Whale Harbor Reunions (Saltwater Sunsets Book 3) by Fiona Baker

Author:Fiona Baker [Baker, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-07T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Thomas glanced over at Gabrielle as he wove his way through town, heading to the outskirts that led to the cliffs with the stunning views he’d discovered a couple of days before. She was quiet, staring out the window with a distracted, sad look on her face. He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel to the rhythm of the Christmas song playing on the radio— “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney.

He cleared his throat. “you know, as cheesy as this song is, it’s always been one of my favorites. There’s just something about it.”

Gabrielle glanced at him, giving him a strained smile. “I like this song too,” was all she said before lapsing back into silence.

Thomas stared through the windshield uneasily. Had he done something wrong? She had seemed excited about going on a drive with him when they’d been texting earlier, but something had obviously changed in the interim between then and now. He wasn’t sure what it was, but she just wasn’t her usual self.

“Whale Harbor really gets all decked out for Christmas,” he commented a few moments later, seeing if he could pull her into conversation once more. “It’s rather festive.”

“We like to celebrate the holidays around here.”

“It’s nice. I like it.”

Gabrielle was staring out the window again.

“Gabrielle?”

“Huh? Oh, me too. I like it too.”

Thomas let it go at that. It was clear she didn’t want to talk right now. He would just have to wait and see once they got up to their picnic spot how she was feeling. She clearly wanted to be alone with her thoughts in the meantime.

A few minutes later, he pulled his car to a stop at the top of a cliff with a particularly beautiful view of the sea and killed the motor. Before they got out of the car, he reached into the back seat and pulled up the brown bag full of takeout from the Clownfish Eatery that he’d picked up before stopping by Gabrielle’s house. It smelled delicious and he only hoped he had picked out items that Gabrielle would enjoy.

Thomas bit his lip for a moment and then decided to go for it. He shifted his weight a little so that he was facing her as much as sitting in a car allowed and waited until she met his eyes.

“Hey,” he said gently. “Is everything okay? You’ve been a little quiet thus far.”

Gabrielle gave a short laugh, but it rang unconvincingly in the car and she quickly stopped. She shrugged, trying to muster up a smile. “I just have a lot on my mind.”

Thomas thought back to what could have happened between their text messaging and him picking her up. She had been talking with her son when he had gotten there. Was it possible that Braden had something to do with her mental abstraction?

“Does this have anything to do with Braden?” he asked softly, hoping that he wasn’t overstepping.

Gabrielle sucked in a deep breath as tears filled her eyes, making his heart squeeze with pain for her.

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