The Last Phone Booth in Manhattan(74)

“Oh good, you’re not dead,” he joked, picking up the call before it even had a chance to fully ring.

“I’m so sorry. Rehearsal didn’t go well . . . again, and I stuck around the studio a little longer than I planned on.”

“Don’t worry about it. I set some dinner aside for you. What time do you think you’ll be here? I can throw it in the oven.”

“I know I said I’d come by tonight, but would you be upset if I just head back to Bushwick? With the audition right around the corner, I could use a good night’s sleep.”

“Oh, Ave, any chance I could persuade you to come here instead? I have something I want to talk to you about and besides, I’ve been missing you. If you have to go home, I understand, buuuuut if you can come by even for a little bit . . .”

I sighed, knowing I couldn’t resist the invitation. He’d been so patient and so understanding of my ups and downs over the past few weeks since we got back from our trip, and truth be told, I missed him too.

“Aww . . . you’ve been missing me?” I asked sweetly.

“More than you know,” he replied.

“Oh, damn you and your charm!” I teased. “I’m on my way.”

I hurried out of the building, hopped on the E Train to Tribeca, and jogged up the block toward Gabe’s apartment. It was hard to believe that less than four months ago, I showed up at his front door not even knowing he’d be on the other side. None of it made sense then. And while I still couldn’t explain the how, with each day that passed and our relationship blossoming, the why was becoming more and more clear.

Like the ghosts in A Christmas Carol who revealed the past and present so that Scrooge could reconcile his future, the phone booth had given me the opportunity to reconstruct my own. I’d reunited with the man I loved, reignited the career I always wanted, and as long as I had Gabe and Manhattan, my future looked pretty damn bright.





Chapter Thirty-Six


I buzzed into Gabe’s building, and he had the door flung open before I even passed the lobby. He rushed into the hallway and scooped me up into a big hug, his arms tight around me, and lifted me right off my feet. Kissing me playfully with quick smooches to my cheek, he pulled back, setting me down, and said, “Damn, I’ve missed you.”

“Oh good, I was worried you greeted all of your visitors like that. I guess absence really does make the heart grow fonder. If I’d known I was in for that kind of a reception, I would have stayed away even longer.”

“Oh, honey, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.” He waggled his eyebrows mischievously, a sexy grin sweeping over his face, and pulled me by the hands into the apartment. “Sit. Relax. Let me pour us a glass of wine. I grabbed a few bottles of that pinot noir that you loved from the Finger Lakes.” His voice disappeared as he turned and made his way to the kitchen.

“What are you up to? What am I missing?” I called out to him as I surveyed the immaculate living room for clues. Did he have a vanilla-scented candle lit?!

He came back into the room carrying two glasses. “Can’t a fella just woo his lady?”

“No, please woo away, but this feels a little too good to be woo. I mean, true. C’mon, what’s going on?”

Gabe chuckled at my misspeak and handed me a glass. “Cheers, to us.” He lifted his and clinked it to mine. I continued to eye him suspiciously as I took a sip, his face distorted through the bulb of the bottom. He scooched a bit closer to me on the couch, took my wine, and set it down beside his before taking my hands into his own.

I could feel his fingers trembling, and I looked up at him, alarmed. “Are you all right? Why are you shaking? What’s going on?”

“I give speeches in rooms to hundreds of people. I don’t know why I’m so nervous right now. I mean, I do, but I thought somehow I’d be a lot smoother,” he muttered.

I looked around, confused. “Are you talking to me?”

“Yes, no, I mean . . .” He breathed out and stood up, drawing a small box from his pocket as he bent down to one knee.

“Oh my God, what are you doing?”

“I kinda thought it’d be obvious,” he joked as he popped open the velvet box to reveal a beautiful teardrop diamond ring surrounded by a sparkling halo of smaller stones. “Every day since you knocked on my door on Christmas, I’ve thanked my lucky stars we were given a second chance. Avery, I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side. You are the source of my happiness, the center of my world, and the whole of my heart. Will you marry me?”

I wasn’t aware I had stopped breathing until I heard my pulse booming in my ears. As my vision turned hazy and my head filled with ringing, I surveyed the moment: there were no confetti cannons, no kicklines of Broadway dancers, no Sutton-freakin’-Foster. In fact, it was the exact opposite of Adam’s proposal. Simple. Intimate. Impromptu. It was perfectly Gabe.

My hands were clasped over my mouth, and I struggled to put my words and thoughts together. “Are you sure . . . like really sure? It’s only been a few months.”

And while I knew we had a much longer history than that, it all still felt a little too fast. Maybe I was missing something? What was the big hurry?

He came up off his knee, took his place next to me on the couch, and lifted a hand to my cheek. “Seven years and a few months. We’ve let so much time go by. I don’t want to lose another second.”