A Second Chance

Chapter 8

I was walking down the corridor towards the stairs with my bag and phone in hand, ordering for a cab when I heard Gabriel's voice.

I paused to look and saw him climbing up the stairs. He was on the phone talking to someone. "Yeah, dad, I understand. It's ok. But I will only attend the meeting tomorrow and then I'm coming back home. I am not staying at the office."

Oh, so he has to go to work tomorrow. Only for a little while, but still, the girls and I would be by ourselves.

I grinned, feeling relieved about having some time alone with the kids tomorrow. Away from the awkward tension that will be there the whole time, knowing he was in the house, not to mention when we are in the same room.

I was doing a mental dance thinking about things we could do while he went out that I didn't notice when he had reached up the stairs until he was right in front of me.

My smile instantly vanished, my eyes went wide, and I'm pretty sure I looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

I know I wasn't doing anything wrong,  but he makes me feel really nervous.
Now that we no longer are friends, I find him intimidating. That's why I try avoiding him like the plague.

But here I was inches away from him. Just staring at his bright blue eyes, not moving, with my eyes open wide. I sure looked guilty.

Move Nicola! Stop staring at him like an idiot and move!

But he was staring at me too. With the usual frown on his face. So I finally shifted my eyes from him and stepped away, ready to walk past him to go down the stairs. But as I did, he suddenly grabbed my arm.

I froze, looking at where he was holding me, and he instantly let me go.

I could still feel his touch on my arm, though, and resisted rubbing at it.

He was staring at my bag. "Are you leaving?" He asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"Why? Dinner will be ready shortly. Eat before you go."

I shook my head. "No, I really can't stay. I need a shower, too. And I am really tired, so I just want to go to the hotel and rest." I replied.

Thankfully, he didn't say anything further and nodded. So I hurried down the stairs and left.

The next morning when I arrived at their house Gabriel had already left. So the girls and I enjoyed ourselves baking cookies and watching disney cartoons. The girls stuffed themselves with almost all the cookies that we had made.

By the time Gabriel came back, the girls had already had their lunch. And was helping themselves to the leftover cookies.

As soon as he came in, both Livy and Bella called out to him, "Daddy! Daddy! Come try our cookies. We made it ourselves!" They said proudly, showing it to him.

"You both made it?" He asked, raising his eyebrows in amusement.

"Well, Nicky helped, of course."

"Of course." He said, reaching out for a cookie, his face full of amusement.

"Do you like it, Daddy?" Livy asked.

Gabriel put the cookie in his mouth and slowly chewed it like he was testing all the flavors with great concentration until he finally swallowed and said, "Wow. That was delicious! You guys did a good job. You both are going to be great cooks one day."

They both grinned proudly, "Just like mom." They said hopefully.

Gabriel looked startled for a second, then smiled and repeated, "Just like mom."

The girls looked so happy that I couldn't help but smile at them.

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Another chapter done! Please share your comments, I would like to improve on my writing skills as I on.
It can only be done with constructive criticism. 😅