31. Gabe
CHAPTER 31
GABE
T he ache in my back makes me feel like an old man when I finally finish crawling around on the floor. Someone brought their car in after a crash, and I’ve spent most of the day trying to hammer out dents from the metal.
I stretch for a while before I get into the car, but eventually I get bored with that. I just want to go home, sit by the fire and watch some TV. I’ve been thinking about getting a cat.
A cat seems like it would be good company, the kind of creature that minds its own business ninety-nine percent of the time and only bothers you for food and the occasional affection. Sounds just like my kind of animal.
Anything to make the house seem less quiet, less lonely.
I go into autopilot as I drive home, my mind wandering as I think about repairs and tools. What jobs can I give Phoebe tomorrow? She’s always begging for more work, so this will be something good for her.
I turn onto my street and have to slam on the brakes as I approach my driveway because a tiny, battered silver car is in the driveway where I usually park. I very nearly rear-end it, and under any other circumstances I’d be angry. But my heart leaps to see the Pennsylvania plates.
Surely this is a figment of my imagination.
There’s no way that the one person I want to see more than anyone else on earth has come back for me. She wouldn’t do that without calling.
Would she?
I jump out of the car and run slightly too fast for the door. There on the doorstep, wearing a huge puffer jacket and wooly hat, is a girl resting her face on her fist, waiting for me to get home.
It’s like an image from a dream to see her. It’s like I’m hallucinating, like I’ve worked too hard and finally, I’m succumbing to madness.
But when she sees me, she jumps to her feet and gives me that smile, and I know that every inch of her is real, as real as she was when she left me.
I stand frozen for a second, and before I can think, my feet are moving, running towards her. I open my arms, and she jumps into them. I squeeze her close to me and swing her around, overwhelmed by how delighted I am to see her.
“Carly? Is it really you?”
“It is,” she grins, and her eyes start filling up.
“Don’t start that,” I scoff but don’t let go of her. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I came to see you.”
“Me? Why?”
“Because I love you, Gabe. Because I shouldn’t have ever left. Because I should have told you before how I felt. I’m so sorry that I was too stupid to see it then. I’ve let you down, so I’ll understand if you don’t want me back. I really will. And I’m hoping that all this means that you do, but?—”
“I’m sorry too,” I interrupt. “I shouldn’t have let you leave. I should have said something. I should have…” I take a deep breath, lavender perfume filling my lungs.
She loves me. She just said it out loud, brazenly, like it was nothing.
She loves me.
It goes against my nature, but I can’t let her down again.
“I love you too, Carly. I have since that first moment I kissed you. I should have told you before, and I’m sorry I didn’t. I’m sorry that I ever let you leave. I’ve been…” My voice catches in my throat, and she takes hold of both of my hands, squeezing them, giving me the courage to finish my sentence. “It’s been lonely since you’ve been gone.”
“Do you really want me to stay?” she asks, tears shining in her eyes.
“Don’t even think about leaving again,” I growl and lean in to kiss her. Her lips are as plush and warm as I remember, and kissing her feels like a layer of ice melts off me.
All of a sudden, the misery I had been feeling seeps away, and I can’t help but smile.
She wraps her arms around me and says, “I don’t know why I agreed to those clients. All they did was yell at me and tell me I was stupid. And the whole time, I kept thinking about Ruth and John. How are they, by the way?”
“They just got back from Italy. They’re doing great. He’s as sunburnt as a tomato.”
She giggles. “I bet they have so many pictures, so many stories.”
“I bet they’ll be delighted to show you. I wasn’t exactly in a great mood when they tried to show me.”
“I can’t wait to see them.” She grins. “They made me realize that theirs is the kind of wedding I love to plan, not these huge clients. I don’t care about the money and name-dropping. I just want to feel like my job is worth something.”
“Noble. But Carly, the city. You hated every second you spent here.”
“No, I didn’t,” she says, shaking her head, the tears shining in her eyes finally falling. I wipe one away with my thumb, lingering on her cheek.
Even crying, she’s pretty. I already knew that, though.
“I thought I did, but going home just made me realize how lonely I was, how much people just don’t care about each other. Here, I felt like I was part of something. Yeah, I’ll miss twenty-four-hour convenience stores, but they’re worth losing to be with you.”
“To be with me,” I echo. “You’re sure?”
“Of course I’m sure you dummy,” she says, hitting me lightly in the arm. “I came all this way back for you.”
“My door is always open to you, and it always will be. Even if you just came back to be friends, you would be allowed in.”
“But it’s okay that I haven’t come back to be friends?” she stammers. “Because, if you want to, I want so much more than that.”
“I’m glad you said it,” I whisper. “I’ve dreamed of you every night since you left.”
“Good,” she whispers back, her face so close to mine that her foggy breath lingers on my cheeks in a minty cloud. “Because I have a confession to make.”
“A confession?” I frown. “You’re not secretly an alien or something, are you?”
“No.” She giggles. Then she takes a deep breath, looks me in the eye and says, “We’re having a baby.”
The words are so baffling to me that I can barely comprehend them.
“We’re…? You’re what? Pregnant?”
“Yeah, I’m pregnant. With your baby.”
“You’re pregnant,” I echo, feeling like a parrot.
My mind reels with the idea of it. As if by magic, she dropped onto my doorstep and delivered the family that I’ve secretly always yearned for.
I can barely comprehend it.
“If you don’t want to be involved, I’ll understand,” Carly blurts out. “I would prefer to have you, of course, to do this together, but I don’t want to force you into anything?—”
“Stop right there,” I say, taking hold of her hands and kissing her knuckles. “Did you not hear anything I just said? I want you, and I want this baby. I want our family to be happy. Is that too much to ask for?”
“No.” She lets out a sob and falls into my arms. I wrap them tightly around her. “No, it’s perfect.”
I lean down and kiss her, this time her lips tasting salty from tears. I relish every moment of it. I get to kiss her again and again. It makes my heart soar.
“I’m not going to wake up and find this is some sort of cruel dream, am I?” I eye her suspiciously. She shakes her head.
“For me, this is completely real. This is the realest thing that’s ever happened.”
“Good,” I say and give her a smile, perhaps the most genuine smile I’ve ever given anyone. “Come on, then. Let’s go inside. Let’s go home.”
With that, I take her hand, unlock the front door and gesture for her to go in.
I follow and close the door behind us as we start our new life together.