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He looked at his phone. His girlfriend had called him seven times.
Even though he was still angry with her, he called her back. Listened to her rant, then cry.
“I love you, but I can’t live like this,” she wailed.
“Whatever you want to do,” he said calmly, “don’t.”
“Don’t be mean.”
“Let me handle it. I have another plan, but I have to go. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
He ended the call and sighed.
If he didn’t love Brittney Monroe so much, he would have killed her Sunday with his bare hands.
Thirty-One
Tess Angelhart
Tess was good with research using all the tools at her disposal, but her younger sister Luisa was a computer whiz. She’d always been smart, and had done something related to cybersecurity in the Marines. Luisa didn’t talk much about her time in the Marines. She’d left last summer and enrolled at ASU studying psychology and computer science. She’d said that psychology was interesting, and computers were easy. Based on how her fingers flew across the keyboard, computers were certainly easy for Luisa.
“I don’t even need to be here,” Tess said after an hour.
“Don’t be silly.”
Tess let her sister work, not wanting to mess with her rhythm.
“Have you and Gabriel talked about a date yet?” Luisa asked a few minutes later.
Tess moaned. “Please, don’t start. Everyone is asking, and I don’t want to rush.”
“I’m not nagging. You said yes, you want to marry him, why are you hesitating?”
“I’m not! I love Gabriel.”
Tess loved him with everything she had. She knew why she was scared. She’d been engaged twice before. And twice before, her fiancé had left her. The first time had hurt, but she’d been young and accepted that he wasn’t the right man. But the second time? She’d been head over heels in love, they’d set a date, she’d bought a wedding dress, they had mailed the invitations...and he said he couldn’t go through with it. That he loved her, but he wasn’t in love with her. She had no idea what that even meant. She’d begged him not to leave her, feeling small and stupid then, and especially now thinking about it.
It had taken her a year before she could even think of going out with another man. And then her father was arrested and her family fell apart. Her mother needed her, her brothers and sisters. She was resigned to being single for the rest of her life.
And then came Gabriel.
She kept expecting him to leave.
“I know you’re scared,” Luisa said simply. “But I’ve seen the way he looks at you. He loves you.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“He’s perfect.”
“No one is perfect, but Gabriel Rubio comes close.” Luisa smiled. “Don’t let the losers who came before kill your chance for happiness.”
Tess rolled her eyes. “Now you sound like Margo.”
“I’m glad we’re working with her on this.”
“I don’t know,” Tess said. “She’s smart, and she has real good instincts. But she’s a maverick.”
