Crimson swept up my neck. Great, now Gabe knew I’d been laying in my bed miserable since I’d left his cabin. “I’ve had a lot of computer work for my upcoming nursing spot.” My head bobbed up and down. “Tons of stuff to do.”
“I can imagine.” My dad looked at Gabe. “Do you even know what a talented nurse Fern is? She can cut holes in tracheas, pull out hearts, and fix them with her bare hands.”
“Oh, I believe it.” Gabe’s smiling voice filled the room. “I’d bet she’s steady as a rock when dealing with everything from gun shots to glass.”
My temp jumped up five degrees.
“Those doctors would be lost without her.” Pride settled on my father’s face. “Our Fern graduated first in her nursing class and has saved thousands and thousands of people.”
“Dad, please.”
My mother was trying to speak to me with her eyes but instead looked like a deranged asylum escapee. “Jerry, after dinner we need to run and pick up those things from that place.”
His eyes narrowed. “What from what? I don’t understand you.”
“Women are meant to be loved, not understood.” My mother dabbed the corner of her mouth with her napkin. “I’ll show you. Just finish your dinner.”
I ate a few bites and pushed pasta around my plate, almost afraid to look at Gabe. He was at the kitchen table with me. He was in my childhood home to see me. I’d reconciled with the fact that he hadn’t tried to replace his dead wife with me at the cabin. Yes, it was stranger than strange, but I realized he wasn’t crazy. Since I’d been home, I made the grown-up decision that I had to move forward and not look back. We were never going to be a thing anyway. Any connection I felt to him was the equivalent to me stepping off a curb in front of a bus…something that would likely take me out altogether.
Was he here to make sure lovesick Fern had survived post-Gabe life? Was he looking for another weekend pass? Or just hoping to get lucky?
I couldn’t do that again. Nope, I now knew what it felt like after being with him, and it hurt. I’m talking physical pain in my chest. I was leaving after the wedding. He was a player, and there was nothing for us to do.
With my chin down, I peeked up, and my chest caved when my eyes met his. He was sitting up in his chair, holding a fork, with a sincere grin that tickled my tummy.
Well shit, one panty-dropping smile and I was ready to tear off my shirt and do a dance for him right there in the kitchen. Well, in that scenario my parents had vanished into thin air, of course. Not dead, just into a different, happy place.
I lost all rational thought when it came to him. I should tell him he needs to leave, but I’d never wanted anyone to stay more in my life. He was my…my crack cocaine addiction.
I knew with every fiber of my being that he was bad for me. When he was absent, I had started to move forward even though it was like a brutal beating. But the sight of him brought back feelings of ecstasy and a high my body craved.
My mom was yapping on about her friend Janet, whose husband died many years ago and was now becoming a cougar and dating a Sumo wrestler. Are there even Sumo wrestlers in Minnesota? Seemed like a stretch.
I was struck by Gabe’s attentiveness to her story.
He nodded. “I say good for her. Do they have a lot in common? What kind of things do they like?”
My mom jumped off her chair, walked to window, picked up the binoculars that were sitting on the windowsill, and put them over her eyes. “Welp, it looks like they’re working out.” She giggled. “Or warming up for something later.”
Gabe shot out of his seat and stood next to her. “What? Janet lives across the street? Are you serious right now?”
She passed him the spy-in-your-cougar-friend’s-living-room spectacles, and he gasped. “Look at Janet go. This is so good for her, Sharon. He’s teaching her how to do lunges, I think.” After another moment, he quickly put the binoculars back on the sill. “Nope, not teaching her lunges.” He shook his head at my mother. “Don’t look over there. It’ll burn your corneas.”
My mom crossed her arms over her chest. “Damn Sumo wrestler is turning her into a loosey goosey gal.”
Gabe and my dad snickered.
“Alright, Sharon, if we need to do whatever the hell you said earlier, let’s go so we can get this over with.”
“You two leave the dishes, and I’ll get them when I return.” She grabbed my shoulders, kissed my cheek and whispered, “Be nice to him, Boo.”
My dad shook Gabe’s hand. “Nice to see you again. I look forward to watching you kick Dallas in the balls later in the week.”
“It’ll be my pleasure.”
My mother gave the most handsome man in the universe a hug before tugging my father out to the garage. “Tootles!”
An eerie silence filled the room while Gabe piled all four plates in his hands and carried them to the sink. I twisted my neck to watch his fine hinny as he rinsed the plates at the sink. I couldn’t think of one freaking word to say. Did I want him to leave?
