Was

I want to hate Gabe... I wish I could. He’s driving me to where he lives, said we could talk about what happened. He probably just doesn’t want Melanie to know he’s here. I bet he’ll bribe me. That would definitely put a smile on my face.

“How have you been?” Gabe asks, and I know it’s truly out of curiosity, not small talk. I want to groan and ask why he would ask me that stupid question when there are more pressing matters, like what happened to him and how he could break my best friend’s heart, never mind my own. But I don’t, because being mad at the man sitting next to me will get me nowhere.

“Alright, I guess. Melanie’s been terrible, though.” I tell him this trying to change the subject. Gabe grunts as an answer and pulls into the driveway that, I assume, leads to his home.

He pulls us into the driveway and the house I see is less than what I would have expected from Gabe. “Don’t give the house that look,” Gabe says with a grin, “It’ll grow on you.”

His home was made of brick, which Gabe hated. I know that because when Melanie and Gabe were building their house they made it very clear that brick was ‘seventies and overrated’. I don’t agree at all, however. It overlooked the water, which was another thing Gabe didn’t like, or so I thought.

I followed him inside, and kept my comments to myself. I loved it. It was gorgeous inside, all browns and greens... neutral colours.

“Sit, I’ll get us some drinks.” Gabe said to me, “Just follow the hall.” So I did. There were pictures on the wall, some I stopped to look at. They were beautiful, most of them... Some weren’t as much. Well, not to me anyway. Abstract isn’t my thing by a long shot.

“So, what do you think?” I found Gabe in the living room, and realized I had taken more time looking at the pictures on the walls than I should have.

“Of what?” I asked and sat down at the love seat across from him. He had our drinks on the table between us. I took a sip and realized it was water.

“The house.” Gabe answered me and pushed his glasses up.

“Oh, well... it’s nice. I love it. But it’s not you.” I said to him. Gabe just smiled and took a sip of his water. He didn’t even disagree or argue about my opinion, which I didn’t find that surprising. “Hey, you didn’t ask me how I got here.”

“Actually, I did. Remember? I said “what are you doing here” and you were upset and said “better question is what the hell are you doing here” and that was that.” I did remember, but that wasn’t what I was getting at.

“Well, if you’re wondering, I took a bus here. My sister lives near here.”

“Oh? And how were you planning on getting there? It’s not exactly a suburban town with houses right next to each other and certainly not like the city.” I just looked around the room, I was hoping I would see Caroline, my sister, in the Diner. She said she would be there, but Caroline isn’t exactly someone who is to be counted on.

“Enough talk about my transportation... what about you and Melanie?”

“Melanie...?” Gabe asked, and laughed. I didn’t laugh, I just pursed my lips. “Alright, alright. I don’t love her. I don’t think I ever did. She changed me too much and by the time I realized it, we were getting close to marriage. I didn’t want to hurt her.”

“Hurt her?” I asked. “You did hurt her, Gabe! She was out of her mind for the past four months! Ever since you left she’s been looking for you!”

Gabe replied in a calm voice, “If I divorced her, I think it would have hurt her more. If I left at the altar, I would have hurt her more. It’s better this way anyways.” I just sat there and looked at him as he stared at me. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Jordan. I did what I thought was best for the both of us. I learned that Melanie isn’t the center of the world and that I need to think for myself once in a while.”

I looked away feeling guilty, who am I to judge Gabe on his decisions? I’m not perfect and neither is he, nor is Melanie.

“What made you leave?” I asked softly.

“Leave Melanie?” he wiped a hand over his face and slouched down on the sofa. This isn’t the Gabe I know. He suddenly seemed more tired. “I guess just the way... I don’t know. I’m not going to lie to you and say something that isn’t true, Jordan. She changed me too much. I am so different compared to the old Gabe, it’s unbelievable. I have no friends, Jordan. I left everything back in Alberta when I came here to be with Melanie.”

After that conversation, Gabe and I headed outside and sat on the dock together. I didn’t bring up Melanie again, and Gabe didn’t either. We were at a sort of neutral.

“How is Brennan?” Gabe asked after a few minutes of silence. I thought about Brennan, he reminded me of Gabe, but only because of his good looks, not because of his personality.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him in a couple of months.”

“What?” Gabe sounded horrified. “I thought you two were serious about each other.”

“Yeah, well I thought that about you and Melanie, too.” Gabe just glared at me.

“If you seriously want to get into that again, I’ll drive you to the bus stop and you can talk to the people there.”

“Whoa, whoa. Slow down. I’m kidding.” Gabe grunted and crossed his arms. He looked sort of funny in a wooden chair in the country. This was so not him.