Gabriel:Damn right it is.
Alessia: Natasha’s still mad at me.
Gabriel: She’ll get over it when she sees how happy we are together.
Alessia: She already sees that.
Gabriel: I miss you.
Alessia:I miss you too. I can still feel you between my legs from this morning.
Gabriel:Fuck, I love hearing you say that. Be home in thirty minutes to do it all over again.
Alessia:I have a surprisefor you.
Gabriel:Better be you naked. Or in that red lingerie you know that I love, bent over the kitchen table, waiting for me to fill you up again.
Alessia:I’m pretty sure you ruined all my red lingerie.
Gabriel:Alessia...
Alessia:I’m serious. I’m not naked. I have to work tonight.
Gabriel:Quit.
Alessia: …See you soon.
***
When Gabriel walks through the front door of his house, he’s on the phone, and it takes me a few seconds to even register what’s happening. First, I hear the familiar thud of his backpack hitting the floor by the steps. The one he always carries when he goes into the city to work on his building that’s still under renovations. Then the quiet scrape of his shoes as he kicks them off.
The sounds are so routine, so unmistakably him, that my brain lags a moment behind before it catches up to what he’s saying.
“Estás loco si crees que el Madrid tiene alguna posibilidad.”
There’s a pause.
“Bueno, bueno, entonces estás loco.”
I hear his laughter as he rounds the corner. He spots me in the kitchen, and his brown eyes instantly crinkle into his handsome smile.Hi,he mouths at me.
“Espera, mi novia está aquí, se ve hermosa. Necesito besarla.”
He pauses again and then laughs. “Si, si. Hablamos luego. Adiós Eduardo.” Then he hangs up and slides his phone into his back pocket. And I don’t know why, but I think I’m crying.
“Hey sweetheart,” he steps toward me, strong arms scooping me up into a hug. His hands grip my hips, pulling me against him like he’s been starving to touch me all day. He buries hisface in my neck, inhaling deep, groaning like I’m the air he’s been deprived of all day. “I missed you.”
“I missed you. Were you just talking to my grandma’s boyfriend?”
He pulls back a little and chuckles. “Yes. He thinks Real Madrid has a chance to win this weekend.”
I smile at him like that’s a totally normal thing to be discussing.
“I try to call him when I take the train home. It gives me a chance to work on my Spanish.”
My heart squeezes. Only a few weeks ago, Gabriel told me he’d downloaded a language learning app because he wanted to learn my native language. Said he wanted to be able to talk to Eduardo. At the time, I didn’t think much of it. It sounded sweet, sure, but also like one of those things people say they’ll do and then forget about a few days later.
Since then, I’ve only caught him practicing once and he hid it like he didn’t want me to know so I didn’t bring it up again.
