Chapter Twenty-Five
‘How are you doing?’ asked Gabe as she sat down to join him. She wasn’t surprised that he asked but she was fine. Her sisters had asked the same but if anything today had been a great success and she wished people wouldn’t keep asking how she was.
‘I’m fine. Let’s talk about something else, though,’ said Nick quickly, ‘this must be a bit boring for you.’
Gabe looked at her carefully, then smiled and changed the subject. ‘Guess what I found in my room?’ he asked, his eyebrows wiggling.
Nick sat back and pretended to guess. ‘Another tree?’
‘That would be impressive. No, I have a family collection of DVDs and one of them is Lilo and Stitch . After dinner do you fancy joining me, and you can see what inspired Ohana’s name?’
Nick was delighted. She had had a great day in Gabe’s company and hadn’t wanted it to end. Besides which, she didn’t want to go back to her own rooms and think about what she had discovered about her father. A movie night sounded like an excellent idea and was a better option than dwelling over the revelations of her father’s upbringing.
‘It’s a date!’ she said and then blushed. ‘I mean, it’s not. A date, that is. I mean. Ugh.’ She threw her napkin on the table in disgust at her own awkwardness.
Gabe shrugged his shoulders. ‘I’m cool if you want to call it a date. Maybe Ohana can act as a chaperone?’
‘Movie night it is then.’
** *
When Roisin came over to see what they wanted for pudding, Gabe asked if there was any popcorn in the hotel and maybe some milkshakes? He had seen how awkwardly Letta had reacted to his suggestion and he was determined not to make her feel uncomfortable. Tonight was just going to be a fun, no-pressure sort of evening. He wasn’t against one-night stands or short flings but there was something about Letta that seemed worth going slowly for. Plus, what if he made a move and she rebuffed him? Better to go slowly and make sure that she was as into him as he was into her. It would be really embarrassing for him to discover she just viewed him as a friendly companion.
As they headed into his rooms Gabe suddenly felt nervous. This all seemed too fast – not that he had any intentions of doing anything, it was just the expectation of a couple entering a hotel room together. He shook his head – he was overthinking this, his brother would be laughing at him right now, he was acting like a schoolboy on a first date.
Letta had already crossed the room and was looking out the window.
‘Nice view.’
Gabe laughed. It was pitch black outside and you couldn’t see a thing.
‘It looks out towards the headland. It is quite dramatic when you can see it.’
‘I think my rooms must be on the other side of the building, I can only see sea. Plus I seem to be up a thousand flights of stairs. You appear to have nabbed an easy-access room.’
‘Family suite, remember.’
In fact, Gabe had been impressed with his upgrade. There were two separate bedrooms, a living area with a small area for preparing baby meals, and a generous bathroom. Plus a library full of board games, DVDs and books.
Letta was now looking through the collection.
‘No PlayStation or Xbox? Very traditional.’
‘Do you play?’ said Gabe, mildly surprised.
‘Everything and anything. I love games. An ex used to have a PlayStation and after a while I realised I was staying with him just so I could play Assassin’s Creed .’
‘Let me guess. You bought your own and broke his heart?’
‘Honestly, I don’t think he even missed me.’
Gabe highly doubted that but talk of ex-boyfriends seemed to draw attention to their current situation. He cleared his throat.
‘Look, I realised earlier it might seem that asking you up here to watch a film might make you think I’m trying to make a move on you. I’m not. I just thought it would be a fun way to end quite an emotional day. But nothing else.’ Christ, was he blushing?
‘So, basically what you’re saying is my virtue will remain intact?’
At that moment, there was a knock on the door for room service and both Gabe and Nick broke into relaxed laughter. Ohana barked noisily .
The kitchen had sent up a tray of movie night snacks as well as some dog biscuits.
‘Tell you what, before the film do you fancy trying any of the board games?’
‘Are you prepared for a drubbing?’ asked Letta with a glint in her eye. As a twin Gabe knew all about being competitive and immediately responded to the challenge. He figured she was also competitive, so this should be fun. If he started to win too much, he’d pull back a bit. A total whitewash would be rude.
***
Two hours later he looked at the chessboard in disbelief. So far she had won at Cathedral, won at cards, won at Sorry and won at backgammon. Now however, she appeared to be losing at chess by making a very stupid move.
‘Are you letting me win?’
Letta looked at him innocently.
‘You are! You games witch.’ Laughing he laid his King on its side, conceding the game. ‘Well, you did warn me about a drubbing. Tomorrow night will be a rematch and you had better watch out.’
Jumping up, Letta headed over to the microwave and put the popcorn in. ‘Time to watch the movie?’
Ohana was fast asleep again. Gabe made himself comfortable in the armchair leaving Letta and Ohana the sofa. Gabe loved Lilo and Stitch and was grateful to his little half-sister as it meant he could watch as much Disney as possible. In fact, he and Rafe often fought over whose turn it was to babysit and sometimes the brothers would both go over together.
