He’s focused on the road but I can see the corner of his mouth twitch like he’s trying not to smile.
The car quiets a little as we drop the girls off one by one.
Finally it’s just the two of us.
Gabriel glances at me.
"You have fun?"
"Yes," I say.
"Good."
A small silence settles between us.
"You didn’t have to come," I say.
"Dex said a guy tried to spin you," he says.
"That’s not a crime," I say.
"It felt like one," he says.
I laugh.
Then I look out the window for a second.
"You drove across town," I say quietly.
"Yeah," he says.
"Why?"
He shrugs one shoulder.
"You’re my wife," he says.
My stomach does a small, inconvenient flip.
He pulls into the driveway a few minutes later.
The house lights glow softly through the windows.
Home.
Gabriel turns off the engine.
For a moment neither of us moves.
"Thanks for the rescue I didn't exactly need," I say.
"Anytime," he says.
I open the door and step out.
As we walk toward the house I realize something that probably should have been obvious earlier.
Gabriel Shelly didn’t show up tonight just because Dex texted him.
