35. All The Good Things
ALL THE GOOD THINGS
“Mom,” Luca said ten days later. “Do you have a minute to talk?”
“Always,” his mother said. “Is everything alright?”
“Everything is great. Things with Gabriela are great too.”
“I’m so happy to hear that. You sound wonderful. Happy. Not even tired. I lose track of your schedule.”
“I finished last night. This is my first of ten days off. I’ll be meeting Gabriela at the gym in an hour, then we’ll get lunch and spend the day together.”
“That’s working for you two?”
“It’s working wonderfully. Well, the hardest part is being apart for ten days.
Her five at work and then mine. At first we’d said we’d keep it separate and not put pressure on the other, but now we end up spending a few nights together during that time.
I’ll go to her place when I’m out of work or she comes here. ”
“I’m glad you’re able to do that. Compromising isn’t easy. I always felt that you bent over backwards for Zoe more than she did for you.”
He wasn’t sure he wanted to go down that path again, but what his mother said wasn’t wrong.
“I probably did,” he agreed.
“But that was your marriage.”
“It was and it can’t be changed. And even if I wanted to change things, it wasn’t a one-way street.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be bringing up old news. I just so want you to find what you’ve been looking for.”
Which led right into where he was going.
“I am. In a lot of ways. Gabriela and I are going strong. I want to say I see a future with her, but I know it’s early. We have a lot in common for sure. We get along great. Hell, we haven’t even fought once.”
“Really? Everyone disagrees or fights.”
“I know, but we haven’t. I’m not sure if it’s just that we are more mature about things. Or think alike. Trust me, she has no problem telling me like it is.”
“It can’t always be all fun and games either.”
“We have a lot of serious conversations.”
More than he’d thought he’d have with her.
He was glad to know she never shied away from it.
Not like Zoe had done for a long time.
And as much as he didn’t want to go down that road, he knew it was the truth.
At times he was the one bending over or giving in.
He always knew that, but it couldn’t always be his way either.
“I’m glad to hear that. I’d really like to meet her. Do you think she’d be willing to do a video chat at the very least?”
“I’m sure she would. I’ll ask her today. Maybe if you’re around we can do it.”
“I’ll make the time.”
He was thrilled to hear the excitement in his mother’s voice.
For too long it’d been filled with sadness. Worry. Concern.
Now it was with happiness. Anticipation.
All the good things.
“Good. But that’s not why I called.” There was no way to ease into this. “I’m going to start the process of adopting a baby.” The silence filled the line, thick, heavy, and caused his heart to thump hard. “Are you there, Mom?”
“I’m here. I’m processing. For years I thought you’d say those words, but now, I’m kind of surprised. You just said that you and Gabriela are going strong. Can she not have children? Or doesn’t want children?”
He expected the confusion to be there. “She’s sure she can but hasn’t tried. And she wants them. But this is about me and what I want.”
“I’m glad to hear that on one hand.”
He sighed. “But not on the other. Gabriela is fully aware and supportive, Mom. We’ve talked about it.”
“I’d hoped that you had. Fill me in so I’m not as confused as I am.”
“I want you to be happy and excited over this.”
“I want to be myself, but I also know that adoptions are tricky. It’s why Zoe didn’t want to do it.”
“What?”
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
But she had.
“Yes, you should have. Why didn’t she want to?”
He should have known this as her husband and he wasn’t sure why he hadn’t, yet his mother did.
“Zoe told Susan that she didn’t want to get her hopes up adopting a baby only to have the mother change her mind.
It was worse than waiting for that positive pregnancy test. She really wanted her own child, yes.
You know that, but even Susan tried to talk her into adoption. She couldn’t put herself through that.”
“I didn’t know. And she wasn’t wrong to feel that way. I can’t say for certain it might not happen now, but I think the chances are slim.”
“Well, I’m going to hold off being excited until we know, but that doesn’t mean I’m not supportive.”
“I can’t and won’t ask for more than that,” he said, settling into the chair.
“Tell me the situation then.”
“A sixteen-year-old patient. Taylor. She’s due mid-May.
She doesn’t want the baby. She doesn’t have any support and her family is encouraging this.
It’s going to be a private adoption; she’s not screening anyone else.
I wouldn’t have gone forward if it was going to be that way.
And it’s not like I’m going to an agency hoping someone will pick me.