He was so engrossed in the film that it took a while for him to notice that Letta was crying. It was the part of the film where the two sisters had just had their disastrous meeting with the social worker; they hadn’t even met Stitch yet or explained what the word Ohana meant and yet Letta was beginning to cry in earnest and trying to hide the fact. Gabe was devastated, what had he done to upset her? Surely it wasn’t the film? He hit pause and gave Letta a second to rapidly scrub her face with her sleeve.
‘Is everything okay?’
Letta looked red, blotchy and cross with herself.
‘Hayfever?’ she paused and looked at him to see if he bought it. When he continued to look concerned she tried again, ‘Oh honestly, aren’t I an idiot crying at a movie?’ She laughed, but it was more of a hiccup.
‘It does get better. But maybe another day?’ He checked his watch and saw with surprise that it was already midnight.
‘Look, stay here tonight. Sleep in the children’s room. Go on, splash your face and I’ll bring you in a hot chocolate.’
Picking up Ohana he gently moved her to the second bedroom and turned down the covers and went back to make a hot chocolate. By the time Letta came out of the bathroom he could see she had been crying again and was alarmed that such a silly film could have upset her so much. Still Nani, Lilo’s big sister, had just lost her job in the movie and Gabe remembered with a dawning horror that Letta also had job worries. They must be more severe than he had realised. On top of all she had discovered today about her father, she was probably overwhelmed.
‘Are you sure about this?’ She sounded exhausted. ‘Ohana and I can find our own way back to our rooms?’
‘Don’t be daft. Here’s your cocoa, now go to bed. And don’t snore. And don’t blame the dog if you do.’
With a weak smile, Letta took the drink and closed her bedroom door behind her. Wondering what he could do tomorrow to make it up to her, Gabe switched everything off and headed into his own bedroom and went to sleep.
***
Gabe opened his eyes into the dark. Something had woken him up and he lay in his bed straining to hear what it was. Remembering Letta was next door, he grabbed his dressing gown and very quietly opened his bedroom door. In the dark of the living room, the television was playing Lilo and Stitch so quietly that Gabe could hardly hear it. What he could hear was Letta’s muffled sobs as she cried into a cushion. From where he stood he could see her shoulders shuddering as she took great gulps of air before she stifled her wail with the cushion. Gabe had never seen genuine grief, but he knew he was watching a human being utterly broken down by their misery.
Trying not to alarm her he walked into the living room, picked up the remote control and switched the television off. Letta continued crying. He pulled her to her feet and walked her into his bedroom. She hadn’t let go of the cushion and was still crying into it, huge shuddering wracks of tears as her body convulsed out of control. Tucking her into bed, he went to her bedroom, grabbed a spare duvet and then came back to his room and lay down on the bed on top of her duvet beside her. He pulled the second duvet over him, then drew her towards him and hugged her gently, stroking her hair until gradually she stopped shaking. Exhausted from her crying jag she quickly fell asleep. Gabe lay in the dark, his arms wrapped around her spooning her body and wondered what could have happened to her to make her so wretched.
Not once had she given any indication of the level of grief she was carrying. He thought about every moment he had spent with her and could only see a fast and lively wit. A competitive and intelligent way of acting with a soft spot for dogs and Chinese tourists. Really, there was no hint of the darkness that was currently troubling her. Even with the discoveries about her father’s childhood this seemed much deeper and more present.
He hugged her again. Hugs always fixed Freya’s problems, but he imagined fixing grown-up pains wasn’t so easy. So far Gabe’s life had been relatively charmed – his parents’ divorce had barely had any impact, his relationships had always fizzled out as he realised he and whoever he was dating weren’t really going anywhere. His greatest angst in life was working for the family but he and Rafe had plans to change that. Probably the only tragedies he had encountered had been when family pets died. Whatever had broken Letta’s heart was all-encompassing, and yet every day she got up and smiled at the world.
At around six, he felt her begin to stir so he left and went into the spare room. When he heard the bathroom door close, he got up and put the kettle on, poured a glass of water and dug out two painkillers. He then hid the Lilo and Stitch DVD. He didn’t know why a little film about family loyalty and sisterhood could have hurt Letta so much, but he didn’t want to remind her of it. He also knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she would not want to talk about last night. He was opening the curtains when the bathroom door opened, and he glanced over his shoulder.
‘Cup of tea on the table. Plus some aspirin and water. The sun has come out, so it looks like a good day to explore the island if you’re up for it?’
Letta was still standing by the bathroom door. She was clearly trying to decide what to do next: explain, apologise or run. Instead, he watched as she took a deep breath and headed for the tea. That’s my girl , thought Gabe.
‘A walk sounds good. After breakfast?’
‘Then more research?’
‘I might take a break from that today.’
‘A walk it is then, and after lunch you have to let me try to beat you at these games.’
She smiled weakly, although from the way she winced he guessed she had a cracking headache.
‘But maybe no more films?’
‘Absolutely. Disney is dead to me.’ Gabe paused to see if Letta was going to say anything more, but she just sipped her tea. Clearly, for now, that was as much as either of them was going to say on the matter. Putting the cup down she stood up decisively.
‘Right, Ohana and I are heading back to our rooms to shower and get changed. See you at breakfast.’ And with that she scooped up the dog from the floor where she had been playing with one of Gabe’s shoes and left.