Page 2 of Never Saw You Coming

“Vanessa?” Gabby shot to her feet, dislodging Thelma, who grumbled in dissatisfaction. “Who’sVanessa?”

The interviewer looked like he was about to wet himself with excitement. “You heard it here first. Not only is Henry Gosling off the market, but we can also officially confirm his involvement with Auckland attorney Vanessa Hallborn.”

“What?” Gabby’s jaw dropped and her heart squeezed painfully. She couldn’t take her gaze from the horror unfolding in front of her even though tears prickled in her eyes and a hollow pit in her stomach told her this wasn’t a nightmare. She was awake, and the man she’d planned on building a life with was apparently engaged to someone else.

“What the fuck is going on?” Marley demanded.

“I don’t know.” Gabby reached blindly for her phone. Maybe a phone call with Henry would clear this up. She found his number and hit ‘Call,’ but he didn’t answer. Of course he didn’t. He was still being interviewed. The voicemail prompt played.

“You’re engaged?” Gabby asked incredulously. “Seriously? Is this real? I don’t understand what’s happening. Please call me back. I need to hear you tell me this is all a big joke.” She hung up.

Marley wrapped her arms around Gabby and hugged her tightly. “I don’t think this is a joke.”

Heat rushed to Gabby’s cheeks. She squeezed her eyes shut. If this was really happening, it meant that Henry was a liar and a cheat, not the good, honest man she’d thought he was. He’d played her, and she’d fallen for it. God, what a fool.

She felt sick. What if her parents were watching this from their home in Wellington? Or her brother? She and Henry had agreed to keep their relationship quiet, which he’d claimed was to protect her from public scrutiny, but she now realized must have been so he could keep her and this Vanessa lady in the dark about each other. Despite that, she’d told her family and Marley. They’d be horrified. What would they think of her? Would they believe she’d known about the other woman? Or just that she was blind and stupid?

Henry had disappeared from the TV and another player was being interviewed, so Gabby tried calling him again. When he didn’t answer, she sent him a text message instead.

Gabby:Call me.

She flopped back onto the couch, breathing heavily. Was she supposed to just lie here and wait for him to respond?

Fuck that.

She was driving to Auckland and she was going to ask him to explain face-to-face. She deserved that much.

“Come on.” She grabbed her purse and strode to the door. “We’re going to Auckland.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” Marley asked.

Gabby shot her a look that said she was one hundred percent certain.

“Okay, then. I’ll drive. We can call Blake to feed the animals later if you need.” Blake was her twin brother.

“Thanks.”

Twenty minutes later, they were hurtling toward Auckland in Marley’s pickup truck when Gabby’s phone pinged with a text alert. She checked the screen and, seeing there was a message from Henry, hurried to open it.

Henry:Yes, I’m engaged. I’m sorry you had to find out this way, but it doesn’t have to change anything between us.

What. The. Fuck?

Did he expect her to be his side chick? How the hell could he say that to her when, even in an alternate universe where she might have been okay with helping him cheat on another woman, he knew it was her dream to have the two point five kids and white picket fence? She could hardly have that while their daddy ran between their home and someone else’s.

Shit, had shebeenhis side chick already? If he was engaged to Vanessa, then Gabby couldn’t be considered his main girl. She’d been aiding and abetting a cheater. Nausea rolled through her.

“The nerve of this boy,” Marley spat, leaning over to read what he’d said.

A sob burst from Gabby, startlingly loud in the silent vehicle. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she opened the window and threw her phone through it as hard as she could.

“Are you crazy?” Marley demanded. “Now we’re going to have to go find that.”

“Don’t stop,” she said. Whatever was on that phone, she didn’t want it. No doubt Henry would message again, and so would Mum and Shane. She couldn’t deal with it. If she needed to call someone, they could use Marley’s phone. “And don’t turn back.”

“Hell no.” Marley reached out and intertwining her fingers with Gabby’s. “We’re still going to Auckland and we’re going to fuck shit up.”

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