It’s this or nothing in terms of adoption. That’s my thought right now.”
“So this is someone you know. Someone you’ve made arrangements with prior?”
“As much as we can. I’ve got an attorney. They are going to get us in touch with an agency they work with a lot and we’ll go from there. There will be home visits and many things, but I’m not really worried about any of that.”
“As you shouldn’t be.”
“I would be more worried if she wanted a mother and father, but since she’s having a boy, and has never had a male figure in her life, she wants her son to be with a father.
I don’t know, I think she feels that by me adopting him, he’s my child and not a woman’s to fight for custody if I were married and then divorced. ”
“Is that true?” his mother asked.
“I don’t really know and not something I’m thinking about. It’s the first step that she agreed. The next is going to fall into place as it does.”
“How are you going to care for a child with your hours?” his mother asked. “Have you thought of any of that?”
“I have. I’ve got four weeks of vacation, two weeks get taken in one rotation, so that gives me twenty-five days off right there.
Almost a month. Gabriela said she’d watch the baby for the next two rotations, then I’ll take another while I try to find a nanny.
My hope is that if I can expand it to someone in Boston and have them stay on the island for those five days, then they get ten days off, it might be appealing.
I’m not sure what my chances are of finding someone on the island. ”
“I’ll come and stay for a week. I’ll do it for one of your rotations also, that buys you another month, right? Or close to it.”
He smiled as his heart raced. “Yes, it would. Mom, I’m really excited about this, but trying hard to reel it back. I know all the negatives. I know all the things that can go wrong.”
“Not even caring for the baby,” his mother said. “Just her being so young and pregnant. Do you have a medical history on her or the father of the baby?”
“I have a decent one on Taylor, not the father. And that might be with any child that is adopted. I can handle anything else.”
“I want this to work for you, Luca, and I don’t want to see you hurt again.”
“I don’t want to be hurt again either, but life isn’t always about everything being perfect either.”
“I’m happy if you are. And let me know if I can meet Gabriela.”
“I will.”
He hung up a few minutes later, confident that his mother didn’t think he was nuts, even if she was a little nervous.
Hell, he was too. He got it.
There was so much that could go wrong, and a smaller percentage of what could go right.
He didn’t want to think of those things though.
After he changed into his workout wear, he left for the gym, saw Gabriela already inside and by the treadmill.
“You’re early.” He walked closer to her and gave her a kiss.
They’d been doing that for months in the gym and yet it amazed him on an island this small that people just found out at work about them.
Though no one was actually saying anything to him about it.
He knew they were still wary of him. He wasn’t sure why.
It wasn’t as if he was a jerk or didn’t talk to the staff.
But he also wasn’t one who shared much of his personal life either.
It did seem that many got their information from grilling his girlfriend though.
“I was eager to see you,” she said, her arm around his waist. “And you’re smiling. I’m going to take that as you’re excited to see me too.” Her eyes dropped to his crotch. “Well, not as excited as I want you to be. Not yet.”
He rolled his eyes. “You’re something else. I was on the phone with my mother. She’d like to talk to you. Or meet you via video if you’re agreeable.”
“I’m an agreeable person. You know that. Did you tell her about the rest?”
“I did. She’s on board. Holding back some excitement, which I get. We are too.”
“Yep. But it’s okay to let it sneak out of the cracks now and again.”
That was what he loved about her. She got it.
“I said the same. She offered to come stay a week when I’m working, giving me another month.”
“That’s great, Luca. And you know my parents will help. That part won’t be as hard as you might have thought.”
“There are still a lot of things in the air and anything can change. I think it’s setting in now and I’ll be good for a bit.”
“I feel the same. Now let’s work out and then we’ve got to make use of our alone time before we don’t get as much of it.”
An hour later, they pulled into Gabriela’s garage. But instead of heading inside, she darted into the front yard.
“What are you doing?” he called, stepping out closer to see her.
She bent, scooped up a handful of snow, and flung it at him.
He spun, catching it on his back. “Snowball fight!” she yelled, loading another handful.
“This isn’t exactly what I had in mind when you said we’d make use of our alone time,” he called back, grinning, and took off after her.
He didn’t care that he was still in sneakers, or that the snow soaked through his socks.
