Serenity felt the scales in her heart tilt a little further in his favor. The past two months with Gabriel had been amazing, and if she were being honest with herself, she didn’t want it to end. And that was the crux of her problem because she knew it would end. And soon. Every time she considered asking for space, he did some thoughtful thing, like just now, that made her say, “One more day won’t hurt.” Except, in the end, it would hurt.

*  *  *

Thursday morning, the slip-slap of Gabriel’s running shoes hit the pavement as he kept up a steady rhythm. As he jogged, he mentally went over his schedule for the rest of the day. He’d gotten up at seven and worked for three hours to finish his part of the note-taking app and decided to go for his run now to clear his head for the meeting with Darius and Brent at noon. They had originally planned to meet on Tuesday but had to postpone it until today due to Brent needing to take care of some personal business. After his meeting, he’d work for another four or five hours, then go grocery shopping.

His thoughts shifted to Serenity, and he wondered how her day was going and whether it would be as tiring. He’d called to check on her last night, as promised, but they spoke only briefly because she was already in bed, despite it being before ten. Gabriel increased his speed until he reached a fast sprint and kept up the pace for the next few minutes. He slowed, reversed his course, and went back the way he came. When he got to his car, he took a moment to cool down and drink the bottle of water he’d brought before sliding behind the wheel and driving home.

Gabriel showered, ate a bowl of fruit, and downed a protein shake, then booted up his computer and clicked on the videoconference link. While waiting for his friends to log on, he made a few more notes on the new video game he and Darius would be starting on next.

“What’s up, G?” Brent said.

He moved back to the screen. “Hey. Everything okay with your dad?”

“Yeah. It turned out to be heartburn, not a heart attack, thank goodness. Mom was freaking out, and I had a hell of a time trying to keep her calm. She kept saying he couldn’t leave her here alone. Man, these have been the longest two days of my life.” He ran a hand over his head. “They’re both okay, so I’m relieved.”