Chapter 11: What Did I Miss?

Gabriel's POV

Gabriel waved goodbye to his last patient before closing his clinic for the afternoon. It had been a busy day, which he was grateful for because the late evening with Lucy was running through his mind. Gabriel already had low self-esteem since early childhood and worried he was not good enough for his mate.

He had been giving Lucy space today, even though he knew she had just finished her shift at the coffee shop down the street. He told himself she deserved the time to process all of the heavy things discussed on their sunset truck date at Airport Mesa. He knew there was hope because she did kiss him goodbye the previous evening, so that meant she wasn't completely bugged out by him.

He put a notebook he was carrying into his car and locked it before walking into town to meet Vance for dinner. He had told Vance about coming clean to Lucy, and Vance wanted to take him out for food and drinks. Vance had always been Gabriel's unconditional confidant and his closest peer