“You haven’t opened a letter your mother wrote to you sixteen years ago?”
He gave me another sharp look before turning and shutting the envelope back in the drawer.
“Why?” I asked.
“I just haven’t.”
“Aren’t you curious about what she wrote to you? She must’ve wanted you to read it if she left it for you.”
“I couldn’t.”
His voice was thick with emotion. My eyes watered at hearing the struggle in his voice. Neither one of us spoke for at least a full minute. Gabe suddenly shook his head and started for the bathroom. He slammed the door behind him.
My gaze traveled over to the closed nightstand. I hated the pain I heard in his voice and the expression on his face as he stared at the letter.
I crawled over to the nightstand and pulled it open. The letter sat there, unopened. I didn’t dare to touch it, but I knew whatever was in it, Gabe needed to read it. The last words his mother would ever give to him. And he’d been carrying it around for sixteen years, never reading them.
When I heard the sound of the shower starting in the bathroom, I knew he would be in there a while. He was avoiding me, or the letter … probably both. I considered going in there and forcing him to talk to me about it, but instead, I picked up my notepad that sat on the nightstand on my side of the bed and began writing.
Maybe what I penned in a song could give him the courage to eventually read what his mother wanted him to read, someday.
Chapter 27
Gabe
Two months after having dinner at my father’s with Lena for the first time, I stood over a pouting Lena.
“Are you sure you have to go?” Lena asked, staring down at the suitcase next to my feet.
We stood just inside of the front door of my home, which I’d come to think of as our home. The AC had long been fixed, and since it was mid-October, the temperatures had cooled off, but I still didn’t want her to leave.
Unfortunately, though, I needed to head out to Los Angeles for work.
“I told you to bring your ass with me,” I said before wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her into me.
Her frown deepened, poking out those lips that no matter how much I kissed, I still couldn’t get enough.
“Los Angeles, ick.” She shivered and made a disgusted face.
“You hate it that much?”
“No,” she said. “Iloatheit.” She drew out the word loathe.
“Good. All the more reason for you to keep your ass in Texas, even after you finished that album.”
Her eyes ballooned. They always did whenever I mentioned her remaining in Texas long-term.
I bent low, taking her chin in between my fingers. “All of you. Remember that,” I said against her lips right before kissing her.
The kiss was shorter than I wanted it to be. My phone buzzed, alerting me that my car had arrived.
“I’ll be right here when you get back.”
I gave her another kiss before forcing myself out of the door.
Though I hated to leave her, I was only going to be in LA for two days. Aside from business regarding No Sweat, I also had a special trip I needed to make.
Lena might have wanted to ignore the interview that prick of an ex-fiancé did, talking about her, but I couldn’t. After weeks of debating and going back and forth in my head about it, I finally listened.
