Chapter 37
THIRTY-SEVEN
Love is something when you fall in love with someone, and you want them to marry you and stuff. That’s what love means, basically.
From the sticky note correspondence of Gilbert Dalton and Ellie Sterns:
Eleanor—
Leaving for Austin. I’ll be back in time for Easter dinner on Sunday. Should I bring anything?
—Gilbert
P.S. I found a bunch of stuff in Ollie’s file cabinet I wanted to show you. When you have time.
Gil—
You don’t need to bring a thing. Just yourself and your smile. (Okay, the smile is a stretch, I know.) Dinner is at 3. Do you know where my brother’s place is?
—Ellie
P.S. Next week some time.
Eleanor—
I’ve been to Chris’s house a few times.
—Gilbert
P.S. Fine.
Gil—
You’ve been to Chris’s house? When?
—Ellie
P.S. Great.
Eleanor—
I get around.
—Gilbert
P.S. Sure.
“Which one is Aggie again?” Gil leaned close and whispered. He’d arrived just before three and after a quick round of introductions, we’d gone straight into dinner.
“Keep up, Dalton. She’s the tall one at the end.”
“The one who has olives on all her fingers and is making Oliver laugh?”
“Yep, that’s her. She’s number four out of five and just graduated from University of Texas. On the other side of her is Betsy.”
“Pink hair?”
“Classic middle child. Always looking for attention. She’s an art teacher in Oklahoma City.”
“Which leaves Millie. The blonde one across from us.”
“The baby. She’s a senior in high school this year. And an evil mastermind.” I leaned in a bit closer and lowered my voice. “If she asks to get you alone, just smile and nod at whatever she says.”
Gil’s eyes flashed with concern. “What does that mean?”
I shrugged and began cutting up the slice of ham on my plate. “She might try and threaten your life if you hurt me. I’ve already told her it’s not like that between us but…she gets ideas.”
“What?”
“It’s just a thing she does. She’s a sweetheart.” I took a bite and chewed slowly. After swallowing, I smiled. “Mostly. I’m pretty sure they’re empty threats, at least.”
“She’s not really joking,” Mae said from Gil’s other side. “I got the talk when Chris brought me home for the first time. That girl could make a mafia boss shake in their boots.”
I shrugged. “I told you. My family’s…a bit extra, shall we say?”
Like she’d been summoned, my mom caught Gil’s eye. “Gilbert, it’s so nice you could join us. Ellie’s told us so much about you.”
“That’s a big whopping lie,” Aggie said, nearly flinging an olive across the table when she pointed at me. “She’s told us almost nothing.”
“Agnes, take those off your fingers,” my mom glared at her. “You are not a child.”
“Debatable,” Betsy murmured.
“We have company here. Can we try to be normal for once?” Mom set her glass down with a bit too much force.
“Okay, Margot. Chill.” Aggie bit an olive off a finger.
“Luke,” my mom stared down the long table in Mae and Chris’s formal dining room at my father, “tell your daughters to be normal, please. And remind them I spent hours upon hours in excruciating pain that it felt like my body was being torn in half and burned at the stake to give them life, so they should be referring to me as Mom, not Margot.”
Mae made a choking sound and scrambled to guzzle her water.
“Nice one, Mom.” Chris patted his wife’s back. “Good thing she’s not about to have a baby any day now.”
“Mae, you’ll be fine,” Margot said, gentling her voice. “And it’s all worth it. Every second of it so you can meet your child. At least until they start to have opinions. Things go downhill from there.”
“Girls, listen to your mother,” Dad said, sounding almost bored. Mostly because this was a regular occurrence at any Sterns family meal, not just special for the holidays.
Mom turned back to Gil. “Now, Gilbert, where are you from originally?”
“Fort Worth, but I live in Austin now.”
“Oh, I love Austin. It has flavor,” Mom said, her dark eyes sparkling. “And what do you do?”
“I taught elementary school for a few years and then worked as a youth counselor at a community center.”
“Oh, you like kids.” Mom sent a pointed look in my direction. I smiled uneasily. I’d told her before they’d even arrived that Gil was more of a business partner than anything else. Don’t get any ideas, I’d told her. That look was filled with ideas though.
“Mr. Gil knows everything about dinosaurs,” Oliver said. “And he teaches me how to fix stuff. We’re in the Man Club together.”
“The Man Club?” Millie shot Gil an assessing look.
Gil’s cheeks pinked. “It’s nothing. Just a…a…”
“It’s the best. We fixed all the windows in the house and the leak under the sink and made the door on the dryer stay shut without tape, and next week, Mr. Gil said we’re going to figure out why the floor in the living room is soft when you step on it.” Oliver stuffed half a roll in his mouth.
“You didn’t tell me you had all that work needed to be done,” my dad said quietly. “You know I can come help you any time.”
“It wasn’t a big deal,” I said quickly. “We’re doing fine.”
“You’ve never even let us come and see the house.” My father was a patient man—five kids and my mother would do that—and it took a lot to get him worked up. But I could see he wasn’t happy with me at all. “You said Ollie didn’t like visitors.”
“That’s true, he didn’t.” He hadn’t. I mean, if I’d asked, he probably wouldn’t have had a problem with my parents stopping by.
“Did you know about this?” Dad directed this question to Chris.
Chris shifted uncomfortably. “A little. I helped whenever she’d let me. You know how she is.”
“I’m sitting right here,” I snapped. “I just don’t want to bother anyone and besides, I can figure it out on my own.”
With a scowl, Dad crossed his arms. I imagined my brother would look like him in twenty-five years’ time with his salt-and- pepper hair and deep laugh lines. “We’re going to talk about this later, young lady.”
“We’ll see,” I said. “And I’m not such a young lady anymore.
I’m an adult and I’ve been one for a long time now.
” I set my fork down, my eyes bouncing between my parents at either end of the table.
A hand landed on my knee and squeezed gently.
I side-eyed Gil, but he was looking my father square in the face.
“I’ve been helping where I can,” he said. “She’s done a good job with the place. Put a lot of work into it.”
“Thanks,” I whispered.
“It’s true,” he said. “I know what that place means to you.”
I turned my head sharply and stared at him. He’d been quieter than usual since our night in Ollie’s room. Everything seemed so complicated at the moment. Worse, my heart was involved, although I’d only admit that to myself. And Sunny.
Why couldn’t I meet a nice, emotionally available guy who wasn’t trying to sell everything I’d worked for and fall in love with him, get married, and live happily ever after?
“You two are so sweet together. Luke, aren’t they sweet?” Mom smiled widely and I could already see her planning a wedding in her mind.
“Thank you for helping out,” my dad said to Gil. “I appreciate it.”
“No problem, sir.”
Sir , I mouthed. Gil looked down at his plate but not before I saw a smile curve his mouth. He was enjoying this.
“I’m so glad we could all be together,” Mom said in her outside voice (even if we were inside). “Look at how our family is growing. We have Mae, and the baby any day. Now Ellie introduces us to Gilbert. It’s making my mama heart so happy.”
“Mom.” I groaned. “I’ve already told you we’re business partners, not, you know…”
Mom didn’t look like she believed it. In fact, no one looked like they believed that. Me included. My mother opened her mouth to argue when a miracle happened right there at Easter dinner.
“Oh,” Mae said, her eyes huge. “I think my water broke.”