He reached her, grabbed her around the waist, lifted her off the ground, and then gently sent her down on her back. She landed with a squeal, snow going under her parka, but laughing harder than he’d ever heard.
She flopped, arms and legs spread wide, making the perfect snow angel.
He knelt beside her, brushing snow off her hair, and laughed along with her. “You’re ridiculously happy right now,” he said.
“I am. Do one with me. A big bear and a little bear angel.”
“You’re ridiculous,” he said, smiling down at her.
“Me?” she shot back, grinning. “I think you’re the one who started this snow war.”
“I don’t think so. You threw the first one.”
“But you picked me up and tossed me to the ground.” She leaned up with her lips puckered.
“Fair,” he admitted, leaning closer. “But now you’re soaking wet and shivering. I think you owe me a truce.”
“Oh, I’ll consider a truce,” she said, lifting her hand out for him to help her up, “but only if you promise to warm me up.”
“You’ve got a promise,” he whispered, yanking her up so hard that she landed into his chest. Then he kissed her again. Soft at first, teasing, testing.
She laughed into the kiss, her hands tangling in his jacket. “Oh, I see. That’s the best way to warm up.”
“That’s what I thought you wanted,” he said, pressing closer, letting the cold snow melt between them.
She grabbed his hand and pulled him back into the garage, then into the house, the door shutting behind them.
A few steps inside her warm entryway, their laughter faded into heavy breaths. His hands found the zipper of her jacket, undid it and pulled it off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. The bottom of her shirt was wet, her leggings with it.
“I think,” she murmured against his lips, “we should continue this somewhere warmer... and wet.”
“Agreed,” he replied, leaving his outerwear on the floor next to hers, then leading her toward the bathroom.
The door closed behind them. Clothes went the way of the snow outside, discarded carelessly as they explored each other. Every kiss, every touch was deliberate, drawn out, urgent and soft all at once.
He flicked the faucets on, letting the shower run hot with steam curling around them as they pressed close. Together they stepped in, the water pouring over their skin, mingling with laughter and whispered words, every movement a continuation of the teasing and longing that had started in the snow.
He backed her against the tiles, her shriek echoing in the small space.
“What?” he asked, looking around.
“They’re cold. You said you’d warm me up.”
He put his hands on her ass cheeks, hitched up until she wrapped her legs around his hips.
“You like this position.”
“I do,” she said. “You haven’t done it again.”
“No time like the present.” His mouth crushed hers, he probed around, found her wet heat and sank in fast.
She was moving her hips forward and back on him, grinding hard, trying to get to the end in a hurry.
He wanted to slow her down, but he couldn’t.
She was right. They had this time together alone and in a few months, it would all change.
Not for the bad.
It’d just be different.
He braced one hand on the wall, the hot water pounding on his back, his hips moving in sync with hers.
Building her higher.
Getting her to the peak.
He wanted to feel her coming around his cock.
Feel her pulsing and pulling him in. Squeezing him tight.
With one hand on the wall holding him in place, his other was squeezing her hips, maybe leaving marks, but she didn’t seem to mind.
She never did when they were together.
“That’s it,” he said. “Get there.”
Her hips were slowing, but each move was harder. Intentional.
Like she knew the exact spot she needed and how to get the maximum amount of pleasure.
He let her go at it. She knew her body best.
She knew him well along with it.
Because every move she made only cranked the dial on his control even harder.
“I’m right there,” she squealed. “So close.”
He moved his mouth to her ear. “Come for me. All over me. Let me feel you pulling me in.”
Her breath was coming out in gasps, her hips picked up speed again, and then she was coming like he’d told her to do.
Exactly as he wanted.
Tight, squeezing, milking the release out of him like no one had ever done before.
He was so drained after, that he kept her pressed to the tile to keep them both upright.
“Now I’m too hot,” she said, her laughter filling the space. “We need cold water.”
He found the strength to shift and turn her to another wall, putting her back to those tiles.
The loud screech had him laughing. “What? You said you wanted to cool off. I could have just dropped you in the snow again.”
“You wouldn’t,” she said, sliding down his legs.
“Is that a challenge?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Nope. I’m good.” She stepped under the spray, drenched her head and then put her hand out blindly.
He found the shampoo and slapped it over to her, like he knew exactly what she needed and when.
They were almost too in sync with each other.
And he wasn’t worried in the least over that fact.