Infiltrating Your Heart (25 page)

Ciara purses her lips.

“She was over at my place yesterday.
It surprised me to see her so upset. Evelyn told me what happened when she went
to meet you for your date.”

I set my arms on the desk,
half-crossed. After a couple seconds of looking down, I shift my gaze to Ciara.

“Is she too mad at me?”

“She’s just hurt, Gabriel. I think it
would be good if you talked to her.”

“Won’t Evelyn shut the door in my
face?”

“Maybe, but she’d want you to go to
her. You can’t let Evelyn think you left her for someone else.”

“I haven’t.”

Ciara smiles at that.

“I managed to make Evelyn see sense
and persuade her to give you a chance. Go see her today after work. She looked
sad.”

“I hate doing this to her,” I say,
sighing. “Seeing Evelyn hurting hurts me as well. But I never expected to run
into the woman.”

Ciara’s expression turns serious.

“May I ask who she is?”

Yeah. Mercedes is the most beautiful
woman I’ve ever seen, dammit.

“She’s just a woman I met a few weeks
ago. I didn’t think she would keep popping into my life.”

“Just let her know you’re not
interested.”

I look down, not about to reveal that
I had sex with Mercedes. And I’d be a liar if I claimed I didn’t enjoy it. I’ve
never had better sex. Never. I don’t know, does it feel better when you add
love to the mix?

I’m not sure how to tell Ciara that I
fell in love with Mercedes. Only, it’d be much harder to tell Evelyn. I decide
to confide in Ciara.

“That’s the problem.”

Ciara’s jaw drops to the floor.

“You’re interested?”

I nod.

“Yes, Ciara. I’ve fallen for another
woman.”

Ciara turns away from me, trying to
digest the big news. I give her time to think. When she’s ready, Ciara turns
back to me.

“How do you know it’s not an
infatuation, Gabriel? You’ve only known this woman for, what, a few weeks?”

“Sometimes, you just know.”

Ciara bites her bottom lip.

“I can’t fathom—what about all the
years you’ve spent with Evelyn? Will you just throw that away?”

“I’m not throwing anything away.
Evelyn still has a special place in my heart.”

“Evelyn isn’t going to like this at
all.”

“She’d like it even less if I stayed
with her when I love someone else.”

Ciara still looks unconvinced.

“Are you sure you’re making the right
choice? Evelyn is perhaps San Francisco’s most coveted single woman. You give
her up, you’re not getting her back.”

“Believe me, I’ve given some thought
to this. I’m going to regret it if I let Mercedes go.”

Ciara raises her eyebrows slightly.

“So Mercedes is her name?”

“Yes.”

I sigh. Ciara nods to herself.

“This is quite a shock, friend. But
if you truly love this woman, I’ll accept it. Just think carefully about what
you’re going to tell Evelyn. Don’t hurt her.”

“I’ll try my best.”

Ciara smiles.

“I guess I should leave now. You have
work to do.”

“Yeah.”

Ciara and I stand up, and we kiss
each other on the cheeks. Then she turns and leaves my office. I start checking
what work I need to do.

Gabriel

Finally, I know what I must do.

I’ve been afraid to make this
decision. It’s not an easy one, but I gave myself time to think about it. And
now I believe I have the answer.

It seems that the saying is true. You
never know when and where you’re going to find true love. I thought I’d found
it with Evelyn. She’s a wonderful woman, but now I realize I’m not in love with
her. I fell for Mercedes since the first day I saw her.

Breaking up with Evelyn after years
of dating will be hard. I hope she’ll understand. Patrick helped me with my
choice. He’s right: Evelyn wouldn’t want me to pick her if I’m not in love with
her.

When I’m ready to head out, I walk
outside and lock my apartment. Then I go get my car.

Evelyn thinks we’re going on a date
tonight to make up for the fiasco last Saturday. I chose the place carefully.
The restaurant I picked is laid-back. I avoided romantic to keep Evelyn from
having false hopes.

I look around in case Mercedes is
nearby. I don’t want her to run into us again. As I wait at a table, I wonder
what Mercedes is doing. I haven’t called her yet because I want to give her the
big news next time I see her: that I’m no longer with Evelyn.

Five minutes later, I look up and see
Evelyn walking toward me. I stand up, flashing the sort of smile I usually
reserve for friends.

“Hi, Evelyn,” I say, arms open.
Evelyn walks to me and I embrace her. Then she tries to kiss me in the lips. I
move my head in a way to make it not seem deliberate. Evelyn’s kiss touches me
in the cheek. She doesn’t seem to mind.

I open a chair for Evelyn, and she
sits down.

“Thanks,” she says as I sit opposite
her.

“Are you still mad at me?” I ask.
Evelyn pretends to think about it.

“A little.”

I nod. At that moment, a waiter
arrives to take our orders. Evelyn orders first. She doesn’t request much. I do
the same as well. I doubt we’ll be here long, not with what I have to tell her.

“I couldn’t show my face to my
parents this Sunday,” Evelyn tells me. “I was so upset, and I didn’t want them
to see me like that. They’d think the worst.”

“I’m sorry for hurting you. I never
meant to.”

Evelyn sighs.

“Who was that woman?”

I think my words carefully before
answering.

