Free Mind Over Matter by Kaia Bennett Page A

job,” as her mind still labeled it.
    She explained that it was kind of a coming-of-age tale about friends who fall in love.
    "Well, you're brilliant. I'm sure you'll figure it out."
    She chuckled at that. "I'm so not brilliant. And anyway, how would you know, you've only read that short story and it was hardly Pulitzer Prize material."
    "Jackie gave me her copy of your book the other day when I went to see Ian. Started reading it yesterday," he said.
    Her heart thudded in her chest and then skipped a beat. She was glad he couldn’t see her face.
    Somehow in the grand equation of life, she never actually thought that one day he would sit down and read her book. Part of her mind was so used to the people around her seeing it as almost a hobby. A hobby she got paid for. Never mind that sometimes when she sat there staring at her computer, her greatest fear was that her first book was a fluke, a hailstorm of creativity that Gabriel inspired. And after Jackie's assertion that Gabe was obviously on her mind when she wrote it, she was deathly afraid that's what he would come up with, too.
    "You don't have to read it, you know. It's really kinda silly. Like a chick book."
    He laughed. "You scared I'm not going to like it, or something? You saw my library. I read all kinds of shit, and so far I can honestly say, I love it. It's not ‘just a chick book’, not the way you write it."
    "Really?"
    "Truly. I want my own copy, though. Signed and everything."
    Nervousness warred with warmth and she closed her eyes to savor this moment. Gabriel didn't lie to her about things like this, not even to spare her feelings. Back in the day when he read her story, he’d said he was proud of her. And now he said he was proud of her for getting published. But for him to read what she wrote in published form and like it... that seemed special somehow. And scary. How long would it be before he read it and pierced the thinly veiled code that revealed who he was in the book? And how would he like the ending?
    "Thank you," she said finally, hoping her warmth and gratitude could reach him through the receiver. "That means a lot to me, Gabe."
    "No problem, sweetheart. It's the truth." She thought she would melt when he called her one of his favorite pet names. Sweetheart. It always amazed her how much she responded to it. It wasn't laced with affectionate, naughty imagery like "little girl" or "dirty girl". Normally, "sweetheart" seemed such a sugary and quaint term of endearment, even old-fashioned. But on his lips, with that raspy voice and with all the memories of how he'd whispered it in her ear and against her skin, how could it be anything but sexy?
    “And if you need help, I can read it for you, what you're working on now,” he added. “You know, like I used to."
    "Aren't you busy making music these days?"
    "Never too busy for you," he said. "We are friends, after all."
    God, please stop. Stop making me want you again...
    Ha, that's funny. Did you ever stop wanting him?
    "You can always come out and get something to eat with us tonight when we wrap up today's session," he said, "us" being the band. Ironically the studio was only about ten minutes away by cab now that she’d moved, but he would be too busy to hang out until later. "Maybe bring what you're working on?" She always preferred printing things out in hard copy form for him to read, and he hadn’t forgotten the quirk.
    "Okay. But I have to eat something that doesn't make me need to reassess my wardrobe, so nothing greasy," she said with a chuckle. "Got Turkey Day coming up and that's already dangerous enough."
    She shuffled the phone to the other ear as she lifted the box and tried to stuff it on to the top shelf. In the process the phone clattered to the floor. And for a second she could hear Gabriel's voice on the other end, yelling to see if she was okay and what had happened. She shoved the box onto the shelf quickly, dropped down to pick up the phone, then hopped back onto the