Well, she thought, there was really no reason she couldn’t call. He wasn’t the one who’d needed space, after all. She had. And right now, she didn’t want it anymore. Maybe that was selfish, but she decided to go with her gut and make the call.
He answered on the first ring. “Hey, Gabi,” he said, his tone cautious. “What’s up?”
“I was wondering if you could come over to Cora Jane’s for dinner tonight?”
“Is this her idea or yours?” he inquired suspiciously.
“Mine. She’s actually going to a movie with Jerry tonight. I’m cooking, for better or for worse.”
He chuckled at that. “Want me to bring takeout?”
She sighed. “It seems rude to invite you to dinner and then expect you to supply the food, but it might be smarter.”
“Italian, Chinese, something from Boone’s? What’s your pleasure?”
“Pizza,” she said at once. “And salad. I’ll pick up some ice cream for dessert.”
“What time?”
“I’m heading home now from Sally’s. I’ll probably try to sneak in a half-hour nap, but any time you’re ready after five would be good. I’m not sure what your work schedule is like these days.”
“I’m wrapping things up with Tommy in the next hour or so. I’ll clean up, pick up the food and be there by five-thirty, most likely.”
“Perfect. Thanks, Wade.”
“No thanks necessary. I’m glad you called.”
“Just like that?” she asked, amazed yet again by his accepting nature. Paul would have been in a snit for a week if she’d ignored even one of his messages. “After the way I treated you the last time I saw you?”
“Just like that,” he said. “You needed time. I respect that. See you in a couple of hours.”
Gabi disconnected the call and looked up to see a grin on Sally’s face. “The man really is a saint,” Gabi told her.
“A saint on a mission, I’d say,” Sally replied.
“A mission?”
“He wants you, girl. You do know that, right? I mean, if you don’t get that much, then you’re not half as bright as I’ve been giving you credit for being.”
Gabi sighed. “I just don’t want to hurt him. Louise has been afraid of that all along and now I am, too.”
“Wade’s a big boy,” Sally reminded her. “He’s taken his share of knocks. Clearly he doesn’t think you pose a threat to his serenity. Maybe you should trust him on that.”
Gabi smiled. Maybe she should.
* * *
“How did you know you were good at carving wood?” Gabi asked Wade as they sat on the porch at Cora Jane’s later that evening with the sound of wind chimes in the air.
Wade grinned at the plaintive note in her voice. Thanks to his recent conversation with Sally, he knew exactly where she was coming from.
“I’m still not a hundred percent sure,” he admitted. “Each time I touch a new block of wood, I wonder if I’ll find the art inside.” He glanced her way. “You’re thinking too much about the mistakes.”
“Well, of course I am,” she responded irritably. “I do not have one single wind chime to show for all the hours I’ve been at this. There were one or two that were okay, but I don’t want to settle for okay.”
“Hours, huh?” Wade said, his tone dry. “Talk to me when you’ve been at it for months.”
She frowned at his attitude. “At some point I do need to turn this into a living or give it up.”
“No starving-artist lifestyle for you?” he teased.
“Hey, even you have a backup plan. You’re doing all that custom cabinetry to pay the bills.”
“And you have a severance package, plus you’ll have some money from the sale of your house, and you can always work at Castle’s. You and the baby will never starve.”
She shook her head. “The severance package won’t last forever and, as my father lovingly pointed out last night, the town house isn’t likely to bring in big bucks. I’ll be lucky to get the equity I have in it back. As for Castle’s...” She shuddered. “Short-term, sure. As a career goal, not so much.”
Wade gave her a considering look, wondering if she was ready to hear the idea he’d run past Sally. “I actually have some thoughts about something you could do, if you’re interested in hearing them. I don’t want to suggest that I don’t have any faith in your artistic talents, though.”
She smiled. “Believe me, after today I am more than ready for any ideas. I hate admitting I failed at anything, but I am very close to conceding defeat on that front. It’s been fun and satisfying in some ways, especially getting to spend all this time with Sally, but mostly it’s been frustrating.”
“Maybe because you expected too much too soon. Should you give it more time?”
“I’m not going to walk out of Sally’s studio tomorrow,” she said. “But I wouldn’t mind exploring some other options. What’s your idea?”
“I’ve been thinking we need an artists’ consortium, cooperative, whatever,” he began, taking her at her word. He described the kind he had in mind, one where the artists would have their own workshop spaces. “I’d take a space for my carvings. I ran this by Sally recently, and she said she’d be interested, too. I think a gallery in which artists not only display their art but have room to work would be a real draw out here. I think people are as fascinated by the process as they are by the finished products. And the chance to meet the artist before buying his or her work could easily increase the value, too. With your organizational skills, you could pull this together, and with your PR skills, you could draw a lot of attention to it. Plus, I think you get the artistic spirit and could work with a lot of temperamental people.”
She smiled. “Like you and Sally?”
“Hey, we’re probably saints in comparison to some you’ll run across.”
Gabi’s expression turned thoughtful. “It’s actually a really interesting concept,” she conceded. “It’s definitely the kind of fresh new challenge that I
