Forgiven Read Online Free PDF Page B

mentioning this until after I’d ordered and had a glass of good, red wine, but I’m not going to lie to her.
    Her face turns from amused to serious. “About what?”
    I look down at the table, releasing the white, cloth napkin from the silverware. “Ian and Veronica.” I glance up to her before placing the napkin onto my lap. I can see she’s already tensed up and cringing.
    “What about ‘em?”
    “I had called the attorney about the paternity --” I cut myself off from that subject when the waitress walks up to take our drink orders. “Do you want your usual?”
    She smiles. “Yes, please.”
    I tell the waitress what we want. She’s surprised when I spout out our drink and food order in one long run-on sentence. I needed to buy some un-interrupted time to finish this conversation. I want it behind us so we can move on and hopefully enjoy our dinner since the proverbial cat is out of the bag.
    “Anyway. It turns out we can’t do the paternity test until Veronica has had the baby.”
    Her brows furrow, and she starts to fidget. “Why?”
    “The test they have to do on the baby is usually only done early in the pregnancy or at the very end.” I reach for her hand. “It’s an unnecessary risk to the baby at this point.”
    The waitress comes back to the table with our drinks, breadsticks, and our salad. Gabby lets go of my hand and takes the tongs to mix the salad and then puts some on both of the plates the waitress also left on the table. She doesn’t even look up from preparing our food. She reaches for a breadstick and takes a bite. “So the soonest we can do it is after she delivers?”
    She is being so difficult for me to read right now. I know this situation is still so fresh for the both of us. How do I expect her to react? I just hate that we have to be discussing this at all. “Right.”
    “Well that sucks,” she says as she takes a bite of her food and looks out of the window.
    I pick up my fork and start eating my salad. Gabby gives me the peppers and I give her my olives. I decide it’s best to just give her a few minutes to let it all settle. We both continue to eat in silence barely making eye contact with each other. I knew this was a bad idea to start this conversation today. I should have just waited until the morning.
    I take a swig of my water and wipe my mouth. “Gabby.”
    She glances at me before blankly looking back out of the window. “Huh?”
    “Talk to me.”
    She looks up to the ceiling and swallows. “What do you want me to say?”
    “I don’t want you to say anything in particular. I don’t want you to run away from me, physically or emotionally.”
    She doesn’t say a word. She’s driving me crazy. “Are you mad about having to wait or is it something else?”
    Her eyes meet mine. She shakes her head and calmly says, “I’m not mad.”
    “You’re something.”
    “We had such a great day. Why’d you have to tell me tonight and ruin this, too?”
    “It was eating me alive. I can’t keep crap from you to save my life.” I have to stop for a minute because I am almost irritated and I don’t want her to get mad if she isn’t already. “I hate secrets, Gabby.”
    She nods her head. “Me, too.”
    “So that’s why I had to tell you. I know this situation isn’t ideal. We’ll get through it, though.”
    The server walks up with a large round tray of food. She places it down on one of those tray holders and says, “Shrimp Mezzaluna?” I point to Gabby.
    The young girl serving us, who can’t be much older than Gabby, smiles flirtatiously at me. “And this Lobster Cannelloni with Shrimp must be yours?” Give me a break. I mean, could she be any more obvious that she’s flirting with me in front of my fiancée? Some people just make you want to shake your head, but instead I glance at Gabby and give her a look that I know she recognizes. A look that I couldn’t care less about anyone else. I look away from Gabby, smiling cordially at the server.