“Evelyn, I asked you to be here today
because I have something to tell you. I’d rather you hear it from me.”

Evelyn’s eyes widen slightly.
Clearly, that isn’t the answer she expected.

“First of all, know that you’ll
always be someone special in my life. I’ll never regret all the time that we
spent together.”

Evelyn looks alert. I know my talking
in the past tense is cluing her in that we’re coming to an end.

“I’ve fallen in love with another
woman.”

Evelyn gasps, leaning back in her
seat. Fear, hurt, anger, and disbelief flash across her face. She looks down at
the table, and then shakes her head. I wait for Evelyn to assimilate the news.

Just as I’m watching Evelyn, the
waiter comes back with our food. He sets it down in front of us, and I thank
him. After he leaves, I look at Evelyn. She looks sad, and slightly resigned.

“It’s the woman from Saturday,
right?”

“Yes.”

“What’s her name?”

“Mercedes.”

Evelyn nods. She picks up her
utensils and picks at her food. I follow suit.

“How long have you known her?”

“A few weeks.”

Evelyn frowns.

“And you’re sure about your feelings
for her?”

“Like I told Ciara, sometimes you
just know. I gave a lot of thought to what I feel, Evelyn. I’m not telling you
all this lightly.”

The corner of Evelyn’s lips turns up
halfheartedly.

“At least this Mercedes is
beautiful.”

I half smile warily, hoping not to
offend Evelyn. Right now, I want to avoid making mistakes.

“I never wanted to hurt you,” I tell
Evelyn. “This didn’t happen because I wanted it to. Mercedes came into my life
and irrevocably changed it.”

Evelyn looks up from her food to me.
Her eyes look into mine with almost longing. She closes them, and then takes a
deep breath.

“I’m glad you’re being honest with
me, Gabriel. That means a lot.”

“I care about you, Evelyn.”

Silence passes as we eat our food. It
gives us time to think. I watch Evelyn discreetly.

“I suppose we’re not moving to a
house together,” Evelyn says after a few minutes. Her voice is poignant.

“I’m sorry.”

Evelyn stands up.

“I need
some time alone,” she tells me. Then she turns and walks away. I let Evelyn
process the news. I hope things will be all right between us.

~*~
Mercedes

Two days have passed.

I wonder why Gabriel hasn’t even
texted me by now. It’s starting to get to me. I’m not getting ahead of myself
here. Gabriel made love to me, told me beautiful things, and then disappears?
I’ve asked Patrick about his brother’s whereabouts, but there’s still no
answer.

I already fear the worst. If I had
less self-confidence, I’d think Gabriel doesn’t like me. But I know otherwise.

Classes are a bit slow this week.
Since these are the last days of school, we haven’t been getting much work. I’m
perhaps the only student poring over textbooks now. It’s not because I’m being
a good girl, but because work keeps my mind occupied.

When I walk to my car, I’m almost too
distracted to notice that my phone is ringing. Frowning, I pull it from my
purse and answer.

“This is Mercedes.”

“Hi, sweetheart. How are you doing?”

My breath catches. It’s Patrick.

“I’m not happy. Where’s your brother
been?”

“I’ve had trouble finding out, too.”

“You’re Gabriel’s brother.”

“Yeah, but not his father. Other than
his upgraded duties at work, Gabriel’s been away all the time. I have a good
idea what he’s doing.”

“What is that?”

“I fear Gabriel may have picked
Evelyn. And he doesn’t love her. You have to do something to prevent them from
becoming engaged.”

“I can’t do much when he’s shut me
out.”

“Don’t give up, Mercedes. Gabriel is
crazy about you. I know it. Besides, you have a lot to lose if you can’t make
Gabriel choose you.”

“You don’t have to remind me,
darling.”

“Good. So set your anger aside and
talk to him. I’ve managed to find out where he’ll be today after work.”

Patrick gives me the details.

“Thanks. I’ll go meet him.”

“Dress to impress, sweetheart. And
don’t be afraid to give my brother an ultimatum.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“See you later. Oh, and good luck.”

“Thanks,”
I say, and then hang up.

Hours later, I drive into a space at
the parking lot near the mall. According to Patrick, Gabriel is visiting a
clothing store. I guess that with his promotion at work, he needs new clothes
to better suit his new position.

I took time at home to look my best.
This time, I’m not leaving anything to chance. I don’t care that I’m displaying
a little too much cleavage in public. All I care about is to make Gabriel
choose me.

When I enter the mall, I’m
temporarily relieved that it’s not too cold. I try to keep my pace regular.

Moments later, I see Gabriel at
Nordstrom. He’s looking at suit jackets and dress shirts. Taking a deep breath,
I make my way to him.

If he chooses me, I will be completely
freaking happy. For real.

Gabriel senses my approach. He turns
just when I’m a few steps from him. He looks me up and down, and his expression
heats. Gabriel’s mouth opens.

“Mercedes,” he says, looking lost for
breath. His eyes are on my chest. I notice that Gabriel’s stubble has grown. I
want to run my hand along his jaw.

“Where have you been?” I ask. “Have
you decided I’m not good enough for you?”

Gabriel looks at me.

“No. I would never think that,
Mercedes. You—you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”