not really fairly considering her point of view.
Gabi was conflicted about her decision as well, knowing she should be excited to pursue her culinary dreams but also wanting Josh so badly. She half expected him to show up in Switzerland in another grand gesture but he never did.
After a month she decided she couldn't take it anymore and left the program early.
She thought about going straight to Josh's from the airport but once she got back in San Francisco she chickened out.
She went home and surprised Sofia instead.
"Gabi! you're back!" she said, rushing over to hug her.
"Wait, why are you back?" she asked, confused.
"It was a great experience but I couldn't stop thinking about Josh, I need to see him and talk to him, Do you think he hates me?" she asked nervously.
"He could never hate you" Sofia said comfortingly rubbing her arm. "but you already know he was super bummed that you left and didn't tell him in person. He was so excited about your date" Sofia frowned, feeling guilty about having encouraged her to go knowing how it had hurt Josh and ultimately Gabi.
"I was too, but I felt like I couldn't pass this up. I mean what kind of aspiring chef would I be if I gave it up for a guy? I just hope its not too late" she frowned.
"Well what are you waiting for? Go talk to him!" Sofia encouraged.
"I'm scared" Gabi whined and put her head on Sofia's shoulder.
"Gabi, you've got to put on your big girl panties and do this, then if you're lucky maybe Josh will take them off" she said, nudging her with her elbow.
Gabi laughed, feeling the tension lift and hugged her best friend. "I've missed you Sofia"
"I missed you too, and all your crazy drama" she told her.
Gabi took a shower and got changed after having been traveling so long before going to Josh's.
She took a deep breath as she stood outside Josh's door, having not set foot there in a month.
"Please still want me" she said, crossing her fingers for luck before knocking.
Elliott answered the door. She smiled and started to say hello but he quickly slammed the door in her face and yelled "Noooooooo"
Yolanda had seen it was Gabi and rushed over to open the door for her.
"Gabi!, what are you doing back girl? Its so good to see you!" she said hugging her.
Josh was meeting with a potential business partner on the terrace and heard the commotion in his living room.
"Excuse me for a moment" he said and came to see what was going on.
He stopped in his tracks at the sight of Gabi in his living room so unexpectedly.
"Hi Josh" she said, smiling nervously.
"Gabi, you're back early" he said, trying to hide any emotion on his face.
"Yeah, I was hoping we could talk" she said, walking closer to him as he had stopped where he was.
"He doesn't want to talk to you" Elliott interjected.
"Shut up fool" Yolanda said, smacking his arm.
"Is that true Josh? You don't want to talk to me?" she asked, looking hurt.
"Of course he wants to talk to you, he has a lot of feelings he needs to let out" Yolanda encouraged.
"Good, so do I. Starting with I'm sorry for the way I left" she said.
"Save it! Its too late for your apologies, he's moved on and you're finally out of my life" Elliott sneered.
Josh glared at Elliott and Yolanda "Stop" he told them then "Out" he said telling them to leave them alone.
They grumbled amongst themselves as they left them alone.
"Look, Elliott's right, you don't need to apologize" Josh told her. "But if this is about your job, I hired another chef" he told her.
"Oh yeah I know, Yolanda told me. It isnt the job I care about" she said seriously, looking into his eyes to see if she could gauge how he was feeling because he was giving nothing away.
He stared back for a second before his new Chef and business associate walked in.
"This is Adriana, my new chef" he introduced them.
"Its nice to meet you, funny you don't look like the devil" she smiled.
"Elliott's fun huh?" she said rolling her eyes.
"And Cal this is my former chef Gabi, she just got back from an apprenticeship in Switzerland"
"Oh that's fancy, you must be really good" he said looking her over.
Josh watched him like a hawk.
"You know having tasted Adriana 's work, I could use a chef myself, I'm Cal, I just moved in next door, would you be interested" he said properly introducing himself.
"Oh, well I do need a job but next door, I don't know" she said looking to Josh for his reaction.
Cal looked at him too.
"We had a little thing before she left, actually we didn't, we almost did but she left so we didn't" he rambled, explaining to Cal.
"Oh well I don't want to get in the middle of a whole thing" Cal said.
"Didn't you hear me there was no thing, she left so nothing happened, there's no thing to be in the middle of" he said uncomfortably.
"Okay then, the job is yours if you want it. Can you start right away? I've got an important business dinner tomorrow night and I really want to impress the guy" Cal said with a sly smile.
"Yes, thank you" Gabi agreed, shaking his hand. "We should talk about the dinner so I can get started planning"
"Should be a piece of cake for you, its Josh so you already know what he likes." Cal said
Josh shook his head at the situation.
Gabi smiled "Okay so I'll see you tomorrow night then" and followed Cal out.
Gabi opened the door to greet Josh the next night.
"Do come in" she said dramatically extending her arm toward the living room, after Cal said he wanted to be announced.
"We need to talk" Gabi said softly, as to not be overheard by her new employer.
"Not now we don't, I'm here on business, don't screw this up for me" he said sternly.
"Ugh fine, can I get you some wine Sir" she asked.
