Gabe studiedPaige for a moment then looked at the house again where his mother was probably already getting ready for bed. Despite her excitement over meeting Paige, the evening had taken a toll on her, and she looked exhausted by the time they walked out the door.
"Can we go somewhere and talk?" He gave Paige an imploring look. "I'll answer all your questions and tell you anything you want to know." Talking about how little time his mother had left was the last thing he wanted to do, but Paige deserved to know everything if she was going to continue to pretend to be his girlfriend.
"Sure," Paige agreed.
Silence filled the car as Gabe drove. Thankfully, Paige held her questions and didn't push for conversation before he was ready. He was still debating what to tell her when they arrived at the neighborhood park.
He shut off the engine but didn't speak. Where did he begin? The things he'd told Paige about himself had been minimal. After having both his dad and Harper leave him, he found it difficult to confide in others.
"Do you want to get out and walk?" Paige asked in a quiet voice.
"Yes." He had his door open before the word left his mouth. Would he find it easier to talk about things he'd discussed with few people if he was moving?
He looked around the almost deserted park as he stepped onto the walking path that meandered through it. The sun would be setting soon.
Paige fell into step beside him. He sensed a tension in her andexpected her to start asking questions any second. But she remained silent, waiting for him to do the talking.
He cleared his throat. "One month before walking out on us, my dad drained his and my mom's savings accounts to help his secretary, whom he'd been having an affair with for two years, put a down payment on a condo. Then he moved in with her and filed for divorce." Gabe balled his fists at his side as heat that had little to do with the warm May evening filled him. "He had a better lawyer than my mom could afford, so he got the house and most of their assets. Mom ended up with the car that kept breaking down and barely enough furnishings to fill a small rental home."
"Wow. Now I understand why you reacted so strongly that day at the pool. Between your dad having an affair and your ex cheating on you, I don't blame you for being relationship adverse."
"It's a little more involved than that, but I'll come back to that in a minute." He rolled his shoulders as he launched into a subject that after all these years still managed to cause his shoulders to bunch with stress. "After the divorce, we struggled financially. Even though my dad paid child support and a pitifully small alimony, it wasn’t enough to live on. My mom got a job, but after being a stay-at-home mom for so many years, she didn't have the earning potential my dad did. Then when our car died for good, Mom had to buy a new one. It was used, but the payments were more than she could afford, so she got a second job. I felt bad that she had to work so hard to support us, so I got a part-time job working at a car wash to help with the bills and cover things like my wrestling fees."
"Wait. Didn't you injure your neck during your senior year of high school?"
"Yes." He clasped his hands behind his back and studied his shoes as he walked. "Between school, wrestling, work, and homework I was exhausted all the time. That may have contributed to my injury. I wasn’t in peak physical condition."
"I can't imagine having that kind of stress and responsibility as a teenager." Sympathy filled Paige's voice.
Gabe wasn't the only teenager forced to grow up before he wasready. He'd learned—like so many others—that feeling sorry for himself wouldn't change anything.
He shrugged. "I went back to work as soon as I could after recovering. I graduated high school and busted my butt all summer, working two jobs, to come up with enough money to pay tuition and rent an apartment. Then I moved across the city to attend college." His steps slowed. "Halfway through my first semester, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer the same day Grace—" He cut himself off and stopped walking.
Staring across the park at three teenage boys, who played Frisbee, he relived that horrible night. He hadn't planned to go home for the weekend because he had a ton of homework and was running low on money. But when his mom called, saying she needed to talk to him, the emotion that choked her voice had him rushing to the bus stop.
He arrived home to find his mom and Grace in a heated argument about a party. Mom didn’t want her hanging out with that crowd. But Grace was adamant. He could still hear her yelling about how horrible her life was and how much she hated her family before slamming the front door as she stormed out.
Gabe had held his mom and assured her she was doing the best she could. Then he comforted her all over again when she told him she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer. Shortly before midnight, he’d convinced her to go to bed, promising to wait up for Grace. Thirty minutes later, he answered a call from the police station.
The party Grace was at got busted and several kids had been arrested for underage drinking and two adults for possession of cocaine. Grace swore she'd only had a few drinks and didn't touch the drugs.
Going to court with her—because his mom was too sick from her chemo treatments—was stressful, but that was nothing compared to the bomb she dropped on them a few weeks later.
She’d made out with some guy at the party, who took advantage of her in her inebriated state. And now she was pregnant.
Gabe's chest grew tight, restricting his breathing, as he recalled the stress he was under that year.
"It's okay." Paige slipped her hand into his, bringing him back to the present. "Whatever it is, you can tell me."
He gripped her hand, drawing strength from her presence. If he was going to share the most difficult parts of his life with someone, he wanted it to be Paige. He led her to a nearby bench.
She sat beside him, her hand still in his.
"It's not my story to tell, but…" He shook his head and tightened his grip on Paige's hand. "Grace went off the deep end after my dad left. She started hanging out with a bad crowd, skipping school, and partying. Mom was doing the best she could, but she wasn't home much, especially after my injury and she had to take me to PT all the time."
"I'm sure your dad's leaving was hard on her."
"It was hard on all of us, but Grace took it especially hard. She did things she shouldn't have and ended up…in a bad situation…that had some serious consequences. She needed a lot of help and support while my mom was going through chemotherapy." He scrubbed his free hand over his face. "I barely managed to pass my classes that first semester after I moved home to take care of them. Then I dropped out of school for the next year to work full-time and take care of Grace and my mom until she was in remission and Grace's…issues were resolved."
