Trying to ignore the trembling deep in his core, he gave a noncommittal shrug. "For a while now."
"Who is she?" Mom leaned forward in her seat, elbows on the table. "What does she look like? Where did you meet her?" Excitement filled her voice.
So many questions, and he didn't have an answer for a single one of them. But making his mother’s final days happy justified a few lies. Didn't it?
"I uh…met her through work." It seemed like the safest answer, since school and work had consumed his life for the past ten years.
"A colleague or a former patient?" Mom's attention remained on him as she picked up her fork and started eating again.
Most of his colleagues were men or young college-aged girls who worked as assistants, so dating a patient was a more believable option.
"Patient." His stomach rolled as he forced out the lie. If he hadn't already lost his appetite earlier, it was long gone now. He tightened his grip on his fork to keep from fidgeting.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Except for the slight redness around her eyes, all signs of Mom's tears were now gone as she put additional small bites in her mouth.
Perpetuating his lies to keep her eating was wrong, but he couldn't back down now. "I…um… I wanted to make sure it was going to work out first."
"Why wouldn't it work out?"
"Well…she…got hurt pretty badly by an ex…who cheated on her. So she was hesitant to get into another relationship." The lies rolled off his tongue now, and he realized his fictional girlfriend suddenly had a name and face, complete with a tragic backstory.
"And you're sure it's going to last?" Mom's next question pulled him from his thoughts.
"I hope so." Warmth filled his chest as he realized this wasn't a lie.
Was it possible for him and Paige to have a future? Would she say yes if he asked her out after she finished her therapy? His stomach sank as he remembered she might return to Seattle at the end of the summer if she didn’t find a job locally.
"Tell me about her. What's her name?"
Gabe's heart stalled. This is where Mom caught him in his lies.
Throwing Paige's name out felt like he was deceiving her as well as his mom. But for the life of him, he couldn't think of the name of any other former female patient he'd found attractive. Not that attraction mattered. It didn't, but he drew a blank on a name at all.
"Well…" He gave a big grin. The grin that had gotten him out of many a lecture when he was young. Hoping it still worked, he winked. "I usually call hermi amorormi corazón." He prayed the Spanish endearments would distract her from wanting a name. "Or sometimes sweetheart or darling." Then he sighed. "She has the prettiest blue eyes and an amazing smile that lights up the whole room."
"So, when do I get to meet her?"
Gabe choked on the bite of enchilada he'd just shoved in his mouth. The acid in his stomach bubbled and churned, giving him indigestion.
"I uh…I'm not sure we're at the meet-the-parent’s stage just yet." He shifted in his seat that had suddenly grown hot. Fabricating a girlfriend was one thing, making one materialize to bring home to meet his mom was another thing entirely.
Idiot, of course she wants to meet yourgirlfriend.
"But you said you're sure it's going to last. If you're that serious, why don't you want me to meet her?" Mom's face fell, and so did Gabe's hopes of making her final days happy.
"It's not that I don't want you to meet her. I just…don't want to scare her away by coming on too strong after everything she's been through." And asking Paige to come home with him to meet his mom would definitely scare her away. It could also cost him his job. "I'll…uh…I'll talk to her and see what her schedule is like." Each lie Gabe told sat in his stomach like sharp shards of glass, ripping his gut to shreds.
"Perfecto." Mom patted his arm before pushing away her plate that still contained more than half her food. "I'm going to rest on the couch for a bit while you kids clean up dinner, then we’ll see if there is a new movie available to stream."
All too eager to end this discussion and escape the lies he'd told, Gabe grabbed his plate in one hand and his mom's in the other and headed to the sink.
Grace followed him, carrying what was left of the enchiladas. She set the casserole dish on the counter and smacked his shoulder. "What are you doing?" She kept her voice low, but her whispered words were loaded with disapproval.
"Ouch!" He flinched even though it hadn't hurt that bad. "What was that for?" He kept his own voice low to avoid being overheard by their mom who was just around the corner.
"Why did you lie to mom?" Grace folded her arms and glared at him. "You and I both know you've hardly dated since Harper left you standing at the altar."
He sank back against the counter and sighed. "I don't know. I just…"