"No thank you. There's 500 million on the line, I need to be clear headed"
"Great, that will be helpful when we talk too" she said
"Gabi!" he hissed, annoyed by her persistence.
Cal came in and greeted Josh so she went about setting out the meal.
"Josh, before we get to the business at hand, there's another bit of business I wanted to discuss with you, this one is of a personal nature" he said quietly.
"Sure, what's up?"
"I've taken a liking to your chef" he said.
Josh's eyes immediately shot to Gabi as he felt a sharp pang of jealousy arise.
"I know we've only met but what can I say I'm hot for her, do you mind if I ask her out?"
"Mind? Why should I mind?" he said, higher pitched. He took Cal's glass and downed the wine quickly.
Gabi presented the meal but Josh wanted to get out of there as fast as he could so he signed the paperwork and said goodnight, not staying to eat.
Gabi watched him leave, desperate to go after him but deciding to allow him space for now.
She left for the evening, staring at Josh's door while she waited for the elevator.
She went home feeling dejected, wondering if she and Josh were even going to be friends at this point, let alone anything more. That thought made her heart ache.
He threw off his suit jacket and got a beer from the refrigerator. "I'm hot for your chef Josh" he impersonated. "Well good luck buddy" he shook his head. He closed his eyes trying to force the image of Cal touching Gabi, kissing her out of his head. He shook his head as if to clear it.
He started out to the terrace then his eye caught his drone and he got an idea. He flew it over to Cal's balcony, looking in, seeing no one, he proceeded inside. He saw a piece of clothing get flung from the couch. He would have sworn his heart stopped in that moment.
He saw Cal pop up then Adriana.
"Oh thank God" he breathed a sigh of relief. It was short lived as Cal closed the doors to the terrace before retiring to the bedroom.
"Damnit!" he said, trying to think of a way out of this.
"Gabi!" he said jumping up and running out the door.
Gabi went home and filled Sofia in on the night.
Sofia frowned "I think he's really hurt Gabi. I didn't tell you this but he was so excited at the engagement party then he got your message and he was just wrecked, and Yolanda said he has been this whole time"
Gabi frowned deeply. "God, how did everything get so screwed up?"
There was a knock at the door followed by Josh yelling her name.
"I need you" he said.
"You do?" she smiled
"I flew my drone into Cal's penthouse and I need to get it back before he finds it. Do you have a key?" he asked frantically.
"Oh" Gabi frowned, disappointed.
"Yes. I have a key" she answered.
"Great! Lets go, now" he said turning to go.
"Wait" she held up her hand to stop him.
He grunted "Gabi this is very time sensitive"
"Well all you have to do is agree to talk to me, a real talk, a feelings talk and we'll go" she told him.
"Ok, fine, feelings talk it is, but after" he insisted.
They went to Cal's but were caught, as Cal had already found the drone.
"Explain yourself, why were you spying on me? Is it because I asked if I could date your chef? I could tell you werent okay with it when I asked you" he said.
"Wait, what?" Gabi asked.
Adriana came into the room in a robe
"Cal, I see what's going on here, he wasn't spying on you" Gabi explained.
"Josh did you think he meant me?" she asked.
The expression on his face gave away that he did.
"You might want to reevaluate whether there is nothing to get in the middle of here" Cal said indicting them.
"Anyway you both broke my trust so deals off, and job's off too, goodnight now" Cal said, showing them out.
They went back to Josh's.
Gabi grinned mischievously.
"What are you so happy about? I just lost a half billion dollar deal and you got fired" he said, aggravated.
"You were jealous, that's a feeling, so you do have feelings you need to let out" she said walking over to him, slowly, not knowing if he was going to back away as she got closer.
He held her gaze as she closed the distance between them.
"I'll even go first, I'm sorry for not staying, for the way I left, I needed to go honestly for me, for my career but I still regret it because of us, or the us that could have been if I just stayed. I really wanted to go on that date with you" she said honestly, still moving closer, her face inches away from his.
He swallowed hard, losing the internal battle that told him to stay strong, warning him not to let her suck him back in.
"Why were you jealous?" she asked softly, maintaining eye contact.
Josh's resolve was no match for his desire to kiss her, have her and he abandoned it completely in that moment. "I didn't want him to do this" Josh said putting his hands on her cheeks, leaning down to kiss her, their lips meeting softly at first then growing in intensity as they gave in to their undeniable passion.
She pressed herself right up against him and her hands went to his sides, gripping him there.
When they finally pulled back she was smiling slyly.
"You like to kiss me, you want to date me and love me…" she teased in a sing song way.
He grinned in amusement and nodded affirmatively, before his face turned serious.
"Gabi, You pulled the rug out from under me last time, and I was a total mess. I cant go through that again, so I need you to be sure about this before we go any further. Are you all in?" he asked, holding his breath.
"I'm not going to be the one to walk away" she assured him.
He smiled giddily and blew out the breath he had been holding before capturing her lips again.
"You're right, I definitely like kissing you, and we've got like a month's worth of making out to make up for" he grinned against her lips as he lowered her down onto the couch.