Beautiful Mistakes

~Chapter 4~

Sydney

"I've never been one to get caught up in the details of this gala." Gabe smiles at me before nodding at the folder I had placed on the table.

"Really? I find that hard to believe, considering the word meticulous seems to be attached to your name."

He laughs, his hand suspended in the air with a forkful of food. "I see my reputation precedes me," he says with a wink, then places the food in his mouth.

After my initial hiccup, we lapsed into a comfortable meeting and the conversation has been flowing. His gaze is intense, rarely leaving my face, and I struggle to make sense of it.

"But to answer your question, I trust Samira implicitly and haven't needed to get involved in the planning aspects."

"Except for this year."

"I couldn't very well leave this event to a temp assistant now, could I?"

"Yet you're willing to trust it to me?"

For the first time during our lunch, Gabe diverts his eyes and looks uncomfortable. "Well, uh, you see, Marilyn assured me you're the best next to her."

"To be honest, Marilyn has more faith in me than she should."

I wish I could say I'm just being modest, but I'm not. I still can't figure out why she hired me and keeps giving me some of her top clients. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful she's taken me under her wing and given me the tools to take my event planning to the next level. But I always wonder "why me?" when there are so many others out there who are likely more qualified and definitely have more experience.

"Is this how you charm all your clients?"

My face burns hot - it seems to be doing that a lot today - and I lower my eyes. Gabe's presence simultaneously makes me feel confident and sexy and like a dorky teenage girl again. I don't remember being this nervous around him as a kid, but then again, my focus was on Liam Payne.

"Just the ones I grew up with."

"Well, Squirt-"

"Ugh, I was really hoping you'd forget that nickname," I groan.

"It just came back to me." He smiles and winks again. "As I was saying, Marilyn sees immense potential in you, which says a lot because she's probably pickier than me."

"I hope, for everyone's sake, this goes well." Picking up the folder, I open it and officially start our meeting. "I've read over your file, but one thing I like to do first is to hear from the client what their motivation is behind the event. I know it's for charity, but why? Why this charity?"

Gabe waits before answering, pausing to push his food around and gather his thoughts. He looks up at me with a hint of sadness in his eyes. "Because those are my roots."

"Your roots?"

He continues to share about his childhood. Abandoned at a fire station at two years old, he has no memories of his parents. His formative years were spent moving from foster home to foster home, then from group home to group home as he channeled his feelings of worthlessness through rebellion. Referring to his Ma and Pa as his saving grace, he shared how they loved him into the version of who he is today.

Nick and Gabe were already friends before I was born, and they moved away for college when I was only three, so I had no idea what his backstory was. I just knew I thought my brother was the coolest guy in the world, and so his friend was cool by default. Except when he called me Squirt. I distinctly remember hating that nickname.