Not sure what to say, she just nodded. “Yes.” The assumption would be then that Gabriel had mentioned her to Alex, which further legitimized his claim of being a friend. But she was still suspicious and a little freaked out.

He stood up, tucking his BlackBerry into the pocket of his dress pants. He was dressed like he was headed into the office, his blue button-up shirt crisp and ironed. Alex had short, dark hair and the kind of smile that, while perfectly charming, almost looked condescending. Walking toward her, he stuck his hand out. “Gabriel told me about you. Nice to meet you.”

“You, too.” She shook his hand automatically.

“Where is Gabriel, by the way? I was hoping to talk to him.”

“Uh, he’s at the hospital. There was an incident outside our apartment last night.” Sara suddenly realized she had referred to Gabriel’s apartment as belonging to her as well, and felt heat start to creep up her cheeks. This was Gabriel’s friend and she didn’t want to sound presumptuous. She also didn’t want to explain Rochelle’s weird obsession with Gabriel.

“An incident?”

“A girl tried to kill herself and Gabriel is visiting her.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “He’s at it again, is he?”

“What do you mean?” Sara wanted a drink of water and some aspirin desperately. She felt like she was having a hard time processing information, like her brain had slowed to a snail’s pace, and her head was throbbing.

“Gabriel. He gets too emotionally involved with these girls.”

Sara raised an eyebrow. “Well, she did try to kill herself. He’s just being compassionate.”

Alex gave her a wry look. “I call it being stupid. You don’t know how many times I’ve seen him do this.”

“Do what?”

“Take in a broken woman thinking he’s going to nurse her back to good mental health. Like a bird with a damaged wing.”

Like Sara, maybe? Not a flattering thought.

“It’s a big waste of his time. You can’t fix another person.” That was very true. She could vouch for that with her own mother.

“I don’t think he’s trying to fix this girl. He just felt bad for her. It was a very random thing.” She didn’t know what else to say. She really wanted Alex to leave so she could take off her shoes and curl up on the bed with her kitten. Go to sleep finally.

“Well, I’ll take off then, since he’s not home. I need to go see my daughter. She’s having boy trouble, as usual. But if you could tell Gabriel I stopped by, I’d appreciate it.”

“Sure. It was nice meeting you. Sorry, I’m a little out of it from lack of sleep.” Sara wondered how old Alex was that he had a daughter dabbling with dating already. She would have put him at no older than thirty-five, but then again, she herself had been nineteen when her own mother was thirty-five.

“I understand. It was nice meeting you, too.” He smiled.