19. Bree
Bree
“Let me guess. You didn’t like it.” Lavi said.
I’d been awfully quiet ever since the documentary ended.
We were all sitting out on the patio now, eating dinner that Dad had brought over from the deli. Pastrami on rye, matzo ball soup, a big tray of potato kugel, and a chocolate babka sitting at the center of the table, waiting for dessert.
When everyone had first started taking their seats, some small, stupid part of me had been hoping Gavin would sit right next to me.
I caught myself hoping it, and honestly, I didn’t fully understand why.
But Gavin, true to his word, the man who’d told me over and over he’d never push himself onto me, sat directly across the table instead.
Lavi took the seat on one side of me. Mom took the other.
“I loved it, Lav,” I said. “I loved it so much I don’t even have the words.”
I looked at him and smiled. He smiled right back.
“Thank you,” I said.
“It wasn’t my idea, Bree,” he said. “You know that. I was just the one bringing this guy’s vision to life.” He nodded toward Gavin.
Gavin was still deep in conversation with Danny, on the other side of the table.
I felt tears building up behind my eyes.
Gavin had been talking with Danny this whole time, and Mom and Dad had been off in their own conversation, going on about how incredible the documentary had been. I looked over at Gavin, completely wrapped up in whatever Danny was telling him about his work as an interior designer.
For the last two months, Gavin had been showing up, every single day. He’d been patient. Kind. He never once tried to rush me into anything. He’d told me, more than once, that he just wanted to help me heal, and every single thing he’d done since had been in service of exactly that.
And sitting right there, watching him from across the table, I felt something shift in me.
Like maybe I really was healing from everything that had happened.
Like maybe it was finally time for me to take things into my own hands, and ask him the one question that had been sitting quietly in the back of my mind for a few weeks now.
Gavin and I volunteered to stay back at the deli after everyone finished eating, to help clean up. We told Mom and Dad to head home, and we told Lavi and Danny to finally go be with each other for the rest of the night.
Gavin worked on unplugging all the equipment, coiling up cords, while I went around folding up the extra chairs. Eventually, the dishes were all cleared away, and the whole patio looked exactly like it had before the event ever started. Dad was going to be relieved to see that.
I sat down in the original armchair that had always lived in that spot. Gavin finished up putting the last of the gear away a minute later. He looked exhausted. But the second our eyes met, all of that exhaustion seemed to just drain right out of his face, and that smile of his came right back.
I smiled back at him.
“Shall we go?” he asked. “I’ll drop you home.”
“Please, join me here, Gavin.”
He walked over and sat down beside me.
“Thank you for the perfect night, Gavin,” I said. “It really, really meant a lot to me.”
“Thank YOU, Bree,” he said. “For letting me do it. I just want to help you heal. I’m still selfishly hoping for forgiveness, for a second chance, but if you had shut me down that night I came to your parents’ house asking for forgiveness, I don’t know what I would have done.
So thank you, for even letting me be around you after everything I put you through.
I don’t know if I even deserve a second chance, not just from you, but from your parents too. I just wanted to help you heal.”
“And you have,” I said.
He gave me another one of those charming smiles, and in that exact moment, I couldn’t bring myself to resist him one bit longer.
“I’ve been thinking about something,” I said.
“What?” he asked, and I could see the hope, the anticipation, flickering right there behind his eyes.
“I want to give us another chance, Gavin,” I said. “I want to come home.”
His whole face lit up. “Really, Bree?”
I nodded.
His face filled with relief, and he put his head in both his hands. He remained quiet like that for a few minutes.
I put my hand on his head. “What happened, Gavin?”
He raised his head. His eyes were moist.
“Thank you, Oh, Bree. Thank you, thank you. Can I hug you?” he asked.
I smiled. “You have permission to hug me,” I said.
He pulled me into his arms right away, holding me close, and in that hug, I felt myself finally starting to heal from everything we’d been through, and I let myself start thinking, for the first time in a long time, about the possibility of building our life back together.