Willa rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, honey.’
Al nodded. ‘You needed it, Mary.’
I laughed as they wished me a good night, then went back to the service station and took out my phone, staring at the text I couldn’t bring myself to delete.
But I do that, too. Miss you.
And that’s what kept sticking. Ms Vau –Willa– said not to wait around for the person who I liked to figure out what I wanted. But Gabe seemed to want it, too. Vic hadn’t seemed all that bad when I met him on Halloween. Maybe thecomplicatedpart was that Gabe had needed him during that rough time when he came out, and now he didn’t. But Vic was too nice to him. Maybe Gabe couldn’t figure out a way to break up with him without getting hurt.
I started and deleted four different texts before putting my phone away. I wanted to just ask him outright, but I couldn’t figure out how. What do you say to someone you like when you think they don’t actually like the person they’re with? Because what if I was wrong? What if he really did like Vic?
And he also liked me? And that was the only complication?
After I dropped Ava off at her house, I idled out front, staring at the text some more. Right above his message was another from Brad, who had texted me when he got home that night around two a.m.
Brad’s message was innocuous, saying it was great seeing me and to text him sometime.
I opened up Gabe’s messages and sent:Have you ever watched Parks and Rec?
I stared at the blue bubble of my text. He answered in less than a minute.
Of course! Why?
I heard it was good. I’venever seen it … is it on Netflix?
No,but it’s on another streamer I can give you mypassword to. Want to watch an episode or ten later?You can get through the first season in less thanthree hours and tell me how work was without me (terrible, obviously).
Sure. Call you afterI get home and shower.
And yes. I brought up the shower so he would automatically think of meinthe shower. I’m not proud.
‘Why are you all dressed up?’ my mom asked when I entered the kitchen.
‘I am not dressed up.’ I grabbed a can of tangerine-flavored sparkling water from the fridge. I was only wearing jeans and a button-down shirt, and yes, the button-down was new and these were absolutely the jeans that made me look least like a frog wearing pants, but I wasn’t dressed up. At least, I hoped Gabe wouldn’t think I was.
It was the Saturday after Al and Willa’s gay intervention, and while I’d never tell them, it didn’t work. In fact, when Gabe texted me Friday afternoon to suggest I come over to show him the cooking videos I was trying to emulate in my La Mère video, I had absolutely zero chill and said yes within seconds.
‘Well, then, where are you going all not dressed up?’ my mom asked.
‘I’m legit going to hang out with Ava and a few others from Sunset. It’s not a big deal.’
‘Sure, fine, whatever.’ She got up and went into the dining room. ‘Before you go, I wanted to ask you something.’
‘Something clothing related?’ I called out.
‘Actually, yeah.’ She came back into the kitchen with a white piece of clothing in her arms. ‘I was going through some old boxes in the basement and found this. Figured I’d ask if you wanted it.’
She handed it to me. It was a jacket, and it looked perfectly clean and pressed. I held it up and my heart leaped. It was a double-breasted chef’s coat with navy piping. Stitched into the left side was the La Mère Labont name and logo. And under that was my dad’s name in the same navy stitching.
When I didn’t say anything, my mom spoke. ‘I thought he threw it away or donated it when it was clear he wasn’t going back. But it was with a few of his books and some old stuff from his dorm.’
‘What stuff?’
‘Old bedsheets, a surge protector, nothing interesting. But I thought it might be nice for you to have the coat.’
I tried it on. It was big around the middle, but the sleeve length was good. ‘Did you wash it?’ I asked, looking at the cleanliness of the sleeves. White was a terrible idea for a chef’s coat – gray and black hid the stains more easily.
My mom shook her head. ‘He never got to do the hands-on stuff in the classroom. And why bother wearing that at home to practice what he’d learned, when he could wear street clothes?’
