She laughs, then slaps a hand over her lips. “Sorry, I know you’re mad, but that was funny.” She walks closer, until she’s standing next to me. Using my scissors, she cuts open three bags of lemon hard candy and pours them in a jar. “I’m sorry about that, but he said he wanted to talk to you, and he looked really sad.”
“Since when do you care if Gabriel looks sad?”
“I don’t. I know you have unfinished business though, and it seemed like maybe it would be good for you to talk. Plus, I heard how much tension there was between you two.”
“Who told you that?”
“Laramie.”
I throw up my hands. “Maybe I should buy a billboard and use it for announcements.”
She opens a fourth bag of lemon candy and dumps it into the jar. “Don’t waste your money. Write it on the chalkboard instead. Which, by the way, you’re fired. That poem is depressing.”
“That poem is beautiful.” I pour a mountain of Skittles into a tall, thin vase.
“You should ask Gabriel if he wrote it.”
I glance sideways at her. The candy clinks against the glass. “You think?”
She shrugs. “You could literally sum up your entire relationship with that one poem.”
“He asked me to take him back. And for my forgiveness.”
Camryn doesn’t seem at all surprised. “What did you say?” She dips her hand in the candy as I pour. More scatter on the table than end up in her hand.
“I love him, Cam. There’s no denying that. But it’s a lot more complicated than it looks from the outside.”
Cam chews the candy. “It looks pretty damn complicated from the outside.”
“I don’t know how to trust him again.”
“I know.” She shakes her head. “Actually, I don’t. But here’s what I think. Everyone, at one point or another, hurts the person they love the most. How can we not? Real love demands we strip ourselves, and bare our souls. It is a vulnerable, messy affair, and nobody escapes unscathed. I think the point, at the end of the day, is to decide whether you can forgive Gabriel’s mistakes, and move forward. If the promise of the future is enough to make you forgive the past, then do it.”
I stare at my normally irreverent sister.
She gives me a look. “I know, I know. Give me heart arrows and call me Cupid. I’ve been reading a lot about love and marriage lately.” Cam plucks a napkin off a stack and wipes candy coating off her hands. “What does he say about drinking?”
“He swears he’s sober. That he doesn’t even want a drink. He called it poison.”
“Do you believe him?”
“Yes,” I say quickly, without having to think about it first. The word, its meaning and its weight, sinks in. It’s the first time I’ve let myself fully make that decision.
I resume my task of loading up ornamental jars with colorful candy. “It's all a lot to take. To think about. You know, if Gabriel had never done what he did, Hudson wouldn’t have entered the picture. I can’t decide if that’s another mark to add to his tally, or if maybe there’s a part of me that doesn’t hate that I got the opportunity to know Hudson.”
“I get it.” Cam gathers the empty candy bags. “You also figured out how to sell a house, buy a house, adopt a dog, write a book, and probably a whole mess of stuff you don’t even realize.”
“I wish Gabriel hadn’t needed to do what he did in order for me to learn all that.”
“Yeah, well…” Cam shoves the empty bags at me. “That’s not what life handed you, my dear.” She checks her watch and backs away. “I need to go get ready. I’ll see you in about an hour.”
She leaves, and I keep working. I can’t shake what Cam said about the poem, and it being from Gabriel, so I go in Gem and find Laramie.
“Hi,” she chirps when she sees me. “Need more caffeine?”
“Sure.” I lean a palm on the counter as Laramie steps over to the espresso machine. “I have a question about the Spill The Beans entries.”
She nods me on as she works, so I ask, “The ones that are typed out. I’m guessing they’re emailed?”
